Week 7 Reading Notes: Japanese Mythology Part A

The story of Izanagi and Izanami almost immediately establishes a strong culture of patriarchy and male-dominated society apparent in Japanese history and lifestyle. The juxtaposition of good and evil in the form of deities is also existent in Japanese mythology, as demonstrated by sibling gods Amaterasu and Susa-no-wo. I really find it interesting that they gods bestowed "godlike powers" upon the earth people of Yamato. It's very neat that they consider wisdom, valour and craft, justice, mercy and love "godlike powers." That's a perspective I have not seen a lot of before. The gods becoming jealous of the way Izanami treats earth children is somewhat common in other mythology as well. Balance is very apparent in Japanese culture and mythology; Amaterasu and Susa-no-wo, Fire and Water. In the story of the Eight-Forked Serpent of Koshi, I think it was clever to brew sake at 8 times the normal strength, because obviously a serpent with 8 heads needs 8 times the sake to get drunk. I wonder why Ashinadzuchi and Tenadzuchi hadn't thought of that before!
I really like stories about epic monsters and heroes that set out to slay the monsters. I'm considering writing a story in which a monster of epic proportions is terrorizing a community, and so a hero comes forth to rescue everyone. In his quest, he finds that the monster is really a misunderstood character, and it does not want to hurt people anymore, or has a good reason for doing so. The moral of the story will be something along the lines of 'don't judge a book by its cover' or 'everyone comes from a different background' or 'you don't know why someone is having a bad day'. It will be a story of understanding and tolerance and compromise.


Susa-no-wo slaying the eight-headed dragon, painting by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, found on Wikimedia, here.

Bibliography: Romance of Old Japan, Part 1: Mythology and Legend by E.W. Champney and F. Champney, found in the Japanese Mythology Unit 1, here.