Week 7 Reading Notes: Japanese Mythology, Part A
This week, I'm reading about Japanese Mythology. Read on for my notes!
1: Izanagi and Izanami
-Izanagi, the God of the Heavens marries Izanami, the Goddess of Love; she gives birth to everything and everyone
-before anything was created, the sun and the moon came from flowers, and out of the flowers also came the gods (including Izanagi and Izanami); they got married and decided to create the earth, everyone and the 8 islands of Japan; they also created numerous other Asian countries; they had a son Susanowo (God of the Moon) and daughter Amaterasu (Goddess of the Sun)
2: Izanagi and Izanami cont.
-Amaterasu was favored by Izanagi; he gave her a precious necklace and told her to rule over the High Plain of Heaven, and she thrived there; Izanagi told Susanowo to rule over the moon and sea (but this made him sad)
-Izanami favored humans and gave them gifts like wisdom, craft, justice, etc.; she commanded different gods to watch over the humans and make sure they thrived; this made some of the gods angry, because they didn't think the humans were worthy; the gods decide to make Izanami live on earth in the mountains as a mortal; she becomes mortal and gives birth to 2 more gods on the mountain (the God of Fire and the God of Water); giving birth to the god of fire burned her so she died
-Izanagi was upset that Izanami died, so he traveled to the domain of the dead (Yomi) to get her; he finds her, but can't bring her back (her soul fades into mist when he touches her) so he goes back to earth and lives on the island of Ahaji in eternal gloom
3: The Miraculous Mirror
-Amaterasu sits in her palace in Heaven and weaves the fabric of humanity (I guess) when her brother Susanowo storms into her palace in a rage; Amaterasu hides from him on earth in a cave; this made the world go dark and made humans upset so they prayed for her to come back
-Uzume, the Goddess of Laughter, hears these prayers and goes to Amaterasu's cave with a special mirror that gleamed with light; hearing her laughter and getting angry, Amaterasu demands to know why Uzume is so happy; Uzume tells Amaterasu that the world is rejoicing because there's aprincess even more beautiful than Amaterasu; she shows Amaterasu her reflection in the mirror, and not recognizing herself, Amaterasu leaves the cave to find this girl; this brings light back to the world; the cave door is sealed behind her by another god so she can't go back
4: The Eight-Forked Serpent of Koshi
-one day Susanowo is walking by a river when he sees a chopstick floating in it; he finds the people who left the chopstick-- an old man and woman (who are both crying) and their daughter; Susanowo asks why they are crying, and they reply that every year a serpent comes to them and eats one of their daughters, and this is their last one; Susanowo promises them that he will kill the serpent if they'll let him marry their daughter (once he tells them who he is, they agree); he turns the girl into a comb and puts her in his hair
-Susanowo makes the old woman brew sake that is 8x stronger than normal and he builds a trap with 8 doors with some of the sake behind each door; after a while, the serpent shows up, drinks the sake and falls asleep, drunk; Susanowo kills the serpent while it sleeps, and then changes the girl back from a comb into a person and marries her
5: The Heaven-Descended
-all the gods get together and talk about how a place called Rice Plains is in chaos; they send the god Amewaka to earth to rule it, when he meets Princess Shitateruhime; they get married and stay in Rice Plains for 8 years feasting and partying; this makes Amaterasu upset, so she sends a bird to see why Amewaka is taking so long to fix Rice Plains; a woman warns Amewaka that the bird is up to no good, so he kills it
-the arrow he killed the bird with went to Heaven and landed at Amaterasu's feet; she sends the arrow back, saying if Amewaka is fighting with the locals, may it kill whoever he is fighting, but if he sent it, may it kill him instead for his evil heart; the arrow kills Amewaka while he sleeps; everyone is very upset about his death
-Amaterasu sends another god Ninigi to rule Rice Plains; as he's descending to earth, a herald tells him about a god at the 8 cross roads of Heaven who is huge; Ninigi calls upon Uzume (Goddess of Laughter) to go check it out
6: The Heaven-Descended cont.
