The Land Of Yomi

: 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 t eir 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.