User talk:Pisces Unicorn/Japanese mythology

Content Deletion

I felt that some of the myths included in the article are more summaries of the myths than information about the myths that fit in an encyclopedia entry. They also lacked proper citations. I am documenting this in case I learn more about the subject and want to re-write the section in a more appropriate way. I deleted the following sections from the article:

Ōkuninushi helps the white hare

Main article: Hare of Inaba

A tale of how the merciful Ōkuninushi helped the beleaguered rabbit or hare is of enduring fame, and often told as a sort of a Mukashibanashi or "once upon a time tale". It is found in Kojiki but not recorded in the "Nihongi".

Ōkuninushi (at the time he was just Ōnamuji without the august nickname) had eighty brothers who were rival suitors courting Princess Yakami/Yagami (八上比売) of Inaba to become her husband. They started out of their homeland of Izumo headed for the neighboring province, with Okuninushi brought along to follow and carry the luggage of his more eminent brothers. The brothers encountered a rabbit who had been flayed (by crocodile-fish, usually interpreted as sharks) and lay in agony upon a sea shore. In a wicked-hearted gesture, they advised the rabbit to bathe in the briny sea and blow himself dry in the wind. The rabbit found himself in worse agony. Ōnamuji, who came lagging behind, took pity on the creature and told the hare to wash in fresh water, then roll in the scattered fleece of cattail plants. The cured rabbit made a divined prediction that Ōnamuji would be the one to win Princess Yakami, "though thou bearest the bag,"

Princess Suseri

As the hare predicted, Princess Yakami pronounces her choice of Ōnamuji for husband before the eighty gods, and they all conspire and kill him twice over. His mother petitions Kamimusubi [ja], one of the creator deities, and resuscitates him each time, finally sending him off to seek Susanoo who has been banished to the Netherworld (Ne-no-kuni), and to obtain his wise counsel.

Here Ōnamuji meets face to face with Susanoo's daughter Suseri-hime and they immediately marry. The crafty Susanoo tests Ōnamuji several times, but, in the end, Susanoo approves of the young boy and foretells Ōnamuji's victory over his brothers.

Although the Yamato tradition attributes the creation of the Japanese islands to Izanagi and Izanami, the Izumo tradition claims that Ōnamuji, along with a dwarf god called Sukunabiko, contribute to, or at least finish, the creation of the Japanese islands.

--Pisces Unicorn (talk) 21:59, 29 January 2020 (UTC)

More Content Deletion

I was not sure if this belonged in the article or not.

Bibliography

Primary sources   Chamberlain, Basil Hall (1919). The Kojiki. Kadokawa. Takeda, Yukichi (武田祐吉) (1977). Shintei Kojiki (新訂 古事記). Kadokawa. ISBN 4-04-400101-4. Annotated Japanese. Aston, William George (1896). Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697. 1. London: Japan Society. Ujiya, Tsutomu (宇治谷孟) (1988). Nihon Shoki (日本書紀). 上. Kodansha. ISBN 978-0-8021-5058-5. Modern Japanese translation.

Secondary sources

  Komukai, Shoji (小向正司), ed. (1992). 神道の本 (Shinto no Hon). Books Esoterica. 2. Gakken. (雑誌コード 66951-07; 共通雑誌コード T10-66951-07-1000) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Pisces Unicorn (talk • contribs) 23:22, 29 January 2020 (UTC) Pisces Unicorn (talk) 07:27, 31 January 2020 (UTC)

See also: Solar deity § Missing sun

Amaterasu, the powerful sun goddess of Japan, is the most well-known deity of Japanese mythology. Her feuding with Susanoo, her uncontrollable brother, however, is equally infamous and appears in several tales. One story tells about Susanoo's wicked behavior toward Izanagi, who, tired of Susanoo's repeated complaints, banishes him to Yomi. Susanoo grudgingly acquiesces, but has first to attend some unfinished business. He goes to Takamagahara ("heaven") to bid farewell to his sister, Amaterasu. Amaterasu knows that her unpredictable brother does not have good intentions and is prepared for battle. "For what purpose do you come here?" asks Amaterasu. "To say farewell," answers Susanoo.

