Japanese mythology Japanese mythology is a collection of traditional stories, folktales, and beliefs that emerged in the islands of the Japanese archipelago. Shinto and Buddhist traditions are the cornerstones of Japanese mythology. The history of thousands of year ...

, Yomotsu Hirasaka is a slope or boundary between this world, where the living live, and the other world, where the dead live (

Yomi is the Japanese word for the land of the dead (World of Darkness). According to Shinto mythology as related in ''Kojiki'', this is where the dead go in the afterlife. Once one has eaten at the hearth of Yomi it is (mostly) impossible to return ...

Overview

The

myth Myth is a folklore genre consisting of Narrative, narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or Origin myth, origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not Objectivity (philosophy), ...

, which holds that there is a boundary place between the realms where the living and the dead live, is an idea that is shared by the

Sanzu River The is a mythological river in Japanese Buddhist tradition similar to the Hindu concept of the Vaitarna and Greek concept of the Styx. Before reaching the afterlife, the souls of the deceased must cross the river by one of three crossing points ...

and others, and can be found throughout the World. In Japanese mythology, Yomotsuhirasaka is thought to be an impression from the stone structure of

kofun are megalithic tombs or tumuli in Northeast Asia. ''Kofun'' were mainly constructed in the Japanese archipelago between the middle of the 3rd century to the early 7th century CE.岡田裕之「前方後円墳」『日本古代史大辞典』� ...

and the road leading to the stone chamber that housed the

coffin A coffin is a funerary box used for viewing or keeping a corpse, either for burial or cremation. Sometimes referred to as a casket, any box in which the dead are buried is a coffin, and while a casket was originally regarded as a box for jewel ...

. In

Kojiki The , also sometimes read as or , is an early Japanese chronicle of myths, legends, hymns, genealogies, oral traditions, and semi-historical accounts down to 641 concerning the origin of the Japanese archipelago, the , and the Japanese imperia ...

, it appears twice in the upper part of the book, and there is a tradition that it is located at Ifuyasaka in

Izumo Province was an old province of Japan which today consists of the eastern part of Shimane Prefecture. It was sometimes called . The province is in the Chūgoku region. History During the early Kofun period (3rd century) this region was independent an ...

. The word "hira" is said to mean "cliff". It is also said to be related to the idea of exorcism. The goddess

Izanami , formally known as , is the creator deity of both creation and death in Japanese mythology, as well as the Shinto mother goddess. She and her brother-husband Izanagi are the last of the seven generations of primordial deities that manifest ...

, who was building the country with the male god

Izanagi Izanagi (イザナギ/伊邪那岐/伊弉諾) or Izanaki (イザナキ), formally known as , is the creator deity (''kami are the deities, divinities, spirits, phenomena or "holy powers", that are venerated in the Shinto religion. They can b ...

, died after giving birth to

Kagutsuchi Kagutsuchi (カグツチ; Old Japanese: ''Kagututi''), also known as Hi-no-Kagutsuchi or Homusubi among other names, is the kami of fire in classical Japanese mythology. Mythology Kagutsuchi's birth burned his mother Izanami, causing her death ...

. Grieving, Izanagi goes to the Land of Yomi to meet her. When Izanagi is reunited with Izanami and asks her to return with him, she tells him that she will consult with the gods of Hades, but that he should never look at her. Numbed by Izanami's reluctance to return, Izanagi lights the teeth of a

comb A comb is a tool consisting of a shaft that holds a row of teeth for pulling through the hair to clean, untangle, or style it. Combs have been used since prehistoric times, having been discovered in very refined forms from settlements dating ba ...

on fire to illuminate the darkness and sees her ugly, rotting form. Enraged, Izanami sends the demoness Ugly Woman of Hades to chase after the fleeing Izanagi, but to no avail, as the ugly woman was distracted by eating the

grape A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus ''Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began perhaps 8,000 years ago, ...

