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Japanese mythology is a collection of traditional stories, folktales, and beliefs that emerged in the islands of the Japanese archipelago. Shinto traditions are the cornerstones of Japanese mythology.[note 1] The history of thousands of years of contact with Chinese and various Indian myths (such as Buddhist and Hindu mythology) are also key influences in Japanese religious belief.[note 2][note 3][note 4] Additionally, Korean, Ainu, and Ryukyuan traditions have contributed to the broader tapestry of Japanese myth.
Japanese myths are tied to the topography of the archipelago as well as agriculturally based folk religion, and the Shinto pantheon holds uncountable kami ("god(s)" or "spirits").[note 5]
Two important sources for Japanese myths as they are recognized today are the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki.[note 6] The Kojiki, or "Record of Ancient Matters," is the oldest surviving account of Japan's myths, legends, and history.[note 7] Additionally, the Shintōshū describes the origins of Japanese deities from a Buddhist perspective.[note 8]
One notable feature of Japanese mythology is its explanation of the origin of the Imperial Family, which has been used historically to assign divinity to the imperial line.[note 9] The Japanese word for the Emperor, tennō (天皇), literally means "heavenly emperor."
The three primordial deities who came into being at the creation of the universe, known collectively as the 造化三神:
According to the Kojiki, when the universe first came into being, a group of deities called the Kotoamatsukami appeared on their own.[note 10]
After heaven and earth took shape, seven more generations of gods followed. These are called the Kamiyonanayo ("Seven Generations of the Age of the Gods"). The first two generations were single gods who appeared alone, while the remaining five generations each consisted of a brother-and-sister pair who were also husband and wife — twelve deities in total.[note 11]
The Nihon Shoki tells a slightly different version: it says these gods were the very first to appear after creation, and that the first three generations were single gods rather than two.
The last pair of the Kamiyonanayo were Izanagi ("Exalted Male") and Izanami ("Exalted Female").[note 12] They were given the task of creating the Japanese islands and bringing new gods into the world.[note 13][note 14]
The older gods gave them a jeweled spear called Ame-no-nuboko ("Heavenly Jeweled Spear"). Standing on the Amenoukihashi ("Floating Bridge of Heaven"), Izanagi and Izanami stirred the ocean below with the spear. Drops of salty water fell from its tip and piled up to form the island of Onogoro ("self-forming"). The two gods descended to this island and made it their home.
They built a great pillar called Amenomihashira and a palace called Yashirodono. To begin the ritual of creation, each walked around the pillar in opposite directions. When they met, Izanami spoke first in greeting. This turned out to be a mistake — their first two children, Hiruko ("leech child") and Awashima ("pale island"), were born deformed and could not be considered true gods. The heartbroken parents placed them in a boat and sent them out to sea. (Hiruko would later become the beloved god Ebisu.)
When Izanagi and Izanami asked the other gods what went wrong, they were told that the woman should not have spoken before the man. So they repeated the ritual, and this time Izanagi spoke first. Their union was now successful, and from it came the Ōyashima — the eight great islands of Japan:[note 15]
Note: Hokkaidō, the Kuril Islands, and Okinawa were not considered part of Japan in ancient times.
After creating the islands, the couple continued to give birth to many more gods, each one representing an important part of nature or culture. However, when Izanami gave birth to Kagutsuchi, the god of fire, the flames killed her. She was buried on Mount Hiba, near what is today Yasugi in Shimane Prefecture. In his grief and rage, Izanagi killed Kagutsuchi — and even from that god's death, dozens of new deities were born.
Heartbroken over Izanami's death, Izanagi traveled to Yomi, the dark land of the dead. Yomi looked much like the world above, except that it was shrouded in endless darkness. The gloom weighed on Izanagi, and he longed for the light.
He found Izanami deep in the shadows and begged her to come home. But she told him it was too late — she had already eaten the food of the underworld, which bound her to the realm of the dead forever. Izanagi refused to accept this. Izanami then agreed to ask the gods of Yomi for permission to leave, but she told him he must wait and under no circumstances look at her.
Izanagi waited for a long time. When Izanami still did not return, his worry got the better of him. He broke a tooth from his hair comb, lit it as a torch, and entered her room. What he saw horrified him: Izanami's body had rotted away, crawling with maggots and foul creatures.