But she does not believe him and requests a contest for proof of his good faith. A challenge is set as to who can bring forth more noble and divine children. Amaterasu creates three women from Susanoo's sword, while Susanoo makes five men from Amaterasu's ornament chain. Amaterasu claims the title to the five attributed to Susanoo.

Torii at Ama-no-Iwato Shrine, Takachiho, Miyazaki Prefecture

Both gods declare themselves to be victorious. Amaterasu's insistence in her claim drives Susanoo to violent campaigns that reach their climax when he hurls a half-flayed pony (an animal sacred to Amaterasu) into Amaterasu's weaving hall and causes the death of one of her attendants. Amaterasu, angered by the display, hides in the cave called Iwayado. As the sun goddess disappears into the cave, darkness covers the world.

All of the gods and goddesses strive to coax Amaterasu out of the cave, but she ignores them all. Finally, the kami of merriment, Ame-no-Uzume, hatches a plan. She places a large bronze mirror on a tree, facing Amaterasu's cave. Then, Uzume clothes herself in flowers and leaves, overturns a washtub and begins to dance upon it, drumming the tub with her feet. Finally, Uzume sheds the leaves and flowers and dances naked. All of the male gods roar with laughter, and Amaterasu becomes curious. When she peeks outside, a ray of light called "dawn" escapes and Amaterasu is dazzled by the beautiful goddess that she sees, this being her own reflection in the mirror. The god, Ameno-Tajikarawo, pulls her from the cave, which is sealed with a shimenawa. Surrounded by merriment, Amaterasu's depression disappears, and she agrees to return with her light. Uzume is then known as the kami of dawn as well as of mirth. Pisces Unicorn (talk) 07:27, 31 January 2020 (UTC)

First Emperor Jimmu

Jimmu Tennō

The first legendary Emperor of Japan, best known by his posthumous name of Emperor Jimmu was referred to in the records by the title of Iwarebiko (神倭伊波礼琵古命/神日本磐余彦尊, Kamu-yamato Iware-biko no-mikoto). He is the son of Ugaya, descendant of Ninigi, and the sea princess Tamayori. His given name was Hiko-hohodemi.

His ascension marked the "Transition from Age of the Gods to Human Age". With claimed descent from sun-goddess Amaterasu through Ninigi, Emperor Jimmu launched an expedition to capture Yamato.

After taking control of Yamato province, he established the imperial throne and acceded in the year of kanototori (conventionally dated to 660 B.C.). His pedigree is summarized as follows.

• Izanagi is born of his own accord.
• Amaterasu is born from the left eye of Izanagi.
• Oshihomimi is born from an ornament of Amaterasu.
• Ninigi is a son of Oshihomimi and Akizushi.
• Howori is a son of Ninigi and Sakuya.
• Ugaya is a son of Howori and Toyotama.
• Iwarebiko is a son of Ugaya and Tamayori.

Jimmu's conquest of the east

Ninigi otokawa, great-grandfather of Jimmu Tennō

Further details: Jimmu's conquest of the east

The descendants of Ninigi, including Jimmu, were rooted in Himuka Myth Road of the Hyūga province (today Takachiho, Miyazaki Prefecture).

After Jimmu's death, an elder prince named Tagishishimi (who was not first in line as successor) moved to consolidate power under him while everyone else was in mourning, and plotted to slay his two younger half-brothers. The plot was suppressed, and the younger prince who had the courage to pluck the bow and shoot Tagishishimi fatally was cede the crown to become the next emperor, Suizei.

