Week 6: Topic Research

Izanagi and Izanami stirring the sea and creating the islands of Japan.
https://mythopedia.com/japanese-mythology/gods/izanagi/

 

Story 1: Izanagi and Izanami

Izanagi and Izanami are the parents of all of the gods and men. They created the earth together. Izanami showed favoritism to her earth children, and the rest of the gods were upset and forced Izanami to become mortal. Izanami gave birth to a fire-god, and died in childbirth. Her husband Izanagi chased her down to the underworld but she would not, or could not, return with him. He pursued her nevertheless, but her spirit dissolved in his arms. I thought this short story was very sad, but could be interesting to retell, focusing on Izanagi and Izanami's relationship. However, I found differing versions of this same story. In one version, Izanami became vengeful and threatened to kill 1,000 lives every day she was forced to stay in the underworld and Izanagi has to guard the door to keep her from escaping. Clearly these are very different renditions, but it would be interesting to look into.

https://mythopedia.com/japanese-mythology/gods/izanagi/

Story 2: Amaterasu

As the most important deity, I think it's appropriate that I dedicate at least one of my stories solely to Amaterasu. The website "Mythopedia" had a lot of information about Amaterasu, including a story about how she hid herself away in a cave to grieve the death of one of her handmaidens, which resulted in the first winter. I enjoy "just so" stories - stories that provide an explanation for natural occurrences - so I liked this tale. I also enjoyed another explanatory legend about Amaterasu in which her husband, the god of the night, committed a murder in front of his wife. She subsequently banished him for his crime, and this is why day and night are forever separated.  

https://mythopedia.com/japanese-mythology/gods/amaterasu/

Story 3: The Jewel of Heart's Desire

This story was not directly about the deities like the ones listed above, although they do appear as characters. I enjoyed how this particular telling of the story had dialogue and more descriptive passages, but I really just enjoyed the story itself with the Empress taking charge. I think it would be easy to retell this one and tie it in with the others since they are linked by the presence of Amaterasu. 

http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/06/japan-jewel-of-hearts-desire.html