Nomi no Sukune: Founding God of Sumo and Ancestor of the Haji Potters Who Teaches the Craftsman's Path of Mastering a Skill

What Is Nomi no Sukune: A Legendary God of Both Strength and Wisdom

Nomi no Sukune is a remarkably many-sided divine figure who stands at the border between Japanese myth and ancient history. Revered to this day by sumo wrestlers as the founding god of sumo, he also became the ancestor of the distinguished Haji clan as the wise man who replaced the custom of human sacrifice with haniwa, clay figures. A rare being possessing both strength of body and wisdom of mind — that is Nomi no Sukune.

According to the Nihon Shoki, Nomi no Sukune is said to have come from the province of Izumo, present-day Shimane, and is portrayed as a man who served Emperor Suinin. Izumo has long been a land of powerful gods beginning with Okuninushi, and Nomi no Sukune was a man of valor in that very lineage. Yet what left his name to later ages was not his prodigious strength alone. It is because he used his power rightly and, beyond that, exercised "the wisdom to save human lives" that he continues to be enshrined as a god.

Shrines that enshrine Nomi no Sukune exist in various places, including the Sumo Shrine in Sakurai, Nara, and the Nomi no Sukune Shrine in Ryogoku, Tokyo, and they draw devout faith from the world of sumo. As the figure to whom yokozuna and wrestlers join their hands before stepping into the ring, his name still lives on.

The Trial of Strength with Taima no Kehaya: The Origin Myth of Japanese Sumo

The first story that made Nomi no Sukune's name immortal is his trial of strength with Taima no Kehaya. Taima no Kehaya, a man of great power who lived in Taima village in Yamato province, boasted that "there is no one in the world who can match my strength." Hearing of his reputation, Emperor Suinin sought a champion to rival Taima no Kehaya, and on the advice of his retainers summoned Nomi no Sukune from Izumo.

Before the emperor, the two men faced each other. This is regarded as the oldest recorded "sumo" in Japan. After fierce kicking and grappling, the Nihon Shoki tells that Nomi no Sukune stamped and broke the bone of Taima no Kehaya's hip and won the match. By this contest Nomi no Sukune was given high favor by the emperor and, it is said, granted the lands of Taima no Kehaya.

This trial of strength is regarded as the origin of the ritual sumo that leads to later grand sumo, and within the precincts of the Sumo Shrine in Sakurai stands a monument marking "the birthplace of sumo." That wrestlers still look to Nomi no Sukune as their founding god is proof of a long tradition that began with this single bout. Yet what Nomi no Sukune showed here was not mere physical force. His true worth was displayed in what came afterward.

The Wisdom of Haniwa That Ended Human Sacrifice: An Invention That Saved Lives

The heart of Nomi no Sukune's story lies, rather than in sumo, in "the invention of haniwa." In the customs of the time, when an emperor or member of the imperial family died, their close attendants and servants were buried alive around the tomb in a practice called junshi, following one's lord in death. When Emperor Suinin's younger brother Yamatohiko-no-Mikoto died, it is said that those buried alive cried out for many days and then decayed, and the emperor was deeply pained by the wretched sight.

So when the empress died, the emperor asked his ministers whether something could be done about this miserable custom. The one who stepped forward was Nomi no Sukune. He summoned a hundred clay workers from Izumo, had them make clay images shaped like people, horses, and various objects, and proposed that these be set up around the tomb in place of living people. This was the origin of haniwa.

The emperor greatly rejoiced at this idea and thereafter ordained that haniwa be used in place of human sacrifice. And in praise of Nomi no Sukune's merit, he granted him the surname Haji no Omi. Thus Nomi no Sukune gave rise to the culture of the haniwa that adorn ancient burial mounds and became the ancestor of the Haji clan who presided over funerary rites. A man who rose to fame by strength in the end saved countless lives by wisdom — in this turn lies the very essence of the god Nomi no Sukune.

