Another Earth-god is Asuha, an obscure personage, who is supposed to be the deity of the courtyard. Mud, sand, and clay are deified under the names of Uhijini, Suhijini, and Hani-yasu-hime, the last name meaning clay-easy (in the sense of plastic) lady. Clay was deified because it supplied the material for the domestic cooking furnace, a defence against the encroaches of that unruly power, fire.
=Mountain-Gods.=—Most mountains have their deity, which is sometimes conceived of as the mountain itself, at others as a god of the mountain. Mountain gods do not take high rank in the Shinto Pantheon. They were propitiated before trees were cut for building purposes.
=Earthquake-Gods= are little heard of. But any god might cause an earthquake if offended.
=Sea-Gods.=—The chief Sea-gods of Shinto are Sokotsu-wata-dzumi (bottom-sea-body), Nakatsu-wata-dzumi (middle-sea-body), and Uhatsu-wata-dzumi (upper-sea-body), three deities produced from Izanagi’s ablutions in the sea when he returned from Hades. They are also represented as forming one deity. So that we have here an example—not the only one—of a Japanese Trinity. They have a famous shrine at Sumiyoshi near Osaka, and are much prayed to for safety from shipwreck and for fair winds.
Another Sea-god, Toyotama hiko, has been already mentioned above (p. 31).
=River-Gods= are represented as dragons or serpents. The resemblance of a river with its winding serpentine course, and its mysterious motion without legs, to a great serpent, has struck mankind in many countries. The Chinese, the Mexicans, and the Semitic nations concur in associating water with the serpent. It is mostly the maleficent aspect of rivers that is thus symbolised. There are traditions in Japanese legend of human sacrifices to rivers.
=Rain-Gods.=—Special Rain-gods are mentioned in the old myths, but in practice any deity might be appealed to for aid in time of drought.
=Wells.=—There are sacred wells from which the water required in sacrifice was drawn. The water itself was made a female deity under the name of Midzuha no me. At the present day, the ordinary well or stream from which water is taken for domestic purposes is propitiated early on the morning of the New Year by small offerings.