Japanese Mythology

Okuninushi

If you were to ever see a small cute animal in distress, I bet you would stop at nothing to nurse the little guy back to health, right? Well what if this animal rewarded you with a magical prediction that allowed you to marry your dream princess/prince, rather than your 79 evil siblings? Well, if you are interested in what the sensation would feel like, then listen to the story of Okuninushi, the lord of the great nation.

In the town of Izumo, news about the new Princess Yakami of Inaba was spreading fast and all the men of the region dreamed to be her consort. To settle the competition, 80 gods, all brothers, were the chosen suitors to try their hand in marriage, and they all settled off from their home town to the Inaba district. However 79 of the brothers were vile and cruel-hearted, dumping all of their heavy luggage on their last, kind hearted brother Okuninushi, and continuing ahead, all determined to win the princesses heart.
On the way to Inaba, the 79 brothers encountered a hare, washed up on the shore and writhing in agony! When they asked it about its condition, the hare told them about its journey from the nearby Oki islands, also on a journey to visit the princess. As the hare wanted to cross the water, he met a troubled shark near the shore, who was having a difficult time counting all of his hundreds of siblings.

Geez, since when was it popular to have over 80 brothers and sisters!?

The hare told the shark that he was unable to cross the river to meet the princess, and the shark made a compromise. The shark would ask for all of its siblings to form one long path from the Oki islands to the Inaba shore for the hare to cross, as long as the hare promises to count how many shark siblings there are. The hare agreed to this, and hopped down the hundreds of sharks towards Inaba, but as he leaped off the last shark, he foolishly proclaimed that he did not count the siblings at all! What cheek! And what a silly time to admit this as well, since the last shark was completely in biting distance to the hare, tearing his skin and leaving him in agony on the shore line.

After hearing this story, the 79 brothers devised a cruel prank to the hare, telling him to wash his wounds in the incredibly salty ocean. The hare goes to do this, and ends up in even worse pain than before, all while the brothers laughed at his misery and continued onward to the princess.

Then, Okuninishi tailed behind, and finding the poor hare, asked what had happened to him. After the hare described the horrible pain he felt from the salty water, Okuninushi suspected that it was a cruel prank from his other brothers. He helped the hare, and guided him towards a nearby spring, telling the hare to sprinkle some reeds into the water and dive into it. The hare hesitantly dives into the water, and springs out with a brand new glistening coat, looking very bright and healthy! The hare was so incredibly happy, you should have seen his face! Okuninushi was the hare’s hero! And to show him his appreciation, the hare revealed his status as a god! Woah!
The hare approached Okuninushi, and made a divine prediction on his gentle heart, that Okuninushi is the one destined to marry the fair Yakami.

The day of the choosing has arrived at Inaba, and all of the 80 brothers await for the arrival for the princess. As she arrived, the 79 brothers all tried to woo her with their disgusting presence, but ultimately, as the hare predicted, Yakami walked up to Okuninushi and chose him to be her mate. As all of the other brothers broke down in a furious rage, Okuninushi took Yakami’s hand and lived with her as the new Lord of Inaba.

I wish all animals were as magical as that hare, I could definitely handle the role as a Lord any day!

Amaterasu

Amaterasu is the Japanese sun goddess, who rules over the high plain of heaven. And before you say that she is the god of the Japanese world, she was actually born from the left eye of Izanagi, the creator god, and her brother god Tukuyomi was born from his right eye. Depending on the kind of language used to define her, Amaterasu has many different names. In Kojiki, she is referred to as Amaterasu-Omikami, whereas in Nihon Shoki, her full true name is Amaterasu-sume-okami.
Amaterasu was said to have a very kind hearted personality, and if you were to be within her presence, you were graced with both the happiness of the beauty of nature, and even your own happiness! Oh man, where is this goddess when you need her?! Her wonderful personality held her in high regards with the kingdom of gods, and she received high worship from all the mortals!
One day, in her garden of heaven, Amaterasu was tending to the plants, when she suddenly felt an intense disturbance in her temple. Checking out the situation, she was horrified after learning that her storm god brother, Susano-o, has attacked her temple in a drunken rage, even killing some of the priestesses inside! How awful! So awful that Amaterasu could not cope, fleeing into a cave and locking herself within it. And as she is the goddess of the sun, with her in the cave, darkness was cast onto the world.

All of the gods rushed to the cave and tried their best to convince Amaterasu to return to them, but tried as they might, she was still scared about her brother. Many weeks after trying to lull Amaterasu out of her cave has passed and the gods were close to giving up. But they couldn’t give up, for the world was now beginning to grow sick and depressed without the light!

As the gods began to wallow in despair for the world, a young goddess from the Shinto region named Ame no Uzume approached the despairing gods. Learning about the situation, Uzume quickly devises a clever plan to trick Amaterasu out of her cave. Uzume placed a bronze mirror underneath a tree beside the cave’s closed entrance, and overturned a tub in front of the gods, climbing on top of it. She then proceeded to….take off most of her clothes and start to dance on top of the tub, bewildering the gods and causing them to heatedly laugh at the almost-naked performance. Hearing all of the cheerful laughter, Amaterasu peered out of the cave, curious as to what is going on. Uzume tells Amaterasu that they are all happy that a new glorious goddess has emerged, confusing Amaterasu even further. But catching a radiant light in the mirror, Amaterasu catches her reflection, amazed at the beautiful woman in the reflection (since she has never even seen her reflection in her entire life!). After regaining her happiness from her reflection, Amaterasu rejoins the order of gods, restoring light to the world, and everyone lived happily ever after…

..well, at least in Amaterasu’s mythology!