Today’s post is abou Japanese mythology. Japanese mythology is rich and vast. We’ll only go through a couple of myths, and the versions of these myths will be condensed. The first myth has to do with the formation of Japan. Once upon a time a male god named いざなぎ and a female goddess named いざなみ met so that they could mate. The female goddess uttered the first greeting to the male god. Then the two mated and had two children, who were badly deformed. いざなぎ and いざなみ sought the other gods as to why the children were deformed.

The other gods informed the couple that a woman must not speak before a man. Therefore because いざなみ made the first utterance to いざなぎ before they mated, いざなみ displayed bad manners. The result of these bad manners led to the deformation of the children. After this, the couple tried to mate again, but this time the male god いざなぎ spoke first. This time around the couple was successful. Eight healthy children were produced from this union. Later the eight children formed the eight great islands of Japan. From this mythology you can make some inferences about male/female relations and the importance of good manners in Japanese culture.

This next myth has to do with the geographic/natural formation of Japan. The female goddess いざなみ died during childbirth. The male god いざなぎ was distraught by her death. He ventured into the underworld to see her. The underworld was so dark that いざなぎ could not see いざなみ very well. いざなぎ lit his headdress on fire and saw that his wife was a rotting mess of maggots. Terrified, he fled. いざなみ was angered by his betrayal and sent wild demons after him. To rid the demons he threw his headdress to the floor, which became a grape vine. The demons still pursued いざなぎ, at which point he threw his comb, resulting in the formation of bamboo shoots.

Then いざなぎ urinated against a tree, which formed a river. This slowed down the demons. He was finally able to place a large boulder to block the entrance of the underworld. いざなみ was angered that he got away. She vowed to take away 1,000 lives every day. This story tells not only of how the natural geography of Japan was formed, but it also explains how human beings became mortal (through いざなみ). The royal family of Japan used to trace their ancestry to いざなぎ and いざなみ. The myths were important in the sense that it legitimized the actions of the royal family, which made it impossible for people to rebel against the emperor’s orders.

There are also some books on Japanese mythology on Amazon, so check those out for a more thorough version of these myths!