Background on Myths

And now for some background notes on Japanese mythology. Source information comes from the wiki page found here.

Japanese mythology is a system of beliefs that embraces Shinto and Buddhist traditions as well as agriculture-based folk religion. The Shinto pantheon alone consists of an uncountable number of kami (Japanese for "gods" or "spirits"). This article will discuss only the typical elements present in Oriental mythology such as cosmogony, important deities and the most well-known Japanese stories.

Mainstream Japanese myths, as generally recognized today, are based on the Kojiki, Nihon Shoki and some complementary books. The Kojiki or "Record of Ancient Matters" is the oldest recognized book of myths, legends and history of Japan. The Shintoshu explains origins of Japanese deities from a Buddhist perspective while the Hotsuma Tsutae records a substantially different version of mythology.

One notable result of Japanese mythology is that it explains the origin of the Imperial family, and assigned them godhood. The Japanese word for the Emperor of Japan, tennō (天皇), means "heavenly emperor".

The first gods summoned two divine beings into existence, Izanagi no Mikoto ("Exalted Male") and Izanami no Mikoto ("Exalted Female"), and charged them with creating the first land. To help them do this, Izanagi and Izanami were given a halberd (naginata) decorated with jewels, named Amanonuboko ("Heavenly Jeweled Halberd"). The two deities then went to the bridge between heaven and earth, Amenoukihashi ("Floating Bridge of Heaven") and churned the sea below with the halberd. When drops of salty water fell from the halberd, they formed into the island Onogoro ("self-forming"). They descended from the bridge of heaven and made their home on the island. Eventually they wished to mate, so they built a pillar called Amenomihashira around which they built a palace called Yashirodono ("the hall whose area is 8 arms' length squared"). Izanagi and Izanami circled the pillar in opposite directions, and when they met on the other side Izanami, the female deity, spoke first in greeting. Izanagi didn't think that this was proper, but they mated anyway. They had two children, Hiruko ("leech child") and Awashima ("pale island"), but they were badly-formed and are not considered gods in their original form. (Hiruko later became the Japanese god Ebisu.)

The parents dismayed at their misfortune, put the children into a boat and set them out to sea, and then petitioned the other gods for an answer as to what they had done wrong. They were informed that Izanami's lack of manners was the reason for the misbirth: a woman should never speak prior to a man; the male deity should have spoken first in greeting during the ceremony. So Izanagi and Izanami went around the pillar again, and this time when they met Izanagi spoke first and their union was successful.

The folklore of Japan is heavily influenced by both Shinto and Buddhism, the two primary religions in the country. It often involves humorous or bizarre characters and situations and also includes an assortment of supernatural beings, such as bodhisattva, kami (gods and revered spirits), yōkai (monster-spirits such as oni, kappa, and tengu), yūrei (ghosts), dragons, and animals with supernatural powers such as the kitsune (fox), tanuki (raccoon dog), mujina (badger), and bakeneko (transforming cat).

Japanese folklore is often divided into several categories: "mukashibanashi," tales of long ago; "namidabanashi", sad stories; "obakebanashi", ghost stories; "ongaeshibanashi", stories of repaying kindness; "tonchibanashi", witty stories; "waraibanashi", funny stories; and "yokubaribanashi", stories of greed.

    Some well-known Japanese folktales and legends include:

• The story of Kintarō, the superhuman Golden Boy.
• The story of Momotarō, the oni-slaying Peach Boy.
• The story of Urashima Tarō, who rescued a turtle and visited the bottom of the sea.
• The story of Issun-bōshi, the One-inch Boy.
• Bunbuku Chagama, the story of a teakettle which is actually a shape-changing tanuki.
• The story of the wicked fox-woman Tamamo-no-Mae.
• Shita-kiri Suzume, the story of the tongue-cut sparrow.
• The story of the vengeful Kiyohime, who became a dragon.
• Banchō Sarayashiki, the ghost story of Okiku and the Nine Plates.
• Yotsuya Kaidan, the ghost story of Oiwa.
• Kachi-kachi Yama, the story of a villainous Tanuki and a heroic rabbit.
• Hanasaka Jiisan, the story of the old man that made the flowers bloom.
• The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, about a mysterious girl called Kaguya-hime who is said to be from the capital of the moon.

The folklore of Japan has been influenced by foreign literature. Some stories of ancient India were influential in shaping Japanese stories by providing them with materials. Indian materials were greatly modified and adapted in such a way as would appeal to the sensibilities of common people of Japan in general.

The monkey stories of Japanese folklore have been influenced both by the Sanskrit epic Ramayana and the Chinese classic The Journey to the West. The stories mentioned in the Buddhist Jataka tales appears in a modified form in throughout the Japanese collection of popular stories.

In the middle years of the twentieth century storytellers would often travel from town to town telling these stories with special paper illustrations called kamishibai.