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According to Japanese mythology two deities are responsible for the creation of the Japanese archipelago and its gods. Their names were Izanagi (The Male Who Invites) and Izanami (The Female Who Invites). The myth says they descend to Yomitsu Kuni, the underworld and land of darkness. Stories about Izanagi and Izanami are were written in the Kojiki (Records of Ancient Matters) and the Nihongi (Chronicles of Japan) in around 700AD. As in other culture, myth and history are intricately and misleadingly intertwined in Japanese historical records. |
Legend tells that after they were born Izanagi and Izanami stood on the floating bridge of heaven and stirred the primeval soup with a jeweled spear. It is unclear who was in the habit of giving large, heavy weapons to newborn babies. When they lifted the spear, the drop that fell back into the ocean transformed into the first solid island of the Japanese archipelago, called Onogoro. |
Izanagi and Izanami descended to the island and lived together as husband and wife. When their first child was born deformed the other gods blamed Izanami for speaking before her husband at their marriage ceremony. This was likely added to the legend later by a historian with a particularly mouthy other half.
Legend says the couple performed another wedding ceremony, this time without the chit-chat and Izanami soon gave birth to eight genki children, who became the islands of Japan. Which has got to be a shock to any parent.
Izanagi and Izanami then created many gods and goddesses to represent the mountains, valleys, waterfalls, streams, winds, and other natural features of Japan. To this day the Shinto religion gives all physical objects their own attendant deities.
Unfortunately, while giving birth to Kagutsuchi, the fire god, Izanami was badly burned… “down there”. It is written that as she lay dying, she continued to churn out gods and goddesses. While she did so other deities were born from the tears of the grief-stricken Izanagi. It was truly one of the most gut-churningly gross scenes from all of fake history.
When Izanami died, she descended to Yomitsu Kuni, the Japanese underworld. Izanagi decided to follow her there and retrieve her. Bringing his beloved back from the land of darkness and death was not to prove easy however. Izanami greeted Izanagi from the shadows as he approached the entrance to the afterlife and said she didn’t want to be seen so could he please keep the lights off. It’s comforting to know that men throughout history have had this problem.
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She said that rather than be rescued by him she would try to negotiate with the gods of Yomi for her release. Unfortunately, overcome with desire for his wife, Izanagi lit a torch and attempted to peer at her in the darkness. He was horrified to discover that Izanami was a rotting corpse and fled. I for one do not hold this against him. Thus the male trait of horniness and the female one of lippiness were enshrined in a cautionary tale forever. |
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Izanami was apparently furious that Izanagi had attempted to sneak a peek and decided that true love is about one thing… revenge. She sent a hoarde of hideous female spirits, eight thunder gods, and an army of ferocious warriors to chase him.This was the ancient equivalent of throwing dinner at a wall. |
Izanagi again managed to escape and blocked the pass between the under and the land of the living with a huge boulder. Thus the staple puzzle from all Zelda games ever was born. Izanami met her deadist husband at the blocked pass one day and they broke off their marriage. I love a happy ending. |
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Izanagi felt unclean after the close call with the oogy remains of his zombified wife, so he broke out the green tea aroma bath salts took a soak to purify himself. A new spate of gods and goddesses, both good and evil, emerged from his discarded clothing as he soaked the undead right out of his hair. |
They say the sun goddess Amaterasu appeared from his left eye, the moon god Tsuki-yomi popped out of his right eye, and Susano-ô came from his nose. Such events do not make for a relaxing bath. With praiseworthy calmness and presence of mind, Izanagi did not overreact to the fact that he had just given birth THROUGH HIS NOSE. Instead, rightfully proud of these three noble children who had appeared from his orifices and crevices, Izanagi did what any sane person would do in the situation and divided his kingdom among them. |
Following this legendary bath it was traditional for pilgrims to cleanse their bodies before entering shrines to pray. Nowadays Japanese shrines have “temizuya” at which visitors are expected to cleanse their hands before proceeding to the prayer spots within the shrine proper. Although I’d wager that most people don’t know they’re paying homage to a zombie marriage gone wrong every time they do so.
It is also said that ancient eastern art depicts oni (goblins) opening their mouths and flooding the world with calamity and suffering. Therefore to cleanse the inside of the body a little of the sacred water is taken into the mouth, swilled and then expectorated into the trough beside the temizuya. At the time of going to press this ritual seems not to have prevented me from spewing forth calamity from my big mouth at regular intervals, but it doesn’t hurt to keep trying.
