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The world view in Japanese mythology.

How did the Japanese view the world around them? Let us take a look at some old Shinto scripts, such as the Kojiki, Nihon Shoki, Fudoki, Manyoshu and Norito. When talking of space or world in old scripts we often encounter words such as Takama go Hara, Ashihara no Nakatsukuni, Yomi no Kuni, Ne no Kuni, Soko no Kuni, Haha no Kuni and Tokoyo no Kuni. These expressions can be divided into three groups. These are the world of the Gods, the world of human beings and the world of the Dead. In each world there is an independant country with a high Deity or King governing the people, and there are rules to control the people. Each country communicates with the others in some form.

The world of the Deities, Takama ga Hara.

Takama ga Hara is the world of the deities, and as its name indicates is to be found high in the heavens. The highest deity in Takama ga Hara is Amatersu Omikami, a female deity who symbolizes the sun. As the Divine ancestor of the Imperial family she is of course accorded the highest place, and tops all the other deities. But in the Takama ga Hara of Amaterasu Omikami there is no dictatorial governing system but a council which directs a division of labour among the deities. When there is a matter of importance to discus the deities assemble at a place called Ame no Yasukawara and the deity in charge of mental affairs, one named Ame no Omoikane no Kami, thinks of a good solution and with the agreement of the other deities issues an order in the names of Amaterasu Omikami and Takami Musubi no Kami. Takami Musubi no Kami is in charge of production and holds the senior position in Takama ga Hara, where a mainly agricultural life is led. Amaterasu Omikami herself works in the paddies, grows silkworms, and weaves.

The Human world, Ashihara no Nakatsukuni.

The human world is called Ashihara no Nakatsukuni. This is the world we know, the earth. This country came about as a result of the efforts of Okuninushi no Mikoto, who pioneered it. Okuninu shi no Mikoto then offered the world to Amaterasu Omikami who appointed Ninigi no Mikoto to rule over it as king. Before then the world had been dark and chaotic. Okuninushi no Mikoto, who is the highest deity on Earth, shed a ray of light on the situation and brightened things up. All the deities on earth are called Kunitsugami. The greatness of Okuninushi no Kami lies in the fact that he didn't claim the country he pioneered as his own but admitted the existence of a greater deity in Takama ga Hara, and set out to control the earth by the holiness of Takama ga Hara. Thanks to this spirit of sacrifice to a higher deity Takama ga Hara and Ashihara no Nakatsukuni were united. The Emperors of Japan (Tenno), who are all descendants of Ninigi no Mikoto (grandson of Amaterasu Omikami) and representatives of all the deities (Kunitsukami), have ruled Japan as Kings ever since. They reside in Izumo Kunitsukuri no Ie.

The World of the Dead

Compared to the two former worlds the idea of the World of the Dead is not easy to grasp since it is always gradually changing. The description of the World of the Dead appears for the first time in the old scripts as Yomi no Kuni. When Izanami no Mikoto, the original Mother Deity died, she became the ruling deity, Yominotsu Okami, of that country. Yomi no Kuni is also spoken of as "Kegareki Kuni" (dirty country), and is described as a dark, wierd world. The real identity of Yominotsu Omikami Izanami no Mikoto is a rotten corpse, and the people she rules are all very ugly shapes. Yominotsu Okami uses her army to stop those who stray from returning to their former world of the living. She also kills a thousand people a day by the force of her spells. But Izanagi no Mikoto, who rules the world of the living, can surpass her magical powers. Izanagi and Izanami were once husband and wife but at her death they declared their decision to divorce and rule two different countries. At the declaration of the divore Izanami proclaimed that she would kill one thousand per sons a day, Izanagi said that he would cause the birth of one thousand five hundred a day. Thus one thousand die each day, one thousand five hundred are born, and the prosperity of the people can be attributed to the superior power of Izanagi no Mikoto. Yomi no Kuni is the world of death, as opposed to Ashihara no Nakatsukuni, the world of life. Once one eats food cooked on the fires of Yomi no Kuni one can never return to the land of the living. Between the two countries there is a gigantic rock called Chigaeshi no Okami, which divided the two countries eternally. This rock was put there by Izanagi when he escaped from Yomi no Kuni. The image of Yomi no Kuni has its origin in the scene of ancient graves or mortuaries, where the corpses were left for a certain time. In the ancient scripts there next appears the names of the countries, "Haha no Kuni", and "Nenokatasu Kuni". (really one and the same country), The younger brother of Amaterasu Omikami, the highest deity in Takama ga Hara is Susanoo no Mikoto, a rough, boorish character whose many pranks cause his sister a lot of trouble. Susanoo's father gave him a country to rule but he was too lazy to rule it, and in spite of his age did nothing but complain and cry all day. He then told his father he was crying because he wanted to go to Nenokatasu Kuni, so he was expelled from Takama ga Hara, and went to Nenokatasu Kuni where he became ruler. When Izanagi escaped from Yomi no Kuni, the dirt he cleaned from his body became Susanoo no Mikoto, so in effect Susanoo was born without a mother, athough geneologically Izanami is considered to be his mother. The country Haha no Kuni Nenokatasu Kuni was the place where his dead mother existed. He had really been crying because he wanted to visit his dead mother. But the country of Haha no Kuni where his dead mother existed, and Nenokatasu Kuni are different from Yomi no Kuni in that Nenokatasu Kuni lies just under the ground, "nemoto" meaning root, origin or basis.

