【古事記①】日本の神話が面白い 〜日本の成り立ちを知っていますか？〜

Summary

「古事記」は日本の神話を記述し、天皇の神々の系譜を語る重要な文献です。この物語は、国土の創造と天皇の祖先、神々との関係を通じて日本がどのように形成されたかを説明します。主な登場者は、国を創造する伊邪那岐と伊邪那美で、彼らの物語は日本列島の誕生から始まり、天皇・皇后・王子の物語に至ります。物語は多神教的であり、ギリシャ神話やエジプト神話と比較されることがあります。このエピックな物語は、日本の文化や歴史に深く根ざしており、現代の日本のアイデンティティにも影響を与えています。

Takeaways

• 📜「古事記」は日本の神話を記述し、天皇の神々からの系譜を伝える重要な文献です。
• 🌍「古事記」は日本の創世物語から始まり、天皇の系譜の確立までを覆っています。
• 👑「古事記」は日本の「聖書」として位置づけられており、創世から現在の天皇に至るエポスが記されています。
• 🏔️「古事記」は日本の自然と神々との関係を示しており、神々が自然に住み、それを守るという考え方を反映しています。
• 🎭「古事記」の物語は三つの巻に分かれており、それぞれ異なる神々が登場し、重要な出来事が描かれています。
• 🌅イザナギとイザナミは日本の創造神であり、日本の八島を生み出しました。
• 🔥火神のスサノオはイザナミを失い、放逐され、地上世界に降り立ちます。
• 🌕天照大御神（アマテラス）は太陽を司る神であり、伊勢神宮に祀られています。
• 🌜月読命（ツクヨミ）は夜の世界を支配し、スサノオの兄です。
• 🌊スサノオは野神として地上に降り、多くの冒険と試練を経験します。
• 🍑「古事記」には驚くべき转弯と衝撃的な展開があり、日本の多神教的信仰や古代の宇宙観が反映されています。

Q & A

「古事記」はどのような文献ですか？

「古事記」は、日本の神話や天皇の系譜を記述した最初の書物で、日本の神話の基礎をなす文献です。

「古事記」はなぜ読まれていないのですか？

「古事記」は読まれていない主な理由は、現代の歴史や社会的背景に関連しているとされています。また、その内容が長く、多くの神々が登場するため、読者にとっては理解しづらいという点も一部の理由とされています。

「古事記」の構成はどのようになっていますか？

「古事記」は、神話、天皇の統治、そしてヤマト王朝の歴史を記述した3つの巻から成り立っています。第1巻は神話、第2巻は15代の天皇についての記述、第3巻は統一後のヤマト政権の内乱や皇位継承争などを描いています。

「古事記」の中で最初に登場する神々は誰ですか？

「古事記」の中で最初に登場する神々は、五柱神です。これらの神々は性别を持たず、混沌とした世界から現れました。

「古事記」に登場するイザナギとイザナミはどのような神々ですか？

イザナギとイザナミは、日本の創造神であり、日本の神話において重要な役割を果たします。彼らは、互いに夫婦として島を作り出し、神々を生み出しました。

「古事記」に登場するアマテラスとは何ですか？

アマテラスは、太陽の女神であり、「古事記」において最も重要な神々の一つです。她是伊邪那岐と伊邪那美の物語の最後に生まれ、天界を統治する神として描かれています。

「古事記」に登場するスサノオとは何ですか？

スサノオは、野性的で粗暴な神であり、イザナギとイザナミの三男です。彼は海の神として生まれましたが、後に天界で乱行を行い、放逐されることになります。

「古事記」に登場する神々はどのようにして島を作り出すのですか？

「古事記」に登場する神々は、混沌とした世界を槌で攪拌することで島を作り出しました。イザナギとイザナミが持つ長槍を海に刺して槌くと、島が形成されました。

「古事記」における「天の岩戸」とは何ですか？

「天の岩戸」とは、アマテラスが怒りで天界から逃げ込み、自らを隠す場所を指します。この出来事により、世界は暗闇に包まれ、神々はアマテラスを引き出すために様々な手段を試みました。

「古事記」における「桃の役」とは何ですか？

「桃の役」とは、イザナギが黄泉の国から逃げ出す際に、桃を投げて追いかけてきた死者たちを止めた出来事を指します。この物語から、桃が霊的保護力を持つとされ、後の日本の文化に大きな影響を与えました。

「古事記」に登場する神々はどのようにして生まれたのですか？

「古事記」に登場する神々は、イザナギとイザナミが混沌とした状況を清め、島を創造した後、互いに結び合いながら神々を生み出しました。最終的には、アマテラス、ツクヨミ、スサノオという三つの貴重な子供が生まれました。

Outlines

00:00

📜古代日本の神話と歴史の起源

この段落では、日本の神話書「古事記」について紹介されています。古事記は日本の創世神話や天皇の系譜を記述し、日本を創造した神々とその物語を伝えています。しかし、現代の日本人の多くはこの古事記を読んでいないという問題もあります。その理由は、日本の歴史に関連しています。

05:00

👑天皇の系譜と帝国継承の争い

この段落では、古事記の第二巻と第三巻の内容が紹介されています。第二巻では、最初の15代の天皇が日本を征服し統一する物語が描かれています。第三巻では、大和政権の時代、特に Empress Suiko とその息子 Shotoku Taishi との間で起こった帝国継承の争いが描かれています。これらの物語は、日本の歴史と神話の重要な要素を理解する上で役立ちます。

