Japanese mythology
An interesting aspect of Japanese mythology is that it explains the origin of the Imperial family, and assigned them godhood until the end of World War II.
Mainstream Japanese myths, as generally recognized today, are based on the Kojiki and some complementary books. The Kojiki is the oldest recognized book of myths, legends, and history of Japan. The Shintoshu explains origins of Japanese deities from a Buddhist perspective. The Hotuma Tutaye records a substantially different version of mythology.
A lot of deities appear on the stage of Japanese mythology, and many of them have multiple aliases. Furthermore, some of their names are so long that they can be tedious for the majority of readers. This article therefore lists only the most prominent names, and gives them in abbreviated form. Readers should be aware that other abbreviated forms are also in use.
By historical reasons, k, s, t, and h are sometimes confused with g, z, d, and b respectively.
In the beginning, when heaven and earth were still chaotic, five deities appeared in Takamanohara (high in heaven). They are called the Kotoamatukami (deities of distinguished heaven) and play very little part in most myths. In addition, two and five pairs of deities appeared on the earth. Except for the last pair, Izanagi and Izanami, they also play very little part in most myths. Despite the fact that they first appeared on the earth, Izanagi, Izanami, and their descendants are called Amatukami (deities of heaven).
While standing on a bridge between heaven and earth, the god Izanagi and the godess Izanami, churned the sea to create Onogoro island. They mated on that island and bore many islands and deities. The first two were badly made. Then the ohoyashima, or the eight great islands of the Japanese chain, were born.
Spelling of proper nouns
In this article, proper names are written in a historical manner. In this article, underlined h, y, and w denote silent letters; they are omitted from modern spelling. This underlining convention is peculiar to this article. Other syllables are modernized as follows. Note that something in between are also used.
For instance, various spells of Ohonamudi include Ohonamuji, Oonamuji, Ohnamuji, and others.Creation of the world
They bore six more islands and many deities. Izanami was killed by a burn at the birth of her child Kagututi (incarnation of fire). Kagututi was killed by the detested Izanagi. Another dozen deities were created by this event.
Many of the deities borne by Izanagi and Izanami are symbolic of important aspects of nature and culture, but they are too many to mention here.
Izanagi lamented his dearest and undertook a journey to Yomi, the land of night, the world of the dead.
There he found a decayed figure of his wife, flew back, and divorced her. She cursed him, "Each day, I will kill one thousand of your people," and he replied "So I will make them bear one thousand and five hundred." Thus, birth and death were created.
After he came back from Yomi, Izanagi bathed to wash off dirt. At this time, dozens of deities were born, including
Susanowo was rude and wild. When he was disowned by his father, he went to Takamanohara (heaven) to bid farewell to his sister, Amaterasu. But Amaterasu feard that he had come to do some harm to her. She attired herself as a man before meeting her brother. "What purpose do you come here for?" asked Amaterasu. "To say farewell," answered Susanowo.
But she did not believe his word and requested a contest for proof of his
good faith. Amaterasu made three women from Sasanowo's sword, while Sasanowo made five men from Amaterasu's ornament chain. Amaterasu claimed the title to the five men made from her belongings. Therefore, the three women were attributed to Sasanowo. Getting gentle females acquitted Sasanowo.
Winning the game, Sasanowo became haughty. He remained in Takamagahara and behaved quite rudly. Finally, Amaterasu hid into the Iwayado to escape from her brother. As the incarnation of the sun disappered into the cave, darkness covered the world.
Susanowo, exiled from heaven, came to Idumo (now Shimane). There he met an old man and his wife sobbing beside their daughter. Susanowo asked why. The old couple explained that they orginally had had eight daughters. A dragon named Yamatano-oroti came from Kosi (now Niigata) and ate one of their daughters every year. The terrible dragon had eight heads and eight tails on one body. This girl was the last of their eight daughters. Her name was Kusinada.
Susanowo liked the girl and asked for her hand in marriage. No one would opposed this, except for the dragon. Susanowo ordered a fence built around the house, eight gates opened in the fence, eight tables placed at each gate, eight casks placed on each table, and the casks filled with eight-times brewed rice wine.
