Name

• Toyouke-no-Ōmikami (also written Toyouke Ōmikami)

• Toyouke-no-Ōmikami Other names: Toyouke-hime / Toyoukebime (トヨウケビメ, 豊宇気毘売神)

Identity

Toyouke-no-Ōmikami (豊受大神) is a Shintō deity associated with food and grains, and, in the Ise tradition, the guardian of the three essentials of daily life: clothing, food, and shelter. She is enshrined at the Gekū (外宮, “Outer Shrine”) of Ise Grand Shrine, officially named Toyoukedaijingū (豊受大神宮).

Mythological role

Her primary role is that of the kami of sustenance and food offerings. She provides the sacred meals offered to Amaterasu Ōmikami (天照大神) and bestows blessings of agricultural abundance. For this reason, she is often understood as a deity of sustenance in the broad sense: everything that supports life and ensures prosperity.

Famous myth

According to the most widely cited tradition, Amaterasu Ōmikami requested, through divine revelation, that Toyouke be summoned and transferred from the Tanba / Tango region (丹波・丹後, present-day northern Kyōto Prefecture) to be enshrined at the Gekū, where she would be responsible for preparing the sacred food offerings.

Worship

Toyouke-no-Ōmikami is worshipped at the Gekū of Ise Grand Shrine and more broadly at shrines connected to Ise, including many Shinmei-type shrines. She is commonly prayed to for:

• abundance and reliable sustenance (harvests, food);

• stability in everyday life (well-being, household matters);

• prosperity related to activities that sustain and support life in a practical sense.

Symbolism

Toyouke-no-Ōmikami embodies a form of fundamental prosperity: not sudden luck, but the steady continuity of resources—eating, clothing, and shelter. Symbolically, she represents what makes life possible and stable, as well as the ritual link between agricultural abundance and cosmic harmony through offerings and balance.