The stories of the gods Izanagi and Izanami, where Izanagi means "One who is invited" and Izanami "One who invites", are stories told by the books Nihongi and Kojiki created in the 8th century around the years 710, 720, these two books contain stories of mythological legends and also an account of historical events of the 8th century. Basically Japanese mythology explains the creation of the world, how the gods and the origin of Japanese emperors arose.
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The emergence of Izanagi and Izanami
After the creation of heaven and earth, the higher gods were supposed to join a meeting to debate and decide on what would be the fate of the earth, this is how the higher gods came to a conclusion of generating the presence of two divine beings at the same time. existence and they called them Izanagi and Izanami, these two gods would represent earth and sky. The higher gods gave them a spear called an Amenonuhoko and proposed them to create their own homes.
Izanagi and Izanami went to the floating bridge of heaven and waved the heavenly spear (amenonuhoko) over the ocean. After they lifted the spear from the water, the drops that dripped into the ocean formed an island called "Onogoro-Shima." On this island, they fell in love with each other and decided to marry and have children. Therefore, they created a wedding ceremony and also made a sacred pillar around which they walked in different directions, with Izanagi going to the right and Izanami going to the left.
After marriage the couple had two children Hiruko and Awashima. Both were born imperfect and were placed in a boat that was carried by the currents of Onogoro-Shima. The couple decided to ask the higher gods for explanations and they said that the initiative for the sexual encounter had to come from Izanagi and not from Izanami.
Izanami's death and the underworld
So Izanagi and Izanami followed this indication from the higher gods and numerous divinities were born, several of which are very popular today, she also gave birth to the islands that make up Japan. The fire god Kagutsuchi, was the last child to be born, as soon after the birth of Kagutsuchi, he ended up burning Izanami who ended up dying. But even dead Izanami's body continued to generate dozens of gods.
With much anger and hatred for his son, Izanagi beheaded Kagutsuchi with a sword. Upon raising the sword, the drops of blood of the fire god that shed from the sword generated eight gods and from the dead body eight mountain deities appeared.
Aflito, Izanagi then goes to Yomi (the underworld) to try to bring Izanami back to life. It didn't take long for him to find her; she was at the gates of hell. Izanami demanded that Izanagi wait far enough away so that he wouldn't be able to see her in the darkness. Izanami told Izanagi that it was too late because she had already eaten the food of Yomi. Izanagi, shaken by the news, agreed to return to the upper world. As a farewell gesture, he asked to be allowed to sleep at the entrance of the underworld near her. And Izanami slept peacefully, but Izanagi couldn't sleep because he would live without the company of his beloved wife.
Izanagi decided to see the face of his wife for the last time before returning to the upper world. So while she slept, he took a chopstick holder that held Izanami's hair and set fire to it to serve as a torch, and the light from the torch illuminated the entire place. Izanagi was astonished and disgusted to see that his wife Izanami was decomposing and filled with worms, snakes, and other demonic creatures roaming on her body.
Izanami's Fury
Izanami was furious with her husband's boldness. She sent thunder gods, hideous women, and an entire army of soldiers from Yomi to eliminate him. After managing to escape from all these demonic creatures, Izanagi seals the passage that connects the underworld to the upper world with a huge rock, and then Izanami on the other side of the rock speaks to Izanagi, and the two end their marriage. Izanami promises Izanagi that she would kill a thousand men in one night. Then Izanagi asserts that he will bring forth 1,500 men. And from then on, Izanami would represent death, due to her pride and suffering.
After these events Izanagi went to purify himself in the sea, as he felt a little dishonored. During this process, several evil gods were generated with the dirt and impurities of his body. When washing his face, the most important gods emerged such as: Amaterasu (the sun goddess) who was born from his left eye, Tsukuyomi (the moon god) from his right eye and from his nose came Susanoo (the god of the seas) and storms).
There are dozens of stories of gods that emerged from Izanami and Izanagi, and these stories are fantastic. The mythological legends of Japan are great and there are references to them everywhere, whether in anime, games, and more. We hope this article has served as a source of knowledge on the subject.
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