10:01

🌿多神教と一神教の創世観

この段落では、多神教と一神教の創世観の違いが説明されています。一神教では、まず神が存在し、神が世界を創造するという物語が中心です。対して、多神教では、まず世界が存在し、その後神々が生まれるという構造です。この比較を通じて、古事記の物語がどのように日本独自の多神教文化を反映しているかが理解できます。

15:03

🌋伊邪那岐と伊邪那美の創世の物語

この段落では、伊邪那岐と伊邪那美の創世の物語が展開されています。彼らは神々から日本列島の創造を任され、その過程で最初の島々を作り出し、そして日本の形成に至ります。しかし、創造の過程で伊邪那美が火神を産み、その熱で命を失い、伊邪那岐が彼女を追いかけるために黄泉国（死者の国）に入ります。このエピソードは、日本の創世神話における重要な場面です。

20:03

🔥黄泉国からの脱出と禊ぎの儀式

この段落では、伊邪那岐が黄泉国から逃れ、禊ぎの儀式を行うことで生まれた三つの貴重な子孫が紹介されています。その中には、月神のツクヨミ、素戔嗚命（スサノオ）が含まれます。また、伊邪那岐が伊邪那美を追いかけた結果、死者との再会ができず、彼女が化けて追いかける鬼軍を送るという驚くべき展開も描かれています。このエピソードは、日本の神話における重要な出来事であり、多くの教訓と象徴を提供しています。

25:07

🌞天照大御神と素戔嗚命の対立

この段落では、天照大御神（アマテラス）と素戔嗚命（スサノオ）の対立が描かれています。スサノオは海の支配を嫌い、天照大御神の居る天に逃げ込み、彼女の神殿で乱行を始めるため、天照大御神は洞穴に隠れ、世界は暗闇に包まれます。この事態を解決するために、他の神々はスサノオを天から追放し、天照大御神を説得して再び世界に光をもたらす計画を立てます。

30:09

🌊スサノオの地上での冒険と復活

この段落では、スサノオが天から追放され、地上での冒険が始まります。彼は八岐の大蛇（やまたのたて）を倒し、カグツチ国（今の奈良県）の女王、栉名田比売（クシナダヒメ）と結婚し、自己的孩子を生みます。しかし、彼の過去の行動が再び彼を追い込んでおり、彼は最終的に自分を火の神に変えることになります。このエピソードは、日本の神話におけるスサノオの復活と成長を描いています。

Keywords

💡Kojiki

「古事記」は日本の最古の書物であり、神話や帝王の系譜を記述した文献です。この動画の主題は「古事記」に焦点を当てており、日本の創世神話や天皇の祖先に関するエピソードを紹介しています。

💡Izanagi

「伊邪那岐」は日本神話で男性の神々であり、創世の神々のうちの一人です。伊邪那岐は、伊邪那美と共に日本の列島を生み出すことになります。

💡Izanami

「伊邪那美」は日本神話で女性の神々であり、伊邪那岐と共に国土の創造を行った神々のうちの一人です。彼女は火の神の出産中に命を失い、黄泉の国に行きますが、その後の物語で重要な役割を果たします。

💡Amaterasu

「天照大御神」は日本神話で太陽の女神であり、日本の神話において最も重要な神々の一つです。天照大御神は天皇の祖先として崇拝され、伊勢神宮に祀られています。

💡Susanoo

「スサノオ」は日本神話で海の神であり、伊邪那岐と伊邪那美の三貴子の一つです。スサノオは勇猛で不穏な性格を持っており、天照大御神との間に衝突を引き起こします。

💡Tenson Kourin

「天孙降臨」とは、神話に登場する天皇の祖先である天孫が地上に降りて来るという物語です。この概念は日本の皇室の神聖性を象徴しており、天皇制の基礎となっています。

💡Yamato

「大和」は、日本古代史において中心的な政治的勢力となりました。大和王権は、綱紀（天皇）の支配を中心とした統治を行ったとされ、古事記においても重要な位置を占めています。

💡Empress Suiko

「推古天皇」は、日本初の女帝であり、古事記の第三巻に登場する人物です。彼女の在位期間は、聖徳太子が政治を支配し、仏教が日本に広まる時期に重なります。

💡Shotoku Taishi

「聖徳太子」は、推古天皇の統治の下で政治を支配した人物であり、日本の文化や政治の発展に大きな影響を与えました。彼の政策は、仏教の普及や中央集権体制の確立に寄与するとされています。

💡Soga Clan

「蘇我氏」は、日本古代において勢力を持ち、政治に深く関与した一族です。古事記によれば、蘇我氏は政変を起こし、王朝の統治に影響を与えるほどの力を持っていたとされています。

💡Misogi

「御禊」は、神道において行われる清潔の儀式であり、不純物を祓い、神聖な状態に戻すために行われます。この動画では、伊邪那岐が黄泉の国から逃げ戻り、自身を清めるために行った儀式として説明されています。

💡Ama-no-Iwato

「天岩戸」は、天照大御神が怒りで隠れた岩洞のことを指します。この神話のエピソードでは、神々が天照大御神を説得し、世界から暗闇を取り除くために努力する物語が描かれています。

💡Ama-no-Uzume

「天鈿女」は、神々が天照大御神を天岩戸から引き出すために演じた狂った舞踊を担当した女神です。彼女の舞は、神々が楽しむ様子を描き、天照大御神を誘惑して世に戻らせる鍵を握っています。

Highlights

The Kojiki is a fascinating text describing the creation of Japan and the lineage of Emperors descended from gods.

The Kojiki is compared to the Bible for the Jewish in terms of its significance to Japanese history and mythology.

The story of Kojiki is separated into three volumes, each detailing different aspects of Japanese creation and imperial history.

The first volume of Kojiki focuses on the mythology of how the gods created Japan.

