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KunitamaKunitama (国魂) is a type of kami or god who acts as a tutelary deity or guardian of a province of Japan or sometimes other areas in Shinto.[1][2]: 102 The term is sometimes treated as a specific deity itself especially with Hokkaidō Shrine,[2]: 394 and other colonial shrines,[3]: 53–54 [3]: 217 a or as an epithet in the case of Okunitama Shrine[4] or a part of a deity's name in the case of Yamato Okunitama, whose name is also sometimes interpreted as an epithet.[5][2]: 22 HistoryIn ancient times it was believed that every province had a kunitama.[1] Yamato Okunitama is the Kunitama of Yamato Province. He is sometimes identified with Ōmononushi.[5][2]: 22 As the Yamato court grew in power shrines were made in more and more places outside of the Yamato region.[2]: 22 Musahi no Okunitama of the Musashi Province was traditionally identified as Ōkuninushi.[4] Hirata Atsutane said in his morning prayers that the deities to worship in Yamato Province were Ōmononushi, Okunitama, and Kotoshironushi.[2]: 343 Motoori Norinaga discussed the concept.[1]
Outside of JapanA generic "Kunitama" was among the Three Pioneer Kami (開拓三神, Kaitaku Sanjin) Ōkunitama, Ōkuninushi, and Sukunabikona used in Japanese colonial shrines.[6]: 61 [3]: 53–54 They are all Kunitsukami or earthly kami representing the land.[3]: 53–54 This started in the Matsumae Domain during haibutsu kishaku where many shrines in Hokkaido were forced to adopt such deities in that group. There was very little worship of such deities there at that time and as a result not much objection to it.[2]: 394 This came to be later used in many overseas shrines to justify colonialism.[3]: 53–54 In Korea Kunitama and Amaterasu were enshrined together.[6]: 126 as a pair at all nationally ranked shrines.[6]: 139 The colonization of Korea marked the beginning of a shift frrom a meiji era "pioneer theology" to a universal theology and Amaterasu became more prominent and was generally paired with Kunitama.[6]: 217 In KoreaSome people identified Dangun with Susanoo-no-Mikoto, the government not wanting to take a stand on this enshrined the generic Okunitama at Chōsen Jingu so believers could have their own interpretations.[3]: 54 Ogasawara Shozo was a strong advocate of these positions and his advocacy was associated with the enshrinement of Okunitama at both Chōsen Jingu, and Keijō Shrine.[3]: 56 He advocated enshrining of Dangun at Chōsen Shrine, and others argued that in Korea Kunitama was Dangun and should be called Chosen kunitama.[6]: 132 In 1936 Keijō Shrine released a memo saying that Okunitama was in fact a generic title forr any Korean deity and not Dangun. The name was also changed to Kunitama-no-Okami as a parallel to Amaterasu Omikami[6]: 140 An ethnic Korean group proposed to take over Okunitama worship after the war but was denied.[3]: 57 State authorities at Chōsen Jingu however never allowed for Okunitama to be called "Chosen kunitama" and indigenous Dangun traditions were suppressed in favor of worshipping Amaterasu in the shrine.[3]: 54 Other areasIn Manchukuo there were proposals to identify Kunitama with Nurhaci but they were not accepted.[6]: 161 At Mōkyō Jinja Genghis Khan was venerated as Kunitama.[6]: 175 In Brazil in a Japanese settlement a shrine named Bogure Jinja was created and worshipped Kunitama, identified with indigenous people of the area in a burial mound.[6]: 209 List of Okunitama shrines
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