Episode 1The Gods Who Proposed in the Wrong OrderKuniumi: The Birth of Japan
Facing an empty, drifting sea, Izanagi and Izanami, the last two gods to be born, are handed a single spear and told to "make a land." Their first meeting goes in the wrong order and they lose their first child. They don't turn on each other. They go to the heavens together to ask why, try again, and give birth to the Eight Great Islands.
Izanagi and Izanami: The Kojiki Creation Myth Explained
The Kojiki and the Gods Who Came First
The Kojiki, or "Record of Ancient Matters," is the oldest surviving chronicle in Japan. The court official Ō no Yasumaro compiled it and presented it in 712. Its first volume covers the age of the gods. It does not begin with a single creator. Instead, gods simply come into being, one after another.
When heaven and earth first opened, three gods appeared in Takamagahara, the High Plain of Heaven: Ame-no-Minakanushi, then Takamimusubi, then Kamimusubi. The land below was still young, drifting like oil on water or like a jellyfish. From something that sprouted like a reed shoot, two more gods appeared: Umashi-ashikabi-hikoji and Ame-no-Tokotachi. All five came into being alone, without partners, and then hid themselves. The Kojiki calls them the Kotoamatsukami, the "separate heavenly gods."
Next came the Seven Generations of the Age of the Gods. The first two gods, Kuni-no-Tokotachi and Toyokumono, also appeared alone, and each one counts as a generation. After them come five male-female pairs, and each pair counts as one generation. The last pair is Izanagi and Izanami. For most of these gods, the text gives nothing but their names.
A Spear, a Bridge, and an Island of Salt
The heavenly gods together ordered Izanagi and Izanami to put the drifting land in order and make it solid. They gave the pair a heavenly spear called Ame-no-Nuboko. The two stood on Ame-no-Ukihashi, the Floating Bridge of Heaven, lowered the spear into the sea, and stirred the brine. The Kojiki records the churning sound as "koworo, koworo."
When they lifted the spear out, brine dripped from its tip, piled up, and became an island called Onogoro. The couple went down to it and set up a heavenly pillar, Ame-no-Mihashira, along with a large hall. The verb the text uses here is unclear. Some scholars read it as building the pillar, and others read it as marking out or choosing one.
The Proposal in the Wrong Order
Izanagi asked Izanami how her body was made. She answered that her body had grown complete except for one place that had not grown together. He said that his body had one place that had grown too much. He suggested joining the two to give birth to the land, and she agreed. They planned to walk around the pillar from opposite sides and marry where they met. Izanagi told her to go to the right while he went to the left.
When they met, Izanami spoke first and praised him as a fine man. Izanagi then answered with the same praise. Afterward he told her that it was not good for the woman to speak first, but they married anyway. Their first child was Hiruko, whose name is written with the characters for "leech." They put the child in a boat of reeds and let it drift away. Their next child, Awashima, was not counted among their children either.
The two talked it over and agreed that something had gone wrong. They went up to heaven together to ask the heavenly gods. Those gods used futomani, an ancient form of divination, and gave their answer: the trouble came from the woman speaking first, so the couple should go back down and speak again.
They returned to the pillar and walked around it as before. This time Izanagi spoke first and Izanami answered. She then gave birth to the islands in this order: Awaji; Iyo-no-Futana, one body with four faces that each had a name; the Oki islands; Tsukushi, also one body with four faces; then Iki, Tsushima, Sado, and finally Ōyamato-toyoakitsushima. Because these eight islands were born first, the land was named Ōyashima, the Country of the Eight Great Islands. They are usually identified as Awaji, Shikoku, Oki, Kyushu, Iki, Tsushima, Sado, and Honshu. The Kojiki itself gives only names and old province names, so the modern map matches come from later scholarship.
What the Myth Tells Us
The Kojiki was compiled at the imperial court, and its story of the gods leads, in later chapters, to the imperial family. In this opening episode, Japan's islands are not built or found. They are born to two gods, which makes the land itself their family.
The rule about who speaks first has many proposed explanations. Some scholars link the left-and-right circling and the man-first order to Chinese yin-yang thought or to rituals from the Asian mainland. The Kojiki does not explain the rule. It only reports the gods' verdict. In later folk tradition, Hiruko became linked with Ebisu, a god of fishermen and good fortune, but that connection does not appear in the Kojiki.
One point is clear in the text itself. When their first attempt failed, the couple did not split up. They talked it over, went to heaven together for an answer, and tried again.
What the Manga Changes
The Kojiki gives almost no visual details, so much of what you see in the manga is the artist's invention. That includes the gods' faces, hairstyles, clothing, and apparent ages, the design of the spear, the look of the Floating Bridge, and the size and color of the churning sea. The first gods are drawn as lights that appear and fade. The text says only that they came into being and hid, so this abstract approach fits it. The Seven Generations fit on a single family-tree spread, which suits an original that is mostly a list of names.
The dialogue beyond the ritual words is new. So are the couple's confusion and feelings after their failure, the appearance of the heavenly gods, the details of the divination ceremony, how the reed boat is staged, and the way the islands are drawn, either as landscapes or as figures with four faces. In this part of the Kojiki, Izanami's feelings are never described. The "koworo, koworo" sound effect, on the other hand, comes straight from the original text.
Where to Read It
To watch the spear stir the sea and the two gods meet at the pillar, read Episode 1 of KOJIKI: Chronicle of the Gods here on Manga Portal. Every episode is free and you don't need an account. Later episodes continue the Kojiki story beyond the birth of the islands.
Characters in this episode
Izanagi
The male god of the last of the Seven Generations, who stirs the sea with the heavenly spear and speaks first at the second marriage around the pillar.
Izanami
Izanagi's female partner and fellow creator, who gives birth to the Eight Great Islands after the couple's first attempt fails.
The Heavenly Gods (Amatsukami)
Gods of heaven who are never named individually; they give the couple the spear and later use divination to find out why the first marriage failed.
Ame-no-Minakanushi
The first god to come into being in the High Plain of Heaven, one of five gods who appear alone and then hide.
Hiruko
The couple's first child, whose name is written with the characters for "leech"; the child is set adrift in a reed boat and not counted among their children.
The Eight Great Islands (Ōyashima)
The first islands born to Izanagi and Izanami, beginning with Awaji and ending with Ōyamato-toyoakitsushima, usually identified as Honshu.
FAQ
Who created Japan in Japanese mythology?
In the Kojiki, the gods Izanagi and Izanami form the land. They stir the sea with a heavenly spear to make Onogoro Island, and then give birth to the Eight Great Islands of Japan.
Why did Izanagi and Izanami's first child fail?
When the heavenly gods used divination, they found that Izanami had spoken first during the marriage ritual, and that this was the cause. The couple repeated the ritual with Izanagi speaking first, and the islands were born after that.
What is Onogoro Island?
Onogoro is the first island in the Kojiki. It forms when brine drips from the tip of the heavenly spear after Izanagi and Izanami stir the sea. They go down to it, set up a pillar, and marry there.
What are the Eight Great Islands of Japan?
In the Kojiki they are Awaji, Iyo-no-Futana, Oki, Tsukushi, Iki, Tsushima, Sado, and Ōyamato-toyoakitsushima. They are usually identified as Awaji, Shikoku, Oki, Kyushu, Iki, Tsushima, Sado, and Honshu.
Why did Izanami go to the underworld?
This happens later in the Kojiki, after the birth of the islands. Izanami is fatally burned while giving birth to the fire god Kagutsuchi, dies, and goes to Yomi, the land of the dead, where Izanagi follows her.
