Izanagi and Izanami
IZANAGI AND IZANAMI, in Japanese mythology, are the universal parents and creators who produced the land, mountains, rivers, waves, trees, fields, wind, fog, and the deities ruling these things. According to the early written chronicle of Japan called the Kojiki, they appeared on the Takama no Hara, or High Plain of Heaven, as brother and sister. Standing on the Bridge of Heaven, they churned the ocean's water with a jeweled spear, then drew the spear up. The brine that dripped from the tip of the spear became the first Japanese island, Onogoro. Izanagi and Izanami descended onto the island, erected there a high pillar and a hall, then circled the pillar in opposite directions. When they met, they were united, and thus the islands of Japan were born.
After the birth of the islands, various other deities were born of the two creator-parents. But when the fire god Kagutsuchi was born, the mother goddess Izanami was burned to death by the heat. Like the Greek Orpheus, Izanagi descended to the land of Yomi (the underworld) to bring back his wife. His attempt ended in failure when he peered into a dark room with his torch against Izanami's wishes, only to find there her decaying corpse. Pursued by the enraged Izanami and her subordinate demons, Izanagi fled. Finally, the two deities stood face to face at the entrance of the underworld and agreed upon a divorce. It was decided that Izanagi should rule the living and Izanami the dead (a motif paralleling that of Tane and Hina in Polynesia). Izanagi then returned to the earth, where he purified himself in a stream. From his purified eyes and nose appeared three great deities: Amaterasu (the sun goddess), Tsukiyomi (the moon god), and Susano-o (the violent god). These deities were appointed rulers of heaven, night, and the ocean. Izanagi thereupon returned to the celestial abode, where he remained.
Somewhat different versions of the creation myth are recorded in the other ancient Japanese chronicle, the Nihonshoki. In it, the three great deities are born of both Izanagi and Izanami, not of Izanagi alone. There is no descent to the underworld by Izanagi, who retires permanently to a hidden palace on the island of Awaji in the Inland Sea. Since ancient times, there has been an Izanagi shrine on Awaji, and the divine couple have been worshiped by the fishermen and divers of this and neighboring islands. The myth of kuni-umi ("birth of the islands from the sea") seems to have originated with the Awaji fishermen. In the most primitive form of the story the divine couple created only Awaji and its tiny neighboring islands, but the myth must eventually have grown in scale to include the creation of all the islands of Japan.
The Kojiki as well as the Nihonshoki record that the two deities gave birth first to Awaji. According to another account in the Nihonshoki, the fifth-century emperors Richū and Ingyō went hunting on this island, and through mediums were given oracles by Izanagi, Awaji's guardian deity. Then, as the fishermen migrated to or traded with other areas, their myths and formal worship were diffused. The tenth-century Engishiki records several shrines dedicated to Izanagi and Izanami in the Kinki area (the area enclosed by Kyoto, Osaka, and Kobe). The oldest manuscript of the Kojiki describes the worship of Izanagi at the Taga shrine in Ōmi (now Shiga prefecture). In later ages the Taga shrine became the most famous and popular shrine for the worship of the divine couple.
Bibliography
Aston, W. G., trans. Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 (1896). Reprint, 2 vols. in 1, Tokyo, 1972.
Chamberlain, Basil Hall, trans. Kojiki: Records of Ancient Matters (1882). 2d ed. With annotations by W. G. Aston. Tokyo, 1932; reprint, Rutland, Vt., and Tokyo, 1982.
Matsumae Takeshi. Nihon shinwa no shin kenkyū. Tokyo, 1960.
Matsumoto Nobuhiro. Nihon shinwa no kenkyū. Tokyo, 1971.
Matsumura Takeo. Nihon shinwa no kenkyū, vol 2. Tokyo, 1955.
Philippi, Donald L., trans. Kojiki. Princeton, N.J., 1969.
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