The Saga of Izanagi and Izanami

When Yamato was formed and the land stood firm, the task of shaping its life fell to Izanagi, god of creation, and Izanami, goddess of life and death. Together they brought forth the sun and the moon, the storms and the seas, and countless deities who would watch over rivers, forests, and mountains. Where their union flourished, the land blossomed with divine children.

Yet joy gave way to sorrow. When Izanami bore Kagutsuchi, the god of fire, her body was consumed by his flames. She fell into death, her spirit descending into Yomi, the shadowed realm of the departed.

Izanagi, stricken with grief, slew the newborn fire god in his rage. From Kagutsuchi’s scattered essence rose new mountains, rivers of molten stone, and divine beings born of ash and flame. But his loss weighed heavier still: Izanami, his beloved, was gone.

Unable to endure her absence, Izanagi journeyed into Yomi. He sought to reclaim her from the underworld, lighting his path with sacred fire. At first, Izanami spoke to him from the shadows, her voice tender though sorrowful. She warned him not to look upon her, for she had partaken of Yomi’s food and her body had changed. But Izanagi, desperate, lifted his light.

What he saw was not the radiant goddess he remembered, but a corpse of decay, crawling with spirits of rot. Overcome with horror, he recoiled. Ashamed and enraged, Izanami cursed him, vowing that death would forever claim the living in cycles unbroken. In turn, Izanagi declared that for every soul Yomi swallowed, new life would rise upon the earth. Thus the cycle of life and death was bound to Yamato.

Fleeing Yomi, Izanagi sealed its gates with a great boulder, barring passage between the realms. From his grief and impurity he performed the first purification, washing himself in the rivers of the mortal world. From his cleansing arose three radiant children: Amaterasu, goddess of the sun, Tsukuyomi, god of the moon, and Susanoo, god of storms — deities who would shape Yamato’s destiny.

Since that time, Izanagi has ruled the heavens, stern and solitary, while Izanami reigns in Yomi, patient and sorrowful. Though sundered, their bond endures in the very fabric of existence: creation and destruction, love and loss, forever entwined.

Thus the people of Yamato say: life itself was born of their union, and death from their parting. To honor one is to honor both, for together they sustain the world.