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Japanese Mythology Research Paper

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Today the main topic of this post will be Japan's origin story. All of the information I will be sharing with you will be from my Japanese history course and the textbook we used, Premodern Japan: A Historical Survey by Mikiso Hane and Louis G. Perez.

Mythological Origins

The Kojiki (古事記, こじき), which was completed in 712, is translated to Records of Ancient Matters. It is one of the first accounts of Japanese mythology. After primal deities appeared there was then a group of mated deities that appeared. The last to come about was Izanagi, also called He-Who-Invites, and Izanami, also called She-Who-Invites. They used a spear to stir up the ocean in order to create an islet. Once on the island, they created many other deities along with the other islands that make up Japan. Japanese deities are called kami (神, かみ). …show more content…
She then traveled into the underworld of Yomi. In Yomi putrefaction, pollution, and other impure things make up the underworld. Izanagi followed soon after, though not because he died. Izanami refused to let Izanagi see her in her current state of decay. Once Izanagi returned he cleansed himself. While he was cleaning his left eye he created the Sun Goddess Amaterasu. From his right eye came the Moon God. And from his nose the Storm God Susano-o.

The Amaterasu and the Moon God ascended to the High Heavens. Because of both Izanagi and Izanami, and Amaterasu and the Moon God, dual political leaders existed in Japan for a long time. Susano-o was then trusted to rule over the mortal realm. Sometime later Susano-o visited Amaterasu and destroyed a bunch of her rice fields and defiled her home. Amaterasu then decided to hide away in a cave and this caused the world to darken. The other gods lured Amaterasu out with merrymaking events and shut up the entrance to the cave. This was to show that light will always conquer over

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