Izanagi screamed and ran. Izanami, furious at being seen in this state, chased after him. She sent the shikome — monstrous women of the underworld — to drag him back. As he fled, Izanagi threw down his headdress, which turned into black grapes, distracting the shikome briefly. He then threw his comb, which became bamboo shoots. When they still pursued him, he urinated against a tree, creating a great river to slow them down. Finally, he hurled peaches at the remaining pursuers.
Izanagi barely reached the entrance of Yomi and shoved a massive boulder into the opening, sealing the passage between the living and the dead. From the other side, Izanami screamed that she would kill one thousand living people every day. Izanagi shouted back that he would give life to one thousand five hundred.
And so, according to the myth, death entered the world.
After escaping Yomi, Izanagi needed to cleanse himself of the underworld's corruption. As he undressed and washed in a river, new gods were born from each item he removed and each drop of water. The three most important appeared when he washed his face:
Izanagi divided the world among them: Amaterasu received the heavens, Tsukuyomi took charge of the night and the moon, and Susanoo was given the seas.[note 16]
Amaterasu, the sun goddess, is the most important deity in Japanese mythology. Her rivalry with her wild brother Susanoo is one of its most famous tales.
Susanoo's constant misbehavior angered their father Izanagi, who banished Susanoo to Yomi. Before leaving, Susanoo went to heaven (Takamagahara) to say goodbye to Amaterasu. She did not trust him and prepared for battle, demanding proof of his good intentions. They held a contest: whoever could create more noble children would be the winner. Amaterasu made three goddesses from Susanoo's sword, while Susanoo made five gods from Amaterasu's ornamental chain. Both claimed victory.
Susanoo, growing more reckless, went on a destructive rampage. At its worst, he threw the skinned body of a horse — an animal sacred to Amaterasu — into her weaving hall. The shock killed one of her attendants. Devastated and enraged, Amaterasu retreated into a cave called Iwayado and sealed it shut. With the sun goddess hidden away, the entire world was plunged into darkness.
All the gods tried to coax her out, but nothing worked. Finally, Ame-no-Uzume, the goddess of merriment, came up with a plan. She placed a large bronze mirror on a tree facing the cave entrance, then began dancing wildly on an overturned washtub. Her performance grew so outrageous that all the gods burst into laughter. Amaterasu, curious about the commotion, peeked out. A beam of light — the first dawn — slipped through. She was immediately dazzled by a beautiful goddess she saw in the mirror, not realizing it was her own reflection. The god Ameno-Tajikarawo pulled her fully out of the cave, and a sacred rope (shimenawa) was stretched across the entrance to prevent her from hiding again. Surrounded by the joy of the other gods, Amaterasu's anger faded, and she agreed to shine her light upon the world once more.
After being cast out of heaven, Susanoo wandered to Izumo Province (in present-day Shimane Prefecture). There he found an elderly couple weeping beside their young daughter. They explained that they originally had eight daughters, but a terrible eight-headed dragon named Yamata no Orochi had devoured them one by one, year after year. Their last remaining daughter, Kushinada-hime ("rice paddy princess"), would be next.[note 17]
Susanoo agreed to slay the dragon in exchange for Kushinada-hime's hand in marriage. He transformed the princess into a comb and tucked her safely in his hair.[note 18] Then he set a trap: he ordered a large fence built around the house, with eight gates. At each gate he placed a table, and on each table he placed a cask filled with eight-times-brewed rice wine (sake).
When Orochi arrived, the dragon smelled the sake and could not resist. The eight heads argued among themselves — smashing the fence would waste the drink, and burning it would evaporate it. Eventually, each head poked through a gate and drank greedily until the dragon was completely drunk. Susanoo attacked, cutting off every head one by one.
While slicing the dragon apart, Susanoo discovered a magnificent sword inside one of the tails — his own blade had not been able to cut through it. He presented this sword to Amaterasu. It was named Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi ("Sword of the Gathering Clouds of Heaven"), later known as Kusanagi ("Grass Mower").[note 19] This sword would go on to play a major role in many other legends.
Ōnamuji (also known as Ōkuninushi) was a descendant of Susanoo. He and his many brothers all wanted to marry Princess Yakami of Inaba. While traveling to meet her, the brothers came across a rabbit lying on a beach with its skin stripped off. The brothers cruelly told the rabbit to bathe in seawater and dry itself in the wind, which only made the pain worse.
Ōnamuji, who was lagging behind, found the suffering rabbit and told it to wash in fresh water and cover itself with cattail pollen. The rabbit was healed — and revealed itself to be a god in disguise. It told Ōnamuji that he, not his brothers, would win the princess.