The second volume narrates the story of 15 Emperors who conquered and unified Japan.

The third volume discusses the Yamato regime and the fierce battles for imperial succession after unification.

The Kojiki ends with the story of Empress Suiko, a historical figure learned in Japanese history classes.

The Kojiki is polytheistic, similar to Greek and Egyptian mythology, with a pantheon of gods and goddesses.

The creation story in Kojiki involves the gods Izanagi and Izanami, who give birth to various islands and deities.

Izanagi and Izanami's story includes the birth of the god of Fire, leading to Izanami's death and Izanagi's sorrow.

Izanagi's attempt to see Izanami in the land of the dead results in a curse and the birth of more gods.

The story of Izanagi's purification after leaving the land of the dead leads to the birth of the Three Precious Children.

Amaterasu, the goddess of the Sun, is considered the most important deity in the Kojiki, symbolizing light and life.

Susanoo, the god of the Wild, is known for his mischievous behavior and eventual banishment from the heavens.

The tale of Amaterasu hiding in a cave and the subsequent 'Ama no Iwado Kakure' is a pivotal moment in the Kojiki.

The Kojiki's narrative structure and the roles of its gods reflect the cultural and spiritual beliefs of ancient Japan.

The Kojiki serves as a foundational text for understanding Japanese mythology and the divine origins of the imperial family.

The story of Susanoo's banishment and his journey on earth represents a transition from chaos to order in Japanese mythology.

Transcripts

The Kojiki is a super fascinating

It describes gods created Japan,

and the lineage of Emperors descended from those gods

This is the mythology of our nation,

and really intriguing stories,

but most of us haven't read it.

Why is that?

Well, the reason is in our history

"Don't forgive Izanagi" she screamed,

"Run after them!" and then comes the army of the dead.

What? All of a sudden?

Hi, Atsuhiko Nakata here! Something most entertaining is in the store today

Let's begin!

Extreme Japanese History!

The Kojiki Series!

The origin! Thank you very much!

We can say this is the origin of Japan.

I am not exaggerating.

Kojiki

I just said that this is the Extreme Japanese History, but

It's also an Extreme Literature, if you will.

Seriously, the Kojiki is super interesting.

To compare... let's see,

It's like the Bible for the Jewish.

The Kojiki is in a similar position.

It tells us how Japan was created

See this. It starts from the creation of the world,

and ends at the establishment of the lineage of the Emperor.

It's just like the Hebrew Bible for Judaism

or the Old Testament for the Catholic church

It's a story that begins with the creation of the world and how we became who we are.

So we can say this is the Bible for Japanese.

Have you ever read it?

You haven't, You haven't. Nobody has.

Nobody has.

This is really intriguing mythology of our nation,

but most of us haven't read it.

Why? Well, we can find the reason in our history.

What!? How come we don't know

the most iconic mythology

that we all know of from our earliest history lessons

Kojiki, Kojiki, Kojiki we heard.

But nobody really reads it.

The reason has something to do with our modern history.

We should definitely learn about it

because it's extremely exciting.

What's the story of Kojiki really like?

I think a lot of people don't even know that.

Put it simply, the story is separated into three volumes.

"Hmm, I see..." You didn't know that, did you?

"Oh, okay, I didn't know it has three volumes."

Well, for most of us that's about all the Kojiki is.

But if you get to know it, you'd recognize

"Oh, I know of this bit!"

"Yeah, I've heard of this part."

There are small bits and pieces that we do know of.

This book contains all of them.

Actually, the first volume is mythology

It explains how the gods created this country, which is Japan, right?

It explains how Japan came about.

Huh!? So, how was Japan made in the first place?

The mythology contains this process.

When we think mythology, we might think of Greek mythology,

Christian, or Jewish. Do you remember Moses?

I’ve talked about those in my videos.

Islam, Christianity, and Judaism; they all have something in common.

God said "Let there be light!" and made light,

then Moses received the stone tablets,

then David threw a stone and everybody is like "Whoa!"

Their shrine got destroyed and they went, "Oh, no!"

"All of you, Jews get out!" and they freaked out, "What's going on?!"

Then Jesus Christ appeared, "wow!"

I've explained all these in my lecture, remember?

The people and the land they live

always have their own special stories

God said to them, "I will give you the Land of Cannan"

Abraham was so excited, "seriously!?"

"Then this land belongs to us!"

This led to the conflict with Palestine that continues to this day.

The land that becomes a part of the Jewish Identity is

Jerusalem, their Holy land in Palestine in the Middle East

This place is so special for them because of the stories

Muslims pray facing Mecca every day,

There are some Muslims in Japan now.

They always pray facing Mecca.

Why is Mecca so important?

There's a story that has been passed down through generations.

Why do we live in this country called Japan?

We don’t think about it that much.

But we also have some kind of a bible.

That is Kojiki.

The first volume is about the gods.

The first volume is super long.

Basically, all it describes is gods, just gods.

When the gods came down to Japan,

which is called, "Tenson Kourin," the first volume ends.

Then, the first Emperor is a descendant of the god.

This is the beginning of the second volume.

The story tells about 15 Emperors

who conquered and unified Japan.

The third volume

focuses on Yamato regime after the unification.

Within the regime

they had the fierce battles and disagreements

for imperial succession.

This is when the Empress Suiko appeared

You all know Empress Suiko, right?

Haven't you heard the Empress Suiko?

Shotoku Taishi (Prince Shotoku),

or the Soga Clan, right?

All these happened the time of Empress Suiko.

The Kojiki ends with Empress Suiko, who we learned in the history class.

I see.

We learned about Empress Suiko in the history class.