-Uzume goes to the 8 cross roads of Heaven and sees the god/monster; she asks who he is, and he replied he is Sarutaniko and wants to meet with Ninigi and be his guide; Ninigi decides to descend to earth and meets the monster; they go to earth a build a huge palace and they are happy; Sarutaniko and Uzume get married and they lived happily ever after
-one day, Ninigi gets lonely and meets a princess named Konohana; Ninigi asks Konohana's dad if he can marry her; her dad agrees but also gives Ninigi Konohana's older sister to marry too; but Ninigi didn't want to marry the sister so he sends her back, making her father angry; the father tells Ninigi that all of his descendants will wither as the blossoms of the trees (this is why lives are so short)
-Ninigi and Konohana get married and are happy until one day; Konohana is wooed by Summer Wind and Ninigi gets jealous, disowning all of their children; Konohana uses fire to prove that she still loves her husband, and he believes her and they are happy again
7: The Fortunate Fish-Hook
-Ninigi had two sons, Howori (Fire-Fade) and Hoderi (Fire-Flame); Howori was a famous hunter and Hoderi was a famous fisher; one day they decide to switch hunting and fishing; Howori gives Hoderi his bow and arrows and Hoderi gives Howori his magic fish hook; Howori was really bad at hunting, so after the day he goes back to Hoderi and asks for his fish hook back, but Howori tells him he lost it
-Hoderi gets very angry; Howori tries to make more fish hooks or offers to get him a new one but Hoderi refuses; Howori is sad so he goes to the sea to look for the hook and comes across the old man of the sea; the old man of the sea gives Howori a basket he could sail in to get the hook back
-Howori goes to the palace of the ocean god; he climbs a tree in the garden and sees the princess Toyotama by a well; she sees him in the tree, freaks out and goes to get her father; the sea god brings Howori inside and has a feast; Howori and Toyotama decide to get married
8: The Fortunate Fish-Hook cont.
-Howori tells the sea god about the magic fish hook he lost, so the sea god summons all the fish in the sea and asks them if they've seen it; they said they haven't, but that they know someone (the Tai) with a wounded mouth; the sea god summons the Tai to the castle and they find the fish hook in her mouth
-3 years later, Howori decides to go back to earth to give Hoderi his fish hook back; the sea god gives Howori 2 talismans of the sea to use if Hoderi is really mad at him; Toyotama tells Howori she's pregnant and that he should build a house on land and she will meet him there when she can; Howori goes back to earth, gives the fish hook back, and builds a house for Toyotama; she shows up one day and gives him a son and then goes back to the sea; Howori becomes a fisher until he dies so he can see her again; Howori's son, years later and on his death bed, tells his son Jimmu to go to Yamato and rule it
9: The Labors of Yamato - The Rescue of the Princess
-Jimmu has a descendant named Yamato; one day, Yamato goes to the mountains and ends up swimming in the sea; he gets tired, lays down on the beach and dreams of a siren; he chases her into the sea but she gets away and he never finds where she went, so he comes back to that beach for a long time to see if he can find her but he never does
-on Yamato's wedding day, he and his posse ride by a fiercely guarded palace; the guards of that palace attack them, and everyone runs away but Yamato; one of them knocks Yamato out; he wakes up, hearing the shouts of his bride as she's carried away into the castle, and tries to go after her; as he's trying to get up, his horse falls on him and knocks him out again, nearly killing him
10: The Rescue of the Princess cont.
-he wakes up in a temple, his wounds being cared for by a high priestess; the high priestess tells him that the guarded palace is ruled by an infamous outlaw named Takeru and his bandits who steal women from their houses; she transforms Yamato into a woman and he goes to the guarded palace; seeing that he's a woman, the bandits let him in
-Yamato goes to Takeru, who is horribly drunk; Takeru tells Yamato that he can stay and pour his wine forever, so Yamato pours more sake for him; Takeru tries to grab Yamato, but Yamato fights him; realizing that Yamato is really a man, Takeru tries to kill him but Yamato kills him first; Yamato saves his bride and signals for his warriors to raid the castle; Yamato leaves the castle with his bride and they celebrate
BIBLIOGRAPHY
"Romance of Old Japan, Part I: Mythology and Legend" by E.W. Champney and F. Champney. Web Source: UnTextbook.