The dragon came and was allured by the wine. It drank it, and was slain by Susanowo in its stupor. A nearby river turned red with blood of the dragon. As Susanowo cut the dragon into pieces, he found an excellent sword from a tail of the dragon. The sword was later presented to Amaterasu and named as Kusanagi.
Ohonamuji (also known as Ohokuninushi) was a descendant of Susanowo. He, along with his many brothers, competed for the hand of Princess Yakami of Inaba. While travelling from Izemo to Inaba to plead their suits to her, the brothers met a skinned rabbit lying on a beach. Seeing this, they told the rabbit to bathe in the sea and dry in the wind at a high mountain. The rabbit, believing them, did this, only to worsen its hurt. Ohonamuji, who was lagging behind his brothers, came and saw the rabbit in agony. He told the rabbit to bathe in fresh water and be covered with powder of the gama (cattail) flower. The cured rabbit blessed Ohonamuji with Yakami's love.
As the brothers reached Inaba, they proposed to Yakami. She denied them and told them that she wanted to marry Ohonamuji. The brothers, angry at their rejection, plotted to kill Ohonamuji. They tricked Ohonamuji into catching the red boar living in the mountain. They then found a boar-shaped big stone, burt it to red, and threw it at Ohonamuji. They killed Ohonamuji, but his mother revivied him with powder of shells.
Amaterasu ordered her grandson Ninigi to rule over the ground. She gave him the three treasures:
Ninigi and his company went down to the earth and came to Himuka, there he founded his palace.
Ninigi met the Princess Konohana-sakuya (symbol of flowers), the daughter of Yamatumi (master of mountains). They fell in love. Ninigi asked Yamatumi for his daughter's hand. The father was delighted and offered both of his daughters, Iwanaga (symbol of rocks) and Sakuya (synbol of flowers). But Ninigi married only Sakuya and refused Iwanaga.
"Iwanaga is blessed with eternity and Sakuya with prosperity", Yamatumi said in regret, "by refusing Iwanaga, your life will be brief from now on." Because of this, Ninigi and his descendants became mortal.
Sakuya conceived by a night and Ninigi doubt her. To prove legitimacy of her children, Sakuya swore by her luck and took a chance; she set fire to her room when she had given birth to her three babies. By this, Ninigi knew her chastity. The names of the children were Hoderi, Hosuseri, and Howori.
Hoderi lived by fishing in sea while his brotherHowori lived by hunting in mountains. One day, "Howori" asked his brother to swap places for a day. "Howori" tried fishing, but he could not get a catch, and what was worse, he lost the fishhook he borrowed from his brother. Hoderi relentlessly accused his brother and did not accept his brother's apology.
While "Howori" was sitting on a beach, sorely perplexed, Sihotuti told him to ride on a ship called the Manasikatuma and go wherever the current went. Following this advice, Howori reached the house of Watatumi (master of seas). There he met Toyotama, Watatumi's daughter, and married with her. After three years of marriage, he remembered his brother and his fishhook, then told Watatumi about it.
Watatumi soon found the fishhook in the throat of a bream and handed it Howori. Watatumi also gave him two magical balls, Sihomitutama, which could cause a flood, and Sihohirutama, which could cause a ebb, and sent him off, along with his bride, to land.
As Toyotama was giving birth, she asked Howori not to look at her delivery. However, Howori, filled with curiosity, peeped in, and saw her transforming into an aligator at the moment his son, Ugaya, was born. Aware of this, Toyotama disappeared into sea and did not return, but she entrusted her sister Tamayori with her yearning for Howori.
Ugaya married his aunt Tamayori and had five children, including Ituse and Yamatobiko.
The first legendary emperor of Japan is Iwarebiko, posthumous alias Jinmu. He established the throne in 660 BCE. His pedigree is summarised as follows.
Yomi, a hades
Sun, Moon, and Wind
Iwayado, a cave (6-8)
Eight-prong dragon
Prince Ohonamuji
Princess Yakami (11-12)
Princess Suseri (13)
Princess Nunakawa (14)
Cession (17-18)
Installation (19-20)
The first two were made to lure Amaterasu out of Iwayado. The last was found in the eight-prong dragon. Of these three, the mirror is the token of Amaterasu.Prosperity and eternity
Ebb and flow
Legends (23-)
First Emperor
Conquest of the east (23-26)
Yamato Takeru (44-48)