Don’t Know Much About® Mythology (55 page)

When the Yamato emperors were actually established, in a public-relations move designed to establish their authority, they proclaimed Amaterasu as the ancestress of their clan. Stories connecting the gods and the emperor provided the core of the state religion that became known as Shinto (“the way of the gods”).

Japan’s highly militaristic traditions—begun with the legend of Jimmu and other warrior emperors—continued for centuries, carrying over into the two iconic military institutions of the samurai and shogun. Both inspired legends, but neither had a place in true Japanese mythology. The samurai—immortalized in the films of Akira Kurosawa—were members of a hereditary warrior class, more like the knights of medieval Europe. The early samurai defended the estates of aristocrats, and around 1000 CE, they began to develop a code of strict values and self-discipline, prizing horsemanship, archery skills, and bravery. Above all, they valued total obedience and loyalty to their lords, and personal honor. Dishonor brought an obligation to commit ritual suicide.

The samurai began to grow more powerful in 1192, when the emperor gave the title shogun (“great general”) to the military leader Yoritomo of the Minamoto family. Yoritomo established the first shogunate, or warrior government. These militaristic governments then largely ruled Japan from the late 1100s to the mid-1800s. In 1867, as Japan struggled toward modernity, the shogunate was overthrown and powers were restored to the emperor. This scenario became the background for the Tom Cruise film
The Last Samurai
, a highly romanticized view of the traditional samurai attempting to stave off modern times.

Writer Stefan Lovgren burst that Hollywood “myth” when he wrote in
National Geographic
, “Mythology colors all history. Sometimes, legend and lore merely embellish the past. Other times, mythology may actually devour history. Such is the case with the samurai, the military aristocracy of feudal Japan. The samurai are known as strong and courageous warriors, schooled with swords. In reality, they were an elitist and (for two centuries) idle class that spent more time drinking and gambling than cutting down enemies on the battlefield.”

How did Shinto become an “Asian fusion” religion?

China’s influence on ancient Japan was so profound that it is difficult to separate Japanese ideas from those that arrived on the islands from China over the centuries. While an early form of the Japanese belief system of Shinto probably existed before the arrival of Buddhism and Confucian teachings from China, Shinto can rightfully be thought of as an “Asian fusion” religion, because it only becomes a unified religion with a complete mythology after the Chinese influence is felt. There are, for instance, many similarities between Japanese and Chinese Creation accounts, including the idea of a cosmic egg, and a god whose eyes form the moon and sun.

No written records of the origin of Shinto exist, and no one knows when or how Shinto began. A mixture of different beliefs, Shinto means the “way of the gods.” It seems to have combined the ancient practices of the Ainu, Japan’s earliest inhabitants, now reduced to a small number living in Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost island, with those of the prehistoric people who migrated to Japan from other parts of Asia, including Mongolian people from Siberia. What resulted is a religion centered on nature—mountains, rivers, rocks, and trees. Shinto also acknowledges the force of gods, known as
kami
, in such processes as creativity, disease, growth, and healing. Emphasizing rituals over philosophy, Shinto pays little mind to life after death.

Beginning about the 500s CE, the Chinese philosophies of Buddhism and Confucianism began to influence Shinto, which absorbed Buddhist deities into its fold and also identified them as
kami
. Shinto shrines adopted Buddhist images, and Buddhist ceremonies were used for funerals and memorial services throughout Japan. Under the influence of Confucianism, Shinto also emphasized rigorous moral standards of honesty, kindness, and respect for one’s elders and superiors.

Shinto myths appear in the
Nihongi
(“chronicles of Japan”) and the
Kojiki
(“the record of ancient matters”), both of which were written in the 700s CE. These myths tell how the
kami
created the world and established customs and laws. According to Shinto mythology, the sun goddess Amaterasu was the ancestor of Japan’s imperial family. In the late 1800s, the Japanese government invented state Shinto, which stressed patriotism and the divine origins of the Japanese emperor. After Japan’s defeat in World War II in 1945, the emperor denied that he was divine, and the government abolished state Shinto.

