A discovery made while researching Goddesses!
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| Tenko's Sacrifice |
Tenko is not a woman, it's a heavenly fox. That's what I thought this tsuba guard referenced.
Depicted is Benzaiten, considered to be a manifestation of Amaterasu.
Soh is sacrificing herself when she uses this tsuba guard. She's 'tenko'.
We also receive Tenko's Sacrifice in it the Narusawa Wind Caves, where the Maiden is sacrificed.
However, in Japanese, it's only called Tenko(天后 ). Which means Queen of Heaven. This is a title for Amaterasu! It does not use the kanji for fox.
后 (kō): Means empress or queen
狐 (kō / kitsune): Means fox.
This title 'Tianhou' is for the Chinese Goddess Mazu. But it's also what Amaterasu is referred to many times. (Mazu is also depicted as wearing red, just like in the tsuba guard)
There's strange translation differences between English and Japanese. The English team were given different information because it's impossible for these to be 'translations' when the Japanese name does not contain the same information as the translation.
There's a few mazo talismans that were translated very differently as well. Why rename them and lose the meaning and implication of the talisman?
Anyway, still working on my Goddess post. I have a lot to read!