Important Deities

Izanagi in the underworld

Izanagi lamented the death of Izanami and undertook a journey to Yomi ("the shadowy land of the dead"). Izanagi found little difference between Yomi and the land above, except for the eternal darkness. However, this suffocating darkness was enough to make him ache for light and life. Quickly, he searched for Izanami and found her. At first, Izanagi could not see her for she was well hidden in the shadows. Nevertheless, he asked her to return with him. Izanami spat at Izanagi and informed him that he was too late. She had already eaten the food of the underworld and now belonged to the land of the dead.

Izanagi was shocked at this news, but he refused to give in to her wishes to be left to the dark embrace of Yomi. Izanami agreed to return to the world but first requested to have some time to rest. She instructed Izanagi to not come into her bedroom. After a long wait, Izanami did not come out of her bedroom, and Izanagi was worried. While Izanami was sleeping, he took the comb that bound his long hair and set it alight as a torch. Under the sudden burst of light, he saw the horrid form of the once beautiful and graceful Izanami. The flesh of her ravaged body was rotting and was overrun with maggots and foul creatures.

Crying out loud, Izanagi could no longer control his fear and started to run, intending to return to the living and to abandon his death-ridden wife. Izanami woke up shrieking and indignant and chased after him. Izanami instructed the shikome, or foul women, hunt for the frightened Izanagi and to bring him back.

Izanagi, thinking quickly, hurled his headdress, which became a bunch of black grapes. The shikome fell on these but continued pursuit. Next, Izanagi threw his comb, which became a clump of bamboo shoots. Now it was Yomi's creatures that began to give chase, but Izanagi urinated against a tree and created a great river that increased his lead. Unfortunately, the shikome still pursued Izanagi, who began to hurl peaches at them. He knew that this would not delay them for long, but he was nearly free, for the boundary of Yomi was now close at hand.

Izanagi burst through the entrance and quickly pushed a boulder to the entrance of Yomi. Izanami screamed from behind this barricade and told Izanagi that, if he left her, she would destroy 1,000 living people every day. He furiously replied that he would give life to 1,500.

And so began the existence of Death, caused by the hands of the proud Izanagi, and his abandoned wife Izanami.

Susanoo and Orochi

Susanoo, exiled from heaven, comes to Izumo Province (now part of Shimane Prefecture). It is not long before he meets an old man and an old woman sobbing beside their daughter. The old couple explain that they originally had eight daughters who were devoured, one after the other, by the dragon, Yamata no Orochi ("eight-forked serpent", who is said to originate from Koshi—now Hokuriku region). The terrible dragon had eight heads and eight tails, stretched over eight hills, and is said to have eyes as red as good wine. Kushinada-hime ("rice paddy princess") was the last of the eight daughters.

Susanoo, who knew about the old couple's relation to Amaterasu, offers his assistance in return for their beautiful daughter's hand in marriage. The parents accept, and Susanoo transforms Kushinada into a comb and hides her safely in his hair. He also orders a large fence-like barrier to be built around the house. The fence has eight gates, with eight tables placed at each gate and eight casks placed on each table. Each cask is filled with eight-times-brewed rice wine.

Orochi arrives and finds his path blocked. After boasting about his prowess, he finds that he cannot get through the barrier. His keen sense of smell takes in the sake—which Orochi loves—and the eight heads are now faced with a problem. They want to drink the delicious sake, yet the fence blocks access to the sake. One head suggests that they simply smash the barrier, but that would knock over the sake. Another proposed that they combine their fiery breath and burn the fence to ash, but then the sake would evaporate. The heads begin to search for an opening. They find the hatches, and, eager for the sake, they wish to poke their heads through to drink it. Yet, the eighth head, which is the wisest, warns his brethren about the folly of such an act and volunteers to go through first to ensure that all is well. Susanoo waits for his chance. He allows the head to drink some sake in safety and to report to the others that there is no danger. All eight heads plunge through the hatches and greedily drink every drop of the sake.