From Yomi no Kuni, the country of the dead, there is no way of communicating with Ashihara no Nakatsukuni, the country of the living. But Haha no Kuni-Nenokatasu no Kuni is closely connected with Ashihara Nakatsu no Kuni, as one can see from the following story of Okuninushi.

Before he became a great king Okuninushi went to Nenokatsu Kuni for training. Sasanoo no Mikoto, the king of Nenokatasu Kuni, put Okuninushi through a lot of trials and only after he had succeeded in overcoming them acknowledged him as a grown-up and gave him the name Okuninushi. He also gave Okuninushi his daughter, Suserihime, to be his wife, and the divine instruments, a koto (harp) and a bowl, to help him govern Ashihara Nakatsu no Kuni. Nenokatasu Kuni, the place ruled by Sasanoo is not just a country under the ground but a place where, by staying there, the dead can revive and live again. In this country, which Okuninushi ruled before Ninigi no Mikoto, the grandson of Amaterasu Omikami was sent as king, lies a hidden magical power. It is also the country to which young men are sent to undergo the trials they must overcome to become great kings. Thus Haha no Kuni-Nenokatsu Kuni is the world from which vital power is continuously sent to Ashihara no Nakatsukuni on earth.

Ne no Kuni, Soko no Kuni.

The names of the countries of Ne no Kuni and Soko no Kuni appear in the "Oharaishi". These are considered to exist boyond or under the ocean. These are the countries where crimes (sins) committed by man and filth can be expunged. The Japanese people feel that sins and filth stick to the body. When accretians of sin and filth become too great the body becomes immobile and dies. Therefore twice a year, on June 30th and December 31st the Emperor, as the chief priest, performs a purification ceremony (Oharai) at all shrines throughout Japan simultaneously to purify the country of sin and filth. All sins (in the form of specially folded paper) are collected and brought to the Emperor to be handed to the female deity of the river. The deity of the river then carries them to Omi ga Hara and hands them over to the female deity in charge of oceans and streams after which all sins and filth are blown into Ne no Kuni-Soko no Kuni by a big wind.

The ruling deity of Ne no Kuni-Soko no Kuni is a female deity called Hayasasura Hime. By the magic of her spells sin and dirt are finally expunged. According to this Oharai people get a new lease of life and revitalization of power twice a year. Japan is surrounded by the sea and the oceans and the image of Ne no Kuni Soko no Kuni was naturally created from its topographical position and the cleansing power of the sea.

Tokoyo no Kuni, Watatsumi no Kuni.

