Japanese Mythology's Original Texts 1: Kojiki — Creation & the Gods' Birth

Thank you for visiting. This article is the first installment in a series explaining the original texts of Japanese mythology.

This series explains Japanese mythology in the order of the text of the oldest original text, the Kojiki. In this first installment, we look in detail at the first half of its upper volume (the age of gods) — from the beginning of the world, through the story of the wedded deities Izanagi and Izanami, to the birth of the major gods.

For an overview map of Japanese mythology’s original texts as a whole, please see this summary article.

The Original Texts of Japanese Mythology — Kojiki, Nihon Shoki & Indexen.senkohome.com/myths-religions-origins-japanese/

What Kind of Original Text Is the “Kojiki”?

Before getting into the main subject, let’s briefly grasp the original text we are about to trace, the Kojiki.

The Kojiki is the oldest extant history book of Japan, composed in AD 712 (Wadō 5). Its making is distinctive. First, Emperor Tenmu, seeking to correct the traditions that had become scattered as they were handed down in various houses, had the toneri (court attendant) “Hieda no Are,” who had an excellent memory, recite and memorize the Teiki (imperial genealogies) and the Kuji (old traditions). Afterward, the scholar “Ō no Yasumaro,” receiving the command of Empress Genmei, completed it by writing down (compiling) what Are recited in just a little over four months from the command of the 9th month of Wadō 4 (AD 711), and presented it to the empress in the 1st month of AD 712 (Wadō 5) — so the preface (the memorial to the throne) records.

This preface, written by Ō no Yasumaro in classical Chinese, is a precious primary source conveying the origin of the compilation. However, because the figure Hieda no Are scarcely appears in other historical sources, debate has continued since antiquity over their identity (even their sex is uncertain). In any case, the Kojiki is an original text with a making rare even by world standards — one that copied “tradition memorized by ear, as voice” into “writing.”

Its structure is three volumes.

The style is “hentai kanbun” (a variant Chinese using kanji for Japanese word order and sounds), close to Japanese prose and suited to conveying the stories vividly. In this article and the next (Article 2), we trace, in the order of the original text, the content of the upper volume (the age of gods), in which the myth is concentrated.

A Handbook of Japanese Myths and GodsView on Amazon → The Easiest-to-Understand Japanese MythologyView on Amazon →

The Creation of Heaven and Earth — the Beginning of the World

The Kojiki story begins with heaven and earth still in chaos, and gods being born one after another in Takamagahara (the heavenly world above).

The first to appear were three formless gods, the “three creator gods (Zōka sanshin).”

These gods are called “solitary gods (hitorigami),” without sex, and are said to have hidden themselves without showing their forms. Next, two more join: Umashi-ashikabi-hikoji, who appeared like a reed sprout budding from mud, and Ame-no-tokotachi, representing the eternity of heaven. These first five gods are specially distinguished by the original text as the “Distinct Heavenly Gods (Kotoamatsukami).”

What follows is the generation of paired male and female gods, the “Seven Generations of the Age of Gods (Kamiyo nanayo).” It depicts how the first, sexless gods gradually shift to paired male-female gods, and how the preparation is made for the world to be produced through “pairs.”

And appearing last in the Seven Generations (the seventh generation) are the wedded deities who become the protagonists of the story to come: the male god “Izanagi” and the female god “Izanami.” The creation of the world is now entrusted to these two.

The flow of the Kojiki upper-volume first half traced in this first installment is shown in the diagram below.

The Birth of the Land — the Birth of the Japanese Archipelago

The heavenly gods command Izanagi and Izanami to complete the still-unsettled earthly world. And they grant them a fine spear, the “Ame-no-nuboko (heavenly jeweled spear).”

The two stand on the “Ame-no-ukihashi (floating bridge of heaven)” connecting heaven and earth, and stir the chaos below with the spear. When they pull the spear up, the brine dripping from its tip piles up and hardens, forming the first island, “Onogoro Island.”

