Japanese Creation Myth

679 Words3 Pages
Within the Japanese culture, one can find several cultural values that are instilled into society by the Japanese creation myth. The Japanese creation myth begins with a man, Izanagi, and a woman, Izanami, on a bridge with the task of creating the land of Japan with a sacred spear. After this task was complete, the two walked in opposite directions on the newly formed land until they met in the middle. Once they met, the women spoke first and then they procreated. The offspring was a failure and they asked the gods why, the gods told them that it was because the woman spoke first. The two walked around the land they created and met in the middle once again. This time the man spoke first and the procreation was successful. After several births,…show more content…
The gods told the couple that their offspring would not be successful because the women spoke first when they met. This places women in a secondary position to men. They are supposed to take a lesser role, stay in the background, and only speak with spoken to. In the early Japanese state, polygyny was a largely practiced tradition (World History Text, 248). This is a huge signal of the inequality between the sexes. Men were allowed to marry several women, while women were to have only one husband. This can be attributed to the section in the creation myth where it states that the woman’s body is not complete and the man’s body is complete and has extra. From this, one can gather that women can only become complete if they have a man, without one they will be incomplete for eternity. Another example of male superiority can be found in 8th century Japan. At that time, women were only allowed to divorce and remarry if their husband abandoned them. Men, however, were allowed to “divorce his wife if she did not produce a male child, committed adultery, disobeyed her parents-in-law, talked too much, engaged in theft, was jealous, or had a serious illness” (World History Text, 248). The disparity of rights is abundant in this situation. Women were not only supposed to obey the man, she was supposed to obey his…show more content…
It is apparent in the creation myth when Japan’s first emperor disregarded the ugly sister even though she would grant their children immortality. He chose the beautiful sister, even with the knowledge their offspring would live relatively short lives. Another example within the creation myth can be found when Izanagi explores the underworld for Izanami. When he found her, she had lost her beauty and began decomposing. He was so horrified he retreated to his home and purified his body. Within Japanese culture one can find the desire of beauty. Japanese art forms strived to show the beauty within nature, such as cherry blossoms and seashores (World History Text, 250). The Japanese find beauty within simplicity. This is portrayed through their tea ceremony. The tea ceremony stresses simplicity by using imperfect tools and a small room. The Japanese believe that if one strives for perfect, they do not know beauty (Parkes, Graham). The term for such simple, beauty is Wabi. Wabi is the understated beauty found in nature (Parkes,
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