The Izanagi & Izanami - The Japanese Creation Myth (Japanese Mythology Explained)

today we once again travel back to Japan

but this time to discuss the Izanagi and

there is an ami the primordial gods of

Japanese mythology and Shinto religion

they were the brother and sister deities

that many believed to have created the

islands of Japan along with many of the

Shinto gods and Carmy

their names were thought to mean he who

invites and she who invites and it's

believed that they were the eighth and

last pair of brother and sister deities

to be born before the world was formed

when the heavens and the earth were

separated out of chaos the brothers and

sisters appeared standing on a floating

bridge or platform where the eldest

generation of karma assigned Izanagi and

Izanami to bring order and structure to

the world but in order to help them do

so they were given a jeweled spear named

Amano Nobuko standing atop of the

heavenly bridge they stirred the oceans

with the tip of their spear and each

time they lifted their spear the

droplets that felt would form an island

the first of these islands was the honor

God or Shima and this would be the

island they made their home when they

had established themselves on the island

of onigoro

they decided it was time to start a

family and here's what a story gets a

tad weird the marriage ceremony itself

involves circling around a sacred pillar

with both gods moving in opposite

directions and saying what would equate

to a modern day I do but it was the

Izanami who spoke first during the

ceremony which was considered incorrect

at a time when women taken initiative in

Japan was frowned upon as a consequence

that is an Okie not speaking first

during a wedding ceremony when his wife

eventually gave birth to their first

child that child was horribly misshapen

with no bones in his body which led to

him being referred to as the leech child

unfortunately that child was placed on a

boat and abandoned to float away this

child was known as Hiroko and he would

become a patron of fishermen and one of

the seven day ''tis associated with good

fortune the second attempt at having a

child of rasa's unsuccessful as their

first and when they eventually consulted

with the elder carny they decided that

their marriage ceremony would have to be

performed once again the second attempt

that the marriage ceremony was performed

correctly and is an army gave birth the

hundreds of Carmi and many of the

principal islands located in Japan

giving birth to so many deities

eventually took its toll on Izanami she

gave birth to the comi of the seas the

mountains the wind and the trees the

earth Azov began to take shape but when

she eventually gave birth to Kaka to see

the Carmi of fire she was badly burned

many more deities would be born from her

tears as she cried out in pain but the

injuries she sustained or too severe and

she would eventually die follow another

fee's wife Izanagi took it upon himself

to avenge his own army he took his sword

and he cut cogito chin to pieces from

each piece of the fire deity that fell

to the ground dozens of new Carmy were

born without his wife Izanagi was lost

and he attempted to journey to the

underworld to retrieve her but when he

arrived he saw that she had already

eaten the food of the underworld making

it so that she was forbidden to ever

return to the land of the living this is

somewhat similar to what we see in Greek

mythology with Hades given Persephone

the pomegranate to ensure that she had

to return to the underworld izanagi was

told that his wife would be allowed to

return as long as he promised to be

patient and not lay his eyes upon her

again until she was ready this process

was extremely long in his a Nagas

patience grew thin until he could wait

no longer he attempted to visit his wife

once again but this time he was shocked

when he laid his eyes upon her as all he

saw was his wife's decomposing body

naturally she was displeased that her

husband had broken his promise seeing

her in this unflattering state he would

eventually be chased out of the

underworld by the eight thunders and in

order to stop his pursuers he threw down

his stick in their path creating the two

gods associated with the road schemata

no kami and Yasha Matta hiki often

referred to as dosage in a name given to

deities who were thought to protect

travelers this part of the story does

resemble another Greek myth the story of

Orpheus the musician who was told that

he could return his wife from the

underworld as long as he did not look

back at her until they reach the land of

the living

much like izanagi he was unable to do so

gazing upon his wife and breaking the

promise he had made when izanagi had

finally reached the land of the living

he decided that he would block the

entrance of the underworld with an

enormous stone in order to cleanse

himself from a darkness and impurities

that he had encountered whilst in the

underworld he performed a ritual in a

nearby river

it was during this ritual that many of

the Shinto gods were born from the

impurities being washed from izanagi's

body

izanagi in Izanami were amongst the

oldest deities in Japanese mythology and

Shinto religion and they were often held

accountable for the creation of the

world and many of the deities had

existed if you do have any stories or

different variations relating to the

Izanagi and there is an ami then feel

free to share them with me in the

comments below but as always I've been

your host mythology and fiction

explained

you