The two descend to this island, erect a thick pillar, the “heavenly august pillar (Ame-no-mihashira),” and perform a wedding rite. The custom was for Izanagi to circle the pillar from the left and Izanami from the right, and to praise each other where they met. At this time, the female god Izanami first called out, “Ana-niyashi, e-otoko-o (Ah, what a fine man),” and then Izanagi responded, “Ana-niyashi, e-otome-o (Ah, what a fine maiden).”

But the first birth ended in failure. Because the female god Izanami called out first in the rite, the child born was the imperfect, boneless “Hiruko (leech-child),” who was set in a reed boat and cast away. The next, “Awashima,” was also said to be not counted among their children.

Consulting the heavenly gods, they are told “the cause was the woman calling out first.” So this time, redoing it with the male god Izanagi calling out first, the birth succeeded, and fine islands were born one after another.

Thus born was Japan’s land, the “Ōyashima (eight great islands).” The main islands of the Japanese archipelago — Awaji, Shikoku, Oki, Kyushu, Iki, Tsushima, Sado, and Honshu — were formed one after another.

The Birth of the Gods, and Izanami’s Death

Having finished birthing the land, the two next set about the “birth of the gods.” Here, many gods governing everything in the natural world were produced — sea, river, wind, mountain, tree, field, and so on. For example, important gods who appear in later stories were born in this birthing: “Ōwatatsumi,” who governs the sea; “Ōyamatsumi,” who governs the mountains; and “Shinatsuhiko,” who governs the wind. A great feature of Japanese mythology is that the natural world itself is grasped as gods (the eight million gods).

But here a great tragedy occurs. When Izanami gave birth to the fire god “Kagutsuchi,” she suffered severe burns to her body from its flames and finally lost her life. The original text records in detail that gods were born even amid her death-agony. From her vomit were born the mine gods Kanayamabiko and Kanayamabime; from her feces, the earth gods Haniyasubiko and Haniyasubime; from her urine, the water god Mizuhanome and the production god Wakumusubi; and the child of that Wakumusubi is said to be the food goddess Toyoukebime, later enshrined at the Outer Shrine of Ise. That life (gods) is born even from the agony of death — the worldview of Japanese mythology, that a god dwells in everything, appears strongly here too.

Izanagi, having lost his beloved wife, grieves fiercely. From his tears too, it is said, the goddess “Nakisawame” was born. And in his rage, he kills with his sword his own child Kagutsuchi, who had taken his wife’s life. At this time, from the blood dripping on the sword and from each part of the slain Kagutsuchi’s body, many more gods (gods of thunder, mountain, and sword) are said to have been born, showing the view of life and death peculiar to Japanese mythology — that new life (gods) is born even from death.

The Land of Yomi — the Form That Must Not Be Seen

Still unable to give up his wife, Izanagi goes to bring Izanami back even from the land where the dead dwell, the “land of Yomi.”

Reuniting with Izanami in the darkness, Izanagi pleads for her to return together. But Izanami answers, “To my regret, I have already eaten the food of Yomi (yomotsu-hegui).” That one who has eaten the food of the other world cannot return to the original world — this is a notion common to myths around the world, and it appears clearly in Japanese mythology too. Even so, Izanami says, “I will consult the god of Yomi. Meanwhile, never look at my form,” and vanishes inside.

But Izanagi, losing patience with his wife who would not return no matter how long he waited, breaks the promise, lights a flame, and peers inside. What was there was the utterly changed form of Izanami — already decayed, maggots swarming over her whole body, the thunder gods clinging to her.

In his terror, Izanagi flees. Izanami, enraged, “How dare you shame me,” sends the demons of Yomi to pursue her husband.

Izanagi flees while the demons are distracted: throwing his hair ornament, grapes grow; throwing his comb, bamboo shoots grow. Further pursued by eight thunder gods and the host of Yomi, the “Yomotsu-ikusa (army of Yomi),” he hurls three peaches that had ripened at the foot of the slope and at last drives off the pursuers. At this time Izanagi says to the peaches, “As you helped me, please help people when they suffer and grieve,” and grants them the name “Ōkamuzumi.” Here is told the old belief that the peach has the power to ward off evil.

