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The latter is a long, narrow island stretching from the
northeast of Shikoku towards the shore of the main island--which it
approaches very closely at the Strait of Yura--and forming what may
be called a gate, closing the eastern entrance to the Inland Sea.
After the island of Awa, the producing couple gave birth to Awaji and
subsequently to Shikoku, which is described as an island having four
faces, namely, the provinces of Awa, Iyo, Tosa, and Sanuki.

Rejecting the obviously allegorical phantasy of "procreation," we may
reasonably suppose ourselves to be here in the presence of an
emigration from the South Seas or from southern China, which debarks
on the coast of Awaji and thence crosses to Shikoku. Thereafter, the
immigrants touch at a triplet of small islands, described as "in the
offing," and thence cross to Kyushu, known at the time as Tsukushi.
This large island is described in the Records as having, like
Shikoku, one body and four faces, and part of it was inhabited by
Kumaso, of whom much is heard in Japanese history. From Kyushu the
invaders pass to the islands of Iki and Tsushima, which lie between
Kyushu and Korea, and thereafter they sail northward along the coast
of the main island of Japan until they reach the island of Sado.

All this--and the order of advance follows exactly the procreation
sequence given in the Records--lends itself easily to the supposition
of a party of immigrants coming originally from the south, voyaging
in a tentative manner round the country described by them, and
establishing themselves primarily on its outlying islands.

The next step, according to the Records, was to Yamato. About this
name, Yamato, there has been some dispute. Alike in ancient and in
modern times the term has been applied, on the one hand, to the whole
of the main island, and, on the other, to the single province of
Yamato. The best authorities, however, interpret it in the latter
sense for the purposes of the Izanagi-and-Izanami legend, and that
interpretation is plainly consistent with the probabilities, for the
immigrants would naturally have proceeded from Awaji to the Kii
promontory, where the province of Yamato lies. Thereafter--on their
"return," say the Records, and the expression is apposite--they
explored several small islands not identifiable by their names but
said to have been in Kibi, which was the term then applied to the
provinces of Bingo, Bitchu, and Bizen, lying along the south coast of
the Inland Sea and thus facing the sun, so that the descriptive
epithet "sun-direction" applied to the region was manifestly
appropriate.

In brief, the whole narrative concerts well with the idea of a band
of emigrants carried on the breast of the "Black Tide," who first
make the circuit of the outlying fringe of islands, then enter the
mainland at Yamato, and finally sail down the Inland Sea, using the
small islands off its northern shore as points d'appui for
expeditions inland.

JAPANESE OPINION

Japanese euhemerists, several of whom, in former times as well as in
the present, have devoted much learned research to the elucidation of
their country's mythology, insist that tradition never intended to
make such a demand upon human credulity as to ask it to believe in
the begetting of islands by normal process of procreation. They
maintain that such descriptions must be read as allegories. It then
becomes easy to interpret the doings of Izanagi and Izanami as simple
acts of warlike aggression, and to suppose that they each commanded
forces which were to have co-operated, but which, by failing at the
outset to synchronize their movements, were temporarily unsuccessful.
It will seem, as we follow the course of later history, that the
leading of armies by females was common enough to be called a feature
of early Japan, and thus the role assigned to Izanami need not cause
any astonishment. At their first miscarriage the two Kami, by better
organization, overran the island of Awaji and then pushed on to
Shikoku, which they brought completely under their sway.

But what meaning is to be assigned to the "plain of high heaven"
(Takama-ga-hara)? Where was the place thus designated? By a majority
of Japanese interpreters Takama-ga-hara is identified as the region
of Taka-ichi in Yamato province. The word did not refer to anything
supernatural but was used simply in an honorific sense. In later ages
Court officials were called "lords of the moon" (gekhei) or
"cloud-guests" (unkaku), while officials not permitted to attend the
Court were known as "groundlings" (jige); the residence of the
Emperor was designated "purple-clouds hall" (shishin-deri); to go
from the Imperial capital to any other part of the country was to
"descend," the converse proceeding being called to "ascend," and the
palace received the names of "blue sky" and "above the clouds."

To-day in Yamato province there is a hill called Takama-yama and a
plain named Takama-no. The Records say that when the Sun goddess
retired to a rock cave, a multitude of Kami met at Taka-ichi to
concert measures for enticing her out, and this Taka-ichi is
considered to be undoubtedly the place of the same name in Yamato.
But some learned men hold that Takama-ga-hara was in a foreign
country, and that the men who emigrated thence to Japan belonged to a
race very superior to that then inhabiting the islands. When,
however, the leader of the invaders had established his Court in
Yamato the designation Takama-ga-hara came to be applied to the
latter place.

