Historical Background 10000 BCE Earliest known pottery vessels made in Honshu 660 BCE Jimmutenno Divine Warrior Emperor is the legendary first human emperor of Japan 500 BCE Rice cultivation spreads to Japan from China ID: 809253
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Slide1
Japanese Mythology
Textbook pg. 110
Slide2Historical Background
10,000 BCE – Earliest known pottery vessels made in Honshu
660 BCE –
Jimmu-tenno
(“Divine Warrior Emperor”) is the legendary first human emperor of Japan
500 BCE – Rice cultivation spreads to Japan from China
57 CE – Ambassador from king of Nu is recognized by China’s Han emperor.
247 CE – Civil war between rival kingdoms tears Japan into regional powers.
260 CE – Temple of
Amaterasu
founded in
Ise
, the most sacred and revered shrine of the Shinto religion.
Slide3History Cont.
478 CE – First Shinto shrine appears
538 CE – Buddhism reaches Japan via China and Korea
592 CE – Conflict between clans over Buddhism and local deities leads to execution of the emperor.
685 CE – Buddhism becomes state religion of Japan
741 CE – Buddhist temples are established throughout the land by government decree.
January 1, 1946 CE – Emperor Hirohito denied in own divinity thus ending the official state Shinto.
Slide4Shinto
Shinto means “way of the gods.”
No written record of Shinto’s origin exists.
Shinto is the acknowledgement of the force of the gods, known as
Kami
.
Applied to such processes as creativity, disease, growth, and healing.
Emphasized rituals over philosophy.
Pays little mind to life after death.
State religion from 1872-1945
Slide5Shinto Cont.
Shinto emphasized rigorous moral standards of honesty, kindness, and respect for one’s elders and superiors.
According to Shinto mythology, the sun goddess
Amaterasu
was the ancestor to Japan’s imperial family.
In the late 1800s, the Japanese government invented state Shinto, which stressed patriotism and the divine origins of the Japanese Emperor.
After World War II, the emperor denied that he was divine thus abolishing the state Shinto.
Slide6Creation Myth
Before there was heaven and earth, there was darkness.
In the midst of this darkness was a swirling mass in the shape of an enormous egg (or jellyfish depending on the translation) that contained all things.
Over the centuries the lighter and purer part drew itself away from the heavier, denser part.
The heavy material (IN or Yin) settled to form the earth.
The lighter rose to form the Heavens (YO or Yang)
Slide7Primal Couple
IN (feminine) and YO (masculine) were opposites, but one could not exist without the other, because all things in the world have the properties of one of these two forces.
From the separation of IN and YO the first beings appeared,
Izanagi
(“The August Male”) and his sister
Izanami
(“The August Female”).
Slide8Creation of the World
Izanagi
and
Izanami
found themselves on the floating bridge of heaven and peered down into the darkness below.
Below them was only water, so
Izanagi
thrust his jewel-tipped spear into the waters and when he drew it up again the drips of water formed the island of
Onogoro
(“Created Land”).
The two gods descended to this island to live as husband and wife and to build the lands together.
Slide9Ancient Sex Ed.
Izanami
, the IN force, believe that there was a part of her body that was empty.
Izanagi
, the YO force, believe that there was a part of his body that was too much.
Therefore they completed each other and became one as husband and wife.
Their first children were seven islands, which together with the island already created formed the “Great Eight Island Country” (Japan).
Slide10Offspring
Izanami
gave birth to the sun goddess,
Amaterasu
, who was so radiant that they sent her to rule in heaven.
The next child,
Tsuki-Yomi
, (The Moon god) was made to be
Amaterasu’s
consort and to rule by her side in heaven,
Izanagi
and
Izanami
had several other children who became gods or the elements but not much is documented about them.
Izanami’s
last child,
Homusubi
, was the god of fired and burned
Izanami’s
genitals so badly that she fell sick and died.
Izanami
was taken to the underworld (
Yomi
), while
Izanagi
left all of their children and grew old on a lonely far away island.
Slide11Yomi: Land of Darkness
Yomi
was the Japanese equivalent to the underworld.
Dead bodies were placed in stone-lined tombs with boulders or rocks sealing the entrance.
The idea was once the soul of the departed ate the food of the underworld, they became part of the underworld in the form of a demon and the tomb sealed them up away from the living.
Slide12Amaterasu
Most significant deity.
Goddess of the sun.
Drove away evil force with her heavenly light.
Believed to be the ancestor of
Jimmu
, the legendary first emperor of Japan.
This perpetuated the belief that the Japanese emperors were themselves divine.
Slide13Benten
Goddess of luck and wealth
Also associated with music and elegance.
Painfully shy
Married a dragon prince from the dragon people that surrounded Japan.
Dragon is revolting but she married him out of a sense of duty.
Slide14Hachiman
God of War
Protector of the nation of Japan, and the guardian of children.
Over a third of the shrines in Japan were dedicated to
Hachiman
.
Slide15Inari
God of rice and farmers
Often depicted on a sack of rice and flanked by two foxes who are his messengers.
Generous god.
Oversees wealth and merchants
Slide16O-Kuni
-
Nushi
God of Medicine and Sorcery
Invented medicine and healing and passed it on to humanity.
Knows everything that is happening in the world.
Slide17O-Wata
-
Tsumi
God of the Sea
Often depicted as a dragon
Considered to also be an ancestor of Japan’s first legendary emperor,
Jimmu
.
Slide18Susano
God of Storms
Divine embodiment of Disorder
Sometimes took the form of a dragon to create disorder and chaos.
Thought to be inspiration for the classic movie monster, Godzilla.
Slide19Tsuki-Yomi
God of the moon
Entrusted with the realms of the night.
Guardian of the dead.
Yomi
,
Japanese underworld, is in his name.
Slide20Uke-Mochi
Goddess of Food
Food spewed from his mouth constantly.
Associated with the harvest and the hunt.
Slide21Demons
Those who sin in Japanese mythology are sent to
Jigoku
, the Japanese hell.
Souls trapped in
Jigoku
are transformed into
Oni
.
Oni
are demons that are responsible for all sorts of misery, including disease and famine.
Oni
are also capable of stealing souls of the living and possessing innocent people.