God of the Land

A **God of the Land** (土地神(とちがみ),, **Tochigami**) is a special rank of deities from the esteemed three thousand gods of the sacred mountain of Kaga. Among Gods from the High Celestial Plain, there are those that are deemed powerful and reliable enough to get a Stone Shard implanted in their bodies and are given a piece of land to manage. As the highest deity of a given region, these Gods have the obligation to purify and supervise the activity of the Curse in their land, keeping it from amassing and forming aberrations that could disturb the peace of the area.

Typically the areas they manage are densely populated and with higher concentrations of curse, however, as it is impossible to completely control the curse, aberrations are inevitable to take place from time to time. In order to neutralize these aberrations, a single exorcist is appointed in the region under the guidance of a God of the Land. The deity will assist the exorcist in purifying the curse and providing any information they might possess, but they are not allowed to fight the aberration unless it's an extremely dangerous one that could bring massive colateral damage. In the past, multiple exorcists were appointed on their regions, but this changed after the group of tsukumogami named Mayoiga took advantage of a weakened god of the land to assassinate her. In order to prevent such event from repeating, exorcists and tsugumomo are prohibited from entering on their lands unless it is with a previously arranged meeting from a temple or with the permission of another God of the Land. Since only one exorcist is appointed per area, only the best are selected for the job, as it becomes increasingly difficult to deal with aberrations solo. In order to get the position, an exorcist must be recommended by a temple such as Tsuzura Temple and pass a test from the God of the Land himself. Their tests are often very hard to surpass, as they usually involve a direct confrontation with the God.

In terms of fighting ability, Land Gods are pretty much the most powerful entities known in the world. Their power far surpasses even the other local gods, and wield power incomparable to exorcists or tsukumogami. They are typically extremely skilled in martial arts, as well as being able to manipulating a given element in a manner similar to magic. It is usually unthinkable to even consider engaging in combat with one at full-strength, and their power is so big they're prohibited from using their real strength unless it's for testing their regional exorcist or for a catastrophic emergency. As a testament of their strength, in order to kill the goddess Iwanagahime, Mayoiga specifically attacked her during a time where she was greatly weakened by a natural disaster, and even then it took the combined effort of 108 elite tsugumomo to take her life after a 7-days-long battle, of which only 5 barely managed to survive. As this showcases, rivalling a God of the Land in the battlefield is something that is almost impossible to achieve, with the only exception known being the formidable exorcist Kanaka Kagami.

Since Gods of the Lands carry a Stone Shard within their bodies, a relic that is said to bring immense disaster if two were to come into contact, they're not allowed to leave their designated lands or meet with their fellow Gods of the Land from their nearby regions. If they wished to do so, they usually interact with each other through Spirit Clones.

Known Gods of the Land

**Kukuri-Hime-no-Kami**

**Hinoka-Gutsuchi-no-Kami**

**Iwanaga-Hime-no-Mikoto**