Izanagi and Izanami, the divine couple who shaped the islands of Japan, brought forth a host of kami — Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, and Susanoo among the greatest, alongside Kagutsuchi whose birth killed Izanami, the mountain lord Ōyamatsumi, Shinatsuhiko, Kukunochi, Ōgetsu-hime, Ebisu, and Awashima.
⚠ The Kojiki and Nihon Shoki disagree on whether Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, and Susanoo were born to both Izanagi and Izanami or emerged from Izanagi's purification alone.
As Izanami lay dying from Kagutsuchi's fiery birth, deities emerged from her bodily fluids: Kanayamahiko from her vomit, Haniyasuhime from her feces, and Mizuhanome from her urine, as recorded in the Kojiki.
Raijin was born from the rotting body of Izanami in Yomi, one of the eight thunder kami that dwelled in her decomposing flesh when Izanagi broke his vow and looked upon her.
⚠ The Kojiki names eight specific thunder kami (Yakusa no Ikazuchi) in Izanami's body. Raijin as a unitary thunder god is a later syncretic development combining these figures with Buddhist Taishakuten imagery.
The Yakusa no Ikazuchi, eight thunder kami, were born from Izanami's decomposing corpse in Yomi, emerging from different parts of her rotting body.
After Izanagi fled Yomi and sealed the entrance with a boulder, Izanami vowed to kill one thousand people each day. Izanagi countered that he would cause one thousand five hundred to be born, establishing the cycle of death and birth.
Kagutsuchi's fiery birth burned Izanami from within, causing the first death among the kami. This event in the Kojiki marks the origin of mortality in Japanese mythology.
Izanami commanded the Yakusa no Ikazuchi alongside the Yomotsu-shikome and the warriors of Yomi to pursue Izanagi as he fled the underworld through the dark slope.
After being sealed in Yomi by Izanagi's boulder, Izanami became Yomotsu-Ōkami, the Great Deity of Yomi, ruling over the land of the dead as described in the Kojiki.
As Queen of Yomi, Izanami commands the Yomotsu-shikome, the fearsome hags of the underworld whom she dispatched to chase down Izanagi when he fled after seeing her decayed form.
Izanagi and Izanami created Ashihara no Nakatsukuni, the middle land between heaven and the underworld, through kuniumi.
Izanagi and Izanami created Onogoro, the first island, by stirring the primordial sea with the jeweled spear Ame-no-Nuhoko.
Izanagi and Izanami thrust the jeweled spear Ama-no-Nuboko into the primordial ocean from the Floating Bridge of Heaven and stirred. The brine that dripped from its tip coalesced into Onogoro, the first island of the world.
Izanagi and Izanami descended from Takamagahara and stood upon Ama-no-Ukihashi, the Floating Bridge of Heaven, to begin their creation of the Japanese islands as recorded in the Kojiki.
Izanagi and Izanami erected Ame-no-Mihashira on Onogoro Island and walked around it in opposite directions to perform the first marriage ritual in the Kojiki.
Izanagi sealed the entrance to Yomi with Chibiki-no-Iwa after fleeing from Izanami's decayed form. Across this boulder, the estranged couple exchanged their final vows of death and birth in the Kojiki.
At Yomotsu Hirasaka, Izanagi sealed the passage with the boulder Chibiki-no-Iwa and faced Izanami one final time — she vowed to strangle one thousand of his people each day, and he answered that fifteen hundred would be born, establishing the cycle of human death and birth.
Takamimusubi commanded Izanagi and Izanami to descend from heaven and consolidate the drifting lands below, initiating the kuniumi creation of the Japanese islands.
In the Nihon Shoki, Susanoo wept ceaselessly for his mother Izanami and wished to visit her in Ne-no-Katasukuni, leading to his banishment from Takamagahara by Izanagi.
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