Japanese Mythology - Kuniumi and Kamiumi

Kuniumi and Kamiumi

Japan's creation narrative can be divided into the birth of the deities (Kamiumi) and the birth of the land (Kuniumi).

The seventh and last generation of Kamiyonanayo were Izanagi no Mikoto ("Exalted Male") and Izanami no Mikoto ("Exalted Female"), and they would be responsible for the creation of the Japanese archipelago and would engender other deities.

To help them to achieve this, Izanagi and Izanami were given a naginata decorated with jewels, named Ame-no-nuboko ("Heavenly Jeweled Spear"). The two deities then went to the bridge between heaven and earth, Amenoukihashi ("Floating Bridge of Heaven") and churned the sea below with the halberd. Drops of salty water formed the island, Onogoro ("self-forming"). The deities descended from the bridge of heaven and made their home on the island. Eventually, they fell in love and wished to mate. So they built a pillar called Amenomihashira around which they built a palace called Yashirodono ("the hall whose area is 8 arms' length squared"). Izanagi and Izanami circled the pillar in opposite directions, and when they met on the other side, Izanami, the female deity, spoke first in greeting. Izanagi didn't think that this was proper, but they mated anyway. They had two children, Hiruko ("leech child") and Awashima ("pale island"), but the children were badly formed and are not considered gods in their original form. (Hiruko later became the Japanese god, Ebisu.)

The parents, who were dismayed at their misfortune, put the children into a boat and sent them to sea, and then petitioned the other gods for an answer about what they had done wrong. They were informed that Izanami's lack of manners was the reason for the defective births: a woman should never speak prior to a man; the male deity should have spoken first in greeting during the ceremony. So Izanagi and Izanami went around the pillar again, and this time, when they met, Izanagi spoke first. Their next union was successful.

From their union were born the Ōyashima, or the eight great islands of Japan:

• Awaji
• Iyo (later Shikoku)
• Oki
• Tsukushi (later Kyūshū)
• Iki
• Tsushima
• Sado
• Yamato (later Honshū)

Note that Hokkaidō, Chishima and Okinawa were not part of Japan in ancient times.

The divine couple bore eight more offspring, who later became the eight great islands of Japan. Izanami, however, died giving birth to Kagutsuchi (incarnation of fire), also called Homusubi (causer of fire). She was then buried on Mt. Hiba, at the border of the old provinces of Izumo and Hoki, near modern-day Yasugi of Shimane Prefecture. In anger, Izanagi killed Kagutsuchi. His death also created dozens of deities.

The gods who were born from Izanagi and Izanami are symbolic of aspects of nature and culture.