Izanagi and Izanami

Izanagi and Izanami Creating the Japanese Islands. MFA Boston. Mid 1880's. www.mfa.org/collections/object/izanami-and-izanagi-creating-the-japanese-islands-26669.

Izanagi no Mikoto and Izanami no Mikoto

Creation myths are fundamental in all cultures. While the structure and details of the creation myth change from culture to culture, these myths all explain the origins of their culture. In Japan, this is most evident in the story of Izanagi and Izanami, the central deities of the Japanese creation myth. Similar to Adam and Eve in the Christian Bible, these two gods are the first pair of deities to form a union, beget other gods, and engage in and have human-like actions, feelings, and behaviors. While the gods were recognized throughout history at shrines and temples, visual interpretations of the pair were largely lacking. Visual representations of Izanagi and Izanami did not arise until the art boom of the Edo period. Paintings from this era depict the pair as a Japanese man and woman typical of the nobility of the ancient past. Both had long flowing hair with long, beautiful, monotone robes, and bodies and faces of a regular Japanese man and woman, with white faces and skin. While there are many representations and iterations of these gods have appeared across the ages in things like plays, theatre, television, movies, books, manga, media, children’s stories, video games, and other tales, all of these representations share common elements which were also present in these Edo-period depictions. This page explores the development of the Japanese creation gods as parental figures, and how they have manifested as these roles throughout time.

The Origin of the Japanese Origin Gods - Kojiki

While in general, Izanagi no Mikoto is only known as being one of the progenitor gods in Japanese mythology, Izanami no Mikoto has the distinction of not only having that title, but also having the title of Goddess of Yomi (the underworld) after her death and being sealed away in Yomi. Izanagi and Izanami first appear in the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki, both dating from the 8^th century. While these two versions retain many overt similarities, there are a few key differences . In Kojiki ( 711-712), the tale Age of the Gods begins with the lineage of Izanagi and Izanami. In the beginning of heaven and earth, born after the first primordial Kotoamatsukami deities and from the unformed world were what is known as the Seven Divine Generations. These twelve gods, outside of Kunitokotachi and Toyokumono, are all gendered and come in pairs of older brother and younger sister. The youngest of these gods born were the older brother Izanagi no Mikoto (or “He who invites”), and the younger sister Izanami no Mikoto (or “She who invites”), who were commanded by the other gods to consolidate the drifting, unformed earth using a heavenly jeweled spear. Using this spear, the two stirred the primordial brine until it began to curdle, and as they drew the spear up, some of the curdled brine fell onto the earth, forming the island of Onogoro. The two descended upon this island, married, and started to bear children in the forms of the central islands of Japan and lesser gods. After two mishap children produced from an improperly marriage ceremony, the pair went on to bear the Island of Awaji, Futana, Mitsugo, Tsukushi, Iki, Tsu, Sado, and the Great Yamato (present day nara), with these islands forming what today is known as Japan. After birthing the lands, they began to produce a number of deities, each associated with some element or worldly concept. What is interesting and notable here is that not all of these deities were born directly from the union of the two, but many were created unintentionally as the result of the actions of the two independently, giving insight to the meaning of what deity actually represents in these tales.

In this process, they first gave birth to the Princess of Great Food, and then the Swift Burning Fire Deity. This birth of the Swift Burning Fire Deity left Izanami horribly burned and sickened, causing her to die, and eight more deities to be born from her decaying body. This trend of unintentional birth continues with the birth of deities from Izanagi’s tears as he wept for Izanami, and from the blood that spattered from the decapitation of the Swift Burning Fire Deity by Izanagi. From here, Izanagi longed to see his sister again, and traveled to Yomi, the land of the dead in Japanese mythology, and found her in the palace of underworld deities.

