Kasuga-no-Kami

Kasuga no Kami (春日神) or Kasuga Gongen (春日権現) or Kasuga Daimyōjin (春日大明神) is a god of Kasuga-taisha. It is composed of five separate gods each with a Shinto and a Buddhist equivalent.

The four main kami enshrined at Kasuga-taisha are Ame-no-Koyane, Himegami, Futsunushi no mikoto, and Takemikazuchi no mikoto.  They are often imagined as a single entity called Kasuga Daimyōjin. Kasuga Daimyōjin is composed of five divine beings and each consists of a Buddhist deity and Shinto kami counterpart. The fifth deity, Ame-no-Oshikumone, was added much later and is said to be the divine child of Ame-no-Koyane and Himegami. The popularity of Kasuga Daimyojin inspired people to worship other gods as collective entities like Kumano Gongen.
The four main kami (excluding Ame-no-Oshikumone) each have a shrine devoted to them which are all in the same architectural style. They are characterized by sloping gabled roofs, a rectangular structure, katsuogi (decorative logs), and chigi (forked roof structures). The first hall is dedicated to Takemikazuchi no mikoto, the second to Futsunushi no mikoto, the third to Ame-no-Koyane, and the final hall is attributed to the consort, Himegami. Wakamiya Shrine is dedicated to the fifth god Ame-no-Oshikumone.https://www.mlit.go.jp/tagengo-db/common/001559851.pdf

The two kami Ame-no-Koyane and Himegami  were bunrei transferred from Hiraoka Shrine, and the shrine was thus given the name of Moto-Kasuga ("former Kasuga"). Those two deities and their son Ame-no-Oshikumone are ancestors of the Nakatomi clan and Fujiwara clan.Shibata, Joue. Saitama Sōsho. (1929) Volume 1: Chichibu Shi, p 111, Chichibu hikomikoto o keizu 『埼玉叢書. 第1巻』内『秩父志』内111頁「秩父彦命御系図」. Sanmeisha

Hiraoka Shrine is located on the western side of the Ikoma Mountains in central Osaka Prefecture. Originally it was a center for mountain worship and the kami of Kozudake, the peak immediately behind the shrine, came to be identified with Ame-no-Koyane, the Oyagami of the Nakatomi clan, and the Fujiwara clan.

 Equivalents 
He has five components
each of which has a corresponding Buddha.Allan G. Grapard The Protocol of the Gods: A Study of the Kasuga Cult in Japanese History, University of California press 
Shrine HallShinto DeityBuddhist Deity (Daijo-in)Buddhist Deity (Ichijo-in)othersFirst HallTakemikazuchiShakyamuniAmoghapashahttps://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/bitstream/1808/17426/1/Fowler.pdfSecond HallFutsunushiBhaisajyaguruThird HallAme-no-KoyaneKṣitigarbhaFourth HallHimegamiEkādaśamukhaDainichi NyoraiWakamiya ShrineAme-no-OshikumoneManjushriāryāvalokiteśvara

In popular culture
Kasuga no Kami, Jade Angel is a card in WIXOSS.

Related pages
 Kumano Gongen

References

Category:Gods and goddesses of Japan
Category:Gongen