Kuraokami (jap. クラオカミ; Kojiki: 闇淤加美〔神〕, Nihonshoki: 闇龗〔神〕, also: Kura-okami-no-kami;
Karl Florenz suggests as an apt translation "dark great god" or "great god of the valley gorges") is, in Shintō mythology, one of the kami born from the blood dripping from Izanagi's sword onto the ground after he had used it to slay his son, the fire kami Kagutsuchi, out of anger that the latter had fatally burned his mother and Izanagi's sister and wife Izanami at birth.
His daughter, Hi-kaha-hime (日河比売), later became the wife of Fuha-no-moji-ku-nu-su-nu (布波能母遅久奴須奴神), son of Kono-hana-chiru-hime (daughter of Ō-yama-tsu-mi) and Ya-shima-ji-nu-mi (son of Kushi-nada-hime and Susanoo). Together, they established the lineage that eventually led to the birth of Hime-tatara-isuke-yori-hime, who, along with Jimmu, founded the Tennō lineage.
As already stated in the Man'yōshū, Kuraokami, along with Takaokami, has the function of a rain kami. He is the "great rainmaker on the heights" or the "dark rain god" who is also responsible for snowfall.
Main Shintō shrines to Kuraokami are the Nibukawakami shrine in Yoshino County of Nara Prefecture and hundreds of Kifune shrines. At the original Kifune-jinja-no-honsha in Kyōto, the name of the main kami was Kura-okami-no-kami until World War II, but was later changed to Taka-okami-no-kami.