Top: The Gods Izanagi and Izanami on the Floating Bridge of Heaven. Honolulu Museum of Art. 1847-1852. http://honolulumuseum.org/art/7213-the-gods-izanagi-and-izanami-on-the-floating-bridge-of-heavena_z Middle: The Meoto-Iwa. Also known as the Married Couple Rocks. Joined by a shimenawa (heavy rope made of rice straw), and are representative of the marriage between Izanagi and Izanami. Located off the coast of Futami, Mie, Japan. (Public Domain Image)Bottom: Image of Statues of Izanagi and Izanami. Takachiho Shrine, https://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/sumbest24/32414037.html

Unfortunately, by the time Izanagi arrived Izanami had already consumed food from the land of the dead, and was unable to leave as a result. Against the wishes of Izanami, Izanagi accidently peered upon her face and body, which was rotting, covered in maggots, and the eight thunder deities were born from this glancing upon her body. Betrayed, Izanami became furious as the frightened Izanagi began to flee from the deity She Who Defiles that pursued him at Izanami’s command. After evading these pursuers sent after him, he blocked the entrance to Yomi using a giant rock, sealing Izanami in the underworld. From opposite sides of the rock, Izanami yelled “My lovely elder brother! If you do things like this, I will one day strangle to death a thousand of the folk of your land.” In response, Izanagi famously replied “My lovely younger sister! If you do that, I will in one day set up a thousand five hundred huts in which women can give birth. In this manner each day a thousand people will surely die, but each day a thousand five hundred people will surely be born.” (Borgen, 68) This is the source of the famous belief in Japan that every day a thousand people die and a thousand five hundred people are born, along with the reason why Izanami became known as the Great Deity of Yomi, or the lord of the underworld.

After returning from the underworld, Izanagi needed to purify his body of the polluted land, so he cleansed himself in the river-mouth near Tachibana on the island of Tsukushi. Among the minor gods born from his discarded clothes and the water used to wash himself, three major deities were born. From washing his right eye, Amaterasu (Heaven Shining Deity or the gun goddess) was born, from washing his left eye, Tsukuyomi (the moon good) was born, and finally from washing his nose, Susano-o (Turbulent Deity of Wind and Storms or the storm god) was born. Overall, aside from these 3 Noble Children, twenty-one minor deities were born in all. While Izanagi is involved in the affairs of his 3 Noble Children, and Izanami is mentioned, this marks the end of the major involvement of these two creation deities in this origin myth.

The Origin of the Japanese Origin Gods - Nihon Shoki and Comparison

Interestingly, while the version of the tale present in the Nihon Shoki, produced less than a decade later, shows significant differences from the Kojiki. First is the style of speech and the manner in which things are described. In contrast to the style of the theater-like dialogue of the Kojiki, the manner is more straightforward, with an emphasis on describing the events that took place. For example, the marriage ceremony of Izanagi and Izanami is described in the Kojiki as ‘“Then let you and me go around this sacred pillar and meet, and thus be married,” said Izanagi. She agreed, and so he said, “You go around from the right, and I will go around from the left.” When they had plighted their troth and gone around the pillar, Izanami spoke first: “Oh, what a fine man!” Then Izanagi said, “Oh, what a fine woman!”’.(Borgen, 66) However, in the Nihon Shoki, the exact same scene is explained as “They parted and went round the pillar of the land separately, the male deity turning left and the female right. When they met together on one side, the female deity spoke first and said ‘How delightful! I have met with a lovely youth.’”. (Borgen, 76) Another notable difference is the story proceeds in almost a completely different manor. Large chunks of the plot are either omitted or changed. For example, in the Nihon Shoki version, Izanami never dies giving birth to the fire god that ends up killing her, and thus never goes to Yomi and becomes the goddess of the underworld. To that, gods are only ever born deliberately between the two as a union, and the gods born from things like Izanagi washing himself, Izanagi crying, or the thunder gods born from Izanami’s body in the underworld. Also, the 3 noble children were born from a willing union of Izanagi and Izanami, instead of from Izanagi cleansing himself from his trip to Yomi, and after using his energy to allow Susano-o to go to heaven once Izanagi has “served his purpose” and goes to rest permanently in a palace on Awaji. (Borgen)

Above: The God Izanagi and Goddess Izanami. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 18th Century. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/671008Below: A page of the Iwasaki Edition of the Nihon Shoki, along with a close up showing the writing style. National Treasure: The Iwasaki Edition of Nihon Shoki (Nihongi), Volumes 22 and 24. Kyoto National Museum. 769. http://www.emuseum.jp/detail/101085/001/001?word=Nihon+shoki&d_lang=en&s_lang=en&class=&title=&c_e=&region=&era=&cptype=&owner=&pos=1&num=3&mode=simple&century=

What is pertinent here is the fact that the contrasts between the two versions allow us to sieve out the overall meaning of the appearance of the two gods, and help recognize their significance to Japanese culture as a whole. While these versions don’t have a lot in common, persistent events and themes arise. Despite differing in the number of gods created and which one of the two dies, in both the pair is responsible for the creation of the island of Japan, using the heavenly spear bestowed upon them. In both, despite being the last pair of gods born in the Seven Divine Generations, they are the only pair to procreate and are the first pair to have emotions and become involved in “affairs” of the world. Also, in both stories, they are gendered as a man and woman, receive judgement based on their roles as such, and are recognized as a fatherly and motherly figure to the gods they beget and Japan as a whole.

