-Izanagi is all-powerful god of the air
-Izanami is goddess of the cloud
-They decide one day that they should come down to earth
-Their descent made a big island
-Make a point to redo things so that the man is the first to speak, interesting part to put in a story
-Marriage results in the eight islands of Japan
-Everything else was built later and the a spirit for everything (spirit of the trees and such was made). This part I think is consistent is most Japanese stories.
-Man comes last, similar to most creation stories
-Chooses leader (one of his children) based on beauty, this might not end well
-Other kid gets very jealous and everyone on earth dies (not exactly a flood story but kind of)
-OG ruler helped rebuild population and gave virtues (heavenly powers)
-More creation stuff
The Miraculous Mirror
-Poetry
-Perhaps not elevated language but it is really fancy
-Not sure if this style is strictly Japanese, but I can't really recognize the prose or anything
The Eight-Forked Serpent of Koshi
-Lower gods climb into the mountains to find a bigger god to help their daughter
-These gods have to do a lot of work and aren't all powerful, good lesson to learn
-Completely destroys an eight headed monster!
-Also married the girl saved, well done
The Heaven Descended
-Epic poem
-The gods sent down a young man god to get the earth dwellers under control
-He immediately fell in love and got married instead of doing his job
-others get mad and kill him, then throw a humungous and long funeral
-some more tasks, a marriage of more gods
-Ninigi tries to marry pretty daughter, gets stuck with both.
-rejected, unwanted, ugly sister curses them
-Eventually curse is fixed with test of fire, very dangerous and very weird
The Fortunate Fish-Hook
-Two brothers, one an awesome hunter, one an awesome fishermen, switch for a day, both suck at other thing
-Hunter loses the magic fish hook
-Old Man of the Sea helps him
-Magic basket takes the hunter to palace of the Ocean God
-Of course he sees and falls in love with the daughter
-Have a giant feast with crabs playing music like in Little Mermaid and then get married
-This has sea dragons and pregnancy and house building and brother drama and tide controlling talismans
-fairy lands
Japanese Dragon by Hokusai. Image information.
The Rescue of the Princess-Yamato
-Yamato is an awesome dude who is just ba
-Unfortunately, his wife is kidnapped after they are attacked on their honeymoon and he is almost killed.
-He uses some magic and dresses up as a bride so he can get into the hiding place where the kidnappees are kept
-Killed some dudes in awesome ways, stormed the castle, got the princess
-Story will continue though
-Grotto of Love
-Yamato gets bored of his wife when she doesn't need saving
-Tries to find his lost mermaid, goes through dragons and things to find her grotto
-She sends him first on a journey for the golden apple to earn her love
-Lots of little stories within this story, told by characters. Not as crazy as Arabian Nights though
-No idea where to go, so he kills time by killing a demon possessed boar.
-My only knowledge of Japanese folklore is from Miyazaki, but I keep seeing similarities.
-Savages set a fire, Princess Tacibana shows him how to save everyone, but is badly burnt. Very brave for a female mythology character
-Keeps going back to the siren, even though his wife literally walked through fire to save him.
-Siren Finally betrays him
-Killed a Stag demon to get that sword back
-Love for his wife saves the die
-Dragon, good in any fairy tale
-Dead wife, really sad for this story, but he kind of deserves it.
The Faery Robe
-These are not really that nice of fairies
-Not as cool as the other stories, Long poem style
The Jewel of Heart's Desire
-She man marries the emperor and she wants him to be more like his father and a warrior
-Emperor doubts a goddess and is killed
-Wife takes over with some magic help
-still an evil smiling dragon, quality story lines now.
-Not down on women in these stories as long as they can fight.
Urashima
-Doesn't kill a turtle, gets him invited to live in the sea kingdom as an immortal
-Basically, immortality is lonely and you'll kill yourself on accident while trying to visit your family and realizing everyone you once knew is now dead.
Read the entire unit here.
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