Whichever theory be correct--and the latter certainly commends itself
as the more probable--it will be observed that both agree in
assigning to Takama-ga-hara a terrestrial location; both agree in
assigning the sense of "unsettled and turbulent" to the "floating,
drifting" condition predicated of the country when the Kami first
interested themselves in it, and both agree in interpreting as an
insignium of military authority the "jewelled spear" given to Izanagi
and Izanami--an interpretation borne out by the fact that, in
subsequent eras of Japanese history, it was customary for a ruler
to delegate authority in this manner. Applying the same process
of reasoning to the socalled "birth" of Kami, that process
resolves itself very simply into the creation of chieftains and
administrators.

RATIONALIZATION OF THE LEGEND OF THE VISIT TO HADES

It would seem that from Yamato the invaders prosecuted their campaign
into the interior, reaching Izumo on the west coast. The Records
say that after Izanami's death in giving birth to the Kami of fire,
she was buried at Mount Kagu on the confines of Izumo and Hoki.
Now the land of Yomi generally interpreted "underworld"--which
Izanagi visited in search of Izanami, was really identical with
Yomi-shima, located between the provinces of Hoki and Izumo, and
Ne-no-Kuni*--commonly taken to mean the "netherland"--subsequently
the place of Susanoo's banishment, was in fact a designation of
Izumo, or had the more extensive application of the modern Sanin-do
and Sanyo-do (districts in the shadow of the hill and districts on
the sunny side of the hill), that is to say, the western provinces
and the south coast of the Inland Sea.

*In the language of ancient Japan ne meant "mountain," and Ne-no-Kuni
signified simply "Land of Mountains."

What the allegory of the visit to hades would seem to signify,
therefore, was that Izanami was defeated in a struggle with the local
chieftains of Izumo or with a rebellious faction in that province;
was compelled to make act of submission before Izanagi arrived to
assist her--allegorically speaking she had eaten of the food of
hades--and therefore the conference between her and Izanagi proved
abortive. The hag who pursued Izanagi on his retreat from Yomi
represents a band of amazons--a common feature in old Japan--and his
assailant, the Kami of thunder, was a rebel leader.

As for the idea of blocking the "even pass of hades" with rocks, it
appears to mean nothing more than that a military force was posted at
Hirasaka--now called Ifuyo-saka in Izumo--to hold the defile against
the insurgent troops under Izanami, who finally took the field
against Izanagi. It may be inferred that the struggle ended
indecisively, although Izanagi killed the chieftain who had
instigated the rebellion (the so-called "Kami of fire"), and that
Izanami remained in Izumo, becoming ruler of that province, while
Izanagi withdrew to the eastern part of Tsukushi (Kyushu), where he
performed the ceremony of grand lustration.

THE STORY OF SUSANOO

The story of Susanoo lends itself with equal facility to
rationalization. His desire to go to his "mother's land" instead of
obeying his father and ruling the "sea-plain" (unabara)--an
appellation believed by some learned commentators to apply to
Korea--may easily be interpreted to mean that he threw in his lot
with the rebellious chiefs in Izumo. Leading a force into Yamato, he
laid waste the land so that the "green mountains were changed into
withered mountains," and the commotion throughout the country was
like the noise of "flies swarming in the fifth month." Finally he was
driven out of Yamato, and retiring to Izumo, found that the local
prefect was unable to resist the raids of a tribe from the
north under the command of a chief whose name--Yachimata no
Orochi--signified "eight-headed serpent."

This tribe had invaded the province and taken possession of the hills
and valleys in the upper reaches of the river Hi, whence tradition
came to speak of the tribe as a monster spreading over hills and
dales and having pine forests growing on its back. The tribute of
females, demanded yearly by the tribe, indicates an exaction not
uncommon in those days, and the sword said to have been found by
Susanoo in the serpent's tail was the weapon worn by the last and the
stoutest of Orochi's followers.

There is another theory equally accordant with the annals and in some
respects more satisfying. It is that Susanoo and his son, Iso-takeru,
when they were expelled from Yamato, dwelt in the land of
Shiragi--the eastern of the three kingdoms into which Korea was
formerly divided--and that they subsequently built boats and rowed
over to Izumo.