1: Izanagi and Izanami
-Izanagi, the God of the Heavens marries Izanami, the Goddess of Love; she gives birth to everything and everyone
-before anything was created, the sun and the moon came from flowers, and out of the flowers also came the gods (including Izanagi and Izanami); they got married and decided to create the earth, everyone and the 8 islands of Japan; they also created numerous other Asian countries; they had a son Susanowo (God of the Moon) and daughter Amaterasu (Goddess of the Sun)
2: Izanagi and Izanami cont.
-Amaterasu was favored by Izanagi; he gave her a precious necklace and told her to rule over the High Plain of Heaven, and she thrived there; Izanagi told Susanowo to rule over the moon and sea (but this made him sad)
-Izanami favored humans and gave them gifts like wisdom, craft, justice, etc.; she commanded different gods to watch over the humans and make sure they thrived; this made some of the gods angry, because they didn't think the humans were worthy; the gods decide to make Izanami live on earth in the mountains as a mortal; she becomes mortal and gives birth to 2 more gods on the mountain (the God of Fire and the God of Water); giving birth to the god of fire burned her so she died
-Izanagi was upset that Izanami died, so he traveled to the domain of the dead (Yomi) to get her; he finds her, but can't bring her back (her soul fades into mist when he touches her) so he goes back to earth and lives on the island of Ahaji in eternal gloom
3: The Miraculous Mirror
-Amaterasu sits in her palace in Heaven and weaves the fabric of humanity (I guess) when her brother Susanowo storms into her palace in a rage; Amaterasu hides from him on earth in a cave; this made the world go dark and made humans upset so they prayed for her to come back
-Uzume, the Goddess of Laughter, hears these prayers and goes to Amaterasu's cave with a special mirror that gleamed with light; hearing her laughter and getting angry, Amaterasu demands to know why Uzume is so happy; Uzume tells Amaterasu that the world is rejoicing because there's aprincess even more beautiful than Amaterasu; she shows Amaterasu her reflection in the mirror, and not recognizing herself, Amaterasu leaves the cave to find this girl; this brings light back to the world; the cave door is sealed behind her by another god so she can't go back
4: The Eight-Forked Serpent of Koshi
-one day Susanowo is walking by a river when he sees a chopstick floating in it; he finds the people who left the chopstick-- an old man and woman (who are both crying) and their daughter; Susanowo asks why they are crying, and they reply that every year a serpent comes to them and eats one of their daughters, and this is their last one; Susanowo promises them that he will kill the serpent if they'll let him marry their daughter (once he tells them who he is, they agree); he turns the girl into a comb and puts her in his hair
-Susanowo makes the old woman brew sake that is 8x stronger than normal and he builds a trap with 8 doors with some of the sake behind each door; after a while, the serpent shows up, drinks the sake and falls asleep, drunk; Susanowo kills the serpent while it sleeps, and then changes the girl back from a comb into a person and marries her
5: The Heaven-Descended
-all the gods get together and talk about how a place called Rice Plains is in chaos; they send the god Amewaka to earth to rule it, when he meets Princess Shitateruhime; they get married and stay in Rice Plains for 8 years feasting and partying; this makes Amaterasu upset, so she sends a bird to see why Amewaka is taking so long to fix Rice Plains; a woman warns Amewaka that the bird is up to no good, so he kills it
-the arrow he killed the bird with went to Heaven and landed at Amaterasu's feet; she sends the arrow back, saying if Amewaka is fighting with the locals, may it kill whoever he is fighting, but if he sent it, may it kill him instead for his evil heart; the arrow kills Amewaka while he sleeps; everyone is very upset about his death
-Amaterasu sends another god Ninigi to rule Rice Plains; as he's descending to earth, a herald tells him about a god at the 8 cross roads of Heaven who is huge; Ninigi calls upon Uzume (Goddess of Laughter) to go check it out
6: The Heaven-Descended cont.