As the heads finish, Susanoo launches his attack on Orochi. Drunken from drinking so much sake, the great serpent is no match for the spry Susanoo who decapitates and slays Orochi. A nearby river is said to have turned red with the blood of the defeated serpent. As Susanoo cuts the dragon into pieces, he finds an excellent sword from a tail of the dragon that his sword had been unable to cut. The sword is later presented to Amaterasu and named Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi (天叢雲剣, "Sword of the Gathering Clouds of Heaven", which was later called Kusanagi, "Grass Cutter"). This sword was to feature prominently in many other tales.

Prince Ōkuninushi

Mostly known by his nickname Ōkuninushi, Ōnamuji was a descendant of Susanoo, and represented the power structure localized in the Izumo area. Ōkuninushi's people succeeded in unifying territory to some measure, but later relinquished control to the Yamato-based clans, as described in the Tenson kōrin chapter, below.

Ninigi's descent to the Middle World

Main article: Tenson kōrin

In the Nihongi here begins the section entitled "Age of the Gods: Part II" (kamiyo ge-kan (神代下巻)).

The episode of the Tenson kōrin (天孫降臨, "Descent of the Heavenly Grandson") begins with description of how the heavenly gods (Ama-tsu-kami) who dwelled in the Heavenly Plains (Takama-ga-hara) peered down upon the earth below (known by the stilted name Ashihara no Nakatsukuni (葦原中国, "Reedy Plains Middle World") which represents Japan specifically and not the whole world. To this land they dispatched various members of their own kind to subjugate it. Amaterasu had decreed her own grandson Ninigi to rule over the terrestrial world, but the terrestrial gods (kuni-tsu-kami) were not altogether willing to hand it over, and odd sorts of terrestrial gods were still lurking about making it too dangerous.

Some of the gods first appointed to quell the middle world were derelict in their mission, or joined leagues with the terrestrial gods. After several false starts, two gods were finally successful. They were Ame-no-ohabari (aka Itsu-no-ohabari; elsewhere this kami is said to be a sword) and Takemikazuchi. They embarked aboard the Ame-no-torifune or "Deity Heavenly-Bird-Boat" to their military campaign. These two sabre-rattling deities were able to frighten Ōkuninushi's two sons into flight, causing Ōkuninushi to abdicate and relinquish the territories to the Heavenly Grandson.

Amaterasu was now able to decree the Tenson kōrin (天孫降臨, "Descent of the Heavenly Grandson"), also referred to as amori, amakudari (天降り, "descent from heaven"), installing her grandson to rule over the terrestrial middle world. She endowed him the Three Sacred Treasures (Imperial Regalia of Japan):

• the necklace Yasakani no magatama (now in the Imperial Palace in Tokyo);
• the mirror Yata no kagami (now in the Grand Shrine of Ise); and
• the sword Kusanagi (now in the Atsuta Shrine in Nagoya).

The mirror was to be worshipped as a representation of Amaterasu. A number of deities were made to make the descent at this time.

Ninigi and his company went down to the earth and came to Himuka (Hyūga province, today's Miyazaki prefecture), there he founded his palace.

Ninigi's marriage

Ninigi met Konohanasakuya-hime (symbol of flowers), the daughter of Yamatsumi (master of mountains), and they fell in love. Ninigi asked Yamatsumi for his daughter's hand. The father was delighted and offered both of his daughters, Iwanaga (symbol of rocks) and Sakuya (symbol of flowers). However, Ninigi married only Sakuya and refused Iwanaga.

"Iwanaga is blessed with eternity and Sakuya with prosperity", Yamatsumi said in regret, "by refusing Iwanaga, your life will be brief from now on". Consequently, Ninigi and his descendants became mortal.

Sakuya conceived by a night and Ninigi doubted her. To prove legitimacy of her children, Sakuya swore by her luck and took a chance; she set fire to her room when she had given birth to her three babies. By this, Ninigi knew her chastity. The names of the children were Hoderi, Hosuseri and Howori.

