The stories of the gods Izanagi and Izanami, where Izanagi means ”The one who is invited” and Izanami ”The one who invites”, are stories told by the books Nihongi and Kojiki created in the 8th century around the years 710 to 720. These two books contain stories of mythological legends and also accounts of historical events from the 8th century. Basically, Japanese mythology explains the creation of the world, how the gods emerged, and the origin of the Japanese emperors.
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The emergence of Izanagi and Izanami
After the creation of heaven and earth, the superior gods were to gather for a meeting to debate and decide what the fate of the earth would be. Thus, the superior gods came to the conclusion to bring into existence two divine beings, whom they called Izanagi and Izanami. These two gods would represent the earth and the sky. The superior gods gave them a spear called Amenonuhoko and proposed that they create their own homes.
Izanagi and Izanami went to the floating bridge of heaven and waved the spear of heaven (amenonuhoko) over the ocean. After they pulled 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 that they circled in different directions, with Izanagi going to the right and Izanami to the left.
After the wedding, the couple had two children, Hiruko and Awashima. Both were born imperfect and were placed in a boat that was carried away by the currents of Onogoro-Shima. The couple decided to seek explanations from the superior gods, and they said that the initiative for sexual intercourse had to come from Izanagi and not from Izanami.
The death of Izanami and the underworld
Then Izanagi and Izanami followed this indication from the superior gods, and numerous deities were born, many of which are very popular today. She also gave birth to the islands that form Japan. The fire god Kagutsuchi was the last child to be born, for shortly after Kagutsuchi’s birth, he ended up burning Izanami, who thus died. But even in death, Izanami’s body continued to give birth to dozens of gods.
In great anger and hatred towards his son, Izanagi decapitated Kagutsuchi with a sword. As he raised the sword, the drops of blood from the fire god that spilled from the sword generated eight gods, and from the dead body emerged eight mountain deities.
Distressed, Izanagi then went to Yomi (hell) to try to bring Izanami back to life. It didn’t take long for him to find her; she was at the gate of hell. Izanami demanded that Izanagi wait far enough away so that he could not 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 act, he asked to be allowed to sleep at the entrance of the underworld near her. And Izanami slept peacefully, but Izanagi could not sleep because he would live without the company of his beloved wife.
Izanagi decided to see his wife’s face one last time before returning to the upper world. So, while she slept, he took a hairpin that held Izanami’s hair and set fire to the pin to serve as a torch, and the light of the torch illuminated the entire place. Izanagi was shocked and disgusted to see that his wife Izanami was decomposing and full of worms, snakes, and other demonic creatures wandering over her body.
The fury of Izanami
Izanami became furious at her husband’s audacity. She sent thunder gods, horrendous women, and an entire army of Yomi soldiers to eliminate him. After managing to escape from all these demonic creatures, Izanagi closed the passage that connected the underworld to the upper world with a huge rock, and then Izanami, on the other side of the rock, spoke to Izanagi, and the two ended their marriage. Izanami promised Izanagi that she would kill a thousand men in one night. Then Izanagi asserted that he would bring forth 1,500 men. 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 somewhat dishonored. During this process, several evil gods were generated from the dirt and impurities of his body. When he washed his face, the most important gods emerged: Amaterasu (the sun goddess) who was born from his left eye, Tsukuyomi (the moon god) from his right eye, and from his nose emerged 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 others. We hope this article has served as a source of knowledge on the subject.
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