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If you’ve been discussing the iPad, it’s already won
So the iPad has proved it will be the most significant hardware release since the iPhone by being one of the most widely and passionately discussed subjects on the internet for weeks on end. But why is there so much passionate hatred for a device that hasn’t been released and most people haven’t even used yet?
Well the haters largely fall into two camps those who understand that the iPad is new and those that don’t believe there’s anything new about it. Ironically both are correct. Technologically the iPad isn’t a revolution, but philosophically it is a paradigm shift.
Thinking in binary
The Windows world has trained people to think in black and white. Actually that’s not fair, most people do this by default, but the PC world has pandered to it. More features good/less features bad. Or perhaps faster processor good/slower processor bad. That [...]
The world of the iNt@rW3Bz got it’s first glimpse of Ghibli’s Studio’s forthcoming offering this month with this new teaser trailer from the latest and highly anticipated Ghibli offering, Karigurashi no Arrietty (借りぐらしのアリエッティ – The Borrower Arrietty)
Karigurashi no Arietty (literally “Arietty, the resident borrower”) based on the series of books by Mary Norton based on the tales of a tiny (10cm tall) family living beneath the floorboards of a family home in 1950s England. The story has been transplanted to modern day Japan, Koganei in Tokyo to be precise, in a script by Miyazaki Hayao himself and the movie is named for the daughter of the borrower family.
Here’s a transciption of the titles in the trailer:
Unseen by human eyes
is the domain of the little people under the floor
the latest Studio Ghibli production
Arietty the Borrower
Nationwide roadshows summer 2010
Production is well underway
[...]
Aoi Matsuri takes place in the triangle of land formed by the convergence of the Kamo River and Takano River. The point at which they join is known as the Tadasu River Banks are (Tadasu-gawara 糺河原). This means that Shimogamo is a “River Confluence Shrine”.
In the triangular area of land between the rivers, just north of Imadegawa station there is a forested area known as Tadasu-no-mori. This convergence gives Shimogamo Jinja a powerfully spiritual aura which makes Aoi Matsuri all the more atmospheric. Once you enter the forest glade in the triangle of the rivers the city melts several hundred years into the distance.
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In Japan Valentine’s day is a great day on which women worship at the altar of awesomeness that is… dude. The ladies get their turn next month on White Day on which the men buy presents for the girls. The best part is, we only have to buy “giri choco” (duty chocolate) for those who bought it for us.
If you’re anything like the ORAZ team you’ll have a received a tidy pile of obligatory confectionery today, each item a testament to the clear desire in the giver that their relationship to you not be misconstrued in any way. We’re keeping tidy records of who we owe “giri choco” and to whom we owe the new concept of the “kansha choco” (gratitude chocolate).
It seems ironic that Valentine’s Day has traditionally been a day on which the shy finally have a pretext for confessing true love, but in Japan an entire industry [...]
Aoi Matsuri is one of Kyoto’s most famous festivals. It takes places in the height of summer on May 15th. A large procession of participants dressed in traditional costume form a large and incredibly impressive procession and leave Kyoto’s imperial palace at 10.30am before making their way first to Shimogamo-jinja and then Kamigamo-jinja in northern Kyoto.
With the help of what seems to be every last one of Kyoto’s boys in blue the streets are closed and the traffic lights controlled to allow the caravan through. Hundreds upon hundreds of brightly dressed and highly decorated volunteers stun drivers and passers by as they march through the streets carrying large props and traditional festival items.
The festival is thought to have begun during the reign of Emperor Kinmei in the sixth century. A series of natural disasters had destroyed crops throughout Kansai causing the Emperor to send priests and a retinue to the [...]
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bamboo stalk in a shaft of sunlight
a setting that sparks off the imagination like nothing else
When walking through the Arashiyama bamboo grove one finds the wending paths occasional reveals a privileged view of a wall of tall, green stalks snaking away into the distance. The uniformity, the gentle sway as the wind blows through the glade and the strange combination of strength and flexibility evident in the innumerable glade creates a truly haunting atmosphere.
The gentle klok of the stalks as they jostle in the wind, the winking shafts of light that fight their way through the forest to the path, the pad of the tabi as a rickshaw is pulled past you and out of sight [...]
