PuniCodex

The Authentic Orthography

月読 Tsukuyomi

Moon God, Shintō · Moon reader

Tier 2 Tsukuyomi
Tsukuyomi — Moon God, Shintō
01

The Authentic Name

Unicode restoration and ASCII comparison

Original Script

月読

The name in its original Japanese form. Tsukuyomi (月読) is attested in the source tradition — “Moon reader”. Its original diacritics and script distinctions carry the full phonetic and orthographic weight of the source tradition.

ASCII Constraint

tsukuyomi

The plain tsukuyomi form is identical to the Unicode restoration. Because this name is already written in Latin letters, no diacritics, stress, or script information were lost — only capitalization differs.

Unicode Restoration

Tsukuyomi

The Unicode restoration does not need to recover lost marks for Tsukuyomi. Its value is canonical spelling and consistent cataloguing, not the reconstruction of erased orthography. The domain is readable as-is to both DNS and humanity.

Punycode Encoding
Tsukuyomi.com → tsukuyomi.com

The non-ASCII characters in Tsukuyomi are encoded while the ASCII remains visible. To the DNS, it is Punycode. To humanity, it is Tsukuyomi.

02

Original Script & Provenance

How Tsukuyomi is preserved in writing

月読
Original Script

A bespoke provenance study for Tsukuyomi is being prepared by the PUNICODEX scholarly team.

Contribute scholarly provenance →
03

Name Variations

Owned, ideal, and ASCII forms of Tsukuyomi

Canonical Restoration

Tsukuyomi

Restores 月読. The full Unicode restoration. tsukuyomi.com is not in the PuniCodex collection — it is watched for release; if it drops, this temple upgrades to an owned flagship.

04

Pronunciation

How Tsukuyomi was spoken

/tsɯ.kɯ.jo.mi/ Modern Standard Japanese (Hepburn)
Tsu- Voiceless alveolar affricate [ts] plus close back unrounded [ɯ]; from 月 'moon/month'
-ku- Voiceless velar stop [k] plus close back unrounded [ɯ]
-yo- Palatal approximant [j] plus open-mid [o]; from 夜 'night' or 読 'to read'
-mi Bilabial [m] plus close front [i]
05

Moon God of the Night

Lunar Order, Separation, and Celestial Sibling

Tsukuyomi is the moon kami of Japanese myth, born from Izanagi's right eye during the purification that also produced Amaterasu from the left eye and Susanoo from the nose. He governs the night and the lunar calendar, and his mythology turns on a violent act that separated him forever from the sun.

Moon God

Ruler of the night sky and the lunar order.

Sibling of Amaterasu

Born with her from Izanagi's purification.

Night Ruler

He governs the realm opposite the sun.

Separated Deity

His killing of Uke-mochi divided him from Amaterasu.

Sacred Symbols

Moon The luminous body he rules
Night The domain opposite Amaterasu's day
Sword or weapon The means by which he killed the food goddess Uke-mochi
Crescent The waxing and waning of the moon
06

Mythology

Stories of Tsukuyomi

Tsukuyomi's mythology is shorter than that of his siblings but crucial for understanding the separation of sun and moon.

Kojiki / Nihon Shoki

Birth from Izanagi's Eye

After escaping Yomi, Izanagi purified himself in a river. As he washed his right eye, Tsukuyomi was born. Amaterasu was given rule over the day, Tsukuyomi over the night, and Susanoo over the sea. The three siblings divided the cosmos among themselves.

Kojiki

The Killing of Uke-mochi

Amaterasu sent Tsukuyomi to visit Uke-mochi, the goddess of food. Uke-mochi produced food by vomiting or defecating it from her body. Disgusted or offended by this, Tsukuyomi killed her. Amaterasu was so angry that she declared she would never look at him again, and the sun and moon were separated into day and night.

Astronomical interpretation

Sun and Moon Divided

The myth explains why the sun and moon do not appear together. Tsukuyomi's act of violence created the alternation of day and night and established the moon as a separate, nocturnal power.

Go Deeper

Extended Lore

Tsukuyomi is the night that follows the day. His separation from Amaterasu reminds us that even divine siblings can wound each other beyond repair, and that some divisions — like sun and moon — become the structure of the world.

Enter Extended Lore
Tsukuyomi mascot