Luck of the Sea and Luck of the Mountains

Main articles: Hoderi and Hoori

Luck of the Mountains meets Toyotama, in Wadatsumi no Iroko no Miya, painting by Shigeru Aoki (1907), Ishibashi Museum

Ninigi's elder son Hoderi or "Fire-Shine" had the gift of the bounty of the sea, and gained his livelihood by fishing (and bore the nickname Umisachihiko or "Luck of the Sea"). The younger son Hoori or "Fire-Fade" had the gift of the bounty of the mountains, and was a hunter (and nicknamed Yamasachihiko or "Luck of the Mountains").

One day, Luck of the Mountains asked his elder brother Luck of the Sea to exchange their tools and swap places for a day. He wanted to try his bid at fishing. But he did not catch a single fish, and worse, he lost his borrowed fishhook. To make amends, he shattered the very sword he was wearing to make a hundred, then a thousand hooks to replace what he lost, but the elder brother would accept nothing but the original fishhook.

Luck of the Mountains was sitting on a beach balefully weeping, there came to his aid Shiotsuchi-no-oji (one of the deities now enshrined at Shiogama Jinja). The tide god built him a small ship described as being manashikatsuma (无間勝間, 間なし勝間, "basket without interstices"), and sent him on a journey to the fish-scaled palace of the Watatsumi (Sea God, often conceived of as a dragon-god). There he had a fateful meeting with the Sea God's daughter Princess Toyotama, and married her. After three years, he remembered his brother and his fishhook, and was longing to return home.

Watatsumi gathered his piscean minions, and soon the fishhook was found in the throat of a bream (tai) and restored to Luck of the Mountains. The Sea God also imparted two magical balls: Shihomitsutama (塩盈珠, "Tide-flowing ball") which could cause a flood, and Shihohirutama (塩乾珠, "Tide-ebbing ball") which could cause water to recede and dry up. And he gave additional strategic advice to gain advantage from his contentious elder brother. So riding on a fathom-long crocodile-fish or shark (hitohiro-wani (一尋鰐)), they returned to dry land.

The pregnant Princess Toyotama built a cormorant feather-thatched maternity house and pleaded her husband for privacy, as she would be reverting to her true shape while delivering her child. But Howori (Luck of the Mountains) was overcome with curiosity, and peeped inside to discover her transformed into a crawling 8-fathom "croc-fish" (shark, dragon), and scuttered away in fright. Ashamed and disgusted by her husband's breach of trust, she abandoned the newborn and returned to sea. The infant prince was named Ugaya meaning "cormorant house".

Ugaya married his aunt, the sea princess Tamayori and had five children, including Iwarebiko, who was later to become Emperor Jimmu. In the Nihongi, the "Age of the Gods" (kamiyo (神代)) section ends here, and is followed by sections under the titles of the reigns of each Emperor.

Mythological Creatures

See List of legendary creatures from Japan for a broad spectrum of creatures potentially classifiable as being "mythological creatures". Yōkai or animals that interact with humans in Japanese folklore are discussed in those pages.

An influence of the Shinto and Buddhist traditions on Japanese mythology is the countless number of kami, yōkai, and mythological creatures that can be found in the folklore.

Mythological heroes

Momotaro

*Peach boy*

The Forty-Seven Ronin

Pisces Unicorn (talk) 20:16, 31 January 2020 (UTC)

Julia piggot Review

I read a scathing review of a book I used frequently for a reference, so I will cross-reference material and double check details for accuracy. Accuracy is nearly impossible since I can't rely on a primary source, and secondary sources vary wildly due to translation choices, compilation choices, idiosyncrasies of the writers, and the colonial-settler gaze. I will double check the way I wrote details of myths to make sure they are not so vague that they become inaccurate. I will also check tone to make sure there is a seperation of mythology and religion, and address directly the issue that some Japanese myths are Lso tied to still-practiced Shinto religion. Pisces Unicorn (talk) 10:41, 9 February 2020 (UTC)

Pre-move Review

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Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you for becoming a Wikipedia contributor!  一 Salt ♨️🚲🧂🧙‍♂️🐧🎓⚔️☠️ (talk) 09:38, 14 February 2020 (UTC)