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Introduction
Introduction
Yomi (黄泉), short for Yomi no Kuni (黄泉の国) or Land of Yomi, is a Japanese mythological concept appearing in both native Japanese religion and Buddhism. While its literal translation is "Yellow Spring", Yomi means and is often translated as "the Land of the Dead", "the World of Darkness", "the Underworld", or simply "hell" in English as the opposite of the earth or the world of the living. In both of Kojiki (古事記, Records of Ancient Times) and Nihon shoki (日本書紀, The Chronicles of Japan), Yomi is depicted as a gloomy and ghastly land blocked and separated from the earth (Borgen 68). This separation is important because if the two worlds are able to access each other, problems may emerge. Though vaguely defined, based on both the Japanese and the Chinese origin story (Durrant), the realm was believed or suggested to be located "beneath" the earth with some variations in different stories, but is connected to earth by a slope. Generally speaking, once the dead went to Yomi they usually could never return to the world of living.
In Japan, its earliest appearance is said to be 古事記 (Kojiki, translated as Records of Ancient Matters or An Account of Ancient Matters) and 日本書紀 (Nihon Shoki, translated as The Chronicles of Japan). It also appears in various contemporary novel such as 女神記 (The Goddess Chronicle).
The Japanese word is said to be originated from China, where its original meaning was said to be groundwater (see subpage), as the water in a deep well is often mixed with soil and looks yellow. Its first appearance with the meaning associated with death was in 左傳 (Zuo zhuan) or one say 春秋 (Spring and Autumn Annals).
Therefore, although with some slight variations, Yomi is generally regarded as a polluted "underground/bottom" realm. There is another theory regarding Yomi as Ne-no-Kuni (根の国, translated as "Root Land / Land of Origin") or Ne-no-Katasukuni (根の堅洲国), corresponding to a "Heaven/top" realm called Takamahara (高天原, translated as "high heavenly plain", located in the sky) as residence of deities, as well as the world of living in the middle called Ashihara-no-Nakatsukuni (葦原の中つ国, translated as "central land of reed plains", located on earth). The three lands act as three layers, separating deities, human beings and the dead physically but deities are always able to descend down to the earth and human beings descend to Yomi when they are dead. There are some scholars who believe that Yomi is something different from the Ne-no-Kuni, arguing that in Nihonki Ne-no-kuni is located in the sea and Susanoo became the ruler of Ne-no-kuni (Formanek, 69). There are also scholars holding the opinion that Tsukuyomi-no-mikoto, the moon god, should be the overlord of Yomi, and there are contradictions between those theories (Formanek, 241)
Yomi (黄泉) is vaguely defined
Yomi (黄泉) is vaguely defined
Resources describing the specifics of Yomi are limited beyond the famous Izanami origin story and the underworld definition, which suggests it might not be well conceptualized. Its first appearance is in Kojiki, one of the oldest books in Japan, where Yomi is the land that Izanami the goddess went to after her death (Borgen, 61). It largely appears to be an imitation of the ancient Japanese world of living, as it is said to contain a palace, pre-governed by some deities, has its specific food, and owns its specific army (Borgen). Once the deceased had the food from Yomi they are never allowed to return to the world of living. However, there is no more detailed description about specific government organization or its resident. In Izanagi’s words, Yomi is a “hideous and polluted land” that purification of his body was needed after visiting, and a place of his hatred. In his son Susanoo’s words, Yomi is regarded as the Rocky Land under the Earth. That was possibly due to the Yomotsu Hirasaka (黄泉比良坂), mentioned in the story as a rocky slope that leads from earth down to Yomi and was finally blocked with a giant rock, thus separating Yomi with the world of living. The Kojiki story ended up with Izanami getting trapped in Yomi forever because of her husband's betrayal, and she became the Great Deity of Yomi. Possibly due to this story, Yomi becomes “the exposure of the dead, feared and dreaded, which lies at the root of this concept of an absolutely horrifying other world from which all evil, all illness, and eventually even death itself emerge.” (Formanek, 52)
The earliest religious association of what we know as Yomi remains unanswered, as Yomi was simply regarded as a Pre-Buddhist expression in the post-mortem existence of the spirit (Formanek, 63). One theory proposes that Yomi originally was associated with native Japanese belief, a collection of native “folk religions” in the early days, and which in modern popular parlance is described by the term “Shinto”, although that is somewhat misleading (Bowring). The key point of this argument is that Yomi also appears in some Buddhist contexts afterwards, and that the Japanese indigenous beliefs never exist in China. When Chinese culture and characters were transmitted into Japan, it is also believed that Buddhism was brought to Japan from China as well. The earliest written appearance of the underworld meaning of Yomi in China was far earlier than Buddhism reaching China, and therefore, Yomi was largely not associated to any mature religions, at least not Buddhism, in China. It is believed that from the usage of Yomi as underworld, a derivative from its original groundwater meaning, ancient Chinese started to have an understanding about afterlife, but that does not necessarily mean that it is a religious concept. In short, it is hard to tell that Yomi in Japan is a Shinto concept. It is reasonable to guess that it may be associated with some kind of religion. It is often accepted that it is involved in some kind of "folk religion" or beliefs.
