Sarutahiko Ōkami, is the leader of the earthly kami, deity of the Japanese religion of Shinto. Norito also mentions him with the title Daimyōjin instead of Ōkami. Sarutahiko Ōkami is seen as a symbol of Misogi, strength and, which is why he is the patron of martial arts such as aikido. He enshrined at Tsubaki Grand Shrine in Mie Prefecture, first among the 2000 shrines of Sarutahiko Ōkami, Sarutahiko Jinja in Ise, Mie and Ōasahiko Shrine in Tokushima Prefecture. In the Nihon Shoki, he is the one who greets Ninigi-no-Mikoto, the grandson of Amaterasu, the Sun goddess, when he descends from Takama-ga-hara. He is depicted as a towering man with a large beard, jeweled spear, ruddy face, and long nose. At first he is unwilling to yield his realm until persuaded by Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto, the kami of dance and the arts, whom he later marries. His Paredros and children created the Sarume no Kimi clan along with an order of female court and religious dancers. It was the origin of Kagura and Noh. Other descendants includes the Ujitoko clan from Ise province. According to Kojiki, he went in Ise where a giant clam trapped his hand on Isuzu river at Azaka, thus he drowned. But strangely, Sarutahiko was considered by Ueshiba Morihei as a kind of god of the cosmic life : the god of Aiki. According to O-Senseï, the practice of Aikidō was practice of Misogi purification itself... which doesn't fit very well this Kojiki story of Sarutahiko's death.
Etymology
Sarutahiko's name consists of an etymologically obscure element, Saruta, which is traditionally transcribed with kanji that suggest the meaning "monkey-field" as a sort of double entendre, followed by the Classical Japanese noun hiko "a male child of noble blood, a prince." Thus, Sarutahiko Ōkami's embellished name could be roughly translated into English as "Great God, Prince Saruta." Many variant pronunciations of his name exist, including Sarudabiko and Sadahiko. Although it is usually not written, the Japanese genitive case marker, -no, is often suffixed to his name in speech when it is followed immediately by one of his honorific titles, such as Ōkami or Mikoto. Anthropologist Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney lists three factors that identify Sarutahiko as a monkey deity: saru means "monkey", his features "include red buttocks, which are a prominent characteristic of Japanese macaques", and as macaques gather shellfish at low tide, the Kojikisays his hand got caught in a shell while fishing and "a monkey with one hand caught in a shell is a frequent theme of Japanese folktales".
Title
Sarutahiko has the distinction of being one of only seven kami to be honored with the title Ōkami or "Great Kami"; the other six are Izanagi, Izanami, Michikaeshi, Sashikuni, Inari, and Amaterasu. Sarutahiko and Inari appear to be the only Okami from the kunitsukami, or earthly kami, the others being Amatsukami. Although there is some other Daimyōjin and Daigongen, most of them appeared latter in the History of Japanese Religion, such as Hachiman or Hindu deities, the meaning of Daimyōjin appear to be a little different from Ōkami, the latter being obviously more ancient.
