Japanese Mythology: The Essential - The Story of Amaterasu, Susanoo, Tsukuyomi, Izanagi and Izanami

[Music] at the beginning of everything chaos took over the universe it was then that from a primordial mass the gods created the sky and the earth these divine spirits noticing the world was empty gave rise to two new deities their names were izanagi and izanami the divine couple's mission was to fill the world and create everything that would exist in it izanagi and izanami received a divine spear from the hands of the primordial kami this artifact was ornamented with precious jewels and possessed remarkable powers making use of this instrument they went to the celestial bridge

where they created the sacred island of onogoro the two gods worked under the utmost harmony and fell in love due to the proximity the goddess izanami invited her husband to consummate the union and generate a noble offspring izanagi accepted the invitation but from this union deformed creatures were born given that the ritual of the union of the divine couple was distorted because proposing was not the role of the female deity the couple decided to unite again but this time izanagi took the initiative and invited the goddess to conduct the ritual of the union izanagi and

izanami gave birth to a new generation of gods and soon created the other islands of the japanese archipelago but a tragedy struck the divine couple izanami was pregnant again but something seemed wrong izanami passed away giving birth to kagusuchi the god of fire she had to leave for yomi the world of the dead her husband did not accept such a fate and left to bring her back from the underworld this was an impure place consumed by corruption and filled with oni and corrupt creatures the god found his beloved wife in the darkness and wanted to

bring her with him but when izanagi pointed the light to izanami he was horrified the goddess was in an advanced process a decomposition her divine purity had been destroyed by rot izanami had fed on the fruits of the underworld and her bond with yomi was unbreakable izanagi horrified repudiated izanami furious she ordered monsters to go after the god and izanagi ran away from the world of the dead he blocked the exit of the underworld with a massive rock holding izanami forever in yomi izanagi's visit to the world of the dead made him feel filthy and

he needed to be purified the god began to take a ritualistic bath during it he gave birth to several deities and spiritual beings like kami and youkai the god's eyes burned with sadness and between the tears of izanagi's left eye amatarasu emerged the brightest divinity that ever existed her brightness illuminated everything around her from the right eye of izanagi another remarkable deity emerged his name was although was not as bright as his sister had a charming luminosity finally dripping from izanami's nose appeared the agitated and indomitable susanoo the creator god contemplating his last three children

was proud and he called them the three noble children tsukiomi and amitarasu were quite close and were often seen together during those moments when looking at the sky it was possible to see the sun and the moon shining together there was no distinction between day and night the glorious goddess amaterasu was invited to a banquet by ukemochi the goddess of food but amaterasu could not attend she asked his brother sukiyomi to represent her at the banquet the lunar god encountered a table full of the most diverse foods the goddess ukemochi appeared from behind a rock

with even more treats tsukiomi wondered where these foods came from given that right after the goddess hid behind the rock with her empty tray she quickly re-emerged on the other side with the tray full of food curious the god decided to spy on what was happening behind the stone and he was shocked ukemochi threw up the rice she was going to serve from her ears she grabbed vegetables and roots milks flowed from her nose and unworthy holes also produced food tsukiomi was disgusted and offended by that grotesque scene and proceeded to cut the food goddess

with his sword her pieces were thrown from the sky and the most diverse vegetables were born where they hit the ground amaterasu was furious to hear about the violence perpetrated by her brother while he was representing her the goddess expelled her brother to the other side of the world from this day on they were hardly seen together in heaven and so where tsukiomi was amaterasu was not it was now day and night [Music] izanagi considered that his mission to fill the world was accomplished at last but before leaving for the high plain of heaven he

gave his daughter amaterasu a beautiful necklace filled with mystical jewels from that moment on she would reign over the heavens during the day and illuminates the whole world tsukiomi would take over the night and as a lunar deity he would rule the night and the tides the impetuous susanoo received the domain of the seas and storms the gods recognize how glorious the goddess amaterasu was acclaimed as the new lady of the heavenly plains she stood above the other gods but susanoo was angered to see her sister named the most important deity unfazed by it he

started to foster several problems he made rivers dry and the green vegetation of the sacred mountains began to dry up and die izanagi noticed the chaos his son was creating and asked why he was acting that way susanoo revealed how frustrated he was at not being given such an important role as his sister he declared that he no longer wanted to be in this world he preferred to leave for the kingdom of the dead and stay beside izanami his mother izanagi was enraged to hear that his son preferred to live in the unclean underworld the

god expelled his son and told him to never return before leaving susanoo wanted to make one last visit to his sister in her heavenly abode amitarasu noticed the sound of thunder and an impending storm she knew that such a thing could only be his impetuous brother he probably wanted to take her place amaterasu tied her hair in two large bunches and assumed her battle position upon arriving suzano was amazed by amaterasu's imposing and powerful stance her sister questioned the reason for the visit and susanoo assured her that he had no bad intentions whatsoever but amaterasu

didn't trust her brother to prove that he spoke the truth and that his intentions were pure susanoo gave her his sword the gods decided to creatively compete amaterasu broke susano's sword into three pieces and from these pieces she created three female deities susanoo used amaterasu's jewelry bees to create five male deities the impetuous god cherished his victory against the great goddess since he had created more deities but the clever amaterasu contested her brother's victory because he had created life from the goddess's jewels therefore these five deities would be the sons of the luminous deity and

