Name

The earliest written sources of Old Japanese transcribe the name of the sea god in a diverse manner. The ca. 712 CE Kojiki (tr. William George Aston 1896) writes it semantically as 海神 lit. "sea god", and transcribes it phonetically with man'yōgana as Wata-tsu-mi 綿津見 lit. "cotton port see" in identifying Ōwatsumi kami and the Watatsumi Sanjin. The ca. 720 CE Nihongi (tr. Basil Hall Chamberlain
1919) also writes Watatsumi as 海神 "sea god", along with 海童 "sea child"
and 少童命 "small child lords" for the Watatsumi Sanjin. In the modern Japanese writing system, the name Watatsumi is usually written either in katakana as ワタツミ or in kanji phonetically 綿津見 or semantically 海神 "sea god".


Note that in addition to reading 海神 as watatsumi, wata no kami, or unagami in native Japanese kun'yomi pronunciation, it is also read kaijin or kaishin in Sino-Japanese on'yomi (from Chinese haishen 海神 "sea god"). The original Watatsumi meaning "tutelary deity of the sea" is semantically extended as a synecdoche or metaphor meaning "the sea; the ocean; the main".


The etymology of the sea god Watatsumi is uncertain. Marinus Willern de Visser (1913:137) notes consensus that wata is an Old Japanese word for "sea; ocean" and tsu is a possessive particle, but disagreement whether mi
means "snake" or "lord; god". "It is not impossible" he concludes,
"that the old Japanese sea-gods were snakes or dragons." Compare the
Japanese rain god Kuraokami
that was similarly described as a giant snake or a dragon. The
comparative linguist Paul K. Benedict proposed (1990:236-7) that
Japanese wata 海 "sea" derives from Proto-Austronesian *wacal "sea; open sea".

Ōwatatsumi

The Kojiki
version of the Japanese creation myth honorifically refers to Watatsumi
海神 with the name Ōwatatsumi kami 大綿津見神 "Great Watatsumi god". Compare
this sea god with mountain god named Ohoyamatsumi 大山積. The world-creating siblings Izanagi and Izanami first give birth to the Japanese islands (kuniumi) and then to the gods (kamiumi ) .

When they had finished giving birth to countries, they began afresh
giving birth to Deities. So the name of the Deity they gave birth to was
the Deity Great-Male-of-the-Great-Thing; next they gave birth to the
Deity Rock-Earth-Prince; next they gave birth to the Deity
Rock-Nest-Princess; next they gave birth to the Deity
Great-Door-Sun-Youth; next they gave birth to the Deity
Heavenly-Blowing-Male; next they gave birth to the Deity
Great-House-Prince; next they gave birth to the Deity
Youth-of-the-Wind-Breath-the-Great-Male; next they gave birth to the
Sea-Deity, whose name is the Deity Great-Ocean-Possessor; next they gave
birth to the Deity of the Water-Gates, whose name is the Deity
Prince-of-Swift-Autumn; next they gave birth to his younger sister the
Deity Princess-of-Swift-Autumn. (tr. Chamberlain 1919:28)

Chamberlain (1919:30) explains mochi 持ち
"having; taking; holding; grasping; owning" behind translating Ōwatsumi
kami as "Deity Great-Ocean-Possessor", "The interpretation of mochi, "possessor," though not absolutely sure, has for it the weight both of authority and of likelihood."


A subsequent Kojiki passage describes Watatsumi's daughter Otohime and her human husband Hoori living with the sea god. After Hoori lost his brother Hoderi's
fishhook, he went searching to the bottom of the sea, where he met and
married the dragon goddess Otohime. They lived in the sea god's
underwater palace Ryūgū-jō for three years before Hoori became homesick.

So he dwelt in that land for three years. Hereupon His Augustness
Fire-Subside thought of what had gone before, and heaved one deep sigh.
So Her Augustness Luxuriant-Jewel-Princess, hearing the sigh, informed
her father, saying: "Though he has dwelt three years [with us], he had
never sighed; but this night he heaved one deep sigh. What may be the
cause of it?" The Great Deity her father asked his son-in-law saying:
"This morning I heard my daughter speak, saying: 'Though he has dwelt
three years [with us], he had never sighed; but this night he heaved one
deep sigh.' What may the cause be? Moreover what was the cause of thy
coming here?" Then [His Augustness Fire-Subside] told the Great Deity
exactly how his elder brother had pressed him for the lost fish-hook.
Thereupon the Sea-Deity summoned together all the fishes of the sea,
great and small, and asked them, saying: "Is there perchance any fish
that has taken this fish-hook?" So all the fishes replied: "Lately the tahi
has complained of something sticking in its throat preventing it from
eating; so it doubtless has taken [the hook]." On the throat of the tahi
being thereupon examined, there was the fish-hook [in it]. Being
forthwith taken, it was washed and respectfully presented to His
Augustness Fire-Subside, whom the Deity Great-Ocean-Possessor then
instructed. (tr. Chamberlain 1919:149)

Watatsumi instructs Hoori how to deal with Hoderi, and chooses another mythic Japanese dragon, a wani "crocodile" or "shark", to transport his daughter and son in law back to land.


Two Nihongi contexts refer to Watatsumi in legends about Emperor Keikō and Emperor Jimmu. First, the army of Emperor Keikō encounters Hashirimizu 馳水 "running waters" crossing from Sagami Province to Kazusa Province. The calamity is attributed to the Watatsumi 海神 "sea god" and placated through human sacrifice.