As Japan is an archipelago the Japanese have always had a longing for things from beyond the ocean, and as an agricultural country the blessings of the sun, embodied in the divine character of Amaterasu Omikami, have always been paramount in the minds of the people. The sun rises from beyond the ocean in the east. The Grand Shrine at Ise, dedicated to Amaterasu Omikami, is on the coast facing east, and thus receives the first rays of the sun in the morning. It is considered the holiest spot in Japan. In the ancient scripts this place is called Asahi no Naosasu Kuni (Land hit directly by the morning sun). In ancient scripts the western sea where the sun sets is called Yuhi (Land where the evening sun sets), and this is also considered to be a holy place. The belief in a land beyond the sea both in the east and west arose from the worship of the sun. The paradise beyond the ocean for which the Japanese long is Tokoyo no Kuni. The character "yo" in the name Tokoyo no Kuni has the meanings of, longevity, man, and woman. Basically one can reach this country only after death, but in rare cases it is believed that a selected few can reach there alive. There one obtains eternal life and men and women can live and love without quarrelling. a land that doubles as the image of Tokoyo no Kuni beyond the sea is Umigami no Kuni. This country lies on the ocean bed, it is ruled by the ocean deity and is a paradise with a gorgeous palace and abundant treasure. Moreover three years there are the equivalent of three hundred years on earth, which shows that time there passes extremely slowly. Tokoyo no Kuni and Umigami no Kuni are worlds of the dead that the Japanese have accepted with the picture the Taoists had of themselves that was brought over through Korea from China. Buddhism made use of the Japanese mental attitude to implant the idea of a Utopia beyond the ocean. Buddhism preached that there was a pure land beyond the ocean to the west, an idea that was easily accpted by the Japanese for the reason mentioned above.

So far we have looked at the world view of the Japanese in terms of space. Here a two-sided horizontal structure of Takama ga Hara, Ashihara no Nakatsu Kuni, Ne no Kuni-Soko no Kuni, Toyoko no Kuni and Umigami no Kuni can be observed. From the fact that the centre of of this universe is Ashihara no Nakatsu Kuni it is obvious that the Japanese have always observed the universe with their own world as it center. Now let us look at this world view in terms of time.

Mythological time is always a repetition of chaos to order and order to chaos. In an agricultural society like that of Japan this coincides with sowing in spring and harvesting in autumn. The order is brought about by the spiritual power of the infant deities born as a result of the marriage of the parent deities in early spring, through the chaos of summer, to the order of harvest and in the chaos brought about by old age and death in late autumn and winter. After the chaos of winter comes the order of spring again.

Chaos.

The Japanese peoples' idea of chaos can be found in the oldest literature, the Kojiki, where we have the following passages:-

1) "The country when young floated like fat or drifted like a jellyfish."

2) "Both Takama ga Hara and Ashihara Nakatsu Kuni were dark and the angry voices of myriads of deities filled the

narrow spaces."

1, comes at the beginning of the Kojiki and shows the original state of the country, like fat floating on the water or jellyfish drifting in the sea. Here is the image of the ocean. But this image is followed by, 'A deity named Umashi Ashikabi Hikoji no Mikoto springs up like a reed shoot,' giving us a sign of chaos already. This is immediately followed by order.

2, describes the dark world of chaos after the death of Amaterasu Omikami who was the source of the order of things in Takama ga Hara. To overcome this bad state of affairs the deities stage a festival in order to revive Amaterasu Omikami. Chaos is state two, and by passing though this state we find order again.

Selected male and female deities marry in the divine land and produce infant deities. According to the thought of the Japanese everything is produced through sexual intercourse. Everything, from the land, through the deities to food, grain and animals was produced by the intercourse of the deiites. Japanese festivals are holy times in space for the birth of new infant deities. The festival location is the birthplace of the infant deities. In the birth of infant deities there is always an abnormal conception, ie. the mother is a spirit from another world, the marriage is between closely related people or conception and birth take place in one night, or an abnormal birth, ie. the baby is born before the birthplace is found, the baby is born in a burning hut or at the time of birth the mother takes on the identity of a spirit from another world. This is done expressly to show that the infants born are deities, not human beings.

Creation and development of the Country.

At the beginning of spring everything is reborn and given a new life. Together with the birth of the infant deities the land is reborn. In the old scripts this is referred to as "ikoku" (young land), or as "shokoku" (first land). At the beginning of spring the mythological time and space where Izanagi and Izanami were married and gave birth to the land is revived. Towards the autumn and time of abundance the land develops fruitfully. In the "Izumokoku fudoki" the following story occurs:-

' In the beginning the country of Izumo was a very narrow strip of land. Seeing this the deity Omitsunu cut off a piece from a place across the ocean where land was plentiful and with a rope tied it to the part of Izumo that was in need thus making Izumo into a larger, richer piece of land.' This "land-tying" or "land-gathering" shows how a land in its state of infancy, by the powers of magic, can be made into a bigger, better pice of land.

