Children Stories - The Land Of Yomi

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The Land Of Yomi

from Japanese Fairy Tales

From the glorious clouds of High Heaven, from the divine ether, the
vital essence, and the great concourse of eternal deities, there issued
forth the heavenly pair--Izanagi, His Augustness, the Lord of
Invitation, and with him, Izanami, Her Augustness, the Lady of
Invitation.

Together they stood upon the Floating Bridge of High Heaven, and they
looked down to where the mists swirled in confusion beneath their feet.
For to them had been given power and commandment to make, consolidate
and give birth to the drifting lands. And to this end the august powers
had granted them a heavenly jewelled spear. And the two deities,
standing upon the Floating Bridge of Heaven, lowered the jewelled spear
head-first into chaos, so that the mists were divided. And, as they
waited, the brine dripped from the jewels upon the spear-head, and there
was formed an island. This is the island of Onogoro.

And His Augustness, the Lord of Invitation, took by the hand Her
Augustness, the Lady of Invitation, his lovely Younger Sister, and
together they descended to the island that was created. And they made
the islands of Japan; the land of Iyo, which is called Lovely Princess;
the land of Toyo, which is called Luxuriant Sun Youth; the land of
Sanuki, which is called Good Prince Boiled Rice; and Great Yamato, the
Luxuriant Island of the Dragon Fly; and many more, of which to tell were
weariness.

Furthermore, they gave birth to many myriads of deities to rule over the
earth, and the air, and the deep sea; and for every season there were
deities, and every place was sacred, for the deities were like the
needles of the pine trees in number.

Now, when the time came for the Fire God, Kagu-Tsuchi, to be born, his
mother, the Lady Izanami, was burned, and suffered a change; and she
laid herself upon the ground. Then Izanagi, the Prince who Invites,
asked, "What is it that has come to thee, my lovely Younger Sister?"

And she answered, weeping, "The time of my departure draws near ... I go
to the land of Yomi."

And His Augustness Izanagi wept aloud, dropping his tears upon her feet
and upon her pillow. And all his tears fell down and became deities.
Nevertheless, the Lady Izanami departed.

Then His Augustness, the Prince who Invites, was wroth, and lifted his
face to High Heaven, and cried, "O Thine Augustness, my lovely Younger
Sister, that I should have given thee in exchange for this single
child!"

And, drawing the ten-grasp sword that was girded upon him, he slew the
Fire God, his child; and binding up his long hair, he followed the Lady
Izanami to the entrance of Yomi, the world of the dead. And she, the
Princess who Invites, appearing as lovely as she was when alive, came
forth to greet him. And she lifted up the curtain of the Palace of Hades
that they might speak together.

And the Lord Izanagi said, "I weary for thee, my lovely Younger Sister,
and the lands that thou and I created together are not finished making.
Therefore come back."

Then the Lady made answer, saying, "My sweet lord, and my spouse, it is
very lamentable that thou camest not sooner unto me, for I have eaten of
the baked meats of Yomi. Nevertheless, as thou hast dearly honoured me
in thy coming here, Thine Augustness, my lovely Elder Brother, if it may
be, I will return with thee. I go to lay my desire before the Gods of
Yomi. Wait thou here until I come again, and, if thou love me, seek not
to look upon me till the time." And so she spoke and left him.

Izanagi sat upon a stone at the entrance of the Palace of Hades until
the sun set, and he was weary of that valley of gloom. And because she
tarried long, he arose and plucked a comb from the left tress of his
hair, and broke off a tooth from one end of the comb, and lighting it to
be a torch, he drew back the curtain of the Palace of Yomi. But he saw
his beloved lying in corruption, and round about her were the eight
deities of Thunder. They are the Fire Thunder, and the Black Thunder,
and the Cleaving Thunder, and the Earth Thunder, and the Roaring
Thunder, and the Couchant Thunder, and the Young Thunder. And by her
terrible head was the Great Thunder.

And Izanagi, being overawed, turned to flee away, but Izanami arose and
cried, "Thou hast put me to shame, for thou hast seen my defilement. Now
I will see thine also."

And she called to her the Hideous Females of Yomi, and bade them take
and slay His Augustness, the Lord who Invites. But he ran for his life,
in the gloom stumbling upon the rocks of the valley of Yomi. And tearing
the vine wreath from his long hair he flung it behind him, and it fell
to the ground and became many bunches of grapes, which the Hideous
Females stayed to devour. And he fled on. But the Females of Yomi still
pursued him; so then he took a multitudinous and close-toothed comb from
the right tresses of his long hair, and cast it behind him. When it
touched the ground it became a groove of bamboo shoots, and again the
females stayed to devour; and Izanagi fled on, panting.

But, in her wrath and despair, his Younger Sister sent after him the
Eight Thunders, together with a thousand and five hundred warriors of
Hades; yet he, the Prince of Invitation, drew the ten-grasp sword that
was augustly girded upon him, and brandishing it behind him gained at
last the base of the Even Pass of Hades, the black mouth of Yomi. And he
plucked there three peaches that grew upon a tree, and smote his
enemies that they all fled back; and the peaches were called Their
Augustnesses, Great Divine Fruit.

Then, last of all, his Younger Sister, the Princess who Invites, herself
came out to pursue. So Izanagi took a rock which could not have been
lifted by a thousand men, and placed it between them in the Even Pass of
Hades. And standing behind the rock, he pronounced a leave-taking and
words of separation. But, from the farther side of the rock, Izanami
called to him, "My lovely Elder Brother, Thine Augustness, of small
avail shall be thy making of lands, and thy creating of deities, for I,
with my powers, shall strangle every day a thousand of thy people."

So she cried, taunting him.

But he answered her, "My lovely Younger Sister, Thine Augustness, if
thou dost so, I shall cause, in one day, fifteen hundred to be born.
Farewell."

So Her Augustness, the Lady who Invites, is called the Queen of the
Dead.

But the great lord, His Highness, the Prince who Invites, departed,
crying, "Horror! Horror! Horror! I have come to a hideous and polluted
land." And he lay still by the river-side, until such time as he should
recover strength to perform purification.

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