Contextual Analysis

Both records were written at a pivotal moment in the development of Japan. Up until the seventh century in Japan, there were no written records or histories. In a time where increased pressure from warring clans threatened the rule of the emperor, and Chinese culture began to heavily bleed into Japanese culture, Emperor Temmu sought to solidify his power using the foundation of heavenly entitlement. In the manner of the powerful and influential Tang Dynasty, he commissioned the Kojiki in order to firmly establish an imperial history and the imperial line. Also, simultaneously Emperor Temmu and the Imperial Courts had ordered Prince Toneri to compile the Nihon Shoki for the similar purpose of creating annals of history comparable to that of the Chinese. (Matsumura) It is likely that this effort to build up the Japanese courts and emperors as godly led to not only the personification of deities, creatures, and otherworldly beings, but also to the closeness and intersection of the affairs of gods and human-kind seen in Japanese mythology, motifs that continue to this day. While the Nihon Shoki was written completely in Chinese characters (Kambun), the Kojiki was written in a mix of both Japanese and Chinese characters, with no kana and only certain kanji used for sound and meaning (known as Manyougana). This is significant not only because it changed the image of these books in the public’s eye, but also because this resulted in different speech styles of the two books when recounted orally. Due to this, the Nihon Shoki unintentionally adopted the Chinese mindset, and essentially allowed the cyclic, dynasty focused Sinitic view of history to bleed into the Japanese mythos. (Lurie) As well, despite both being Japan’s first written works, and being made around the same time for official purposes, the Nihon Shoki was read extensively throughout the classical and medieval ages. In fact, it has been said that as a historical work the Nihon Shoki far surpasses the Kojiki. Not only did the Nihon Shoki surpass the Kojiki in quality, detail, and number of years of Japanese history covered, but it was believed to be preferred by a populace that saw the reading and writing Chinese as dignified and scholarly. In addition to this, the Kojiki did not appear in public print until 1644. (Huntsberry) Therefore, it is possible any representation of Izanagi and Izanami present is more likely to be unknowingly sourced from the versions of them in the Nihon Shoki, rather than the Kojiki. Overall, keeping these details in mind is incredibly important when analyzing the meaning of these two gods in present day, as it allows one to draw direct comparisons and source directly from a specific version of the origin myth. This, in turn, allows us to come to probable explainations for the representations we see today.

Modern Representation

Seeing as Izanami and Izanagi are the first gendered pair of Japanese gods with personalities and feelings, it should be no surprise that these deities often represent masculinity (for Izanagi) and femininity (for Izanami) in the appearances they make. One great example comes from a more modern novel. The Goddess Chronicle, written by Natsuno Kirino, is a modern continuation of the Kojiki version of the Japanese creation myth. It centers around two sisters born on a teardrop-shaped island off the coast of Yamato (Japan). Namima, the younger of the two and the narrator, is set to live in the shadow of her more beautiful older sister, and is set up to serve as Priestess of Darkness (or the isolated “impure one”) and watch her become the next Oracle of the island after the current one (their grandmother) dies. Unhappy with this, she begins to break the rules set for a girl in her position, which eventually leads to her attempt to escape the island with her lover Mahito and their unborn child. However, just as they are about to reach mainland Japan, Mahito suddenly strangles her, and she ends up in Yomi. Here Namima meets the entrapped Izanami, who is still bitter over her betrayal by Izanagi, and listens to her tale of how she got trapped in the underworld by him. As Izanagi laments her story, she explains that she was considered a sinner, suffered, and inadvertently caused death to be introduced to the world, simply because of her failure to act in accordance with the expectations of a woman’s behavior. However, she shares her realization with Namima that she has chosen to accept the burden of the Goddess of the underworld. She takes on the world’s defilement and suffers as a woman willingly in order for death to exist, which in turn, allows for the existence of love in the world. The Goddess Chronicle not only helps perfectly illuminate the meaning of the deity Izanami as a strong feminine figure, but has also shown how the image of Izanami’s femininity has changed over time from the ideal role-filling serf-like woman of pre-modern Japan, to the strong, independent, and noble woman of the modern day.