The above event occurs soon after the "kunizukuri" (creation) of Okuninushi, the representative of the Kunitsukami deities. Insufficient land and surpluses of land are expressive of the bodies and in particular the genetalia of Izanagi and Izanami (too much in one place, male, and not enough in the other, fe male.) Izanagi and Izanami produce land by adding the protruding part of his body to cavity in hers. By "landbearing", "land-making", "land-pulling" and "land-sewing" a perfect shape is obtained, the excesses of one makingup for the insufficiencies of the other.

This thought can be seen in the "kunimi" (land-viewing) ceremonies of the ancient emperors. At the beginning of every spring the emperor performed the land-viewing ceremony, stadning on the top of the holiest of mountains, "Ame no Kaguyama". At this time the emperor views the land as a divine, in his capacity as a direct descndant of Amaterasu Omikami, who has just descended from Takama ga Hara. He then sings a song praising the land, and while doing so, by the magical power of his eyes and the language of the song, restores the land so that in the autumn crops will be abundant. This ceremony, which dates back to the Nara Period, has become the ceremony of offering congratulations to the Emperor on New Year's Day, when the Emperor also appears in the Imperial State Chamber, and public appearances when he shows himselfto the people and receives their wishes.

In order to govern newly 'produced' countries, "young land" infant deities are born. This is the locic of the "Daishosai", the present enthronement ceremony for the Emperor, which lives on and has been maintained up to the present. The enthronement ceremony is a rite bringing into existence a new emperor, who is the religious king needed to govern the country of Ashihara no Katsukuni and who succeeds to the spirit of Amaterasu Omikami. It is the most important rite at court. The origin of this rite can be found in the myths of "Tensonkorin" (the descent to earth of the descendants of the Sun-goddess) and "Jimmu Tenno tosei", (the Eastern expedition of the Emperor Jimmu) of the Kojiki. The heavenly grandson, Ninigi no Mikoto, came down to earth as the King of Ashihara no Nakatsukuni, which was then transferred to him by Okuninushi, while he was still a baby wrapped in holy wheat bran and accompanied by many deities. He then made the mountain deity his queen. An infant deity called Yamasada-hiko born of this queen lived in the land of "Umigami no Kuni" where in turn he made the daughter of the sea his queen. An infant born of this queen made his aunt, Oba, the daughter of the deity of the sea, his mother's youngest sister, his queen and the child she bore him was the first human emperor (Tenno), Jimmu. As soon as he was born the Emperor Jimmu received the spirits of the sea and the mountains and ruled as the deity Amatsugami. Jimmu Tenno left the place where he was brought up as a prince, went east and conquered all the "Kunitsugami" (country gods), who proclaimed their submission to him, and finally arrived at the country of Yamato where he was enthroned.

The enthronement ceremony accepts this mythology as a most important rite, performed only once for one emperor. In the enthronement ceremony the Emperor descends from heaven in the capacity of Ninigi no Mikoto, and being confined in holy wheat bran in the Onie no Miya he is reborn as a baby. Outside this Onie no Miya the descendants of the country deities offer the spirits of each of their countries and wish the Emperor good luck. Thus the Emperor who embodies the spirit handed down from Takama ga Hara and the deity Okuninushi, contains within him the sprits of all the country deities that have submitted to him. Starting with Okuninushi, all the deities give their spirits to foster the new born baby emperor. The new born baby emperor is the king of the 'young country' which is produced at the same time, and announces that as a result of his holiness the 'young country' will enjoy a rich harvest.

In this way, for three thousand years the Japanese have believed in the Emperor as the highest priest in the land that he rules as though it were a universe. The people are the descendants of the country deities who, through their representative Okuninushi, swore obedience to the Emperor. These spirits are offered to the Emperor at the enthronement ceremony and are implanted in his body. The people and the Emperor are united by this spirit. That is why the Emperor suffers when his people suffer and are tired.

When an epidemic breaks out the Emperor will suffer from it, too. This means that the sins and impurities of the people are part of the Emperor. The Emperor is none other than the personal deity, "Arahito Gami" who gives the people peace and with the magical, purifying power that comes from his holiness, carries away the sins and washes off the impurities of the people.