Nevertheless, they fell into connubial relationship, having been instructed by two wagtails which flew to the spot.
When they again met each other on the further side of the pillar, Izanami, the female Deity, speaking first, exclaimed: “How delightful it is to meet so handsome a youth!” To which Izanagi, the male Deity, replied: “How delightful I am to have fallen in with such a lovely maiden!” After having spoken thus, the male Deity said that it was not in order that woman should anticipate man in a greeting. Thereupon the male Deity turning to the left and the female Deity to the right, each went round the pillar in opposite directions. Then wishing to become espoused, they erected in the center of the island a pillar, the Heavenly August Pillar, and built around it a great palace called the Hall of Eight Fathoms. In this island they thenceforth dwelt and made it the basis of their subsequent task of creating a country. Delighted at the result, the two deities descended forthwith from the Floating Bridge to reach the miraculously created island. Then drawing it up, he examined it and observed that the great drops which fell from it almost immediately coagulated into an island, which is, to this day, the Island of Onokoro. So saying he pushed down the jeweled shaft and found that it touched something. They were, at first, perplexed just how and where to start, but at length Izanagi suggested to his companion that they should try the effect of stirring up the brine with their spear. What they beheld was a world not yet condensed, but looking like a sea of filmy fog floating to and fro in the air, exhaling the while an inexpressibly fragrant odor. Proceeding forthwith to the Floating Bridge of Heaven, which lay between the heaven and the earth, they stood awhile to gaze on that which lay below. The divine couple received respectfully and ceremoniously the sacred weapon and then withdrew from the presence of the Deities, ready to perform their august commission. “We bestow on you,” they said, “this precious treasure, with which to rule the land, the creation of which we command you to perform.” So saying they handed them a spear called Ama-no-Nuboko, embellished with costly gems. Whereupon, all the Heavenly deities summoned the two divine beings, Izanagi and Izanami, and bade them descend to the nebulous place, and by helping each other, to consolidate it into terra firma. Many gods were thus born in succession, and so they increased in number, but as long as the world remained in a chaotic state, there was nothing for them to do. These were the Deity Umashi-Ashi-Kahibi-Hikoji-no-Mikoto (the Pleasant-Reed-Shoot-Prince-Elder-Deity) and the Deity Ame-no-Tokotachi-no-Mikoto (The Heavenly-Eternally-Standing-Deity). Suddenly like the sprouting up of a reed, a pair of immortals were born from its bosom. In its earliest stages, for millions and millions of years, the earth may be said to have resembled oil floating, medusa-like, upon the face of the waters. In the meantime what was heavy and opaque in the void gradually precipitated and became the earth, but it had taken an immeasurably long time before it condensed sufficiently to form solid ground. These three divine beings are called the Three Creating Deities.
Next the heavens gave birth to a deity named Takami-Musubi-no-Mikoto (the High-August-Producing-Wondrous-Deity), followed by a third called Kammi-Musubi-no-Mikoto (the Divine-Producing-Wondrous-Deity).
This was the Plain of High Heaven, in which materialized a deity called Ame-no-Minaka-Nushi-no-Mikoto (the Deity-of-the-August-Center-of-Heaven). Eon followed eon: then, lo! out of this boundless, shapeless mass something light and transparent rose up and formed the heaven. How does this story reflect the sense of its creators that Japan is the most important place in the world?īefore the heavens and the earth came into existence, all was a chaos, unimaginably limitless and without definite shape or form. The quest for Izanami in the underworld is reminiscent of the Greek demigod Orpheus’ quest in Hades for his wife, Euridice, and even more of the Sumerian myth of the descent of Innana to the underworld. This version is easier for the modern reader to understand than the original, but its essential features are preserved. The following is a modern retelling of the creation story from the Kojiki, Japan’s oldest chronicle, compiled in 712 CE by O No Yasumaro. From Genji Shibukawa: Tales from the Kojiki
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