Kevin Gontkovic - Nihongi

For this post, I’d like to talk about the creation myth from the Nihongi that I believe was read in class. The myth says that after several generations of gods being born, the best ones, Izanagi and Izanami, came into being. Izanagi was the male deity and Izanami was the female deity. The two of them thrust the heavenly spear into the vast ocean, and after moving it around in the ocean, they pulled it out. The brine that was on the tip of the spear fell back into the ocean and formed an island that would later become the main island of Japan. They descended upon the island and created a pillar in the center of the island. The male deity went around the left side of the pillar and the female deity went around the right side of the pillar. When they met each other again, the female deity spoke first, which made the male deity displeased. He says “I am a man, and by right should have spoken first…” (Aston 13). He goes on to say that it was very unlucky having the female speak first and that they had to do the ritual over again. After they meet again, the male deity speaks first and then they essentially have intercourse. Through this act, the rest of the islands of Japan were created.

This myth shows that there is a right order to go about this whole idea of world making. Even though they are deities, they cannot just create things all of a sudden. They had to perform the ritualized dance around the pillar, and then speak to each other in the proper order. In the cosmos, there always has to be a proper order of things or else it turns into chaos. The dance around the pillar and having the male deity speak first was very important because it did result in the successful birthing of the country of Japan. The dance around the pillar was more than likely a religious dance because the creation of the islands probably would not have been as successful if they two deities did not give themselves up to a higher power. If they did not lose themselves in the dance, then the ritual would not have been performed correctly and the islands would have been birthed wrong.

This whole ritual had to be done correctly and in the proper order or else the creation would have not occurred. It is rather interesting how the act of intercourse resulted in the creation of the other islands of Japan. It kind of makes sense because intercourse between humans can result in the creation of another human; so, islands being created as a result of two deities having intercourse is not completely out of the question. It was not explained in the myth but there probably was a proper order to the act of intercourse as well. The proper order of things must be maintained in order to the act of world making to occur. This myth raises many questions as to the relationship between the proper order of things and world making.

Reference: Aston, W.G. Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Time to A.D. 697. Rutland: Charles E. Tuttle Company. 1972. 443 pages.