It starts with gods and ends with Suiko.

They make up volumes one, two and three.

It includes the first Emperors to the 33rd.

That's the story. It's epic, right?

In summary,

the gods made Japan and the descendants of those gods

are the lineage of our imperial family.

Haven't you heard something similar?

The Jews are the children of God,

and the Jews established

the country of Israel.

Both are very similar.

But their's is a monotheistic religion.

Yahweh is invisible the one and only god.

In Christianity, they call it "God".

In English it's "God." In Hebrew it's "Yahweh."

In Arabic,

It'll be "Allah" in Islam, right?

They believe in the one and only invisible God.

Although the structure of Kojiki is similar to the Jewish Bible,

it's polytheistic.

It's similar to Greek mythology.

In Greek myths, there is a supreme god, Zeus

and loads of other gods after him.

There is a god of the underworld,

a god of the Sun, and a goddess of something.

They fall in love and break up;

these kinds of stories of gods.

Egypt is also like this.

Greek and Egyptian; they're polytheists religions.

Thoth, Khufu, and other gods,

this god and that god have conflicts.

A polytheism has many gods,

therefore, the Kojiki is a polytheism model.

So you'll meet a loads of gods in this book.

Honestly, too many gods to remember;

a couple of hundreds of them,

but many of them appear only once

So the gods you want to remember are,

these are my choices;

We see a different protagonist in each section.

1,????4,???????? 8 gods.

I narrowed them down a lot.

A lot

Just think of the 8 sections and each with one protagonist,

and it' doesn't seem too hard to remember.

Well, if you read it, you'll meet hundreds,

and all gods have super long names.

Like 7 Kanji letters long.

It's like the back of a biker gang jacket, filled with Kanji.

It's hard to remember,

so I squeezed those names shorter.

I shortened their names,

and I call his final name when a god changes his name.

I dropped a lot; that's my Extreme Kojiki.

In this series,

we're taking the Kojiki; very long, a lot of characters, and complex,

in an extreme way; simplified.

You'll find it very exciting.

I'd like you to enjoy.

We start with creation.

Monotheists and Polytheists have different views of creation stories.

This is intriguing.

In monotheism, first there is a God.

The God declares, "Let there be light,"

then the world is born.

Then God completes the world in 7 days.

He created it in 6 days and rested on the 7th day,

and this is the start of our weekly system.

This is the story of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

On the contrary

in Polytheism, the world exist first, then, gods were born.

Later there will be hierarchies among these gods

The world was full of chaos.

Out of the chaos,

five gods were born. Woosh!

All of a sudden, 5 gods.

First, three higher gods come out,

and after that, the other two come out.

Anyway, five gods appear.

The names of the five gods are too hard,

so you don't need to remember.

These five were neither male nor female;

man nor woman.

They have no gender.

Even their shapes are indistinct,

but 5 gods appear.

After they appear magically,

5 pairs of male and female gods appear.

Strange, isn't it?

There was the world, then,

the 5 hashira (Pillars) of gods appear

Do you know

we count humans, 1 person or 2 people.

We count birds, Ichi-wa, Ni-wa (1 wing, 2 wings).

It's fascinating how we count different things in different ways.

In Japan, unit for gods is hashira (pillars).

This is so fascinating.

In monotheism they would never 'count' the number of a god

because there is only one God.

We have many gods, so we need a unit.

For us, the unit of a god is hashira (pillar).

In one theory,

gods dwell in nature, such as a tree.

For example, we have 'Sacred' Trees.

And when gods dwell in something,

they manifest in the shape of a pillar.

This is one theory.

So the 5 hashira of gods appear first,

Then 5 pairs of male and female gods appear next.

The last couple among them,

they are our first protagonists.

Izanagi and Izanami.

I bet you've heard of them

Izanagi and Izanami;

I'm sure you've heard of them somewhere.

Izanagi and Izanami appear

as the fifth and final pair.

And then the other people, no, not people, gods.

This book is almost all about gods.

These gods say,

"Alright, you two, Izanagi and Izanami,

we entrust you to create a country."

Then they give a big spear.

Respectfully the couple receives the spear.

"Can we do it?" says Izanagi.

"Can we do it?" adds Izanami.

"Yes, you can. Please go forth!"

These gods encourage them.

They are the great gods, the top of all gods.

Among the first 5,

one stands in the center of the top three.

He is comparable to Zeus.

He is the source of the universe itself,

and on each side of him,

stand two pairs of gods who can create everything.

Then there are more gods,

and it's already confusing,

but they are all so godly, supreme, and great.

These great gods tell them,"You can do it."

So Izanagi and Izanami, holding the spear, "we will go."

Then, from the heavens,

they stir the world like this.

They stir the world in circle

with unique sound

"kolong, kolong" or something like that.

They stir the chaos up, "kolong, kolong."

From that stirring, there comes a tiny island.

Still this small island is not yet Japan.

It's Onogoro Island.

"Oh look, we made Onogoro Island."

Where is Onogoro island in our current map?

It's not entirely clear,

but apparently it's around Osaka Bay.

Isn't it realistic? It's so familiar all of a sudden.

Yes! This is not just a myth.

This is the myth of the creation of Japan.

We don't often think about Japan in relation to gods, do we?

But this story is about that!

So the Onogoro Island forms somewhere close to Osaka Bay.

"Alright!" They land on the island.

Then a pillar reaching to the heaven appears there, Voom!

in the Onogoro Island,

they say, "Let's create a lot of things here!"

"Yes! Let's create things

between us, man and woman."

Let's create between Man and Woman.

"Well, how do we do that?"

They have the description,

right off the bat, of giving birth.