the three female deities born from susanna's sword would be the daughters of his brother therefore she was the actual winner of the clash susanna was outraged by her sister's interpretation and began to thrash the domains of the solar goddess the stormy god did all sorts of mischief destroying the sacred rice fields he entered his sister's palace and made a huge mess but the worst was yet to come in amitarasu's domains there was a building in which the sacred weavers wove the gods clothes and cloaks susanna wanted to scare the weavers he opened a hole in

the roof of the weaver's room and made one of amaterasu's sacred ponies fall from the sky the weavers felt so scared that one of them ended up having an accident and dying amaterasu when she saw her feels destroyed her palace emptied and even worse having lost one of her beloved weavers was taken by a massive wave of the luminous goddess gave up her tasks entered a cave and blocked the entrance with a huge stone knight took hold of the skies and sunlight was no more both the heavenly plane and the land of men were taken

by darkness and the first winter began the other gods saw the world wither around them the vegetation was no longer healthy the animals began to perish and evil spirits were on the loose the deities knew that something needed to be done to get amaterasu out of her cave they tried to convince her but she had made up her mind the wise god amoe kane realized they couldn't get her out by persuasion but they could by cunning nonetheless a sacred mirror was devised by the great celestial blacksmith and a party was arranged in front of the

cave's entrance where amaterasu was hiding they planted sasaki the sacred 500 branch tree right in front of the cave exit and hung the beautiful mirror on it from inside the cave amaterasu heard a [ __ ] crow how could it be possible if the world was taken by darkness she thought soon after she heard drums there seemed to be a party outside the goddess was right several gods gathered and watched the goddess ameno uzuma dance the dancing goddess was attempting striptease much to the gods frenzy they reacted with loud laughter amaterasu was captivated by curiosity

and wondered how they could be so happy she decided to open the entrance of the cave just a bit to spy what was happening to her surprise the gods had found a new goddess of light to worship she looked so beautiful that amaterasu decided to leave the cave to see her up close when amaterasu came out of her hiding she brought the light back to the world the darkness was pushed away evil beings hid and joy took over the world the strong god ameno tajikaro pushed the stone back to its place preventing the goddess from

returning to the cave at last amaterasu realized that the beautiful bright goddess was her own reflection she took notice of how splendid and great she was it wasn't right to deprive the world of her luminousness the gods cherished the goddess's return and the world was wrapped in joy but these same gods didn't forget that susanoo was the real culprit for that whole conundrum as punishment they cut off his beard and pulled out his nails finally they threw him out of the god's house susanna went down to earth near the river he in the uzumal province

the stormy god was lonely and he went down the river on two trunks looking for someone in that vast world on the riverbanks he found an elderly couple alongside a beautiful maiden they were deeply sad and cried profusely susanoo wanted to know the reason for such dismay the old man explained that he once had eight daughters but every year a massive dragon would appear and take one of his daughters as a tribute only one remained the beast would not take long to return to take his last gem the god was marveled by the beauty of

the old man's daughter and promised to protect her but he asked the hand of the beautiful young woman to be his wife the girl's parents were deeply grateful and honored accepting susanoo's request the god had a huge challenge because he wouldn't face some random creature but the powerful dragon yamata no orochi this was a giant and powerful dragon with eight heads and eight tails even the powerful stormy god would be no match for the dragon if he tried to fight it susannah did not feel intimidated by the challenge and came up with the strategy to

defeat the beast to protect her beloved susanoo transformed the beautiful kushina dahime into a comb and put it on his head to hold his hair the earth trembled as the giant dragon emerged to claim his tribute the beast shrieked and demanded his sacrifice he then noticed that a peasant filled eight barrels with the pure sake the peasant told the dragon that it was an offering to the glorious creature who always conquered everything he wanted flattered yamata no orochi accepted the offering and each of his heads consumed a barrel the dragon got drunk with such a

marvelous beverage and fell asleep taking advantage of the beast's vulnerability susanna broke his disguise drew his sword and attacked the creature when the beast awoke one of its heads was already gone in rage the dragon tried to devour susannau the stormy god dodged his attacks and struck back with lightning and sword blows susanna was cutting the dragon's heads one after the other without any of his heads the dragon was defeated but his body was still fighting susannah struck a powerful blow hitting the dragon's tail but his powerful sword got broken inside the monster's tale there

was hidden an invaluable sacred sword known as kusunagi susano acknowledging the artifact's massive value knew exactly what to do with it the god of the seas and storms went to meet amitarasu the god knelt before the sun goddess and offered her the glorious sword as an apology for every mischief he had caused amaterasu already an unparalleled goddess became even more splendid when she carried the famous kusanagi sword susano left to meet kushina dahime his new wife they built a massive palace and had numerous and prosperous offspring amaterasu also had a glorious descent among them were

the men who conquered japan they fought in the name of the sun and with the strong brightness of the goddess on their backs amaterasu's descendants subdued their enemies jimu japan's first emperor was a direct descendant of the sun goddess and was under her protection the yamato dynasty founded by jimu would guide japan to a story of glory courage and pride [Music] [Music] you