Okami (淤加美神, Okami-no-kami) in the Kojiki, or in the Nihon Shoki: Kuraokami (闇龗) or Okami (龗), is a legendary Japanese dragon and Shinto deity of rain and snow. In Japanese mythology, the sibling progenitors Izanagi and Izanami gave birth to the islands and gods of Japan. After Izanami died from burns during the childbirth of the fire deity Kagu-tsuchi, Izanagi was enraged and killed his son. Kagutsuchi's blood or body, according to differing versions of the legend, created several other deities, including Kuraokami.
Name
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The name Kuraokami combines kura 闇 "dark; darkness; closed" and okami 龗 "dragon tutelary of water". This uncommon kanji (o)kami or rei 龗, borrowed from the Chinese character ling 龗 "rain-dragon; mysterious" (written with the "rain" radical 雨, 3 口 "mouths", and a phonetic of long 龍 "dragon") is a variant Chinese character for Japanese rei < Chinese ling 靈 "rain-prayer; supernatural; spiritual" (with 2 巫 "shamans" instead of a "dragon"). Compare this 33-stroke 龗 logograph with the simpler 24-stroke variant 靇 ("rain" and "dragon" without the "mouths"), read either rei < ling 靇 "rain prayer; supernatural" or ryō < long 靇 "sound of thunder", when used for ryo < long 隆 reduplicated in ryōryō < longlong 隆隆 "rumble; boom".