The following story from the _Nihongi_ illustrates Japanese ideas respecting the Thunder-God:-- _"A.D. 618. This year Kahabe no Omi was sent to the province of Aki with orders to build ships. On arriving at the mountain, he sought for ship timber. Having found good timber, he marked it and was about to cut it, when a man appeared, and said: 'This is a thunder-tree, and must not be cut.' Kahabe no Omi said: 'Shall even the Thunder-God oppose the Imperial commands?' So having offered many mitegura, he sent workmen to cut down the timber. Straightway a great rain fell, and it thundered and lightened. Hereupon Kahabe no Omi drew his sword, and said: 'O Thunder-God, harm not the workmen; it is my person that thou shouldst injure.' So he looked up and waited. But although the God thundered more than ten times, he could not harm Kahabe no Omi. Then he changed himself into a small fish, which stuck between the branches of the tree. Kahabe no Omi forthwith took the fish and burnt it. So at last the ships were built."_ =Other Fire-Gods=.--Futsunushi's quality as a Fire-God had been quite forgotten even in the _Kojiki_ and _Nihongi_ times. But there are several other Fire-Gods, or perhaps we should rather say local or occasional variants of the same deity. Kagu-tsuchi, or "radiant father," is the name given to a Fire-God in the _Nihongi_, where he is said to have caused the death of his mother Izanami. _Kagu_ contains the same root as _kagayaku_, to shine. It also occurs in _Kaguyama_, a sacred mountain in Yamato, from which the needful objects for sacrifice were in early times provided. This God is worshipped under the name of Ho-musubi or "fire-growth"[131] on the summit of Atago, a mountain near Kiōto. There are many hill-shrines to this deity near other cities in Japan. His business is to give protection against conflagrations. The Jimmu legend speaks as if fire-worship arose from the deification of the sacrificial fire. But there must have been other reasons. The domestic fire renders important services to mankind, and its relation to the sun is unmistakable. Indeed the Japanese call fire and sun by the same name, _hi_. Fire has also its terrible aspect, which is recognized in myth and _norito_.[132] Hirata identifies the God with the element. He is obviously a class, and not an individual God. There is a festival at the present day called the Hi-taki-matsuri (fire-kindle-festival), when bonfires are lit, and small offerings made to the flames.