And the way they say is funny.

The female god, Izanami,

"I've matured physically, but I am missing a part,"

she says.

Then the male god, Izanagi,

"I've matured physically, and I have an excess part,"

he says.

"Okay, so with my excess part,

I can fill in your missing section, and we create various things from it.

Well, that's what they say.

Isn't it amazing how they described it?

"Let's fill in the missing part with the extra thing,"

"and let's create a lot of stuff."

"Yes, let's." That's how it started.

Then they say, "We might as well meet each other properly,"

and they walk around the pillar.

So, they began walking from behind and meet at the front of the pillar.

Well, you already met each other! That's what we want to say.

You guys already talked to each other! Why do you have to meet again?

"Well it's a ceremony of sorts," they say.

"Shall we?" They walk around the pillar.

"Oh, hi." "Hello!" or something like that.

Izanami says,

"You are very attractive."

"You too," he replies.

"Okay, let us begin." Then they began.

He fills in. He does the act of filling in,

but nothing is born.

"Oh? It didn't seem to work."

"One more time! Let's do it again."

Come out from behind one more time."

"Oh, hi." "Hello."

Izanami starts, "You are very attractive."

"And you are too."

"Then, let us start." They begin again.

But they still don't succeed.

"Nothing is born! Why?" they wondered.

"Alright, let's go ask the gods in the heaven!

They go and ask them for help.

"We met, we filled in, but we couldn't create anything."

Then the gods in the heavens say,

"Yes, we saw."

"What? You saw?"

"You were watching us."

"But you've got something wrong."

"Izanami initiated things, right?"

"Yes. I approached him first telling him that he was attractive."

"That's where you were wrong."

"Oh, that's it?"

"Izanagi should be the one! The man must be the one to initiate!"

The first criticism they received was this.

A man should take the lead.

That's the start of the Kojiki.

"Ah, I get it. The man must lead the woman."

"Then, we'll go back down again."

Blooooop... Tap!

"Let us meet again!"

"This is the 3rd time already."

"Oh, you are one beautiful woman," he said.

"Well, thank you."

"Then, let's start!" So this time, they create something,

and that is Awaji Island.

This is so abrupt!

And it's Awaji Island, is it?

From there they create many islands within Japan.

The very first was Awaji Island.

You didn't know that, did you?

Yes, Awaji Island is the very first island that Izanagi and Izanami created.

After Awaji Island, what is the next?

"Look, Awaji Island is born!"

"Oh, the next one is coming!"

The next island is Shikoku.

That's big!

All of a sudden it's a big island, Shikoku!

Then next,

they give birth to another small island,

which was Iki Island, in the north of Nagasaki.

Then, I think, Tsushima island is next.

This is not the exact order they have appeared, but

these are the big ones;

Shikoku first,

then Kyushu,

and lastly, Honshu.

Isn't it amazing? They're like, "It's coming!"

giving birth to eight different islands.

Okino Island and Sadoga Island are included among them.

The last one was Honshu.

In the middle came Kyushu.

These islands were created in this kind of order.

We call this, the "Birth of Country (Land)".

Izanagi and Izanami give birth to countries.

Whooaa!! "It's coming out!" "It's born!"

"We've got Awaji Island!"

This is the story.

Isn't it fascinating; this creation story?

It's just so over the top and exciting, right? Don't you want to tell someone?

"Hey, did you know the first island to be born was Awaji Island?"

"You can say Awaji's younger brother is Shikoku."

The big brother would be Awaji Island.

It is the first one to be born.

Well, I guess it could be a big sister or a big brother.

So they give birth to these countries, and

they were called, 'Oyashimanokuni.'

It means eight big islands.

The 8th and the last was Honshu.

'Oyashimanokuni (The Land of Eight Big Islands) is the origin of Japan.

That's what they said.

Of course, in this world,

Hokkaido and Okinawa weren't included yet.

They were not yet a part of Japan.

That's another intriguing part.

First, "We've given birth to a country."

Then, they decide, "Let's give birth to some gods."

Then they start what we call the "giving birth to gods."

"The god of Wind!" and "The god of Earth!"

They keep giving birth.

Izanami just keeps giving birth to these gods.

So Izanagi is like a Big Daddy.

He encourages her to keep giving birth, "Keep going! Keep going!"

Then, the last one to be born is the god of Fire.

The god of Fire.

When the god of Fire is born, Izanami screams, "It's Hot!!"

and she dies.

"Oh, no!"

"What the heck are you doing,God of Fire!"The god of Fire is on fire.

"I won't let this be!" Izanagi kills the god of Fire immediately upon its birth.

What a shocking story!

Well, Kojiki quite often shocks you, "why?"

or, "That's too cruel!"

or, "Oh, that's gross!"

There's a lot of things in here.

The story takes surprising and shocking turns.

This is shocking.

They keep being born.

So Izanami is dead giving birth to the god of Fire,

and that moment, he weeps.

Izanagi is in deep sorrow.

"Why did this happen? We were just getting started."

"I want to see Izanami."

But Izanami is already in the Land of the Yomi (the Dead).

Now, we've seen the heavens, the earth, and the land of the dead.

Let me explain the situation.

We have the heaven on top,

then we have the earth under that,

then we have the Land of the Yomi (Dead).

It's made up of three layers.

Basically, they move up and down between the three layers throughout.

"She's gone to the land of the dead."

"I can't stand! I miss her too much!" says Izanagi.

"I want to see Izanami!" and makes his way to the land of the dead.

Here, the new chapter begins: Land of the Dead.

The first part is giving birth to gods.

Then, "I'm going down to the land of the dead," thus he starts the Land of Dead chapter.

