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Created page with "*''Japanese'': 奄美姑・阿麻弥姑 ''(Amamiko, Amamiku, Amamikyo, Amamikyu, Amanchu, Amamichu)'' Amamikyo is the primary primordial creation goddess in [[Ryukyuan religi..."
*''Japanese'': 奄美姑・阿麻弥姑 ''(Amamiko, Amamiku, Amamikyo, Amamikyu, Amanchu, Amamichu)''
Amamikyo is the primary primordial creation goddess in [[Ryukyuan religion|Ryukyuan origin myths]]. Along with her male counterpart [[Shinerikyo]], Amamikyo is credited with creating the [[Ryukyu Islands]] themselves, as well as numerous ''[[gusuku]]'' and ''[[utaki]]'' (sacred sites), and with introducing rice cultivation and other technologies.
While some myths assert that she first came down to earth at [[Kudaka Island]] and then crossed over to [[Okinawa Island]] at [[Sefa utaki]] - hence these two sites being the most sacred sites on/near Okinawa - others relate the story of the creation of the world, then the islands, then the ''utaki'' and ''gusuku'', in a narrative progression moving from north to south. Scholars such as [[Gregory Smits]] have tied this legendary southward progression to actual historical migration of peoples southward from the [[Amami Islands|more northerly islands]] into Okinawa, bringing with them cultural customs as well as technologies such as iron working and rice agriculture.<ref>Smits, ''Maritime Ryukyu'', 125.</ref> Some have gone so far as to suggest that the name of the deity itself may derive from, or literally mean, "a person" or "people" from "Amami".<ref>The goddess is often called Amamichu in the [[Okinawan language]]; in that same language, a person from Amami would be called ''Amaminchu''. "[https://ryukyushimpo.jp/okinawa-dic/prentry-40119.html Amamikyo]," ''Okinawa Compact Encyclopedia'', Ryukyu Shimpo, 2003.</ref>
{{stub}}
==References==
*Gregory Smits, ''Maritime Ryukyu'', University of Hawaii Press (2019), 125.
<references/>
[[Category:Deities]]
[[Category:Ryukyu]]
Amamikyo is the primary primordial creation goddess in [[Ryukyuan religion|Ryukyuan origin myths]]. Along with her male counterpart [[Shinerikyo]], Amamikyo is credited with creating the [[Ryukyu Islands]] themselves, as well as numerous ''[[gusuku]]'' and ''[[utaki]]'' (sacred sites), and with introducing rice cultivation and other technologies.
While some myths assert that she first came down to earth at [[Kudaka Island]] and then crossed over to [[Okinawa Island]] at [[Sefa utaki]] - hence these two sites being the most sacred sites on/near Okinawa - others relate the story of the creation of the world, then the islands, then the ''utaki'' and ''gusuku'', in a narrative progression moving from north to south. Scholars such as [[Gregory Smits]] have tied this legendary southward progression to actual historical migration of peoples southward from the [[Amami Islands|more northerly islands]] into Okinawa, bringing with them cultural customs as well as technologies such as iron working and rice agriculture.<ref>Smits, ''Maritime Ryukyu'', 125.</ref> Some have gone so far as to suggest that the name of the deity itself may derive from, or literally mean, "a person" or "people" from "Amami".<ref>The goddess is often called Amamichu in the [[Okinawan language]]; in that same language, a person from Amami would be called ''Amaminchu''. "[https://ryukyushimpo.jp/okinawa-dic/prentry-40119.html Amamikyo]," ''Okinawa Compact Encyclopedia'', Ryukyu Shimpo, 2003.</ref>
{{stub}}
==References==
*Gregory Smits, ''Maritime Ryukyu'', University of Hawaii Press (2019), 125.
<references/>
[[Category:Deities]]
[[Category:Ryukyu]]