WHO’S WHO OF JAPANESE GODS

Amaterasu
The most significant deity in the Japanese pantheon, Amaterasu is the sun goddess who is also known as “the august person who makes the heavens shine.” Born from the left eye of the primal Creator god Izanagi as he bathes in a stream, Amaterasu is assigned to rule the realm of the heavens while one of her brothers,
Tsuki-Yomi
, the moon god, is entrusted with the realms of the night, and another brother,
Susano
, god of storms, is made ruler of oceans.
In a classic family-feud myth with incestuous overtones, Amaterasu and her brother Susano get into an epic fight. In one version of this core Japanese myth, Susano becomes angry, because he has received what he considers a lesser realm, but in another version, Amaterasu and Susano have a fight to see which of them is greater. Amaterasu chews Susano’s sword and exhales, creating three goddesses. In response, Susano eats some of his sister’s jewels and exhales five gods. As the fight escalates, Susano creates in the heavens a sort of “manic panic”—he uproots rice fields and ruins temples by smearing his excrement on the walls. When he throws the carcass of a horse into the weaving room where Amaterasu and her attendants make divine clothes for the other gods, she is terrified and flees to the cave of heaven, closing the entrance with a great stone and plunging the world into darkness.
As the darkness descends, evil spirits emerge and worsen the destruction of the world. To save the Creation, the other gods attempt to lure Amaterasu out of the cave by getting a young fertility goddess named
Uzume
to dance at its entrance. Gyrating in ecstasy, Uzume—also the goddess of laughter—throws off her clothes, whirling frantically, and the other gods roar their approval at this celestial striptease.
Hearing the merriment from inside the cave, Amaterasu cannot resist peering out. The other gods hold up a mirror and string jewels in the trees outside the cave to entice the sun goddess out of hiding. Once she emerges, the world is once again bathed in light, and the evil forces disappear.
Amaterasu is thought to be the ancestor of Jimmu, the legendary first emperor of Japan. Through an unbroken line of descent, all of Japan’s emperors claim to be descended from her. The mirror, string of jewels, and a sword used to draw Amaterasu out of the cave are the traditional symbols of the Japanese royal family.

Benten
The deity of luck and wealth, Benten is a goddess associated with music and eloquence. Painfully shy, she marries a dragon prince from the dragon people who surround Japan. The dragon is revolting but, because of her sense of duty—a Japanese concept called
giri
—she reluctantly fulfills her marriage vows. Afterwards, peace comes to the kingdom.
In later times, following the introduction of Buddhism to Japan, Benten became a popular Buddhist deity—goddess of music, eloquence, wealth, love, beauty, and geishas. She also prevents earthquakes by mating with the white snakes that live beneath islands of Japan.

Hachiman
Especially popular with the military, Hachiman is the Shinto war god, the protector of the nation and a guardian of children. Nearly one-third of Shinto shrines throughout Japan are dedicated to this deity who is identified with the emperor Ojin (died c. 394 CE), a renowned military leader who was later deified.

Inari
The rice god and patron of farmers. Almost every Japanese village has a shrine dedicated to Inari. Depicted as a bearded older man sitting on a sack of rice, and often flanked by two foxes who are his messengers, Inari is regarded as a generous god who oversees wealth and friendship and is revered by merchants, since he brings well-being. His wife,
Uke-mochi
, is the food goddess.

Izanagi
(August Male ) and
Izanami
(August Female) Descended from a god born from the “boiling ocean of chaos” at the time of Creation, Izanagi is the creator of people. He is helped in this effort by Izanami, his sister, whose first child is a monster and whose second offspring is an island. These curious births occur because Izanami speaks before her brother does, and in Japanese custom the male must go first—which might give you a hint of the traditional role of women in Japan. After they realize their error, all goes well, and the two gods produce people, the islands of Japan, and other gods.
According to the myth, Izanami dies in childbirth when she gives birth to a fire god. However, even in death, she is a powerful creator, whose vomit, urine, and excrement become other gods. Distraught over his consort-sister’s death, Izanagi follows her to the underworld, or “land of gloom.” In a story with echoes of the Greek Orpheus descending into Hades, he is warned not to look at her, because she has eaten the food of the underworld and is already decomposing. But he does as he pleases. Furious she has been seen covered with maggots, Izanami sends a horde of she-demons after him and promises to kill 1,000 people on earth every day—the mythical reason for death. Able to escape, Izanagi rolls a huge stone over the entrance to the underworld and declares himself divorced—one of the few cases of divine divorce in mythology. This story also reflects a Shinto attitude of horror at death, decay, and dissolution.
As he is bathing after this close call, Izanagi washes the dirt off himself, and it forms harmful spirits. But he makes some good gods as well. Amaterasu comes from his left eye, and Tsuki-Yomi, the moon god, from his right eye. (These stories seem to reflect the influence of the Chinese myth of Panku, whose eyes also become the sun and moon.) The infamous storm god Susano comes from Izanagi’s nose and immediately starts to cause trouble.

