

As far as I watched, Bishamon and Kofuku are portrayals of the Seven Lucky
Gods (七福神 _shichi fukujin_ ). But it wasn't clear about Yato. Bishamon
mentioned him as a God of Calamity, but there is no such god among the Seven
Lucky Gods. So, which god might Yato be a portrayal of? Is he a new character
altogether?


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noragami
Which god of Japan is actually portrayed by Yato in Noragami?


Yato, the god of calamity, is a minor deity apart from the Seven Lucky Gods.

I am inclined to say that he doesn't accurately match up to any actual gods
existing in Japanese folklore for a few reasons.

Before all else, we know Yato as a god that does not even have his own grand
shrine, indicating that he is relatively unknown. Yato's goal in this series
it to become a popular god.

Next, we know that this series does not exactly follow the Japanese folklore.
While Bishamon is pretty accurate, Kofuku Ebisu does not represent the god of
luck. Instead, she is nearly the opposite.

Lastly, the title of this series leads me to believe that Yato is a fictional
god. Nora is a stray shinki, which strongly suggests that the title Noragami
means Stray God (with gami meaning god).

Because of the combination of fictional elements and indications that Yato is
an unimportant god, he is most likely fictional or even partly fictional like
in Ebisu's case.


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Kofuku is not the goddess of luck, and as explained in the series, she is the
goddess of misfortune. She is not a part of Seven Gods of Fortune. The Seven
gods are Hotei, Jurōjin, Fukurokuju, Bishamonten, Benzaiten (Benten-sama),
Daikokuten (Daikoku) and Ebisu. Her surname, Ebisu is shared with the god of
fortune as he will appear later in the series or you can just read the manga
(which are raws) to find out more.

As for Yato, well, I think it's obvious that he is a fictional character based
on the images of the gods of war in Japanese mythology.


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I agree with the general assumption that Yato is not meant to directly
represent any god in particular, but be an inspiration from some minor deity
of war, or perhaps even many. It goes with his character's back story, or at
least what we have seen of his back story up to this point in the anime. He is
referenced as the "god of calamity" and is shown fighting and slaying his
opponents in the flash backs. As a side note, researching the term Yato or
Yato-kami does not appear to return anything very compelling, or related to
any major deity. This further supports the idea that he is an inspired god,
perhaps from a singular or several obscure tales.


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From [Yato-no-kami](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yato-no-kami) on Wikipedia:

> The Yato-no-kami (夜刀の神?, "gods of the night-sword") are snake deities in
> Japanese folklore appearing in the Hitachi No Kuni Fudoki. They lived in
> Namegata county, in fields near the government office. They were rumored to
> bring familial extermination on anyone who saw them. Eventually, they were
> killed by a man clearing the fields, enshrined, and banished to the
> mountains.

This might explain why Yato does not have a shrine. Since Yato-no-kami
exterminate people, this might also explain why he is considered a god of
calamity. It would also explain his snake eyes.


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It might be this ([Yato-no-kami](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yato-no-kami) on
Wikipedia):

> The Yato-no-kami (夜刀の神?, "gods of the night-sword") are snake deities in
> Japanese folklore appearing in the Hitachi No Kuni Fudoki. They lived in
> Namegata county, in fields near the government office. They were rumored to
> bring familial extermination on anyone who saw them. Eventually, they were
> killed by a man clearing the fields, enshrined, and banished to the
> mountains.

The fact that Yato doesn't have any shrine and in the article above it says
that Yato-no-kami is enshrined. And on the past of Yato in Noragami he is a
God that kills people and killed a regalia, in the article above it says that
the Yato-no-Kami exterminate people. Also the Yato-no-kami are also known as
the gods of the night sword and the last regalia that Yato handled in Noragami
is Yuki which is a sword. And in the article it says that Yato-no-Kami is a
snake deity, if you look closely at Yato's eyes it looks like a snake's eyes
because his pupils are thin that is the same with the snakes.


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Regarding Yato as the Yato-no-kami would be a mistake. Spoiler alert:

> If you have read the manga, there is a deity Bishamonten reported to after
> the incident in her abode. He referred to himself as Yato-no-kami and
> mistakenly thought of Yato as an impersonator just like Kokufu.


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Yato is an amalgam of many folktales that formed around the Heian period in
Japan. I cannot say for sure that he is based on one deity, and as others have
stated before he is not a part of The Seven Gods of Fortune, like Bishamonten
and other characters that appear later on in the manga (I suggest reading it
if you haven't already) and as he does not have his own shrine he is an
unknown entity.

We can conclude that he isn't in fact based on one single god. However, I find
the "Yato-no-kami theory" interesting and will investigate more about it.
There are similarities, but there is something that gets in the way of that.
Spoiler alert:

> Yato's real name is not Yato-no-Kami (it is actually Yaboku, Yato is an
> alias), so that disproves the theory in my opinion.


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Yato is definitely not a 夜刀神 Spoiler alert:

> Yato's name in kanji is 夜卜 which is pronounced yaboku. but the people in the
> anime read the 卜 as the katakana ト (to) which looks very similar. It was
> Hiyori that realised his name was two kanji and was able to call him out of
> the underworld.

I am sorry, but due to restricted internet, I cannot do more research on the
type of kami (Damn China internet).


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