K'otuja (gen. 5)

El lingüista k'iche' Sam Colop (2008: 14) afirma que K'otuja, el Aj Pop K'amja de la quinta generación del linaje Kawek, junto con Q'ukumatz, es uno de los "señores prodogiosos" cuya lectura del libro Popol Wuj y la sabiduría ancestral le permite saber cuándo hay que hacer guerra, cuándo viene el hambre y otros momentos importantes en la vida del pueblo k'iche'. Según el testimonio del Popol Wuj y otras fuentes mesoamericanas, por ejemplo el Título de Totonicapán, a finales del siglo XV K'otuja consolidó el poder k'iche' a través del uso estratégico del matrimonio con los pueblos Kaqchikel y Tz'utujil. Frente a la expansión del poder del pueblo K'iche', la nación Ilokab' intentó hacer guerra contra él, pero las demás naciones le apoyaron en solidaridad.

Anthropologist Allen J. Christenson (2007: 267n733) suggests that the two leaders of the fifth generation of the Kaweq are father and son, and that the K'otuja mentioned here with Q'ukumatz is the same figure who ruled with Istayul in the fourth generation. According to Christenson, K'otuja was "likely" the father of "Q'ukumatz (Quetzal Serpent) ... who acceded upon the death of his father at the hands of the Ilocab. The manuscript always spells the name of this lord as Cucumatz, whereas the creator deity with the same, or similar, name is spelled Qucumatz. The variant spellings may be the result of multiple scribes working on the manuscript, each with his/her own creative ways of spelling. Alternatively, it may simply be a means of distinguishing between the deity and this lord. With Cucumatz, who reigned ca. 1400-1425, we are entering into a period of Quiché history in which historical details are better known. Under the direction of Cucumatz the power of the Quichés expanded northward to the area of present-day Sacapulas in a series of campaigns aided by allied Cakchiquel warriors (Recinos 1957, 133-139)."