Evan Lu, Period 1, 12/06/2023

 Evan Lu Period 1

12/6/23

Modern Mythology 2024

Japanese mythology and celtic mythology have a lot in common Japanese mythology 

In the beginning, there was nothing except the sea and the land, not even gods or people or time. A white mare named Eiocha was born from the sea foam. She eats seeds from a tree. The seeds grew into a child inside her, which she gave birth to. This child was the god Cernunnos. To cope with the pain giving birth, Eiocha ripped a piece of bark from the tree and threw it into the ocean. Thus, the deep-sea giants were created. Cernunnos is lonely so Eiocha makes more gods Maponos, the God of Youth Tauranis, the God of Thunder. Teutates, the Protector Epona, the Goddess of Fertility. Eiocha renames herself Tethra, the Goddess of the Deep. The gods and goddesses made the first man and the first woman from the tree. They also made animals and ordered the tree to grow into a forest. Epona makes horses in honor of her mother. Teutates creates bow and arrows and clubs from the bark of the tree because he is the protector. Tauranis the God of Thunder creates a thunderbolt. Maponos God of Youth, I create a harp. Deep sea giants are jealous of the gods and goddesses because the gods and goddesses live on land while the deep sea giants are stuck in the water so they attack the gods and goddesses. War began  and during the battle, the oak tree protected the deities. Eventually, the gods and goddesses won. Everything is destroyed but Epona saves one man and woman who procreated and made the world as it is today.

The deities called upon two divine beings, Izanagi no Mikoto(He who invites) and Izanami no Mikoto(She Who Invites) to terraform Earth They bestowed Izanagi with a spear called Ama-no-Nuboko. This spear was decorated with costly gems and when Izanagi descended onto Earth he dipped his spear in the muddy water and drew out droplets. These droplets coagulated and formed the island of Onokoro Delighted, the two made it their goal to create a country The two deities then descended upon Onokoro and created a great palace called the “Hall of Eight Fathoms”. They then erected a pillar called “The Heavenly August Pillar” The two would go around this pillar and every time they met, they will procreate. During their first encounter, Izanami greeted Izanagi first, which was deemed improper as it was believed females should not take precedence over males. As a result, their first child Hiruko was born weak and boneless like a leech. Disgusted with this child, they abandoned it and started the ritual over again. First, the island of Awaji was born, next, Shikoku, then, the island of Oki, followed by Kyushu; after that, the island Tsushima came into being, and lastly, Honshu, the main island of Japan. The name of Oyashimakuni (the Country of the Eight Great Islands) was given to these eight islands. They also gave birth to numerous other smaller islands. After creating a country, the two went on to create deities to inhabit it, some notable ones are: The Sea God, Owatatsumi no Kami Wind deity, Kami-Shinatsuhiko-no-Mikoto Kukunochi-no-Kami, the deity of trees Oyamatsumi-no-Kami, the deity of mountains Kayanu Hime-no-Kami, the goddess of the plains Kagutsuchi-no-Kami, the deity of fire. Misfortune struck when Izanami was giving birth to Kagutsuchi-no-Kami, she was fatally burned. Izanagi did everything in his power to resuscitate her but to no avail Before Izanami passed away, Izanami created other deities: Kanayama- biko and Kanayama-hime, respectively the god and goddess of metals, sprang forth from her mouth Other parts of her body issued forth Haniyasu-hiko and Haniyasu-hime, respectively the god and goddess of earth. And finally, Mizuhame-no-Mikoto, the Kami of Water The death of Izanami marks the intrusion of death into the world. Unable to accept her death, Izanagi went to Yomi, the land of darkness, to bring her back Unfortunately having eaten the food of the land of the dead, Izanami cannot return After lighting a fire, Izanagi saw Izanami decomposing which enraged her Horrified, Izanagi started to flee. But Izanami pursued him. Upon reaching the entrance to Yomi, Izanagi blocked the entrance with stone and sealed Izanami Izanagi bathed in the sea to purify himself from contact with the dead. As he bathed, he created even more deities. The sun goddess Amaterasu was born from his left eye, the moon god Tsukuyomi was born from his right eye, and the storm god Susanoo was born from his nose.

One modern discovery of Japanese folklore is that there were written accounts of a red light in the shape of a pheasant's tail in the sky. Scientists believe this red aurora was produced during magnetic storms. Our study of folklore tries to explain things that we don’t understand.The ancient Japanese could not understand why they saw a red light in the shape of a pheasant's tail so they tried to explain it using mythology. They thought it was a god trying to communicate a message but in reality it was just a red aurora. 

The Greek creation story had some similarities and differences compared to the Japanese creation story . In both the universe started with nothing and gods created the world. In the Greek creation story Gaia gave birth to Uranus asexually and then he fertilized her. She gave birth to 12 titans, 6 males and 6 females. In the Japanese creation story, 2 gods created the entire world while in the Greek creation story, the world just came out of nothing. In the Japanese creation story, Izanami and Izanagi proceeded to create many other gods while in the Greek creation story, Gaia gave birth to 12 titans and Cronus was the father of all the gods. Cronus castrated his father and threw his genitals into the ocean which created Aphrodite. Cronus became the ruler of gods with Rhea and then he ate every child that Rhea gave birth to because he was scared his children were going to overthrow him like he overthrew Uranus. Rhea hide Zeus after he was born and then Zeus drugged his father and caused Cronus to throw up all the other gods he devoured and there was a war for rulership of the gods and the Olympians won. In Japanese mythology there is no fighting and the creation of gods and the world was peaceful. In Greek mythology the humans were created by prometheus and he gave them fire and to punish him Zeus created a human named Pandora and gave her a box she was told not to open. Inside the box was evil and misfortune and plagues but there was also hope. While in the Japanese creation story it does not say how humans were created. In the Japanese creation story Izanami also dies after giving birth to the fire god, while in the Greek creation story no one died giving birth. Izanagi goes to the underworld and tries to bring Izanami back but sees her rotting face and runs away. He then baths after contact with the dead and births more gods. The Japanese creation story also only talks about how Japan was created and the Greek creation story talks about the entire world. Although the beginning of the world was nothingness in both stories, the way the gods created the world and the gods were different.