Japanese+Mythology

Japanese mythology is a good way to learn about Japanese culture. It focuses on myths, legends, and how things came into being. The myths and legends reflect their culture and customs. For this reason, the creation story is very important. It is a known fact that Japan is an old country and is one of the many countries to incorporate mythology into their culture. Japanese mythology had many purposes; some including socializing, communicating, retelling the past, and giving insites into their culture, beleifs, enviroment, and customs.

One of the important myths in Japanese mythology is the creation story. The myth states that in the beginning the world was nothing but a collection of gases. After the separation of Earth and sky, the gods appeared. First there were three, but then two more of these shapeless gods appeared creating five gods in all, called the sky-kami. Later, two more important gods come into being: Izanagi and Izanami. They were brother and sister and husband and wife. They perform a fertility ritual, became husband and wife and created a deformed child because they performed the ritual incorrectly. During the ritual, Izanami spoke first which was their mistake. When the ritual was done correctly, 8 islands were created which grew to be the size of the modern day continents. Izanagi and Izanami then created the elemental god, but when she created the fire god disaster struck and Izanami was badly burned. From her vomit and waste, other gods were produced, but she later died. Izanagi was upset, killed the fire god, and decided to follow his wife to the land of the dead. When he went to the Underworld, he discovered that she had eaten the food there, meaning it would be very difficult for her to leave. Izanagi wanted to see his wife even after she told him not to do so. He betrayed her wishes and went to visit her, but when he saw her body rotting and decaying he was scared and ran. Izanami wanted to go with him, but she could not get past the entrance to the Land of the Dead. When Izanagi returned home, he felt unclean so he bathed himself. When he was bathing in a river, many gods appeared from his sweat, and while he washed his left eye the god of sun ( Amaterasu) appeared and from his right eye came the moon god, Tsukiyomi, and from his nose came the brave male god Susano-Wo. Amaterasu married Tsukiyomi and the two of them ruled the heavens together. However, great dispute erupted among the gods and this violence resulted in many of the gods losing their positions. In the end, Amaterasu’s grandson ruled over the heavens and his descendents would be the emperors of Japan forever. This is how the Japanese believed the world was created and this story can teach us alot about the culture and customs of the Japanese.

http://siteground181.com/~travelh2/wiki/images/c/c6/Ja-map.png

Map of Japan

__**CITATION**__ Roberts, Jeremy. "creation myth, Japanese." //Japanese Mythology A to Z//, Mythology A to Z. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2004. //Ancient and Medieval History Online//. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp? ItemID=WE49&iPin=JMAZ099&SingleRecord=True (accessed September 26, 2008).

Roberts, Jeremy. "animals in Japanese legends and myths." Japanese Mythology A to Z, Mythology A to Z. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2004. Ancient and Medieval History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp? ItemID=WE49&iPin=JMAZ032&SingleRecord=True (accessed September 29, 2008).

This story can teach and show us many interesting and important pieces of information about Japanese culture and customs and the Japanese had many reasons to tell this story. One of these important pieces of imformation is the reason why the Japanese told this story. They may have told it to explain how the gods were formed to make them more believable and realistic. Also, this may have been told to show people that they are not here by chance but are here for a reason because the gods went to the trouble of creating them in the first place. This myth also shows that nsture was important to the Japanese because it shows up constantly in this myth and others. An example of this is their belief that the world started as a collection of gases. Another exampleis the Japanese’s understanding that earth may not always have been separated from sky and that bodies begin to rot after theire dead. This myth shows the natural event of the world coming into being and child birth. It shows these things through the story of creating the world and continents and when Izanagi and Izanami had a deformed child because of their mistake. This myth not only represents natural events but it also shows the nature of humanity. The nature of humanity is shown through Izanagi’s curiousity. His wife warned him not to look at her but he did anyway and because of this his wife was not allowed to pass through the entrance of the Underworld. This is also an example of the nature in which humans do not listen to advice they need. Through these examples we can see that the Japanese had many reasons for telling this story, including, to give a reason and purpose for all that exists, warn people to take the advice given to them, and demonstrate the curiousity that their culture had for the world around them.

