Reading Notes : Japanese Mythology , Part A

Japan
Photo by Merve Çevik (twitter)

 

Story: Japanese Mythology
Author: E. W. Champney and F. Champney

The gods came from flowers. The last were Izanagi and Izanami, and from them came all life.

- 800 deities of heaven
- countless ggenerations of man
- beasts, birds, trees

To Izanagi and Izanami were born the eight islands of Japan. Amaterasu was also born to them, along with Susanoo.

Amaterasu was chosen to lead, as she stood out among her siblings. Susanoo was picked to rule over the moon and ocean. His behavior was similar to Lucifer in the bible myth in that he questions his mother's attachment to the humans, and how he thought he was better but was being treated as their lesser. His mother was made mortal and banished, dying as she gave birth to the gods of fire and water that she asked to latter to temper his older brother. Izanami then went to Yomi, the abode of spirits, and her husband soon followed her. He could not bring her back.

Difficult, poetic writing style, But it's the story of Susanoo losing his temper with his sister that Amaterasu goes into hiding in a cavern. Time in the darkness without the sun. The humans mourned until a god made a mirror, and Amaterasu was tricked out by her reflection.

The Susanoo story I read at the start of the course and how he met his wife Kushinada-hime.

There was mention of the Sacred Sword and Miraculous Mirror, still treasures in Japan to this day.

"Wherefore is the life of man brief as the bloom of the flowers." -- by choosing the beautiful flower bride instead of the steadfast rock, humanity was damned to a short life.

Yamato wore the clothing of a woman to save his princess Tachibana, after which he gave the robe to her as a gift.