He somehow gets there.

He knocks on the entrance of the land of the dead.

"Izanami!" "I'm here!"

Izanami is there.

"You came for me?�?

"Let's go home. It's time to go home!" He says.

"Let's just go back to the land of the living, to the earth!"

"No, I can't come back because I have eaten something that belongs here."

Apparently, that's the rule there.

"I'm dirty now because I ate something from the land of the dead."

"So I can't go back."

"But I miss you so much. Let's go home!"

"Please ask someone in charge here, and you might be able to come back. Please try."

"Fine, I got it. I'll ask."

"It'll be difficult but I try."

"While I do that, though,"

"Don't look this way, okay?"

We have a 'don't look' story starting.

"You must not look this way! I will try to negotiate."

"Meanwhile, you must not look at me."

"Please do not come to this side."

It's dark in the land of the dead.

"What?"

He can't see her yet, how Izanami looks like.

He can't see.

"Okay, I won't look!" he says.

"You must not look at me!"

Izanagi waits for quite a while.

"It's been a long time."

"Maybe the negotiation is not going well. When will she be back? I want to look..."

"Let's just look!" and he looks in the end.

These stories always end up this way.

Also in the story of 'The Grateful Crane,' the man hesitates but looks in the end.

So, he lights a fire,

"Izanami? Izanami?"

Poof! He sees what Izanami looks like.

There stands Izanami, completely changed.

She looks

as if she has rotten.

Seeing how hideous Izanami looks,

he screams, WAAAH!

"Izanami, you've changed in the land of the dead!"

"You looked..." That's what happens.

"It's too damn scary!" Izanagi runs away.

Then, Izanami who were so in love until now,

decides to send pursuers after Izanagi.

"Never forgive Izanagi!" she says,

"Run after him!" and then comes the army of the dead.

All of a sudden?

WAAAH! She releases an army to catch him.

"No No No! I made a big mistake."

"Izanami isn't the same person as she once was!"

"This is bad! Oh, no, here they are!"

He keeps running away.

These pursuers keep coming closer to him in large numbers.

"Oh, no, I don't know what to do! This is it!"

At this moment, he grabs wild grapes nearby and throws at them.

"Throw 'em some grapes!"

I guess those dead soldiers must've been hungry.

They start eating the grapes."Oh, these are good grapes."

"Oh jeez, they're eating!" "It worked!"

"How about some bamboo shoots!"

Will this work this time? Again, they eat them.

"Wow, you must be really hungry!"

But there are still some running after him,

so he finds some peaches and throws at them.

This one is really effective, and they stop running after him.

"Wow, peaches are powerful! Peaches saved me!"

So, why does the peach has magical power?

It's because

The Kojiki was compiled around the Nara period.

At the time, from China

a lot of new information was brought in.

and in China the peach was considered holy.

It was seen as a sacred fruit.

For us now, it's simply a good fruit, sweet and a little expensive.

The word, 'Togenkyo' (Peach blossom paradise) includes the kanji character of 'Peach'.

The peach was sacred fruit.

This concept was brought from China.

That was the latest information back then.

So he throws the sacred fruit in this story.

Woooosh!

"Wow, the peaches are powerful!"

"They are not following me anymore!

"Damn! The army of the dead is no joke!"

"I was really lucky to find some grapes, bamboo shoots, and peaches."

But that moment he hears the footsteps.

"Wait, there's someone still coming after me! Who is it?"

It was Izanami herself. "You're tough!"

"Girl, you are one tough woman!"

"Give me a break!" He grabs a large rock and boom!

closes the opening of the corridor with it.

"Izanami, don't come closer!" He shuts it.

Izanagi closes the corridor between the world of the living and the dead with a rock.

"You!"

"You betrayed me!"

"Please forgive me!"

"You betrayed me! You betrayed my trust"

"I'll never forgive you! I'll never forgive you!"

"I can't forgive you! So from now on,

"I'll kill the gods in the living world!"

"I'll kill one thousand gods every day!"

"I'll kill them!" She curses.

Hearing that she will kill a thousand every day,

what do you think Izanagi did?

"A thousand? A thousand pillars?"

"You're going to kill a thousand gods?"

"Fine! I get it!"

"In that case, I'll give birth to 1,500!"

Wow, he will create a surplus.

"I'll give birth to 1,500!"

And so, in this world

there are 1000 deaths and 1500 births in one day.

That is what became fundamental.

In one day, a lot of people die, but a lot of babies are born.

As long as more births than deaths, a country will prosper.

That kind of idea is indicated.

"I'll give birth to 1,500!"

"Oh, my, that was horrible," Izanagi says.

"I'll never go to the land of the dead again."

"It was so scary, damp, and gross. Izanami's turned horrible."

"Let's purify myself." He decides to take a bath.

"I'll purify myself with water."

This is the beginning of Misogi (purification with water).

Well, it's just amazing really.

This story of Izanagi and Izanami had quite a surprising turn, right?

At first, they were like, "you're beautiful." and then,

"I'll never forgive you!"

"I'll kill 1,000!"

The story took an unbelievable turn, so he says,

"I'll purify myself."

He takes a shower.

And then, because he's a great god,

from the purified body of Izanagi, a lot of different gods come into existence.

"Ah yeah, here they are, here they are."

"They're coming out, these different gods are coming out."

From there, poof! Somebody special appears.

"Oh! A Special One! A Special One!"

It was like a winning lottery ticket.

"Here's something great! It's a rare one this time!"

Boom! Boom! Boom!

They are the three Precious Children.

The 'Sankishi' (three Precious Children) come out, Boom!! Boom!! Boom!!

