The Oxford Companion to World Mythology by David Leeming

Author:David Leeming [Leeming, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2005-10-07T00:00:00+00:00

IZANAGI AND IZANAMI The *Kojiki and the *Nihongi, the primary sources for *Japanese pre-*Buddhist or *Shinto mythology, tell of the mythological age that began with events surrounding the first couple, Izanagi and Izanami. When at the beginning of time, chaos was overcome by the *separation of *Heaven and *earth, the *first parents were created. The Izanagi-Izanami relationship brings to mind the *yin-yang principle in *China; Izanami was the passive principle—the “female who invites,” and Izanagi was the active principle—the “male who proceeds.” When the first couple thrust a jeweled spear into the maternal waters below, the central island of Japan was formed. The couple decided to marry and did so after developing a courtship ritual in which the male was dominant and in which the details of the procreative act were discussed. From their union came the islands of Japan and eventually the *sun goddess, the source of all Japanese emperors, *Amaterasu.

The Izanami-Izanagi cycle contains a particularly dark myth in which Izanagi goes to the *Land of the Dead in search of his wife, who had been killed, in effect, by giving birth to fire. When he arrives, he finds that Izanami, like *Persephone in the *Greek *underworld, had already eaten of the fruit of the dead and, therefore, could not return with her husband to life. Izanami ordered Izanagi not to look at her body, now deformed by death, but he disobeyed. Izanami, insulted, chased her husband to the very gates of *Yomi (the underworld). Having wrongly visited the underworld, Izanagi was plagued by bad luck until he was able to wash in sacred waters, after which he isolated himself on a distant island. His wife became Queen of the Underworld.

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