Name:_________________________________________ Date:____________________ Period:______
 Japanese Creation Myth
 Long ago all the elements were mixed together with one germ of life. This germ began to mix things around and around until the heavier part sank and the lighter part rose. A muddy sea that covered the entire earth was created. From this ocean grew a green shoot. It grew and grew until it reached the clouds and there it was transformed into a god. Soon this god grew lonely and it began to create other gods. The last two gods it made, Izanagi and Izanami, were the most remarkable. One day as they were walking along they looked down on the ocean and wondered what was beneath it. Izanagi thrust his staff into the waters and as he pulled it back up some clumps of mud fell back into the sea. They began to harden and grow until they became the islands of Japan.
 The two descended to these islands and began to explore, each going in different directions.
They created all kinds of plants. When they met again they decided to marry and have children to inhabit the land. The first child Izanami bore was a girl of radiant beauty. The gods decided she was too beautiful to live in Japan, so they put her up in the sky and she became the sun.
Their second daughter, Tsuki-yami, became the moon and their third and unruly son, Sosanowo, was sentenced to the sea, where he creates storms.
 Later, their first child, Amaterasu, (Am-Uh-Ter-Ah-Sue) bore a son who became the heir to the emperor of Japan and all the emperors since then have claimed descent from him.
 Amtererasu’s tale begins with the previous generation of gods, when divine Izanagi tried to retrieve his beloved wife, Izanami, from the underworld after her untimely death. He was too late; she was already in death’s keeping. When Izanagi fled to the world above, he carried the stain of death. Only by ritual purification could he wash himself free of the dangerous stain of death.
 When he rinsed his eyes, Amaterasu, shining goddess of the sun, sprang forth. Comforted by her light, Izanagi gave her his holy necklace, signifying rule of the sky. When Izanagi washed his nose clean of the stench of death, Susanoo was born, lord of the stormy sea. Susanoo was manly and heroic, a slayer of monsters. Yet he was also impulsive and hot-tempered. As a young god, he defied his father, howled for his mother, and disrupted the peace of heaven and earth. Finally,
Izanagi had had enough. If the boy wanted his mother so much, let him be banished to the underworld!
 Before he departed, Susanoo decided to climb up to the Plain of Heaven one last time to see his sister Amaterasu. But Susanoo’s violent spirit manifested in every step. Seas boiled where he walked. Vast earthquakes shook under his shoes. Hearing the commotion, Amaterasu thought
Susanoo was coming to cause trouble. She refused to believe he was visiting her simply to say goodbye. To vindicate himself, Susano-o challenged her to an unusual contest: each must bring forth new gods with the other’s divine emblem, and their issue would determine victory.
Chewing on Susanoo’s sword, Amaterasu brought forth three fair goddesses. From Amaterasu’s

Name:_________________________________________ Date:____________________ Period:______ rosary, Susanoo produced five strong gods. Susanoo claimed he had won, but Amaterasu countered that the five gods had arisen from her holy beads.
 Hearing this Susanoo flew into a rage, stomping up and down the Plain of Heaven. He spoiled fields and irrigation canals, killed one of Amaterasu’s attendants, and performed other bizarre and outrageous acts. Frightened and offended, Amaterasu hid herself in a cave and refused to come out. Darkness and fear descended upon the world, and crops withered.
 Mourning Amaterasu’s departure, the gods assembled and devised a plan to lure her back. First, they created and hung a great mirror from a mountaintop outside Amaterasu’s cave. Ama-no-
Uzume, goddess of dawn, spoke a powerful prayer, lit holy fires and arrayed herself in thin silken streamers. Then she began to dance. In the dark, she danced causing all the gathered gods to laugh out loud. Hearing the commotion, Amaterasu grew curious. Finally she forgot her fear and stepped forth to see what was happening.
 Then for the first time Amaterasu beheld herself, her own face reflected in the mirror. Stunned, she stood fast while the gods hastily erected a magical barrier across the cave to keep her from retreating. Life and light returned. The goddess whose shining face gave order to all things had come to know herself, and so emerged from her cave.
 For his part, Susanoo was banished once again. However, on the way to the underworld, he performed heroic deeds and wrested a magical sword from Orochi, an eight-headed monster which he slew. This sword Susanoo gave to Amaterasu and so became reconciled with her. The sword became one of the three symbols of Japan’s ruling family. So chaos and order were brought into harmony.