This made his brothers furious, and they killed Ōnamuji twice out of jealousy. Each time, his mother Kushinada-hime brought him back to life. Fleeing his brothers, Ōnamuji traveled to the realm of Susanoo, where he met and fell in love with Susanoo's daughter, Suseri-hime. Susanoo tested Ōnamuji with many dangerous trials, but in the end he approved of the young man and foretold his victory over his brothers.
According to the Izumo tradition, Ōnamuji — together with the small god Sukunabikona — helped finish the creation of the Japanese islands.
Amaterasu chose her grandson Ninigi to descend from heaven and rule the earth. She gave him the Three Sacred Treasures:
The mirror and necklace had been used to lure Amaterasu out of her cave, and the sword had been taken from the dragon. Together, these three items form the Imperial Regalia of Japan. Ninigi descended to Himuka (in present-day Miyazaki Prefecture) and established his palace there.
At Himuka, Ninigi met Konohanasakuya-hime, the beautiful daughter of the mountain god Yamatsumi. They fell in love, and Ninigi asked for her hand. Yamatsumi was delighted and offered both of his daughters: Iwanaga, who represented the endurance of rock, and Sakuya, who represented the beauty of flowers.
However, Ninigi chose only Sakuya and turned Iwanaga away. Yamatsumi was saddened and said: "Iwanaga would have given your family eternal life, and Sakuya gives it prosperity. By refusing Iwanaga, your descendants will now be mortal." This is why, according to the myth, even the imperial family — despite being descended from the gods — must eventually die.
Sakuya soon became pregnant after just one night, which made Ninigi suspicious. To prove her faithfulness, Sakuya set fire to the room while giving birth and emerged unharmed with three healthy sons: Hoderi, Hosuseri, and Howori.
Hoderi made his living by fishing in the sea, while his brother Howori hunted in the mountains. One day, Howori suggested they switch roles. While trying to fish, Howori caught nothing and lost his brother's prized fishhook. Hoderi was furious and refused to forgive him.
While sitting miserably on the beach, Howori was advised by a god named Shiotsuchi to sail in a special boat and follow the current. The boat carried him to the palace of Watatsumi, the god of the sea. There, Howori met and married Watatsumi's daughter, Toyotama.
After three happy years, Howori remembered the lost fishhook and told Watatsumi about it. The sea god found the hook stuck in the throat of a fish and returned it. He also gave Howori two magical jewels: one that could cause floods and one that could cause the tide to recede. Then he sent Howori and Toyotama back to land.
When Toyotama was about to give birth, she told Howori not to watch. But curiosity got the better of him, and he peeked inside — only to see Toyotama transforming into a shark as their son Ugaya was born. Ashamed of being seen in her true form, Toyotama disappeared into the sea and never returned. She entrusted her sister Tamayori to look after Howori and the child.
Ugaya later married his aunt Tamayori, and they had several children, including Itsuse and Yamatobiko (later known as Emperor Jimmu).
The first legendary emperor of Japan is Iwarebiko, known by his posthumous name Emperor Jimmu.[note 20][note 21] According to tradition, he established the throne in 660 B.C. His divine lineage traces back to the beginning of creation:
A number of figures in Japanese mythology have parallels or direct origins in the Hindu and broader Indo-European religious traditions, often transmitted through the channel of Buddhism.
|
| Name | Hindu Equivalent | Direction / Association |
|---|---|---|
| Śakra | Indra | East |
| Katen | Agni | Southeast, Fire |
| Enmaten | Yama | South |
| Rasetsuten | Rakshasa/Nirrti | Southwest |
| Suiten | Varuna | Water, West |
| Futen | Vayu | Northwest, Wind |
| Bishamonten | Kubera | North |
| Ishanaten | Shiva | Northeast |
| Bonten | Brahma/Brahman | Zenith / Heaven |
| Ji-Ten | Prithvi | Nadir / Earth |
| Nitten | Surya | Sun |
| Gatten | Chandra | Moon |
Many gods in Japanese mythology have very long formal names, so most sources use shortened versions. For example, Ninigi is short for Ame-Nigishikuni-Nigishiamatsuhiko-Hikono-no-Ninigi-no-Mikoto. He may also appear as Hikoho-no-Ninigi or Hono-Ninigi depending on the source.
Some older texts also use historical spellings that differ from modern Japanese. Silent letters (such as h, w, or y in the middle of words) are sometimes kept in older sources but dropped in modern ones. For example, Ohonamuji may also be written as Oonamuji or Ohnamuji.
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