Mu (mythical lost continent)

Underwater structures controversially identified as remnants of Mu, near Yonaguni, Japan

Mu is the name of a hypothetical lost continent, which is thought to have been located in the Pacific Ocean before it sank beneath the waters, similar to Atlantis and Lemuria, with which it is sometimes identified.

General acceptance by the scientific community of the theory of plate tectonics ended any scientific basis for the once popular belief in sunken continents. Plate tectonics explains that continental masses are composed of the lighter SiAl (silicon/aluminium) type rocks which literally float on the heavier SiMg (silicon/magnesium) rocks which constitute ocean bottoms. There is no evidence of SiAl rock in the Pacific basin.

History of the concept

Augustus Le Plongeon

The idea of Mu first appeared in the works of the antiquarian Augustus Le Plongeon (1825–1908), a 19th century traveler and writer who conducted his own investigations of the Maya ruins in Yucatán. He announced that he had translated the ancient Mayan writings, which supposedly showed that the Maya of Yucatán were older than the later civilizations of Atlantis and Egypt, and additionally told the story of an even older continent of Mu, which had foundered in a similar fashion to Atlantis, with the survivors founding the Maya civilization.

Le Plongeon actually got the name "Mu" from a mistranslation of what was then called the Troano Codex in 1864, using the de Landa alphabet. Mu was taken to mean Atlantis, which is what Le Plongeon thought; he also thought that Queen Moo was in Central America 30,000 years ago and founded civilizations in Atlantis and Egypt.

This translation of the "Troano Codex" obviously includes a number in the original and this can be told because the figures are place-values in base-20 (used by the Mayans) including 64,000,000 and 8,000, and in sequence. The translation recognizes some of the values but translates others as words, hence creating one long sentence. The recognition of the base-20 values in the passage was recognized by Dale Drinnon and is elaborated in his yahoo group.

James Churchward

This lost continent was later popularised by James Churchward (1851–1936) in a series of books, beginning with Lost Continent of Mu, the Motherland of Man (1926), The Children of Mu (1931), The Lost Continent Mu (1931), and The Sacred Symbols of Mu (1933). Churchward claimed that Mu was the home of the advanced Naacal civilization. The books still have devotees, but they are not considered serious archaeology, and nowadays are found in bookshops classed under 'New Age' or 'Religion and Spirituality'.

Kemal Atatürk

In the late 1930s, Turkey's president Mustafa Kemal Atatürk promoted research on Mu and other lost continents, in the hope of establishing connections between the Turkish civilization and other ancient cultures, such as the Uyghur, India, Maya, and Aztecs.

Other authors

Mu is identified with Lemuria in Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson's Illuminatus! trilogy, in Martin Gardner's Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science, and in the Hungarian Jeno Csicsaki's Mu, az emberiseg szulofoldje.

Archaeological evidence

Yonaguni

The Morien Institute has suggested that underwater structures located off the coast of Yonaguni, Okinawa, Japan are possibly ruins of Mu. There is little scientific evidence to support this assertion, and geologists generally believe that the rock formations were caused by geological processes and are of natural, not man-made, origin. In a video news report, CNN mistakenly referred to the site as the "ruins of the lost world of Muin".

Marine geologist Masaaki Kimura (professor at Ryukyu University and chairman of Marine Science and Culture Heritage Research Association) stated that he identified the ruins of a city off the coast of Yonaguni Island at tip of Japan as the remnants of an Asian equivalent of Atlantis. Kimura believes the city was sunk in an earthquake 3,000 years ago.

Easter Island

Easter Island with Moai showing locations of Ahus, and submarine Contour lines showing the depth of the surrounding Pacific Ocean

Alfred Metraux visited Easter Island in the 1930s and subsequently made the following rebuttal of the theory that the island was a mountain top of a submerged continent.

• The island's Ahus (platforms for Moai statues) are concentrated on the current coast of the island, which implies that little change had happened to the island's shape since they were built.
• Easter Island is a volcanic island of recent origin rising from the deep ocean (1,770 Fathoms deep twenty miles from the island).
• The "Triumphal Road" that Pierre Loti had reported ran from the island to the submerged lands below, is actually a natural lava flow.

