Zōka sanshin

The Zōka sanshin (造化三神, lit. "Three deities of creation") are the three Kami of creation: The Beginning, the Present and the End. Rather than believing that these Kami were the first to emerge in Utsushiyo, it is more accurate to say that Utsushiyo itself exists by virtue of the fact that these Kami came into being.

The three Jinke which serve the Zōka sanshin are what comprise the San-meike. The triad are considered formless, abstract Kami who are conceptional beings that represent the origins and future of the universe. This would make them Hitorigami, or Kami who came into being alone.

There are no records of the Zōka sanshin being worshiped by any known shrines not established by the San-meike, which has let some skeptics to believe that these Kami are literary inventions. However, a notable scholar from O-meguyoku-uji, Omeguyoku-no-Sagara, argues that the triad are beings that are in possession of the mitama of generation and expansion (musubi), and that they have no concrete beginning nor end. Sagara is known for being critical of the popular belief that the Zōka sanshin are in some way or form supreme or superior in status to other Kami simply for their order of appearance.

Ame-no-mezamemusubi-no-kokoronominaka-no-nushi
Ame-no-mezamemusubi-no-kokoronominaka-no-nushi, is the Kami believed to have been the first of all beings that emerged into existence. An alternative account is that the Kami is the origin of the very concept accepted as existence.

Name
The Kami is given the name Ame-no-mezamemusubi-no-kokorominaka-no-nushi in one of the oldest records (~374), as well as Kono-hajimari-no-kami in several simplified texts emerging from modernising records in approximately around the time of the founding of the San-meike (~652). The name implies that the Kami is the presiding, awakened totality at the center, or the heart, of the universe.

Interpretations
Unlike later generations of Kami which emerged in multitudes during the emergence of the domains, Ame-no-mezamemusubi-no-kokoronominaka-no-nushi is reckoned to be the first of three Kami that came into being alone, without counterparts. Whilst conceptually part of the Zōka sanshin, all three Kami have distinct roles that neither complement nor impart upon another.

As such, Ame-no-mezamemusubi-no-kokoronominaka-no-nushi is identified as the lord or overseer of all acts of creation (musubi), or all beginnings. Despite what their name implies, no mention is made of the Kami' s subsequent deeds to enforce divine laws or any supreme rule of, therefore the Kami does not act as the lord of the universe nor the ancestor to all of creation.

Unlike other the Yaoyorozu no Kami, no humans have ever witnessed the appearance of the Zōka sanshin in any material form. Instead, it is thought that Ame-no-mezamemusubi-no-kokoronominaka-no-nushi in particular has dwelled as a force within human beings throughout history. The emergence of unique schools of thought and revolutionary periods are largely considered to be set into motion through their influence. There are people who have claimed to have been Yorimashi of, or possessed by Ame-no-mezamemusubi-no-kokoronominaka-no-nushi, but few of such claims have ever held any truth to them.