Reading Notes: Japanese Mythology, Part A

Kobayashi Izanami and Izanagi (Source: Wikipedia)

Story Source: Romance of Old Japan, Part I: Mythology and Legend by E. W. Champney and F. Champney (1917)

Izanagi and Izanami

• Style - mix of prose and verse
• Izanagi: god of heavens
• Izanami: goddess of love
• They married at the beginning of time
• She gave birth to more gods, humans, beasts, fish, everything...
• She gives birth to Amaterasu (important god in Shinto religion)
• Izanagi lets her be the goddess of light in heaven
• Her siblings become the gods of the sea and the moon
• Ianami loved her earth children (humans) and continued adding to their world
• The gods eventually tell her to go live with the humans since she loves them more
• She ends up giving birth to Kagutsuchi (god of fire) who burns her as he is delivered
• Before she dies she gives birth to the god of water to help temper his brother and prevent him from spreading evil
• Izanagi is so upset by the death of his wife, he tries to find her on earth, but ends up residing on an isle in an eternal gloom