Next he marched on to Sagami, whence he desired to proceed to
Kadzusa. Looking over the sea, he spake with a loud voice, and said:
"This is but a little sea: one might even jump over it." But, when he
came to the middle of the sea a storm suddenly arose, and the Prince's
ship was tossed about, so that he could not cross over. At this time
there was a concubine in the Prince's suite, named Oto-tachibana-hime.
She was the daughter of Oshiyama no Sukune of the Hodzumi House. She
addressed the Prince, saying: "This present uprising of the winds and
rushing of the waves, so that the Prince's ship is like to sink, must be
due to the wishes of the God of the Sea. I pray thee
let me go into the sea, and so let the person of thy mean handmaiden be
given to redeem the life of the Prince's Augustness." Having finished
speaking, she plunged into the billows. The storm forthwith ceased, and
the ship was enabled to reach the shore. Therefore the people of that
time called that sea Hashiri-midzu. (tr. Aston 1896:206)

Second, the genealogy of Emperor Jimmu claims descent from the goddess Toyotama-hime, the daughter of Hori and Otohime, who is identified as the daughter of Watatsumi 海童.

The Emperor Kami Yamato Ihare-biko's personal name was
Hiko-hoho-demi. He was the fourth child of
Hiko-nagisa-takeu-gaya-fuki-ahezu no Mikoto. His mother's name was
Tamayori-hime, daughter of the Sea-God. From his birth, this Emperor was
of clear intelligence and resolute will. (tr. Aston 1896:109-110)

There is uncertainty whether Nihongi scribes wrote tsumi with dō 童 "child; boy" simply for pronunciation or for some semantic significance.

Watatsumi Sanjin

When Izanagi's sister-wife dies giving birth to the fire god Kagutsuchi,
his destroying it creates various deities, including the water dragon
Kuraokami. After Izanagi goes to the underworld in a futile attempt to
bring Izanami back to life, he returns to the world and undergoes ritual
purifications to cleanse himself of hellish filth. He creates 12
deities from his garments and belongings and 14 (including the 3
Watatsumis) from bathing himself.


With the tsu 津 in these three dragon names being read as the genitive particle "of", they rule different water depths in the sea, soko 底 "bottom; underneath", naka 中 "middle; center", and uwa 上 "above; top" (Kojiki) or uwa 表 "surface; top" (Nihongi). Chamberlain (1919:48) notes, "There is the usual doubt as to the signification to be assigned to the syllable tsu
in the second, fourth and last of these names. If it really means, not
"elder" but "possessor," we should be obliged to translate by "the
Bottom-Possessing-Male," etc."


The earlier Kojiki version of the "Three Watatsumi Gods" calls
them Wakatsumikami 綿津見神 "Wakatsumi gods": Sokotsu Watatsumikami 底津,
Nakatsu Watatsumikami 中津綿津見神, and Uwatsu Watatsumikami 上津綿津見神.

Thereupon saying: "The water in the upper reach is [too] rapid; the
water in the lower reach is [too] sluggish," he went down and plunged in
the middle reach; and, as he washed, there was first born the
Wondrous-Deity-of-Eighty-Evils, and next the
Wondrous-Deity-of-Great-Evils. These two Deities are the Deities that
were born from the filth [he contracted] when he went to that polluted,
hideous land. The names of the Deities that were next born to rectify
those evils were: the Divine-Rectifying-Wondrous Deity, next the
Great-Rectifying-Wondrous-Deity, next the Female-Deity-Idzu. The names
of the Deities that were next born, as he bathed at the bottom of the
water, were: the Deity Possessor-of-the-Ocean-Bottom, and next His
Augustness Elder-Male-of-the-Bottom. The names of the Deities that were
born as he bathed in the middle [of the water] were: the Deity
Possessor-of-the-Ocean-Middle, and next His Augustness
Elder-Male-of-the-Middle. The names of the Deities that were born as he
bathed at the top of the water were the Deity
Possessor-of-the-Ocean-Surface, and next His Augustness
Elder-Male-of-the-Surface. These three Ocean-Possessing Deities are the
Deities held in reverence as their ancestral Deities by the Chiefs of
Adzumi. So the Chiefs of Adzumi are the descendants of His Augustness
Utsushi-hi-gana-saku, a child of these Ocean-Possessing Deities. These
three Deities His Augustness Elder-Male-of-the-Bottom, His Augustness
Elder-Male-of-the-Middle, and His Augustness Elder-Male-of-the-Surface
are the three Great Deities of the Inlet of Sumi. (tr. Chamberlain
1919:45-46)

The later Nihongi version describes the "Three Watatsumi Gods"
as Watatsumi Mikoto 少童命 "small child lords": Sokotsu Watatsumi Mikoto
底津少童命, Nakatsu Watatsumi Mikoto 中津少童命, and Uwatsu Watatsumi Mikoto
表津少童命. These Watatsumis are paired with three O Mikoto 男命 "male lords".

Moreover, the Deities which were produced by his plunging down and
washing in the bottom of the sea were called Soko-tsu-wata-tsu-mi no
Mikoto and Sokotsutsu-wo no Mikoto. Moreover, when he plunged and washed
in the mid-tide, there were Gods produced who were called Naka I tsu
wata-dzu-mi no Mikoto, and next Naka-tsutsu-wo no Mikoto. Moreover, when
he washed floating on the surface of the water, Gods were produced, who
were called Uha-tsu-wata-dzu-mi no Mikoto and next Uhai-tsutsu-wo no
Mikoto. There were in all nine Gods. The Gods Soko-tsutsu-wo no Mikoto,
Naka-tsutsu-wo no Mikoto, and Soko-tsutsu-wo no Mikoto are the three
great Gods of Suminoye. The Gods Soko-tsu-wata-dzu-mi no Mikoto,
Naka-tsu-wata-dzu-mi no Mikoto, and Uha-tsu-wata-dzu-mi no Mikoto are
the Gods worshipped by the Muraji of Adzumi. (tr. Aston 1896:27)