There are several harvest-gods not very clearly distinguished from the grain-deities. One of these, as well as Ukemochi, is said to be the child of Ohonamochi, the great Earth-god.
=Tree-Gods.=—Trees of great size and age are worshipped in almost every village in Japan. They are girt with honorary cinctures of straw-rope, and have tiny shrines erected before them. Other sacred trees are not themselves gods, but only offerings to the deities before whose shrines they are planted. Orchard trees are the object of a quaint ceremony which has its counterpart in many other places, Devonshire amongst the number, of cajoling or intimidating the trees into bearing good crops. In Japan one man climbs the tree, while another stands at the bottom with an axe, threatening to cut it down if it does not promise to bear plentifully. The man above responds that it will do so. Perhaps, however, the pleasure of acting a little drama has more to do with such customs than any real belief in their efficacy.
We also meet with a Kukunochi (trees-father) and a Kaya nu hime (reed-lady). Their worship was probably prompted by gratitude for their providing materials for house-building and thatching.
=A House-God= named Yabune is mentioned in one of the old rituals. A certain sanctity attaches to the Daikoku-bashira, or central pillar of the house, corresponding to our king-post. There is also a Gate-god (or gods), who guards the dwelling against the entrance of evil things, and, in modern times, a God of the Privy.
=Izanagi and Izanami.=—I have little doubt that these deities (see above, p. 21) were suggested by the Yin and Yang, or male and female principles, of Chinese philosophy. They were probably introduced into Japanese myth in order to account for the existence of the Sun-goddess and other deities, and to link them together by a common parentage. Their names are supposed to be connected with a verb, _izanafu_, to invite, and to refer to their mutual invitation to become husband and wife. They are not important in ritual.
=Musubi= means growth or production. In the old myths there are two Musubi deities, viz. Taka-musubi and Kamu-musubi (high-growth and divine-growth). It is not difficult to conjecture that ‘high’ and ‘divine’ were originally nothing more than laudatory epithets of one and the same personage. Poetry recognises only one God. In later times there were no fewer than eight Musubi who had shrines in the precincts of the Imperial palace. The worship of this god is now much neglected.