Kari Mueller

Mythology & the Cosmos

9/26/14
Japanese Creation Comparative
The Japanese people are polite, punctual, hard-working and respectful. Japan is small
compared the rest of the world. Their creation myth is laid out simply with the heavens,
earth, and the underworld. The universe was all water floating like oil of which reeds grew
and the gods were born from them. More gods were born until a man and women deities
were born. From the heavens these deities (Izanagi & Izanami) formed land from water. They
descended upon the island and then learned their roles in life. They then proceeded to
procreate the other islands and elemental deities of the earth. Humans were the
descendants of deities the closest to the deities were the noble families that ruled japan.
Creation myths of other culture had similar beginnings comparable to that of the Japanese.
Many started from the heavens just appearing out of nothing or of water. The gods created
other gods in Greek and Roman cultures. From the gods humans eventually were created.
Many of them have similar organization especially in the beginning some such as the Indian
and Chinese myths are more vastly different.
Allegorical interpretation is strong in Japanese mythology. The characters in Japanese
mythology frequently describe an elemental aspect such as fire, water, sea, trees, and sea
straights. This is paralleled in the Greek, and Roman mythology stories. These elemental
deities may have been brought into myth to describe natural phenomenon such as the
raging winds or tides. So naturally the tides became a force or a god.
The Euhemerism or Rational theory is a claim that myths are based on history. It can
be seen in the latter half of the Japanese creation myth when the deity susanswo was born and was
descended to rule. The myth was created to explain why the Yamamoto ruling family of
japan was a direct descendent of the gods and why the people revere and respect them
them.
Another rational theory proposed by the creation story of Japan was that of the
nobles lifespan. Susaswno son of the Gods sent to earth to rule took a beautiful princess as
his wife. Upon asking the god for his permission to marry her he gave him both his
daughters. Sasanwno only took the beautiful princess for the other one was comely. The god
explained that the other daughter birthed immortals but since he would not take her all the
offspring that the beautiful princess had were mortals and had short lives. This was the
rational theory behind the noble families and emperors of japans always having short lives.
Chaos seems to be the common beginning of Creation as was parallel to the Greek
and Roman myths. Also in parallel were the generations of gods, a major difference between
the generations of Greek gods compared to the Japanese is the Japanese gods live in peace
while the Greek gods killed the previous generation of gods for example Zeus destroyed the
titans.
The 3 original gods of creation are similar to Gaia, Hundun, and the supreme one.
Gods and our world are created from them or their sacrifices. Zeus now considered the main

god in Greek mythology is comparable to Izanagi both are pictured as just and powerful.
They both take on a sort of fatherhood and appear to be distantly related to humans.
Another parallel can be seen between Hera and Izanami the portrayal of these women is
someone negative. Hera who only goes after the women that her husband has an affair with
is seen as unjust and bitchy. Izanami died giving birth but was so ashamed by her ugliness
she chased her husband away in a cruel and evil way. Beauty in mythology is very abstract
but it appears that women being beautiful are a stigma Zeus is enraptured by other
beautiful women and Izanami feels so ugly she does not wish to be looked upon. This
negative image is continued In Chinese mythology where it foreshadows women are born of
yin which is the dark side and appears very symbolic.
While other stories were similar in a negative image portrayal of women the Japanese
myth was especially clear about the place of women or natural order. The gods could not
create land and they were placed upon the island to create by the 3 original creation gods.
So they sought why they could not create as they were bid to do. The reason is solely
because the woman spoke before the man. To fix their problem they had to fix the natural
order and have the man speak before the woman. This is another rational theory of the class
order of Japan. Females are considered below males and having the male first is the natural
order proposed by the Gods.
Elements that appeared to be unique in the Japanese myth are the gift of a spear to
create land in a time of peace. A weapon which is both deadly and used for hard work such
as hunting. It was a natural foreshadowing of the strife to come that comes with all myths.
Gods are revered and respected because of power and strength not because they are
naturally good.