Izanagi
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Izanagi, formally referred to with a divine honorific as Izanagi-no-Mikoto, is the creator deity of both creation and life in Japanese mythology. He and his sister-wife Izanami are the last of the sev
Searching the Seas with the Tenkei (天瓊を以て滄海を探るの図, Tenkei o motte sōkai o saguru no zu). Painting by Kobayashi Eitaku, 1880-90 (MFA, Boston). Izanagi with the spear Ame-no-Nuboko (Tenkei) to the right, Izanami to the left.
Izanagi purifying himself (misogi) by immersing in a river (Natori Shunsen)
Amaterasu cave crop
Kuniteru Gozu dragon
Susanoo-no-Mikoto
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Susanoo, often referred to by the honorific title Susanoo-no-Mikoto, is a kami in Japanese mythology. The younger brother of Amaterasu, goddess of the sun and mythical ancestress of the Japanese imper
Izanagi
…of the Japanese archipelago and the progenitors of many deities, which include the sun goddess Amaterasu, the moon deity Tsukuyomi, and the storm god Susanoo. He is a god that can be said to be the beginning of the current Japanese imperial family. His name is given in the Kojiki (c. 712 AD) both as…
Susanoo slaying Yamata no Orochi, woodblock print by Utagawa Kuniyoshi
Sword guard (tsuba) depicting Susanoo meeting Amaterasu in Takamagahara
Necklace of magatama beads
Amaterasu emerges from the Heavenly Rock Cave (Shunsai Toshimasa, 1887)