221
Izanagi brandishes the spear to
whip up brine to create Onogoro, the
island home of Japan’s creator deities,
in an illustration by 19th-century
Japanese artist Kawanabe Kyosai.See also: Creation 18–23 ■ Creation of the universe 130–33 ■ Brahma creates
the cosmos 200–01 ■ Cherokee creation 236–38ASIA
decayed body, crawling with
maggots. Angered that Izanagi
should see her like this, Izanami
sent the hag Yomotsu-shikome
(“Ugly Woman of the Underworld”) to
chase him away, along with eight
thunder spirits that had emerged
from her corpse and 1,500 warriors.
Izanagi fled back to Earth and
rolled a boulder across the portal
to the Underworld. Izanami and
Izanagi stood on either side of the
boulder, and he declared they were
divorced. Utterly bereft, Izanami
swore to strangle 1,000 people
every day, but Izanagi vowed to
counter this with 1,500 births.
Feeling unclean after his
contact with the dead, Izanagi
disrobed and bathed. His discardedclothing became 12 spirits, and
when he washed his body, he
created 14 more. The last three
were the most mighty gods: from
his right eye came Tsukuyomi,
spirit of the moon; from his left eye
sprang Amaterasu, spirit of the
sun; from his nose came Susanoo,
who ruled the sea and storms. The
conflict between Amaterasu, also a
goddess of fertility, and Susanoo,
whose forces destroyed crops,
would soon rival the epic enmity
between Izanagi and Izanami. ■Shintoism
Japan’s main religion, Shinto
(“way of the gods”) draws
on the nation’s indigenous
beliefs. Its practices were
first recorded in two early
8th-century texts, the Kojiki
(“Records of Ancient Matters”)
and Nihon Shoki (“Chronicles
of Japan”), both of which
include the creation myth
of Izanagi and Izanami.
With no particular founder and
no strict dogma, Shintoism
encompasses many different
traditions and influences. Its
most important feature is the
worship of kami (spirits),
which are often forces of
nature that reside in features
of the landscape such as rocks
and rivers. Kami also include
venerated ancestors who
perform the role of guardians
for their descendants.
Kami are revered through
prayer and ritual, which can
take place at small household
altars called kamidana (“god
shelves”), where the family
kami are enshrined and
offerings are laid. There are
also larger public shrines that
house national kami and the
sacred objects associated
with them.The union of Izanami and Izanagi
is represented by the sacred Meoto
Iwa (“Wedded Rocks”), linked by a
rope bridge, near the Ise Grand
Shrine in southern Japan.US_220-221_Izanagi_and_Izanami.indd 221 01/12/17 4:23 pm