Essay On Japanese Mythology

2154 Words5 Pages

Yang Zhang
LT 373
05/17/2014

Japanese Mythology
In different Japanese art works, like comics, literature, anime and painting, it is very easy to find Japanese mythological stories. In Kybioshi there are many characters were from Japanese mythological stories, such as the King Enma and Kappa in Santō Kyōden’s Fuanbai sokuseki ryōri, and the Momotaro in Peach boy what happened next. There are also some Kybioshi story depends on the different countries mythology rewrite by Japanese authors, like the Kinkin sensei Eiga no Yume was depends on the Chinese myth of Lusheng. Some Japanese mythological characters frequently appear in Japanese art works from ancient Japan up to now. In my paper, I will introduce some famous characters in Japanese mythology and their stories. Also compare the Chinese and Japanese mythology.
According to Japanese mythology, the first god appears when the universe created, named Kotoamatsu kami. Then after he died the world begins with the birth of seven gods, called Kamiyonanayo. These seven gods arise and then pass away in what the Japanese call the "plain of high heaven." After this, a couple were born, the last named, Izanagi and Izanami, who were ordered by their peers to consolidate the earth, which at this point was a chaos of muddy water. Izanagi and Izanami stood on the bridge of high heaven, thought to be the rainbow, and dipped their jeweled spear in the murky water below. When pulling the spear out of a piece of mud dropped of the tip and is said to have formed the island of Onogoro.
Izanagi and Izanami then moved down to the island, built a house and have two kids. The first child was born without bones and was abandoned in a boat in the reeds, his name is Hiruko. Their second child, Awashima, wa...

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...l location of two countries, their mythology, culture, custom and belief are exchanged many time since ancient. So there are many similar tales in these two countries.

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