Author: AJ Grenader (Page 2 of 8)

The folk tale that I chose to do on for the final project is about the Tenchi-kaibyaku, or the creation and curse of Japan. It is a Shinto fable that was told for centuries as far as 700 AD. The story follows the 2 gods that birthed Japan, Izanagi and Izanami. They bought the jeweled spear from heaven onto the ocean creating islands and thus, was the birth of Japan. However, Izanami was expected to give birth to the fire god, Kagutsuchi. However, she died giving birth to him as she was scorned by fire he produced. Izanagi decides to travel to the underworld to bring back his beloved wife and begs her to return. Unfortunately, Izanami ate the food of Yomi from the Furnace of Hell and tries to plea to the gods of the underworld to let her go. Izanagi travels further to the underworld and find Izanami but Izanami asks Izanagi to promise not to look at her. He glanced at her real form upon striking his torch and found that she ate the food of yomi and she has become a demon with her flesh burned and full of maggots. The furious Izanami chases after Izanagi who barely manages to escape by avoiding the demons she sent after him. Izanagi blocked the way to the underworld with a boulder and his wife screams “If that is how you are going to be, then I shall kill 1,000 people every day.” Izanagi retorts claiming “Then, I shall give life to 1,500 people every day.” Thus that is how the story is known.

Izanagi’s appearance is slightly middle aged, having large frizzled hair and wearing a white robe. Izanami has the same appearance except she has a small nose, slim cheekbones and thin eyebrows that make her feminine. Kagutsuchi is simply an animated humanoid build with flames revolving around him. The setting is between Heaven, a holy place contained with pearl columns in the clouds, Earth, a lush green and blue archipelago with mountains and harbors and of course, Yomi (The underworld), filled with brimstone, lava and stalagmites.

The small changes to the story that I am making is getting rid of the maggot-riddled Izanami and replacing that with a more vicious and deadly appearance to convey the fear Izanami felt. I also will be changing the appearance of Izanagi and Izanami to make them more human rather than emotionless gods. Finally, I will change the appearance of the underworld to seem more menacing as originally it was nothing but a land consumed of fire. Instead, I will add hands made out of shadows and crevasses to depict the underworld’s chaotic atmosphere. The demographic is mostly going to appeal to young adults who love ancient mythology.

Here is the link to the fable :
https://mythopedia.com/japanese-mythology/gods/izanagi/