s and bamboo shoots he threw at her. Izanami sends

Raijin , also known as , , , and Kamowakeikazuchi-no-kami is a god of lightning, thunder and storms in Japanese mythology and the Shinto religion. He is typically depicted with fierce and aggressive facial expressions, standing atop a cloud, beatin ...

and his army of demons, the Hades Army, instead, but Izanagi flees to Hiraizaka and throws

peach The peach (''Prunus persica'') is a deciduous tree first domesticated and cultivated in Zhejiang province of Eastern China. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and others (the glossy-skinned, non-fu ...

es there, which have spiritual power, to repel his pursuers. Finally, Izanami herself gave chase, but Izanagi placed the Rock of Senbiki (a huge stone that would require the strength of a thousand men to move) on Hiraizaka and blocked the way. Enraged, Izanami cried out, "My love, if you do such a terrible thing, I will kill a thousand people a day." Izanagi replied, "My love, then I will build a maternity home and give birth to 1,500 children a day." The two left Hiraizaka and were separated. It also appears in the story of Okuninushi's visit to the Root Country. In this story, Ouanamuchi (later Okuninushi) is put to various trials by

Susanoo __FORCETOC__ Susanoo (; historical orthography: , ) is a in Japanese mythology. The younger brother of Amaterasu, goddess of the sun and mythical ancestress of the Japanese imperial line, he is a multifaceted deity with contradictory chara ...

of Ne no Kuni, and escapes to Hiraizaka with his beloved Suseribime.

Places of connection

Shimane Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Shimane Prefecture is the second-least populous prefecture of Japan at 665,205 (February 1, 2021) and has a geographic area of 6,708.26 km2. Shimane Prefecture borders Yamaguc ...

Matsue City is the capital city of Shimane Prefecture, Japan, located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. The city has an estimated population of 202,008 (February 1, 2021) following the merger with Higashiizumo from Yatsuka District. Matsue is located at t ...

Higashiizumo Town erected a stone monument in 1940 in Iya,

Higashiizumo, Shimane was a town located in Yatsuka District, Shimane Prefecture, Japan. As of 2003, the town had an estimated population of 13,817 and a density of 324.04 per km². The total area was 42.64 km². On August 1, 2011, Higashiizumo was merged into the ...

as the place where Hiraizumi Hiraizaka was located. A huge stone, said to be the rock of Senbiki, is also placed at the site. Nearby is the Iya Shrine, which is dedicated to Izanami. In the 2010 Cinema of Japan, Matataki, the location was used as a location for the main character's visit to see his dead girlfriend.黄泉の国への入り口
��瞬またたき』公式サイト According to "Unyo Shishi" written in

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

, there is also a legend of Izanagi throwing peach fruits to the god of thunder at Komakaerizaka in Iwasaka, Matsue City.

The Legend of Kukurihime

In a note in Nihon Shoki, it is said that

Kukurihime , also , is a Japanese Shinto goddess''Shinto Encyclopedia Volume One'' piece 264 (original 455 pages) Kukurihimenomomikoto　Kikurihime/ref>''Encyclopedia of the World Goddess'' pages 42-43 "Kukurihime Kikurihime" venerated as (also known as ...

mediated between Izanami and Izanagi, who were arguing on Yomotsuhirasaka. For this reason, Kukurihime is regarded as the god of marriage and harmony.

References

External links

* 古事記「黄泉比良坂」小学国史物語 ; 2) / 新免忠著 (紅玉堂書店, 1926) * 出雲神話「黄泉比良坂」��藤蔵四郎著 (島根県教育会事務所, 1938) * 古事記精選 : 高等国文「根堅洲國」��野保太郎編 (育英書院, 1941) * 1720614/26 古事記物語「根堅洲國」��宅房子著 (金の星社, 1938) Japanese mythology Shinto Mythological places Afterlife places

Overview

Places of connection

The Legend of Kukurihime

See also

References

External links