Mircea Eliade "From Primitives to Zen": JAPANESE COSMOGONY
('Nihongi' and 'Ko-ji-ki')
At the beginning of the eighth century A.D., the early Japanese myths were gathered together in
two collections: 'Nihongi' ('Chronicles of Japan') and 'Ko-ji-ki' ('Records of Ancient Matters).
Of old, Heaven and Earth were not yet separated, and the In and Yo not yet divided. They
formed a chaotic mass like an egg, which was of obscurely defined limits, and contained germs.
The purer and clearer part was thinly diffused and formed Heaven, while the heavier and grosser
element settled down and became Earth. The finer element easily became a united body, but the
consolidation of the heavy and gross element was accomplished with difficulty. Heaven was
therefore formed first, and Earth established subsequently. 'Thereafter divine beings were
produced between them. (Nihongi, pp. 1-2.)
We have next what is called 'the seven generations of Gods,' ending with the creator-deities,
Izanagi, the Male-Who-Invites, and his sister, Izanami, the Female-Who-Invites.
Hereupon all the Heavenly Deities commanded the two Deities His Augustness the Male-Who-Invites and Her Augustness the Female-who-Invites, ordering them to 'Make, consolidate and
give birth to this drifting land.' Granting to them an heavenly jeweled spear, they (thus) deigned
to charge them. So the two Deities, standing upon the Floating Bridge of Heaven, pushed down
the jeweled spear and stirred with it, whereupon, when they had stirred the brine till it went
curdle curdle, and drew (the spear) up, the brine that dripped down from the end of the spear
was piled up and became an island. This is the Island of Onogoro. (Ko-ji-ki, p.19.)
The two Deities having descended on Onogoro-jima erected there an eight fathom house with
an August central pillar. Then Izanagi addressed Izanami, saying: 'How is thy body formed?'
Izanami replied, 'My body is completely formed except one part which is incomplete.' Then
Izanagi said, 'My body is completely formed and there is one part which is superfluous. Suppose
that we supplement that which is incomplete in thee with that which is superfluous in me, and
thereby procreate lands.' Izanami replied, 'It is well.' Then Izanagi said, 'Let me and thee go
round the heavenly August polar, and having met at the other side, let us become united in
wedlock.' This being agreed to, he said, 'Do thou go round from the left, and I will go round from
the right.' When they had gone round, Izanami spoke and exclaimed, 'How delightful! I have met
a lovely youth.' Izanagi then said, 'How delightful! I have met a lovely maiden.' Afterwards he
said, 'It was unlucky for the woman to speak first.' The child which was the first offspring of
their union was the Hiruko (leech-child), which at the age of three was still unable to stand
upright, and was therefore placed in a reed-boat and sent adrift. (Nihongi, p. 13; cf. Ko-ji-ki, pp.
20-1.)
The two deities next give birth to the islands of Japan and a number of deities. The last deity
to be produced is the God of Fire. But in giving birth to him Izanami is mortally burned. After
death, she descends beneath the earth. Izanagi goes in search of her, like Orpheus descending
into the Shades to recover Eurydice. Under the earth it is very dark; but Izanagi finally meets
his wife and offers to bring her back with him. Izanami begs him to wait at the door of the
subterranean palace, and not to show a light. But the husband
loses patience; he lights a tooth of his comb and enters the palace where, by the flame of this
torch, he perceives Izanami in process of decomposition; seized with panic, he flees. His dead
wife pursues him but Izanagi, managing to escape by the same way that he had gone down under
the earth, casts a great rock over the aperture. Husband and wife talk together for the last time,
separated from each other by this rock. Izanagi pronounces the sacramental formula for
separation between them, and then goes up to heaven, while Izanami goes down forever into
subterranean regions. She becomes the Goddess of the dead, as is generally the case with
chthonian and agricultural goddesses, who are divinities of fecundity and, at the same time, of
death, of birth, and of re-entry into the maternal bosom.
Nihongi translated by W. G. Aston (London, 1924). Ko-ji-ki translated by B. H. Chamberlain
(Tokyo: Asiatic Society of Japan, 1906)
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