Izanagi

“ When the time was come that Izanagi and his consort should return together to the celestial regions, he called his children together, bidding them dry their tears, and listen attentively to his last wishes. He then committed to them a disc of polished silver, bidding them each morning place themselves on their knees before it, and there see reflected on their countenances the impress of any evil passions deliberately indulged ”

“ He defended himself valiantly with his sword; then he threw down his head-dress, and it was transformed into bunches of purple grapes; he also cast behind him the comb, by means of which he had obtained light, and from it sprang tender shoots of bamboo. While the monsters eagerly devoured the luscious grapes and tender shoots, Izanagi gained the broad flight of steps which led back to earth. At the top he paused and cried to Izanami: “All hope of our reunion is now at an end. Our separation must be eternal.” ”

“ When Izanami died, Izanagi, in his grief and rage, drew his sword and slew Kagu-tsuchi, thereby generating a number of other deities, two of whom, named Take-mika-tsuchi and Futsunushi, were favourite objects of worship in later times.
The creation of the Sun and Moon is variously accounted for. Some say that they were the children of Izanagi and Izanami, others that they were born from the lustrations of Izanagi when he returned from Yomi. A third child, Susa no wo, the boisterous and unruly Rain-storm god, was produced at the same time. ”

“ A close parallel to this is the Japanese myth of Izanagi, who, following his dead spouse into the underworld, implored her to return. She is ready, but beseeches him, “Do not look at me.” Izanagi produces light with his reed, that is to say, with a masculine piece of wood (the fire-boring Phallus) , and thus loses his spouse. (Frobenius: Ibid., p. 343.) Mother must be put in the place of spouse. Instead of the mother, the hero produces fire; Hiawatha, maize; Odin, Runes, when he in torment hung on the tree. ”

“ Purification of Izanagi.
Then Izanagi, in order to purify himself from the pollution of hades, came to a small stream on the island of Tsukushi. So he threw down the august staff which he carried and it became a deity. He [pg 041] took off his girdle and it became a deity. He threw down his skirt and it became a deity. And he took off his upper garment and it became a deity. And from his trousers which he threw down there was born a deity. Three deities were born from the bracelet which he took from his left arm, and three from the bracelet which he took from his right arm. ”

“ I have met a lovely maiden." Shortly after this very ingenuous proposal Izanagi and Izanami were married.
When Izanami had given birth to islands, seas, rivers, herbs, and trees, she and her lord consulted together, saying: "We have now produced the Great-Eight-Island country, with the mountains, rivers, herbs, and trees. Why should we not produce some one who shall be the Lord of the Universe?" ”

“ Izanagi and Izanami belong to that stage of religious progress in which the conception has been reached of powerful sentient beings separate from external nature. Untrue in itself, it has served a useful purpose. It is obviously easier for nations with little scientific knowledge to conceive of the same being as a ruler or parent of the Sun, Moon, and Earth, with all its human concerns, than to recognize in these phenomena a harmonious living whole. ”

“ Musubi no Kami (the God of Growth) , who forms the sixth generation of deities, is a genuine divinity, of whom more remains to be said hereafter.
Izanagi and Izanami.—The seventh generation consisted of two deities, Izanagi and Izanami. It is with them that Japanese myth really begins, all that precedes being merely introductory and for the most part of comparatively recent origin. ”

“ Their shintai is a mirror.
A Japanese writer [146] says: "In the beginning of all sentient things we have two Supreme Beings, Izanagi and Izanami." Even if we admit the possible existence of two Supreme Beings, Izanagi and Izanami hardly realize our conception of the Supreme. They acted by command of other pre-existing deities, and their creation is limited. It does not include all the Gods, and, as is only natural, is confined to Japan. The creation of mankind is nowhere accounted for in Japanese myth. ”

“ In one writing it is said:—"The two Deities Izanagi no Mikoto and Izanami no Mikoto stood in the midst of the mist of Heaven, and said:—'We wish to find a country.' So they thrust down the jewel-spear of Heaven, and groped about till they found the island of Ono-goro. Then they drew back the spear and rejoiced, saying:—'Good! there is a country!'"
In one writing it is said:—"The two Deities Izanagi no Mikoto and Izanami no Mikoto sat in the Plain of High Heaven, and said:—'There must surely be a country.' So with the jewel spear of Heaven they scraped together the island of Ono-goro." ”