Mu in the arts and entertainment

Books and comics

• H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937) included Mu in his Cthulhu mythos.
• In Robert E. Howard's Kull stories, Mu was a large continent with many great cities, and when it sank, the tops of mountain peaks became the isles of Lemuria.
• V. T. Hamlin's Alley Oop comic strips (1932). "Moo" and "Lem" (after Lemuria?) are rival prehistoric nations.
• Henri Vernes's albums:
  • Les tours de cristal (1961). Hero Bob Morane time-travels to a high-tech Mu.
  • Les géants de Mu (1975).
• Andre Norton novel Operation Time Search (1967). Mu and Atlantis are rival nations.
• W. Murphy and R. Sapir's book Coin of the Realm (1971–). Features Mu. "James Churchward" used as a pseudonym.
• Tom Robbins' novel Still Life With Woodpecker (1980) makes extensive reference to Mu.
• Oscar Loyo's comics magazine Karmatron (1986–1991). Mu is a base city for some of the characters.
• M. Kurumada's manga Saint Seiya (Knights of the Zodiac) (1986-1990). Mu is said to be the birthplace of a character called Mu. Mu is one of the 12 gold saints under Greek goddess Athena's command. Mu presides over the zodiac temple of Aries.
• Hugo Pratt's comics album Mu (1988-1989). A Corto Maltese adventure.
• S. Komatsuzaki's illustrated story The Undersea Kingdom. Mu goes to war with the modern world.
• Margit Sandemo book series Häxmästaren and Legenden om Ljusets rike . Mu and Lemuria are advanced civilizations.
• James Rollins's novel Deep Fathom, in which one of the characters is the great-granddaughter of James Churchward.
• Nathaniel Mackey's National Book Award winning book of poems Splay Anthem (2006) which contains his serial poem "Mu".
• Michel Desmarquet's controversial book Thiaoobua Prophecy (1993) contains a detailed description of the continent Mu, allegedly experienced by the author himself while guided through what is believed to be the Akashic Records.

Movies, TV serials, and animations

• Atragon (1963) and Super Atragon (1996), based on S. Oshikawa's novel The Undersea Battleship and Komatsuzaki's short story above.
• Brave Raideen (1975–1976). (1975) The inhabitants of Mu, left a giant robot to defend Earth when the devils of space returned. This Giant Robot was unique, it was "intelligent" as it picked its own pilot.
• The Mysterious Cities of Gold (1982). Character Tao is a descendant of the Empire of Mu. Changed to the Empire of Hiva for the English dub.
• Dai Sentai Goggle V (1982-1983). Mu is represented by the opal on the forehead area of Goggle Yellow's helmet.
• Super Dimension Century Orguss (1983.) The Mu Empire is a race of intelligent robots apparently connected with the legendary civilization. They turned on their creators and seek to destroy all other forms of intelligent life.
• Space Sheriff Shaider (1984). The Fuuma Empire, the alien empire fought by Shaider, played by Hiroshi Tsuburaya, came originally from Mu 12,000 years ago.
• Saint Seiya (1986) The inhabitants of Mu created the cloths for Athena's Saints. The last three lemurians are known to be Shion of Aries, Mu of Aries (both capable of repairing the cloths) and Kiki, Mu's student.
• RahXephon (2002). The Mulians are shown as a race who look like other humans but have blue blood. They are portrayed as coming from an alternate dimension into which the continent of Mu accidentally disappeared and in which it continues to exist; in this story, Mu is thus not a sunken continent, though still a lost one.
• Rebirth of Mothra II (1997) . Mu is the place where the monster Dagarla was created.
• Shaman King (1998-2004) . Mu is where the Shaman King ceremony happens.
• Gamera: Guardian of the Universe Mu is briefly mentioned in conjunction with the legend of Atlantis during a discussion of Gamera, Gyaos and other legendary sunken continents. Mu is referenced as possibly being another name for Atlantis.
• In episode 20 of Gintama, the main character, Gintoki, admitted he believed in the Mu Continent, to avoid admitting he believed in ghosts.
• In episode 16 of Night Head Genesis, the continents of Atlantis, Lemuria and Mu are mentioned. It was said that these highly advanced civilizations capable of both space and time travel fell due to the impact the Minus Energy had on the Earth.
• In The Japanese manga Death Note, MU was the place where humans went after dying, according to death note, there was no heaven or hell, only MU (nothingness).