What I Felt About "Mastering a Skill" When I Watched a Craftsman's Hands

When I learned the story of Nomi no Sukune, I recalled an unremarkable scene one morning. As I walked through a town on a business trip, I saw through a window an elderly craftsman in a small workshop before opening hours, silently tending to his tools. There was no one to show it to; he simply trimmed each blade carefully, and I stopped for a while and found myself absorbed in watching those hands.

In that figure dwelt something unshakable — a kind of quiet confidence that only a person who has faced the same work for long years possesses. There was nothing flashy about it, yet what came from those hands was surely of use to people. When I felt that, I suddenly thought of Nomi no Sukune. He too, I imagined, had together with the clay workers he summoned from Izumo kneaded the earth by hand and shaped each haniwa one by one.

Perhaps this is what it means to master a skill. Not to be recognized by anyone, not to compete and win, but simply to carefully build up the work before you. That accumulation, before you know it, becomes a power that saves people and supports the world. It was a morning when the hands of that craftsman seen through a window and the hands that kneaded haniwa two thousand years ago felt connected, straight and true.

The Lineage of the Haji Clan: How a Skill Gave Rise to a Family Trade of a Thousand Years

The Haji clan, whose ancestor was Nomi no Sukune, went on to leave great footprints in Japanese history. As a professional group specializing in the construction of burial mounds, the making of haniwa, and funerary rites, they served the court for a long time. One excellent skill and invention became the livelihood of generation after generation of descendants and continued to support the family line for more than a thousand years.

What deserves further attention is that the Haji clan later branched into clans such as the Sugawara, the Oe, and the Akishino. From the Sugawara in particular came Sugawara no Michizane, famed as the god of learning. In other words, the bloodline of Nomi no Sukune, founder of sumo and haniwa, would in a later age give rise even to the "god of learning." From a single craftsman god, a vast lineage spanning martial, craft, and scholarly arts branched out.

This tells how great a value one certain skill can produce. The flow that Nomi no Sukune showed — "from strength to wisdom, from wisdom to craft, from craft to family trade" — teaches us the universal truth that continuing to refine one's expertise brings abundance not only to oneself but even to later generations.

Three Things the Way of Nomi no Sukune Teaches Us Today

Let us organize into three the teachings we today can learn from the story of Nomi no Sukune.

First, the value of strength is decided by "what it is used for." Nomi no Sukune rose to fame by his prodigious strength, but merely flaunting that strength would not have made him a legend. It is because he sublimated his power into the wisdom to save lives that he came to be enshrined as a god. The abilities we hold, too, gain their true value for the first time when used not to display our own superiority but to be of use to someone.

Second, the courage to question custom and propose a better way. Junshi was, at that time, an ordinary custom. Amid everyone accepting it as "the way things are," Nomi no Sukune thought "there must be a better way" and showed a concrete alternative. The very attitude of not being swept along by precedent and convention, but seeking a way to make reality better, moves the world a step forward.

Third, master one skill and put it to use for the world. Nomi no Sukune and the Haji clan refined the single skill of kneading clay and passed it down as a family trade for a thousand years. To dig deeply into one specialty and carefully build it up — that steady endeavor is the foundation that produces lasting value.

The Message Nomi no Sukune Conveys to Us Today

What the god Nomi no Sukune conveys to us is the truth that "the true proof of strength lies not in the power to wound people but in the wisdom to save them." Though he was a peerless wrestler, what made his name immortal was the quiet invention of saving lives by kneading clay.

In modern society, standing out, competing and winning, and appearing strong tend to be praised. But the story of Nomi no Sukune teaches that what is truly precious is the working of the heart that lies beyond — "how one uses power" and "for whom one puts a skill to use."

If there is a skill you are now trying to acquire or an ability you are refining, try to grow it into something that is "of use to someone" and not only "for yourself." Just as Nomi no Sukune turned strength into wisdom, wisdom into craft, and put craft to use for the world. The path of carefully mastering one certain skill continues at your very feet even now, across two thousand years of time.