“ Ame-no-ko uprooted the holy sakaki trees [Pg 20] which grow on the Mountain of Heaven, and planted them around the entrance of the cave. High on the upper branches were hung the precious string of curved jewels which Izanagi had bestowed upon the Sun-Goddess. From the middle branches drooped a mirror wrought of the rare metals of the celestial mine. Its polished surface was as the dazzling brilliancy of the sun. Other gods wove, from threads of hemp and paper mulberry, an imperial robe of white and blue, which was placed, as an offering for the goddess, on the lower branches of the sakaki. ”

“ The third of the Sahe no kami of the norito, namely, Kunado, can be nothing but a simple phallus. Its shape, formed of Izanagi's staff, is consistent with this view. In the Tsujiura, or Cross Roads divination, this God was represented by a staff. The same inference is suggested by its association with Yachimata-hiko and Yachimata-hime, who, as we have seen, were unquestionably phallic deities; and also with the peach, which, like Kunado himself, was used by Izanagi for his protection against the evil beings of Yomi. ”

“ After this introduction, in which "Dualities, Trinities, and Supreme Deities" have been discovered by writers unfamiliar with the genius of the Japanese language, there follows an account of the creation of the habitable earth by Izanami and Izanagi, whose names mean the Male-Who-Invites and the Female-Who-Invites. The heavenly kami commanded these two gods to consolidate and give birth to the drifting land. ”

“ And when he came to contend with his younger sister at the Even Pass of Yomi, Izanagi no Mikoto said, 'It was weak of me at first to sorrow and mourn on account of a relation.'
Then said the Road-wardens of Yomi, 'We have a message for thee, as follows: 'I and thou have produced countries. Why should we seek to produce more? I shall stay in this land, and will not depart along with thee.' At this time Kukuri [145] -hime no Kami said something which Izanagi no Mikoto heard and approved, and she then vanished away. ”

“ Side by side with an attitude so humble towards the mysteries of nature, there was an almost fierce assertion of Japan's claim to be the repository of revealed truth. "Our country," says Hirata Atsutane, "owing to the facts that it was begotten by the two gods Izanagi and Izanami, that it was the birthplace of the Sun Goddess, and that it is ruled by her sublime descendants for ever and ever, as long as the universe shall endure, is infinitely superior to other countries, whose chief and head it is. ”

“ It will be observed that the tama-boko as a phallus belongs to the generative conception of creation, and as a spear to the idea of it as a cosmic or regulating process:—
"The two deities having descended on Onogoro-jima erected there an eight fathom house with an august central pillar. Then Izanagi addressed Izanami, saying: 'How is thy body formed?' Izanami replied, 'My body is completely formed except one part which is incomplete.' Then Izanagi said, 'My body is completely formed and there is one part which is superfluous. ”

“ Before, then, the beginning of the world of men, there existed numerous generations of gods. The last of these "divine generations," as they are termed, were a brother and sister, named respectively Izanagi and Izanami, who, uniting in marriage, gave birth to the various islands of the Japanese archipelago and to a great number of additional gods and goddesses. The birth of the God of Fire caused Izanami's death, and the most striking episode of the whole Japanese mythology ensues, when her husband, Orpheus-like, visits her at the gate of the under-world to implore her to return to him. ”

“ This curious legend does not end here. Finding that the hag of hades, the eight Kami of thunder, and the fifteen hundred warriors have all been repulsed, Izanami herself goes in pursuit. But her way is blocked by a huge rock which Izanagi places in the "even pass of hades," and from the confines of the two worlds the angry pair exchange messages of final separation, she threatening to kill a thousand folk daily in his land if he repeats his acts of violence, and he declaring that, in such event, he will retaliate by causing fifteen hundred to be born. ”