"Oh, you look special kind, aren't you? Very special."

"We are special indeed."

"Of course."

"We are special."

The Sankishi appear.

"So who are you guys?"

They are Amaterasu, the god of the Sun,

Tsukuyoshi, the god of the Moon,

and Susanoo, the god of the Wild.

Now we have Amaterasu and Susanoo.

Here, we leave the Izanagi-Izanami part,

and we move on to the Amaterasu-Susanoo part.

Amaterasu is, honestly,

The top of the tops from here on out.

Yes, she is the top of the top, the Goddess of the Sun.

Amaterasu is a symbol of the Sun.

In fact, the famous Ise Jingu (Ise Shrine),

the highest shrine of all enshrines Amaterasu.

And so, the big main character is Amaterasu.

"I'm Amaterasu."

"I'm Tsukuyomi."

"It's me, Susanoo."

This Susanoo, he's a rough guy. He is the third child, the little brother.

The big sister. "I'm Amaterasu."

As for "Tsukuyomi," he doesn't appear anymore after this.

although he is one of the Three Precious Children.

Yes, Three Precious Children

is Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, and Susanoo.

Tsukuyomi, he won't appear at all.

"I'm Tsukuyomi."

"Okay, cut! That's it, Mr. Tsukuyomi, very good job!"

"Oh, that's it? That's all for me?"

"Well, after this, we focus on the face off between Amaterasu and Susanoo,

so please understand."

"Oh, okay. I'll watch it on TV,"

something like that.

Back to Amaterasu and Susanoo,

"Okay, I got it" Izanagi decides to entrust them.

"You are the Sun. You are the god of the Sun,

so the heaven is for you. You govern the heavens."

"I'll leave the heavens up to you."

"Tsukuyomi, you control the land of the night."

"Oh, I do have a part."

"I'll leave the land of the night to you."

That's why he won't appear anymore.

Then,

"Susanoo! I'll leave the oceans up to you. You govern the sea."

He is assigned to the oceans.

"I understand." "I understand." "Alright."

"Oh, he probably won't do it."

You can tell he's not dependable.

As we expected, Susanoo doesn't bother governing the oceans.

"I don't like the sea."

"Hey, what's wrong? The ocean is going wild!"

"The sea is going crazy! What's going on? Susanoo, are you keeping it under control?"

"I don't want to govern!" Susanoo replies.

"I don't really want to be in control of the sea."

"Then what do you want to do?"

"I want to see my mother," he says.

"Izanami?"

"You can't see Izanami. She's gone to the land of the dead"

"Fine, I want to go there then!"

"No! You don't know anything!"

"You have no idea what had happened to me there!"

"Just check my backstory!"

"I had to throw grapes at crazy armies."

"You don't understand anything. You're banished!"

And so, Susanoo is banished.

He was really stubborn.

"I want to see my mother, Izanami."

"I want to go to the land of the dead and see her."

"Ok then, that's fine!" With that he gets banished.

"Damn it!"

The reason why the ocean gets rough is that no one governs it.

That's what they indicate.

No god governs there.

So he leaves. What does he do?

"I have nowhere to go."

"Guess I'll go where big sis is," he says,

and heads to Amaterasu's place.

He arrives in heaven.

"Hey, big sister!"

"Excuse me, Miss Amaterasu?"

"Yes?"

"Your brother is here"

"Huh? He was assigned to control the sea, but he didn't do it."

"He ended up being banished by my father."

"I know he's here to take over the heavens."

"I don't like that! I must take up the arms!" And so she does.

"I'm sure he is here to take over this place."

"What do you want?"

"Sister, let me stay here."

"No! You're too aggressive."

You're here to mess around the heavens!"

"I won't! I won't! Susanoo swears it!"

"Really?"

So they do the 'Ukei' (Pledge) ceremony.

It's a ceremony to make a pledge to each other.

"I'll test you to see whether you're lying or not."

"Ok! That's fine by me, sis!"

"Alright."

This ceremony is very strange.

She says, "Give me your sword."

"Okay."

"I'll crunch up your sword and create a god from it."

"Okay."

"You take my magatama (necklace) and juzu (beads), crunch through them and create a god."

"I'll create a Female god, so you create a Male one."

"If this actually happens, it means that the gods approved of you."

"If not, it means you're lying."

There was some kind of ceremony like this.

"Okay, I got it."

She crunches and

breathes out, and a god is born.

"Ah, as I said, a female god is born."

"My turn then." Crunch crunch crunch...He breathes out.

"Oh! He's here! A male god is born! I told you!"

"I told you, Big sister."

"See! I'm not lying, ok?"

"I'm not here to take over your heavens. You are paranoid."

"You'll let me stay here, right?"

"Hmm... I can't say no." She lets him stay.

But after all Susanoo is an aggressive boy.

"Sigh..."

"My brother is staying here, but I wonder if he is behaving?"

"Miss Amaterasu! Miss Amaterasu!"

"Yes?" One of her staff comes.

"Miss, It's about Susanoo."

"Again!? What' did he do this time?"

Well, he's filling up the path in between the rice fields."

"What? That's so annoying! Really annoying! "

"Is that it?"

"No no, that's not all."

"He's throwing feces all around the important buildings."

"What's up with that? It's almost a terrorist attack! What's wrong with him?"

"We should punish him."

"Yes, but we made a pledge."

"I don't know, but maybe he has some kind of plan."

"The thing with the rice paddy path,"

"maybe he's telling us that it's not a great spot for a rice paddy."

"The fecal stuff... I have no idea."

"Anyway, please let him off the hook for now." she says.

She was protecting him.