Above: Cover of the novel The Goddess Chronicle, by Natsuo Kirino

Above: A video of the final climax between the two gods, taken from the 2010 Atlus video game Persona 4. Below: Official artwork of Izanagi no Okami and Izanami no Okami as they appears in Persona 4.

Modern Representation (Cont.d)

Interestingly, the appearances of Izanagi and Izanami are not limited to only myths, stories, books, and other “serious” media. In recent times, the duo has made a number of appearances in video games, anime, and manga. What is notable here is that, while they don’t follow their origin stories exactly, they do retain key elements about their characters. These elements can arguably said to define these gods, since they are in fact still recognizable and unique because of these traits. The first solid example of this is the presence of Izanagi and Izanami in the video game, Persona 4. While this is not the only appearance of this creation duo in media aimed for the adolescent audience, it is one of the examples where they play a more prominent role in the plot. In the “Persona” video game series, Japanese mythical gods and figures give the users powers and are used in battle against one another. In Persona 4, Izanagi serves as the final and most powerful assistant to the player character, having been covertly keeping watch over him the whole time, and Izanami serves as the final and most powerful enemy at the end of the game. In this final climax, Izanami’s true nature as the source of all the conflict in the game and as Goddess of the underworld is revealed to the player and his party, after which she proceeds to drag them down to a stylized modern version of Yomi. As well, it is discovered that throughout the game both Izanagi and Izanami are responsible for the creation of other gods used by the characters, with both having the intent of wanting to watch humanity progress to the “truth”. The representations of Izanagi and Izanami in this game are great examples of a defining element of the pair, their position as parental figures. Izanagi is looking over the player character as a father figure, and despite being an antagonist Izanami is testing the player character to help them grow as people, which shows that even though they lack much of the context of their original myths, the meaning they have is in that of being father-like and mother-like.

Above: Release trailer of the Izanami Character from the video game SMITE, from Hi-Rez Studios. Left: Images of the Izanagi and Izanami trading cards from the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game, from Konami.

While the pair don’t play as much of a leading role in other appearances they make in this type of media, there exists plenty examples of this inherent meaning continuing. In the online multiplayer game Smite, the player takes control of a god, goddess, or other mythological figure and battles in teams. Along with Amaterasu, Kuzenbo, and Raijin, Izanami makes an appearance, all representing Shinto mythology. While she plays no major role in the overall plot, her identifying title is “Matron of the Dead”, showing that along with being the vengeful god of the underworld, her major defining characteristic is being motherly.

This continues in the children’s card game Yu-Gi-Oh, where Izanami and Izanagi make an appearance among other Shinto deities as part of the “spirit” archetype of cards. While not the “leads” of the set, both provide essential team support to the other spirit cards, making them a must-have if one wants to build a spirit deck. Also, without even making a direct appearance themselves, in the popular anime Naruto Shippuden Izanagi and Izanami show up in the form of ninja techniques, called Jutsu. Here the two Jutsus are known as forbidden techniques in their class, due to being the most powerful in that class, and are used as ultimate trump cards in order to control and shut down other Jutsu in their class. The Izanagi ability holds the power to reset reality and undo the effect of any other jutsu, while the Izanami ability holds the power to “loop” reality, trapping enemies in cycles and nullifying their powers. In both these cases, while they are not explicitly stated to be parents, the two hold certain positions of power and influence over other cards/Jutsu in the same category as them, similar to how a parent would. These examples show that, even when distilled down to their essence, Izanagi and Izanami are indistinguishable from their positions as direct creators, which testifies to the fact that their names alone carry this meaning.

Unfortunately, overall compared to other popular Japanese Yokai and deities, such as the Tanuki, the Kappa, Amaterasu, and Ebisu, the representation of Izanagi and Izanami in media is relatively sparse. While it can be argued that Izanagi and Izanami started the trend of the personable deity that Japan loves so much, it seems as if this is more of a general understanding than something that is actively embraced by Japanese culture, at least when compared to their attention to other deities. Nevertheless, Izanagi and Izanami remain significant, recognizable, and identifiable figures in Japanese mythology and culture.

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