http://ludologia.blogs.ca.ua.pt/category/blogosfera/ Drawing of Japanese gods

=__Citation:__= Roberts, Jeremy. "mythology, Japanese." //Japanese Mythology A to Z//, Mythology A to Z. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2004. //Ancient and Medieval History Online//. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp? ItemID=WE49&iPin=JMAZ001&SingleRecord=True (accessed September 29, 2008). Roberts, Jeremy. "creation myth, Japanese." //Japanese Mythology A to Z//, Mythology A to Z. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2004. //Ancient and Medieval History Online//. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp? ItemID=WE49&iPin=JMAZ099&SingleRecord=True (accessed September 29, 2008). Roberts, Jeremy. "stars in Japanese mythology." //Japanese Mythology A to Z//, Mythology A to Z. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2004. //Ancient and Medieval History Online//. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp? ItemID=WE49&iPin=JMAZ500&SingleRecord=True (accessed September 29, 2008).

What the story explains about the environment and beliefs is that they exist originally from floating elements and a lonely god. This Japanese myth explained how the world was created from all natural things and that they believe in many gods and godesses. One example or a natural thing interpreted as a god is the sun as Izanami's daughter. The story also tells of how Japanese rulers are thought to be decendants of a god and that they are devine.The myth said that all the world started with Japan and spread out form there. All the gods in this myth were of natural things, like storms, the moon and the creater of the world ( Izanagi ). It reflects the environment in the way that the first god came to being by a bamboo shoot growing into the sky and transforming. With all of this we can see that the Japanese culture is filled with supernatural and natural things.

=__citation:__= ItemID=WE49&iPin=JMAZ099&SingleRecord=True (accessed September 30, 2008).__**
 * __Roberts, Jeremy. "creation myth, Japanese." //Japanese Mythology A to Z//, Mythology A to Z. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2004. //Ancient and Medieval History Online//. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?

This myth is like other myths in many ways. It has natural elements incorporated into it. The bamboo shoots, mud, and water are just a few important things in the culture to the Japanese while to the Greeks and Romans other natural things were important and significant, such as Mount. Olympus, home of the gods. It also has supernatural forces incorporated that show similarities and differences between the two influential cultures. One example is that the gods walked around the world then created the continents which the Greeks also believed. It even has loving and hateful gods that can bring wrath or goodness; this is similar to the Greek and Roman gods. For example, Ares is the Greek god of war who is wrathful while Aphrodite is also a Greek and Roman god but she is loving. Throughout both Greek and Japanese myths they tell of how humans are simply placed on earth and that gods are actually the center control of the universe. The Greeks also had this same idea through their central god, Zeus. There are a lot of differences between Greek and Japanese mythology too. In Greek myths people and gods were unfaithful to their partners, but it seems in Japanese mythology that this is not the case which is shown in Izanagi and Inzami's love because even after Inzanami was dead and could never pass through the portal of the underworld into the land of living he still loved her and never remarried. I think the most significant difference is that this that both myths state that life originated in their region which shows they both believed that their region and country were central and very important. The comparisons of these three cultures are important and informative because they had many similarities and differences which can tell us a lot about their cultures and regions. =**__citation:__**= Roberts, Jeremy. "creation myth, Japanese." //Japanese Mythology A to Z//, Mythology A to Z. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2004. //Ancient and Medieval History Online//. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp? ItemID=WE49&iPin=JMAZ099&SingleRecord=True (accessed September 30, 2008)

Japanese mythology had many purposes; including socializing, communicating, retelling the past, and giving incites into their culture, environment, beliefs, and customs. This is shown through the creation myth which shows how the culture believed in some sort of after life, gods that were the center and creators of everything, and that nature was important to the people. This story was told give the Japanese a sense of purpose and that purpose was to serve the gods. It also shows the nature of humanity through Inzanagi's curiosity and ignorance to the important advice given to him. As often happens when one gives into curiosity and ignores a warning something bad happened which displays human nature well. The Japanese also shows the beliefs and enviroment of the Japanese through the fact that their gods were created from natural things native to their enviroment. This reflects a lot about the Japanese. Since their beliefs and environments were displayed it is easy to compare them to other cultures such as the Roman and Greek cultures. To which they have many similarities and differences. As it is clear to see, this myth displays a lot about the culture, customs, environment, and beliefs of the Japanese.