Kisa character

It is read kisa, an old Japanese word for an ark shell. The word is recorded around 934 in Wamyō Ruijushō, a Japanese dictionary; that date belongs to the word, not this glyph.

The Kojiki, an early Japanese chronicle, says Kisagai-hime and Hamaguri-hime revive Ōkuninushi after a heated stone kills him: one gathers his body; the other applies the mother’s milk. The first sign varies: one theory links it to 蚶 (“shell”); another reads it as a made sign combining 刮 (“scrape”) and 虫, matching the scene. The Izumo no kuni fudoki, a local gazetteer, records Kisa-hime names 支佐加比売命 and 枳佐加比売命; scholars dispute whether they refer to the same goddess.