Izanami
Female member of the divine creator pair who, with Izanagi, formed the Japanese islands; after dying in childbirth, became associated with the Land of Yomi (the dead).
Who they are
- Dies in childbirth to the fire god Kagutsuchi [S1]S1 · *Kojiki* ('Records of Ancient Matters', 712 CE), trans. Basil Hall Chamberlain (1882/1933) — PRIMARY TRANSLATION — https://sacred-texts.com/Open source ↗.
- Her separation from Izanagi at the threshold of Yomi is the mythic origin of death and impurity (kegare) [S1]S1 · *Kojiki* ('Records of Ancient Matters', 712 CE), trans. Basil Hall Chamberlain (1882/1933) — PRIMARY TRANSLATION — https://sacred-texts.com/Open source ↗.
- Associated with the Land of Yomi, the realm of the dead [S1]S1 · *Kojiki* ('Records of Ancient Matters', 712 CE), trans. Basil Hall Chamberlain (1882/1933) — PRIMARY TRANSLATION — https://sacred-texts.com/Open source ↗.
- The Yomi-separation episode and its details (the 'hedge' of hedges, the point of no return, the exact sequence) differ between the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki [S1]S1 · *Kojiki* ('Records of Ancient Matters', 712 CE), trans. Basil Hall Chamberlain (1882/1933) — PRIMARY TRANSLATION — https://sacred-texts.com/Open source ↗[S2]S2 · *Nihon Shoki* ('Chronicles of Japan', 720 CE) — PRIMARY TEXT (annalistic + mythographic) — (translation: G. Cameron, 1968; see Internet Arch.
- The precise list of kami born in the island-formation sequence is not identical across the two texts [S1]S1 · *Kojiki* ('Records of Ancient Matters', 712 CE), trans. Basil Hall Chamberlain (1882/1933) — PRIMARY TRANSLATION — https://sacred-texts.com/Open source ↗[S2]S2 · *Nihon Shoki* ('Chronicles of Japan', 720 CE) — PRIMARY TEXT (annalistic + mythographic) — (translation: G. Cameron, 1968; see Internet Arch.
Connections
5 rows · 9 recorded edges — identical notes are grouped
Family & kinship
Partners
Creation
Conflict & enmity
Artifacts
Their corner of the divine world
- parentage
- marriage ♥
far = primordials · medium = all · close = detail — scroll/pan, click a deity to focus
3 stories
The Primordial Beginning and the High Plain of Heaven
In the Kojiki's opening, when 'the heavenly high plain had just come into being,' the first-born deity Takamimusubi ('the high divine origin of heavenly things') is named, and the deities of the High Plain of Heaven (Amenominakanushi) 'give birth to' or command the birth of the creator pair Izanagi and Izanami, ordering them to shape and settle the earthly islands [S1]S1 · *Kojiki* ('Records of Ancient Matters', 712 CE), trans. Basil Hall Chamberlain (1882/1933) — PRIMARY TRANSLATION — https://sacred-texts.com/Open source ↗. This establishes the vertical cosmology: a high heavenly realm above, an earthly realm below, with the creative pair sent from above to order the world below [S1]S1 · *Kojiki* ('Records of Ancient Matters', 712 CE), trans. Basil Hall Chamberlain (1882/1933) — PRIMARY TRANSLATION — https://sacred-texts.com/Open source ↗[S2]S2 · *Nihon Shoki* ('Chronicles of Japan', 720 CE) — PRIMARY TEXT (annalistic + mythographic) — (translation: G. Cameron, 1968; see Internet Arch.
Izanagi and Izanami Form the Islands
The creator pair Izanagi and Izanami stand on the Floating Bridge of Heaven (Ame-no-ukihashi) and, with the jeweled spear Ame-no-nuhokohe, stir the brine of the deep sea; the salt that drips from the spear forms the first island, Onogoro [S1]S1 · *Kojiki* ('Records of Ancient Matters', 712 CE), trans. Basil Hall Chamberlain (1882/1933) — PRIMARY TRANSLATION — https://sacred-texts.com/Open source ↗. There they wed and, in a series of 'birthings,' produce the great islands of Japan (naming them as they are formed) and then the deities (kami) who attend them [S1]S1 · *Kojiki* ('Records of Ancient Matters', 712 CE), trans. Basil Hall Chamberlain (1882/1933) — PRIMARY TRANSLATION — https://sacred-texts.com/Open source ↗. The sequence of islands and the sequence of kami are given in the text, though the two lists differ between the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki [S1]S1 · *Kojiki* ('Records of Ancient Matters', 712 CE), trans. Basil Hall Chamberlain (1882/1933) — PRIMARY TRANSLATION — https://sacred-texts.com/Open source ↗[S2]S2 · *Nihon Shoki* ('Chronicles of Japan', 720 CE) — PRIMARY TEXT (annalistic + mythographic) — (translation: G. Cameron, 1968; see Internet Arch.
Izanami's Death and the Separation of the World (Izanagi's Purification)
In giving birth to the fire god Kagutsuchi, Izanami is burned and dies [S1]S1 · *Kojiki* ('Records of Ancient Matters', 712 CE), trans. Basil Hall Chamberlain (1882/1933) — PRIMARY TRANSLATION — https://sacred-texts.com/Open source ↗. Izanagi descends to the Land of Yomi to bring her back; finding her decayed and attended by the 'devils of rotting,' he flees, and the two are separated at the threshold—the mythic origin of the divide between the clean world of the living and the polluted realm of the dead [S1]S1 · *Kojiki* ('Records of Ancient Matters', 712 CE), trans. Basil Hall Chamberlain (1882/1933) — PRIMARY TRANSLATION — https://sacred-texts.com/Open source ↗. Fleeing to the world of the living, Izanagi performs a ritual purification (misogi), washing his body; from his washed body-parts a series of kami are born, and the separation is made permanent [S1]S1 · *Kojiki* ('Records of Ancient Matters', 712 CE), trans. Basil Hall Chamberlain (1882/1933) — PRIMARY TRANSLATION — https://sacred-texts.com/Open source ↗. This is the foundational myth of death, impurity (kegare), and purification in Japanese religion [S1]S1 · *Kojiki* ('Records of Ancient Matters', 712 CE), trans. Basil Hall Chamberlain (1882/1933) — PRIMARY TRANSLATION — https://sacred-texts.com/Open source ↗[S2]S2 · *Nihon Shoki* ('Chronicles of Japan', 720 CE) — PRIMARY TEXT (annalistic + mythographic) — (translation: G. Cameron, 1968; see Internet Arch.
Objects they wielded, forged, or were bound to
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Depictions