The Boulder That Blocks the Slope, and the Origin of Life and Death

Finally reaching the slope that is the border with the world above, “Yomotsu-hirasaka,” Izanagi blocks the way with a giant boulder, the “chibiki-no-iwa (boulder it takes a thousand to move),” and severs the tie with the land of Yomi.

Across the boulder, the two exchange final words. When Izanami says, “I will strangle a thousand of the people of your country each day,” Izanagi replies, “Then I will build fifteen hundred birthing huts each day.”

This is taken as the myth telling the origin of life and death — why people die, and why even more are born. The wedded deities who once produced the world together were split into life (Izanagi) and death (Izanami).

Purification and the Birth of the Three Nobles

Izanagi, having barely returned alive from the land of Yomi, laments, “What a defiled land I have visited,” and performs a rite of cleansing his body in a river, the “misogi (purification),” to wash away the pollution of death.

At this time, a god is born each time he takes off and casts aside the staff, belt, and clothes he wore, and further, when he enters the water and washes his body, from the pollution of Yomi is born the god of calamity, “Magatsuhi,” followed by the god who corrects that calamity, “Naobi.” The idea that “pollution” and the power to “correct (purify away)” it are born as a pair lies at the root of the later Shinto “harae (purification).”

Further, rinsing his body at varying water depths, the sea gods, the “three Watatsumi gods,” and the gods governing voyages, the “three Sumiyoshi gods,” were born. These were later widely enshrined as guardians of the ama (sea-folk) and of voyages and harbors. And finally, the most noble three gods, the “three nobles (sankishi),” are born.

Izanagi, greatly rejoicing at the birth of the three noble gods, grants each the world it should rule. To “Amaterasu” he commanded the heavenly Takamagahara; to “Tsukuyomi,” the world of night; and to “Susanoo,” the vast sea-plain.

And so the leading role of ruling the world passes from the wedded deities Izanagi and Izanami to the generation of their children, the three nobles.

The “Taboo of Looking” — a Theme of Japanese Mythology

Striking in this first installment is the scene in which Izanagi, in the land of Yomi, broke his wife’s word “do not look” and saw her utterly changed form. In fact, this “taboo of looking (forbidden-room type)” is an important motif that recurs throughout Japanese mythology.

In later stories too, developments of “because one saw what must not be seen, the other departs” appear again and again, such as the tale (Article 3) in which the sea god’s daughter Toyotamabime returns to the sea after her husband Yamasachi sees her form in childbirth. This is a deep-rooted pattern of Japanese stories, inherited even by later folktales like “The Crane’s Return of a Favor.”

By breaking the taboo, the bond between humans and the other world (the land of the dead, the land of the sea) is severed. This theme reflects the worldview peculiar to Japanese mythology — that humans cannot become completely one with the gods or the other world.

To Learn More

Here are some related books. Reading them alongside this series lets you savor this world even more deeply.

An Anatomical Illustrated Guide to the Gods of JapanView on Amazon → The Nihon Shoki: Full Modern Translation + Commentary, Vol. 1, Age of GodsView on Amazon →

Conclusion

In this article, based on the Kojiki upper volume, I explained in detail from the creation of heaven and earth to the birth of the three nobles. How was it?

The three creator gods who appeared at the beginning of the world, the birth of the land and the gods by Izanagi and Izanami, the death of Izanami who bore the fire god, and the story of the land of Yomi in which the “taboo of looking” was broken, and the origin of life and death born from it. I hope you could feel the grand opening of Japanese mythology.

In the next article (Article 2), I will explain, among the three nobles who were born, the “Ama-no-Iwato” and the “slaying of Yamata-no-Orochi” played out by the sun goddess Amaterasu and her younger brother, the storm god Susanoo, and the story of the Izumo god Okuninushi.

The Original Texts of Japanese Mythology — Kojiki, Nihon Shoki & Indexen.senkohome.com/myths-religions-origins-japanese/

I hope you’ll read the next article too.