Love2tellU

Susano-wo-no-mikoto, the storm god, was expelled from heaven for his misdeeds against his sister, the sun goddess Amaterasu-o-mikami. He descended to a place known as Soshimori, or ox's head, at Silla, with his son, Isotakeru-no-kami. But he did not like the place and decided to go somewhere else. He built a clay boat and travelled to the plane of Izumo on the west coast of Japan. He reached mount Torikami on the island of Honshu. Image by  Kanenori  from  Pixabay   After roaming around for a few days, he reached the bank of the Hii-Kowa river. There he met an old earthly kami (god/spirit) and his wife. They were known as foot-shaking elder (Ashinazuchi) and hand-shaking elder (Tenazuchi) respectively. They had a beautiful daughter, Kushinada-hime. But they were very sad and were weeping inconsolably.  As Susano-wo introduced himself as the brother of the shining goddess Amaterasu, the elderly couple  finally got some hope. They told Susano-wo that they had eight daughters. But an

A materasu-o-mikami, the sun goddess, was married to her brother, Tsukiyomi-no-mikoto, the moon god. Amaterasu was made the ruler of the celestial plane of heaven by her father, Izanagi, whereas Tsukiyomi was entrusted with the power to rule the night. Image by  DerWeg  from  Pixabay   One day, Ukemochi-no-kami, also known as Ogetsu-hime, invited Amaterasu to a feast. Ukemochi (one who preserves the food) was a goddess of food and fertility, who used to live in the central land of reed planes. As Amaterasu was unable to attend the feast, she asked her husband to go there.  Ukemochi organised a grand feast in the honour of the moon god, and she arranged many tables full of delicious foods. Tsukiyomi was surprised to see the fabulous arrangement. But then he noticed something unusual. Ukemochi was frequently going behind a large stone, and while returning, she was bringing loads of food with her. Tsukiyomi was intrigued to know what was behind the boulder.  He sneaked around Ukemochi and

After escaping from the underworld, the creator god Izanagi cleansed himself in the water of the river Tachibana at Himuka. The goddess Amaterasu-o-mikami was born when he cleansed his left eye, god Tsukiyomi-no-mikoto was born from his right eye and the god Susano-wo was born from his nose.  Image by  guentherlig  from  Pixabay Izanagi was very happy to see his children. He entrusted Amaterasu with the rule of the Takamagahara, or the high celestial plane of heaven; the night was given to Tsukiyomi-no-mikoto, and the rule of the ocean was given to Susano-wo. From the beginning, Amaterasu was very responsible for her duties, and she brought prosperity to both earth and heaven. Tsukiyomi was also doing his duty properly. But Susano-wo, or the storm god, was negligent towards his work. He created chaos in his realm and even destroyed the irrigation works of his elder sister Amaterasu, which she did for a better harvest from the paddy field. He declared that he was longing for his mother

The main literary source of the the story of creation are Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, two eighth century compendium of Japanese (Shinto) mythological stories and folk tales. Shinto is the indigenous religion of Japan. There are eight million Kamis (god or spirit) as per the Shinto religion.  Image by  peaksignal  from  Pixabay The Universe was in a state of silent chaos at the beginning. Then the movement of particles began and a shapeless cloud was formed. Three primal gods were born spontaneously at the time of creation of the Universe and they were known as Zokasanshin or creator gods. They were Ame-no-minakanushi, Takamimusubi and Kamimusubi. Later, two other gods were born, they were Umashiashikabihikoji and Ame-no-tokotachi. All of these five gods emerged on their own and they were altogether known as Kotomatsukami.  Slowly the cloud began to take a proper shape. Light moved to the top of the universe. The clear and lighter part of the cloud formed the next layer, named as Takamagaha