However, he does something she couldn't protect him anymore.

There was a shed for weaving, and that place was important.

The gods are making sacred clothing in this shed.

He tore the roof open.

"Whoa, what the hell are you doing there?"

"It's Susanoo."

"What are you doing, Mr. Susanoo!?"

"You spread shit around and filled up our rice paddy paths. You're crazy!"

"We're weaving here so please don't do anything, okay?"

"I have a delivery for you!" he says,

and he throws in a dead cow into the shed, Boom!

Oh, no!

Then one of the weaver

get stabbed by the broken piece of the weaving machine

and dies from a massive injury. It's a disaster.

"What is this!? Why are you doing this?"

"Miss Amaterasu! Human life is lost!" Actually they are gods, but

"The Lives of gods are at stake!"

"Geez!" Amaterasu had it."That's it!"

"This is all my fault," she is in despair.

Here comes the famous story of 'Ama no Iwado Kakure'; Amaterasu hides behind the stone door,

and she doesn't come out. "I'm going to stay here."

She hides herself in a stone cave.

The god of the Sun

is inside a cave.

She's hidden from everyone.

Therefore, heavens and the earth lose light

Pitch dark

In one theory, this was an eclipse.

This is a metaphor for the eclipse.

The god of the Sun is hidden, and it's dark, "We've lost the sun!"

"Amaterasu has hidden away! Oh no, what do we do?"

"What should we do?"

The gods consult each other,

"What should we do? Amaterasu is upset."

"she's gone and it's so dark."

"We can't tell if it's night or day! What can we do?"

"Yes, what do we do?"

"Oh, I know!"

There is the god of wisdom, 'Omoikane',.

"Hmmm... Let's dance," he says.

"We're dancing, are we? Mr. Omoikane?"

"Well, If Omoikane says so, it's going to work."

"He's really smart. He's the god of wisdom."

"If he says dance, let's dance!"

"Are there any dancers here?"

Then the god of Dance, Ama-no-Uzume, comes forward, "Yes, I can dance."

"Oh, really!" "Can you dance for us?"

"Yes, of course."

"I’m strong, so when Amaterasu comes out from the cave,

"I'll pull her out, okay?"

"Then I'll fetch the tools for that."

Together, they devise a plan to get Amaterasu out of the cave.

"We'd like to start the let's-get-Amaterasu-out-of-the-cave festival."

"Here's Mr. Omoikane who came up with this plan."

"Hi, I am Omoikane."

"Well, my plan here is to dance and have fun. We will have a good time."

"She'll want to see what's happening. We'll pull her out. That's the gist of it."

"Ah, we couldn't have come up with that, Mr. Omoikane. That's an amazing plan."

"You think she'll come out if we were having fun?"

"Yes, so let's get it going."

"OK, Miss Ama-no-Uzume, it's show-time!"

Then Ama-no-Uzume starts to dance.

I don't know what kind of dance she performed,

but apparently it was quite a wild dance.

She dances like crazy and wild.

She's a female god by the way.

She was almost naked and her breasts were exposed.

When they see Ama-no-Uzume dancing almost naked,

the gods explore in laughter.

"Ha ha ha, you're almost naked!"

They're laughing so hard,

that Amaterasu finds it strange.

"How come? I'm gone and it's dark everywhere. They should be sad."

"What? What's happening out there?"

"I can hear you all laughing, what's going on?" she asks.

"Great! We've got her attention."

The gods reply, "Listen, there's this incredible god, so much more than you, Amaterasu."

"We're just having so much fun!"

"What? Greater than me?"

"Huh? Greater than the god of the Sun? The Greatest of the Greats who is in charge of Heaven?"

"Yes! Don't you wanna see? Don't you want to see her face?"

"Well, I'm a bit interested in her face," she thinks. "Maybe I'll peek just a little bit."

She opened the rock just a little, and then.

"Hey, bring out that thing we had ready!"

"Okay!"

There's the mirror that will later become one of the Three Sacred Artifact.

It's called 'Yatano Kagami'

One of the gods had a prayer juzu necklace,

the magatama stones, in hand as well.

The mirror, the magatama stone, the sword; they are the famous Three Sacred Artifacts.

One of them is a mirror, and they take it out.

"We got it!" And they hold the mirror.

And then,

"Let's see who it is." She looks out, and the mirror is in front of her face.

"Wait, It's me!"

"This is me! It's me, isn't it? What's going on?"

"What are guys you doing?" while she is puzzled,

the powerful god pulls her quickly.

"What, what, what?" and she is out of the cave.

Then another god gets out a rope,

and stretch it behind her and declare that she cannot go back inside.

Blip, goes the rope, and "You can't go back now!"

"What? What's up with this plan?"

"Miss Amaterasu, this is Omoikane's idea."

"Yes, it was my idea."

"Please give us a break. You did nothing wrong, Miss Amaterasu."

"Oh, look, the light is back!"

"Good, good! Hahaha!"

This is the famous story, 'Amano Iwatogakure.'

"But, it's really Susanoo's fault."

"Yeah, not Amaterasu!"

"You need to punish Susanoo."

"I guess so."

Susanoo is finally gotten rid of.

He is now banished from the heavens too.

"You must go down to earth!"

"You are a god, and I've let you stay here, but you must go back down."

So he does.

Here starts the volume of Susanoo, the god of the Wild, on earth.

The timeline here is all crazy.

Susanoo and his descendant of a few generations down meet each other.

"Oh, no! snakes! Gyaah!" and he remembers.

"If something happens, my father is a little crazy, so..."

"Fire Time Start!"

"Daddy! Don't start a fire like that!"

"What? I'm just having fun."