Creatures
See List of legendary creatures from Japan for a broad spectrum of creatures potentially classifiable as being "mythological creatures". Yōkai or animals that interact with humans in Japanese folklore are discussed in those pages.It is probably more typical to find lists of items and weapons that appear in the Japanese mythology. However, here is a tentative list of creatures:
- (Creatures in mythological tracts)
- Yamata no Orochi, the eight-headed serpent, discussed above.
- The rabbit aided by Ōkuninushi, and the wani (crocodile, modern scholars assume it to be a type of shark) that flayed it.
- Yatagarasu, a three-legged crow which guided the way to Emperor Jimmu. (In China, such a bird is said to dwell in the sun, and may be related to sunspots; cf. Moon rabbit)
- Kinshi(ja), blindingly bright golden kite that aided Jimmu; it may be a double of the crow.
- Watatsumi, sea god, often called Ryūjin or Dragon God.
- Yato-no-kami
- (Creatures in legendary tracts)
- Mizuchi
- (Creatures associated with Shinto deities)
- Ōnamazu(ja) or Giant Catfish; said to dwell underground causing earthquakes, said to be quelled by the god Takemikazuchi
Read more about this topic: Japanese Mythology
Famous quotes containing the word creatures:
“The knowledge of God is the cause of things. For the knowledge of God is to all creatures what the knowledge of the artificer is to things made by his art.”
—Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225–1274)
“To a joke, then, I owe my first gleam of consciousness—which again has recapitulatory implications, since the first creatures on earth to become aware of time were also the first creatures to smile.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)
“I fear that we are such gods or demigods only as fauns and satyrs, the divine allied to beasts, the creatures of appetite, and that, to some extent, our very life is our disgrace.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)