Before the establishment of accurate timekeeping, when the earth was not yet organized, chaos reigned everywhere. Earth and water, light and darkness, stars and the firmament were one smoking, foaming mass without a definite shape.
Everything was ugly, everything was mixed up, and not a single living creature existed.
Clouds hovered like ghosts over the restlessly moving sea surface. The first deity arose from a monstrous bud of a spear-shaped reed that rose from the depths of boundless chaos. Then other deities arose, but three generations of deities passed before the exact boundaries between heaven and earth were determined. Finally, at the place where the top of the wolf grass rose upward, the first heavenly spirits appeared.
Their power did not extend to the world lying deep beneath them, in which chaos reigned for a long time after that. Only the fourth generation of gods was destined to create and organize the earth.
These two beings were the powerful air spirit Izanaki and the beautiful cloud goddess Izanami. All life came from them.
Izanaki and Izanami walked along the swaying sky bridge that hung over the abyss that separated the earth from the sky. It was supported by air securely and firmly. And one day the spirit of the air said to the goddess of the clouds:
“A kingdom must arise under our feet, and we will visit it.”
And having said this, he plunged his jeweled staff into the very depths of the boiling mass.
The drops that fell from the tip of his rod turned to stone, and the island of Onogoro was formed from them.
And the creators of the world descended on it and built a huge mountainous cone on it so that a heavenly bridge could be established on its top, and so that the rest of the light could revolve around it in an eternal cycle.
The wisdom of the heavenly spirits determined Izanaki to be Izanami's husband, and this divine couple was to settle on earth. But as befitted their high origin, the marriage had to end with a celebration befitting the occasion.
And so Izanaki walked around the mountain they created from left to right, and Izanami - from right to left. And when the goddess of the clouds noticed the spirit of the air from afar, she exclaimed in admiration:
- Oh, what a wonderful and comely young man! ‘To this Izanaki also exclaimed with enthusiasm:
- What a wonderful, beautiful girl!
They approached each other, held hands, and the marriage was concluded. But for some unknown reasons, the married life of both gods was not happy, as they had hoped for before. They created a new island, Aavni, which emerged from the depths of the sea, but it turned out to be a naked desert.
Hiruko, their first-born son, was a man of weak build, which is why the creators of the earth put him in a shuttle woven from wolf grass and left him at the mercy of the wind and waves.
In deep sadness, Izanaki and Izanami crossed the heavenly bridge to heaven, where the heavenly spirits hold their eternal council. They learned from the spirits that Izanaki should have spoken first when they met while walking around the mountain of earth. And the spouses returned to earth again, and set off again - Izanaki on the right, and Izanami on the left around the mountain. And when they met this time, Izanaki was the first to exclaim:
- Oh, what a beautiful and pretty girl! And from the lips of Izanami joyfully came towards him:
- Oh, what a wonderful and comely young man!
And again they held hands, and from then on their complete happiness began. And so they created seven large islands of the kingdom of Japan; first the luxurious island of Great Yamato; then - Teukushi, Iho, and many others.
The small, rocky islands of the archipelago were formed from sea foam and rolling waves as they, splashing high, piled up on the sea coast of the already created islands.
Thus China and the entire continent of the rest of the world were formed. Izanaki and Izanami were given four children: the ruler of rivers, the god of mountains, later the god of trees, and a goddess dedicated to the protection of tender plants and herbs. And then Izanaki Izanami said:
“Well, we have created a powerful kingdom of eight islands, with mountains, rivers and plants; but now a deity must appear who would rule over this wonderful world.
Time passed, and Izanami gave her husband a daughter. Her dazzling beauty and majestic appearance suggested that her throne should be among the clouds. It was Amaterasu, the goddess who illuminates the sky. Izanaki and Izanami were delighted and exclaimed:
“Our daughter must dwell in the blue ether of the deep skies and rule the world from their heights!”
And immediately they took the goddess to the top of the mountain and across a wonderful bridge to heaven. As soon as the heavenly spirits saw Amaterasu, they also exclaimed in admiration:
“You must enter the gentle blue of the sky, where from now on you will shine, and your heartfelt smile will animate the entire universe and earth. Blonde clouds will be your servants, and sparkling dew drops will be your peaceful messengers!
The next child of Izanaki and Izanami was a son, and since he was also beautiful and gentle, and evoked dreams like a summer evening, they decided that he should also dwell in heaven, as co-ruler of Amaterasu; His name was Tzuku-Yomi, god of the month.
God Susano-o was the other son of the divine couple. But completely opposite to his brother and sister, he loved darkness and shadow. When he cried, his tears burned the grass on the mountains, the flowers withered, and people died. Izanaki had little joy from him, but still he appointed him to own the ocean.
After the light was created, the happy life of the spirit of the air and the goddess of the clouds came to an end. The all-destroying God of Fire was born, and Izanami died. She hid in the deep solitude of the kingdom of forests, in the country of Kiya, and then descended into the dark domains of the underworld.
Izanaki was mortally upset by separation from Izanami; he set out on a journey to look for her and reached the gates of the kingdom of darkness and shadow, where they did not even know about the existence of sunlight.
Izanami herself desperately wanted to leave this place of sadness and return to her beloved land. But still, her spirit came out to meet Izanaki and gently, caringly begged him not to look for her in these underground caves.
But the brave god Izanaki did not listen to good advice. He rushed forward and, with the light pouring out from the comb in his hair, searched long and diligently for his beloved wife. Terrible ghosts appeared before him, but he walked past them with royal grandeur. Moans, hopeless laments of lost souls sounded in his ears, but fear was unknown to him.
After a long search, he found his Izanami: she was lying on the ground - a complete personification of boundless despair, so changed that Izanaki peered into her eyes for a long time, incredulously, before recognizing her. But Izanami was angry with Izanaki because he did not listen to her persuasion, since she knew that his labors and torments endured for her would be useless. Without the consent of the ruler of the underworld, she did not dare to return to earth, and she herself sought this consent in vain.
And Izanaki had to flee, cruelly pressed by eight monsters of the dungeon, in order to save his life. He bravely defended himself with a sword and finally threw off his headdress, which turned into the most precious purple bunches of grapes, threw down the comb that shed light, which turned into tender bamboo stems, and while the monsters greedily swallowed the sweet grapes and tender stems, Izanaki reached the wide steps of the staircase that led to the white light. But at the last step he stopped and said to Izanami:
- The hope of our meeting is gone, our separation will be forever!
The ocean stretched out before Izanaki, wide and wide without end, on its surface the image of his beloved daughter Amaterasu was reflected. She seemed to beg him to plunge into the waves and wash himself in the endless waters of the ocean.
And as soon as he plunged in, his wounds closed, and a feeling of endless reconciliation with everyone took possession of him.
The life of the creator of the earth was over. He left the world to his children and crossed the thousand-colored sky bridge for the last time. And to this day the spirit of the air lives with the heavenly spirits in the vast reaches of the sun's radiance.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru