Japanese Mythology Essay - 2711 Words

According to Japanese mythology, the world begins with the birth of seven deities. These seven deities arise and then pass away in what the Japanese call the, â€Å"plain of high heaven.† After this, five more couples were born, the last named, Izanagi and Izanami, who were ordered by their peers to consolidate the earth, which at this point was a chaos of muddy water. Izanagi and Izanami stood on the bridge of high heaven, thought to be the rainbow, and dipped their jeweled spear in the murky water below. When pulling the spear out of a piece of mud dropped of the tip and is said to have formed the island of Onogoro. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Izanagi and Izanami then moved down to the island, built a house and consummated a child. The†¦show more content†¦Susa-no-wo then produced five males from a string of jewels, which his sister had given to him earlier. While this was happening Amaterasu Sun-Goddess) took her brother sword broke it in three and crunching these in her mouth, spat out three goddesses. These five males and eight females become to be known as the ancestors of the highest Japanese nobility. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;So excited over his success, Susa-no-wo became to commit various acts of mischief, and at one point finally scared his sister, the Sun Goddess. Amaterasu so scared retired herself to a cave on earth, thus depriving the world of light. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;All the gods were in despair. They put together a strategy to get her out of the cave by arousing her curiosity by a comic dance and a mirror, which finally lured her from the cave. Susa-no-wo was punished for what he had down and was banished from heaven, again. Before he finally left he killed the Goddess of Food, whose limbs are said to have been turned into the seeds of useful plants. Once out of the heavens, Amaterasu began to pacify the celestial realm. Once concluding this she turned to the earth, the Islands of Japan. After three absorptive attempts to establish her rule she sends her grandson Ninigi down with eight of his companions to assume the power on earth. Ninigi descended to Kyushu and married a beautiful girl there.Show MoreRelatedEssay on Compare and Contrast Chinese and Japanese Mythology2975 Words   |  12 PagesChinese and Japanese Mythology in Life Classic Chinese and classic Japanese mythology are quite similar, in fact, they have more commonalities than differences. As examples, one can compare and contrast the two mythologies in terms of characters, form and structure, creation myths, and mythology’s relevance to life. Animals and dragons also appear repeatedly in Chinese and Japanese mythology. 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