Shinto’s Izanagi wasn’t really the “head god” I thought? He was the creator deity, and fathered the rest but that’s true for Ouranos in Greek myth and I don’t think he’d be considered a primary deity at all.
From my understanding that was Amaterasu. Wikipedia agrees, for whatever that’s worth.
Often considered the chief deity (kami) of the Shinto pantheon, she is also portrayed in Japan’s earliest literary texts, the Kojiki
I don’t really know of any other solid examples of a female-led pantheon, though.
It’s a little more complicated than that. Izanami and Izanagi both created a lot of gods together. They descended from the heavens and using a spear in the waters of creation, Izanagi created land. The both of them aren’t the original gods though.
Izanami and Izanagi are the last of the seven generations of gods, the Kamiyonanayo. Before them came the Kotoamatsukami, all coming into existence in solitude in Takamanohara at the creation of the universe.
Shinto’s “head god” was Izanagi, who was very much a man.
But there were plenty of very powerful feminine gods anyway. And Izanagi was the head in more a ‘fathered the others’ way than anything.
Shinto’s Izanagi wasn’t really the “head god” I thought? He was the creator deity, and fathered the rest but that’s true for Ouranos in Greek myth and I don’t think he’d be considered a primary deity at all.
From my understanding that was Amaterasu. Wikipedia agrees, for whatever that’s worth.
I don’t really know of any other solid examples of a female-led pantheon, though.
It’s a little more complicated than that. Izanami and Izanagi both created a lot of gods together. They descended from the heavens and using a spear in the waters of creation, Izanagi created land. The both of them aren’t the original gods though.
Izanami and Izanagi are the last of the seven generations of gods, the Kamiyonanayo. Before them came the Kotoamatsukami, all coming into existence in solitude in Takamanohara at the creation of the universe.
I’ve been interested in mythologies for a long time and in my experience this phrase literally always applies.
But I didn’t actually know most of that, really interesting! Thank you.