Posts tagged with "Japanese mythology"

Japanese Mythological Gods

Posted by Ginny No Comments
Jan 31 2011

There are lots of mythological Japanese gods. However, one deity in particular is the main deity that is somehow related to the other deities. Try guessing whom the deity might be! If you don’t know now, by the end of this article, you’ll find out!

Amaterasu (天照) is the goddess of the sun and is one of the major Japanese mythological gods. There is a famous story involving the goddess of the sun and her brother Susanoo. One day, Susanoo and Amaterasu had a competitive duel to see who was the strongest. When Susanoo threw a pony at Amaterasu, she hid in a cave. Since she was the sun goddess, the world was thrown into darkness. In an attempt to bring light to the world, a deity of merriment called Ame no Uzume, placed a mirror in Amaterasu’s face. When Amaterasu saw her beautiful reflection, she walked out of the cave to follow the reflection. Hence, the world was blessed with sunlight once more. A long time ago, people thought that the reason why the sun’s rays were dimmed in the winter months was due to Amaterasu’s exile within a cave.

When the other gods heard that Susanoo (須佐之男) was responsible for the sun’s disappearance, they banished Susanoo from the heavens. Susanoo had no choice but to leave and ended up meeting an elderly couple and their daughter. The elderly couple informed Susanoo that their daughter was about to become food for an eight-headed dragon. When Susanoo heard this he offered to slay the dragon. However there was a catch. The couple had to give their daughter to Susanoo as a bride. The couple consented and Susanoo prepared to slay the dragon. Susanoo knew that the dragon loved sake so he placed eight cups of sake for each head of the dragon. When all the heads became drunk, Susanoo took the opportunity to kill the dragon.

Tsukuyomi (ツクヨミ) was the god in charge of the moon. Tsukuyomi was the brother of Amaterasu. One day Amaterasu sent Tsukuyomi as her representative to a feast prepared by Uke Mochi (pictured left), or the goddess of food. Uke Mochi prepared the feast by spitting out a fish and excreting game from her body. When Tsukuyomi discovered how the food was prepared, he was repulsed. In anger, Tsukuyomi killed Uke Mochi. When Amaterasu found out about Uke Mochi’s death, she became angry with Tsukuyomi. In anger she refused to be in the same room with him. That is why to this day, the sun (Amaterasu) and the moon (Tsukuyomi) are never together.

So the answer to the challenge presented in the intro is Amaterasu.

Japanese Mythology

Posted by Ginny No Comments
Dec 31 2009

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!

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