-Uzume goes to the 8 cross roads of Heaven and sees the god/monster; she asks who he is, and he replied he is Sarutaniko and wants to meet with Ninigi and be his guide; Ninigi decides to descend to earth and meets the monster; they go to earth a build a huge palace and they are happy; Sarutaniko and Uzume get married and they lived happily ever after
-one day, Ninigi gets lonely and meets a princess named Konohana; Ninigi asks Konohana's dad if he can marry her; her dad agrees but also gives Ninigi Konohana's older sister to marry too; but Ninigi didn't want to marry the sister so he sends her back, making her father angry; the father tells Ninigi that all of his descendants will wither as the blossoms of the trees (this is why lives are so short)
-Ninigi and Konohana get married and are happy until one day; Konohana is wooed by Summer Wind and Ninigi gets jealous, disowning all of their children; Konohana uses fire to prove that she still loves her husband, and he believes her and they are happy again
7: The Fortunate Fish-Hook
-Ninigi had two sons, Howori (Fire-Fade) and Hoderi (Fire-Flame); Howori was a famous hunter and Hoderi was a famous fisher; one day they decide to switch hunting and fishing; Howori gives Hoderi his bow and arrows and Hoderi gives Howori his magic fish hook; Howori was really bad at hunting, so after the day he goes back to Hoderi and asks for his fish hook back, but Howori tells him he lost it
-Hoderi gets very angry; Howori tries to make more fish hooks or offers to get him a new one but Hoderi refuses; Howori is sad so he goes to the sea to look for the hook and comes across the old man of the sea; the old man of the sea gives Howori a basket he could sail in to get the hook back
-Howori goes to the palace of the ocean god; he climbs a tree in the garden and sees the princess Toyotama by a well; she sees him in the tree, freaks out and goes to get her father; the sea god brings Howori inside and has a feast; Howori and Toyotama decide to get married
8: The Fortunate Fish-Hook cont.
-Howori tells the sea god about the magic fish hook he lost, so the sea god summons all the fish in the sea and asks them if they've seen it; they said they haven't, but that they know someone (the Tai) with a wounded mouth; the sea god summons the Tai to the castle and they find the fish hook in her mouth
-3 years later, Howori decides to go back to earth to give Hoderi his fish hook back; the sea god gives Howori 2 talismans of the sea to use if Hoderi is really mad at him; Toyotama tells Howori she's pregnant and that he should build a house on land and she will meet him there when she can; Howori goes back to earth, gives the fish hook back, and builds a house for Toyotama; she shows up one day and gives him a son and then goes back to the sea; Howori becomes a fisher until he dies so he can see her again; Howori's son, years later and on his death bed, tells his son Jimmu to go to Yamato and rule it
9: The Labors of Yamato - The Rescue of the Princess
-Jimmu has a descendant named Yamato; one day, Yamato goes to the mountains and ends up swimming in the sea; he gets tired, lays down on the beach and dreams of a siren; he chases her into the sea but she gets away and he never finds where she went, so he comes back to that beach for a long time to see if he can find her but he never does
-on Yamato's wedding day, he and his posse ride by a fiercely guarded palace; the guards of that palace attack them, and everyone runs away but Yamato; one of them knocks Yamato out; he wakes up, hearing the shouts of his bride as she's carried away into the castle, and tries to go after her; as he's trying to get up, his horse falls on him and knocks him out again, nearly killing him
10: The Rescue of the Princess cont.
-he wakes up in a temple, his wounds being cared for by a high priestess; the high priestess tells him that the guarded palace is ruled by an infamous outlaw named Takeru and his bandits who steal women from their houses; she transforms Yamato into a woman and he goes to the guarded palace; seeing that he's a woman, the bandits let him in
-Yamato goes to Takeru, who is horribly drunk; Takeru tells Yamato that he can stay and pour his wine forever, so Yamato pours more sake for him; Takeru tries to grab Yamato, but Yamato fights him; realizing that Yamato is really a man, Takeru tries to kill him but Yamato kills him first; Yamato saves his bride and signals for his warriors to raid the castle; Yamato leaves the castle with his bride and they celebrate
Izanagi and Izanami. Source: Untextbook.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
"Romance of Old Japan, Part I: Mythology and Legend" by E.W. Champney and F. Champney. Web Source: UnTextbook.
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