Sun, Moon and Sea
As could be expected, Izanagi went on to purify himself after recovering from his descent to Yomi. As he undressed and removed the adornments of his body, each item that he dropped to the ground formed a deity. Even more gods came into being when he went to the water to wash himself. The most important ones were created once he washed his face:
- Amaterasu (incarnation of the sun) from his left eye,
- Tsukuyomi (incarnation of the moon) from his right eye, and
- Susanoo (incarnation of storms and ruler of the sea and storms) from his nose.
Izanagi went on to divide the world between them with Amaterasu inheriting the heavens, Tsukuyomi taking control of the night and moon and the storm god Susanoo owning the seas. In some versions of the myth, Susanoo rules not only the seas but also all elements of a storm, including snow and hail, and, in rare cases, even sand.
Read more about this topic: Japanese Mythology
Famous quotes containing the words moon and/or sea:
“The Lord is thy keeper; the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.
The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.
The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil; he shall preserve thy
soul.
The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.”
—Bible: Hebrew Psalm CXXI (l. CXXI, 5–8)
“In tremendous extremities human souls are like drowning men; well enough they know they are in peril; well enough they know the causes of that peril;Mnevertheless, the sea is the sea, and these drowning men do drown.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)