“ This is why people at the present day avoid using a single light at night, and also avoid throwing away a comb [103] at night. Izanagi no Mikoto was greatly shocked, and said: 'Nay! I have come unawares to a hideous and polluted land.' So he speedily ran away back again. Then Izanami no Mikoto was angry, and said: 'Why didst thou not observe that which I charged thee? Now am I put to shame.' So she sent the eight Ugly Females of Yomi [104] (Shikome, called by some: Hisame) to pursue and stay him. Izanagi no Mikoto therefore drew his sword, and, flourishing it behind him, ran away. ”

“ Izanagi, the first of the male gods who came to the earth, goes down to find his beloved consort, Izanami, and coming back from the fllth and pollution of the lower world and washing himself in the sea, many gods of various grades are born from the rinsings of his august person. ”

“ Now the God Izanagi, who dwells in the island, spoke by the mouth of a hafuri, saying:—"I cannot endure the stench of blood." Accordingly divination was made, and the answer was, "The God dislikes the smell of the branding of the Horse-keepers' Be." ”

“ We have in the Japanese myth the counterpart of a custom described by Chinese travellers to Japan centuries before the Kojiki and Nihongi were written. It was then, we are informed, the practice, when the funeral was over, for the whole family of the deceased to go into the water and wash. Lustration is a wide-world practice, [21] and the myth was clearly suggested by it, not vice versâ.
Izanagi's career having come to an end, he built himself an abode of gloom in the island of Ahaji, where he dwelt in silence and concealment. ”

“ It is said that the other pairs of beings before Izanagi and Izanami were only their imperfect forms or the processes through which they passed before arriving at perfection.
These two beings lived in the Heavens. The world was not yet well formed, and the soil floated about like a fish in the water, but near the surface; and was called "The Floating Region." The sun, earth and moon were still attached to each other like a head to the neck, or arms to the body. ”

“ From this time their kingdom was divided from the lower world where chaos still prevailed. To the fourth pair of gods it was given to create the earth. These two beings were the powerful God of the Air, Izanagi, and the fair Goddess of the Clouds, Izanami. From them sprang all life. ”

“ Her religion owes much to the Shingaku and Ryōbu doctrines. While professing to worship Kunitokotachi, Izanagi, Izanami, and seven other Shinto deities, practically Izanagi and Izanami are her only Gods. The former (identified with the sun) is taken to represent the male, and the latter the female principle, corresponding in nature to Heaven and Earth, and in human society to husband and wife. These Gods are spiritual beings, chiefly revealed in the heart of man, and are endowed with personal attributes. Tenrikyô has high moral aims, and has made rapid progress. ”

“ In many shrines more than one deity is worshipped. These are called ahi-dono no kami, that is to say, deities of a joint shrined They may, like Izanagi and Izanami, have some mythical connexion with each other or they may not. ”

“ In the conversation that followed I heard for the first time that in this country the custom is for the worded request always to come from the man.
“It is like the folk tale that tells of the origin of our race,” I said.
“That sounds as if it might be more interesting than the court items in the newspaper,” laughed Mother. “Suppose you tell me about it.”
“It’s rather a long story from the beginning,” I said; “but the important part is that a god and goddess named Izanagi and Izanami—our Adam and Eve—came from Heaven on a floating bridge and formed the islands of Japan. ”

“ In all this, no mention whatever is found of the manner in which human beings come into existence: they make their appearance upon the scene as though they were a primeval part of it. Izanagi, whose return to the upper world takes place in southwestern Japan,* now cleanses himself from the pollution he has incurred by contact with the dead, and thus inaugurates the rite of purification practised to this day in Japan. ”

“ Furthermore, they gave birth to many myriads of deities to rule over the earth, and the air, and the deep sea; and for every season there were deities, and every place was sacred, for the deities were like the needles of the pine trees in number.
Now, when the time came for the Fire God, Kagu-Tsuchi, to be born, his mother, the Lady Izanami, was burned, and suffered a change; and she laid herself upon the ground. Then Izanagi, the Prince who Invites, asked, “What is it that has come to thee, my lovely Younger Sister?” ”