O-kuni-nushi
The god of medicine and sorcery, whose name means “great land master,” O-kuni-nushi is credited with inventing healing. He is often accompanied by
Sukuna-Biko
, a dwarf god skilled in both agriculture and medicine, who knows almost everything that is going on in the world.
O-kuni-nushi also figures in an intriguing myth. When O-kuninushi stops to help a wounded rabbit that his seventy brothers have passed by, the good deed earns him the right to marry the daughter of the god Susano. This is because the rabbit is actually another god in disguise. Angry that they missed such an opportunity, O-kuni-nushi’s brothers kill him, but he is able to regenerate himself. Displeased that his daughter is to marry, Susano subjects his future son-in-law to a series of tests. First, O-kuni-nushi is placed in a room full of snakes, but his bride gives him a magical scarf that protects him. Next, he sleeps in a room filled with poisonous insects, but again, he is saved by his bride’s magical scarf. Finally, he is trapped in a great grass fire, but is led to safety in an underground chamber by a friendly mouse.
In return for his father-in-law’s tests, O-kuni-nushi ties Susano’s hair to the roof beams and makes off with Susano’s magic bow and harp. The storm god gains new respect for his son-in-law and allows him to rule over a province in central Japan.

O-wata-tsumi
The chief god of the sea, O-wata-tsumi is a god created when Izanagi purifies himself after his descent into the underworld. (In other accounts, O-wata-tsumi is descended from O-kuni-nushi.) O-wata-tsumi is significant in Japanese mythical history because he is considered another divine ancestor of the first emperor, Jimmu.

Susano
(
Susanowo
) The god of storms and the divine embodiment of the forces of disorder, Susano is known as the “valiant, swift, impetuous deity.” He is born when the divine father Izanagi clears his nose as he bathes in a stream. When the universe is divided up, and Susano’s sister, Amaterasu, the sun goddess, is given the heavens, Susano thinks that he has gotten shortchanged. Banished by his father for his defiance, Susano begins his long struggle to overthrow Amaterasu and nearly brings catastrophe to the world in what is called “the divine crisis.” Terrified by her brother, Amaterasu withdraws into a cave, depriving the world of sunlight.
After the crisis, Susano is expelled from heaven and later wins some measure of respect by defeating the eight-headed dragon,
Yamato-no-orichi
—who had eaten seven of eight daughters of the local king and who sounds like the inspiration for Japan’s favorite monster, Godzilla. Susano accomplishes the feat by filling eight bowls with rice wine and luring the monstrous serpent to drink. Once the serpent monster becomes drowsy, Susano cuts open the creature’s stomach and finds a magical sword hidden inside. As a reward for his feat, he is given the kingdom he has saved, as well as a princess,
Kusanada-hime
, also called Rice Paddy Princess. Their daughter, who marries the medicine god O-kuni-nushi, is thought to be an ancestor of the Japanese emperors.
Since 1946, when the Japanese emperor Hirohito denied his divinity, after which the Japanese Constitution ended “state Shinto,” Japan has been a parliamentary democracy, in which the emperor is the head of state and the prime minster is the elected head of government. But old ideas still die hard. A recent controversy flared in Japan over new regulations requiring teachers to stand in classrooms and face the Japanese flag while singing the national anthem. Banned for three years during the postwar American occupation of Japan, the country’s “rising sun” flag is a vestige of the old connection between Japan—or Nipon, which means “rising sun”—and the sun goddess.
But many Japanese feel that the rising-sun flag is a symbol of Japan’s militaristic and imperialist past, when troops stormed mercilessly through Asia in the period before and during World War II. The public resistance to the requirement got support from an unexpected source. According to the
New York Times
, Emperor Akihito himself publicly voiced his opposition to the flag law.