Yomotsu-shikome- Japanese CreatureCreature · Monster"Ugly Females of Yomi"
Also known as: Yomotsu Shikome and 黄泉醜女
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Description
Hags of the underworld who burst from Yomi's darkness when Izanami screamed for Izanagi's capture. He tore the vine from his hair and it became grapes; he snapped the teeth of his comb and they sprouted as bamboo. The hags stopped to devour each gift of the living world.
Mythology & Lore
The Pursuit
When Izanagi broke his promise and looked upon Izanami in Yomi, he saw her body crawling with maggots and attended by the Eight Thunder Deities. He ran. Izanami, enraged at being seen in her corrupted state, sent the Yomotsu-shikome after him. Their name means "ugly females of Yomi," and the Kojiki offers no further description. They were creatures of the underworld, and that was enough.
The hags closed on Izanagi in the dark. He tore the vine that bound his hair and threw it behind him. It became grapes. The Yomotsu-shikome stopped and ate. When they took up the chase again, he broke the teeth from his comb and cast them back. They became bamboo shoots. The hags stopped again and ate.
They were the first of three waves Izanami sent. After the Yomotsu-shikome came the Eight Thunder Deities. After them, fifteen hundred warriors of Yomi. Izanagi reached Yomotsu Hirasaka, the boundary slope between the living world and the dead, and found three peaches growing there. He threw them. Every pursuer turned and fled. Then he dragged a boulder across the passage and sealed it. From the other side, Izanami swore to kill a thousand of his people each day. He answered: then fifteen hundred would be born.
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