There is also usage of Yomi as a way/road instead of a place, and it is also sometimes seen in Chinese context and pop culture. The reason of that differentiation remains unknown.
Underworld or Hell?
Underworld or Hell?
A related concept in Japan is 地獄 (Jigoku), “underworld”, which is quite different from the Christian concept of hell. 黄泉 and 地獄are not two terms for the same object. Instead, they are two different concepts and although with similar meaning, they are often seen and used in different situations.
In terms of origin, 地獄 is widely accepted to be a Buddhism concept used in both Japan and China, while it is harder to define what religion Yomi is exactly from or even whether Yomi is associated with any religion, as described previously.
Just like Yomi, generally speaking dead people who goes to 地獄 could never get back, which again shows the separation of the world of the dead and the land of the living. However, in some rare cases a dead person may return to life after going the hell, usually after taking a tour through all the parts of the hell, observing the horrible tortures to criminals, and learning his/her lesson such as performing Buddhism ritual, copying sutra, etc. (Wakabayashi, 321). In this case we might say the protagonist is not really “dead”, and the story often ends with a moral teaching. We often see this in setsuwa since the Heian period. Compared to that, people who went to Yomi are not coming back because it simply means their lives have come to an end.
While both 黄泉 and 地獄 stand for the places where people go to after their death, what matters is the negative view involved in the word. In most of the cases Yomi is supposed to be neutral, which is seen in many expressions from Chinese literature such as "See you in the Yellow Springs (Let's die together)" or "we won't see each other until (we reach) the Yellow Spring", regardless of whether the person has any unfulfilled desire or should be punished. In this case, "otherworld" may be a good translation for Yomi, which simply meaning the place where all the people reach after death. Nevertheless, 地獄 generally carries a negative feeling, and in various cases going to 地獄 serves as a punishment for deceased who are sinful or evil.
Yomi was known to be ruled by Izanami (Borgen 68), while 地獄 was believed to be ruled by King Yama (閻魔, also translated as Enma) and the two deities are totally irrelevant. Normal dead people generally appear as walking insensitive spirits in Yomi, while in 地獄 they mostly appear as sinners, condemned their crimes and judged by King Yama, assigned to different Kings who govern the subordinate Hells, and tortured (Wakabayashi, 321). Figure 1 below depicts the dead protagonist Yoshisuke taken to the Court of Enma where he sees the deceased condemned for their crimes (Wakabayashi). He then takes a tour through the Hells. In short, 地獄 is usually the opposite of the "heaven" where people get punished, while Yomi may simply mean the afterworld.
The inside structure and government organization of the two are also drastically different, despite the fact that they are both regarded as somewhere beneath the world of living and both contain a palace. Although Yomi has a ruler and its own army, Yomi is generally regarded as a whole and there is no evidence supporting existence of any subordinates under it. In terms of 地獄, there are clearly separation of power, as there are Ten Kings of Hell (十王) under the rule of King Yama, and each King rules his own smaller part of Hell, each with a unique topic and torturing people in corresponding ways (Wakabayashi, 132). King Yama mainly acts as a judge, while the specific functions of each of Ten Kings remain unexplained. There are also varying theories arguing that there are eighteen, eight, or sixty four layers of 地獄, but Ten Kings of Hell is the most widely spread and acceptable version. Therefore, we come to the conclusion that 地獄 is a collection of smaller units, each different but serving the same purpose of judging people based on their weight of sins and carry out corresponding tortures. Sometimes it can be used as a moral teaching tool.
Figure 2: Part of The Eight Great Hells. From Chikurinji engi emaki (Muromachi period). Courtesy of Chikurinji Temple and Hiroshima University Library.
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