Video games

• Webzen's MMORPG Mu Online. The play is set in Mu.
• Square Enix's Star Ocean: Till the End of Time - one of the teams in the arena "Soldiers of Mu" has a brief reference to Mu "sitting on the bottom of the Mediterrean".
• Namco's Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Böse has a reference to Mu as the protagonists travel on a lost planet, Miltia, as an enigmatic character chaos compares the state of the planet to the lost continent.
• The NES and Super Nintendo games Wurm: Journey to the Center of the Earth (1991), DuckTales 2 (1993), Illusion of Gaia/Illusion of Time (1994), Terranigma (1995), and Star Ocean: Fantastic Space Odyssey (1996) all reference Mu.
• Game Boy Advance's game Astro Boy: Omega Factor (2004). Mu is an Aztec-like land.
• City of Heroes and City of Villains. Many humans with magical abilities are said to be descended from the people of Mu. The villain group known as the Circle of Thorns is made up primarily of the ghosts of their ancient enemies, the Oranbegans. Also, the villain group Arachnos has a division made up entirely of Mu descendants.
• Civilization II: Fantastic Worlds features a city called Mu on at least two different scenarios.
• Mega Man Star Force 2 features Solo, a major antagonist who is the last human of Mu and means to use certain OOPArts to revive the continent.
• Viewtiful Joe in the game of the same name mentions Mu after defeating the second level boss, Hulk Davidson.
• Age of Empires 3 The Asian Dynasties features a treasure which is the remants of the lost continent of Mu.

Music

• MU, a 70s American Psychedelic rock band.
• Mu, a current British/Japanese electronica duo.
• The Thirteen Cryptical Prophecies of Mu, song from the album The Power Cosmic by Bal-Sagoth.
• The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu (later known as The KLF), a British techno band very fond of Mu.
• Glassjaw, A rock band from Long Island, NY. The second track on their album 'Worship and Tribute' is called "Mu Empire."
• Lemuria, song from the album Lemuria by symphonic opera metal band, Therion.
• Don Cherry's 1969 records with Ed Blackwell, Mu, Part I and Mu, Part II
• Brewer & Shipley's 1968 record Down In L.A. included a song titled Incredible State of Affairs that mentions Atlantis & Mu
• Mu, a track on the 1967 album Atlantis by jazz musician Sun Ra. Other tracks include Lemuria, Yucatan, Bimini, and the title track, Atlantis. The album features the Hohner clavinet.
• Robert Plant, of the rock group Led Zeppelin, claimed his symbol on the band's fourth album (a feather inside a circle) represents the Mu civilization. He said, "My symbol was drawn from sacred symbols of the ancient Mu civilisation which existed about 15,000 years ago as part of a lost continent somewhere in the Pacific Ocean between China and Mexico. All sorts of things can be tied in with Mu civilisation - even the Easter Island effigies. These Mu people left stone tablets with their symbols inscribed into them all over the places. And they all date from the same time period. The Chinese say these people came from the east and the Mexicans say they came from the west...obviously it was somewhere in between." (From the book "Talking," by Dave Lewis.)
• Planet Mu, a British electronic music label, has released albums titled The Sacred Symbols of Mu, The Cosmic Forces of Mu, Children of Mu and Amμnition. It is owned by Mike Paradinas, who publishes his own work as μ-Ziq, as well as other aliases.

See also

• Lost city
• Lost lands
• Lemuria (continent)
• Atlantis
• Lemuria and Easter island