Japanese mythology. Japanese mythology - gods and demons Tsukiyami god of the moon

He is a descendant of Izanagi.

Name etymology

It is believed that the name Tsukiyomi comes from the words "tsuki" (moon) and "yomi" (reading, counting). According to the Polish Japanologist Wieslaw Kotanski, the name Tsukuyomi-no-mikoto explains how Spirit calling the moon, which reflects the powers of this deity who calls upon the moon every night as he travels across the night sky. However, this name has other interpretations - for example Shining moon god, which was rejected by Professor Kotansky due to the lack of dynamic qualities in such an interpretation of the name, characteristic of the names of Japanese deities. Another version of the name of the deity, Spirit of the abiding moon considered very plausible by Wieslaw Kotanski, but the Polish professor rejected this option, based on the fact that such an ancient name of the deity was unlikely to contain data on an advanced counting system.

There are hypotheses about the origin of "yomi" from the word "Yomi" (land of the dead), from the words "yo mi" (visible at night), by merging the words "Moonlight night" (tsukiyo) and "look" (world), and in one case the name written as Tsukuyumi - through the character "yumi" (弓) (bow for shooting). There are also discrepancies regarding the “field of activity” of the god: in the “Kojiki” it is indicated that he controls the night, in “Nihongi” - the sea.

Myths related to Tsukuyomi

Appearance

Murder of Ukemochi

After climbing the heavenly ladder, Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto lived in heaven, also known as Takamagahara. According to legend, Tsukuyomi lived in the heavenly palace with his sister, the sun goddess Amaterasu. Unlike Susanoo, he never challenged his sister's right to rule the High Sky Plain. One day she sent him to earth to the goddess Ukemochi. She treated him to food, which she vomited out of her mouth. This seemed disgusting to Tsukuyomi, and he killed Ukemochi. Amaterasu, learning about this, became angry and drove Tsukuyomi away from her, to another palace. Since then, the sun and moon have been separated: the sun shines during the day, the moon at night. In later versions of the myth, Susanoo is killed by Ukemochi.

According to Wiesław Kotanski, in this myth the goddess of the Sun tried to find an excuse to force Tsukuyomi to leave the plain of Heaven after another brother and provoked him to commit a crime. Amaterasu was well aware of Ukemochi's practices, which were so repugnant that they would have caused an outburst of indignation from the moon god anyway. The murder of the divine mistress was a good reason for Amaterasu to part with his brother, who was suspected by his sister as another potential competitor in the struggle for power over the universe.

Worship

Tsukuyomi is revered in several Shinto shrines, in particular, two temples are dedicated to him in the Ise-jingu complex:

• Tsukuyomi no miya at the Gekyu Miyajiri-cho Outer Temple in Ise City, Mie Prefecture, which is one of several smaller shrines outside the Ise jingu temple complex. The Outer Temple is dedicated to the goddess Ukemochi (Toyouke bime), and since the moon god is one of the symbols closely associated with the myth of Ukemochi, one of the shrines is dedicated to him.
• Tsukuyomi no miya in the inner temple of Naiku Nakamura-cho in Ise City, Mie Prefecture is one of several smaller shrines located inside the Ise Jingu temple complex. The inner shrines are dedicated to the goddess Amaterasu, and since Tsukuyomi is her brother, he also has a shrine in this place.

In popular culture

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Notes

1. Jeremy Roberts.(English) . .
2. Mizue Mori.(English) . Encyclopedia of Shinto. Retrieved December 1, 2011. .
3. Wiesław Kotanski.(Polish). .
4. Akiko Okuda, Haruko Okano. Women and religion in Japan. - Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 1998. - S. 55-56. - 204 p. - ISBN 9783447040143.
5. Traditional Japanese Literature: An Anthology, Beginnings to 1600. - Columbia University Press, 2008. - P. 46. - 1255 p. - ISBN 9780231136976.
6. Agnieszka Kozyra. Mitologia Japanska. - Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Szkolne PWN, 2011. - ISBN 978-83-262-1002-0.
7. (English) . Retrieved May 22, 2012. .
8. (English) . myanimelist.net. Retrieved May 22, 2012. .
9. (English) . myanimelist.net. Retrieved May 22, 2012. .
10. (English) . myanimelist.net. Retrieved May 22, 2012. .

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An excerpt characterizing Tsukuyomi

“Look at your business,” the old non-commissioned officer shouted at them. - They went back, which means there is work back. - And the non-commissioned officer, taking one of the soldiers by the shoulder, pushed him with his knee. Laughter was heard.
- Roll on to the fifth gun! shouted from one side.
“Together, more amicably, in burlatski,” the cheerful cries of those who changed the gun were heard.
“Ay, I almost knocked off our master’s hat,” the red-faced joker laughed at Pierre, showing his teeth. “Oh, clumsy,” he added reproachfully to the ball that had fallen into the wheel and leg of a man.
- Well, you foxes! another laughed at the squirming militiamen who were entering the battery for the wounded.
- Al is not tasty porridge? Ah, crows, swayed! - they shouted at the militia, who hesitated in front of a soldier with a severed leg.
“Something like that, little one,” the peasants mimicked. - They don't like passion.
Pierre noticed how after each shot that hit, after each loss, a general revival flared up more and more.
As from an advancing thundercloud, more and more often, brighter and brighter flashed on the faces of all these people (as if in rebuff to what was happening) lightning bolts of hidden, flaring fire.
Pierre did not look ahead on the battlefield and was not interested in knowing what was happening there: he was completely absorbed in contemplating this, more and more burning fire, which in the same way (he felt) flared up in his soul.
At ten o'clock the infantry soldiers, who were ahead of the battery in the bushes and along the Kamenka River, retreated. From the battery it was visible how they ran back past it, carrying the wounded on their guns. Some general with his retinue entered the mound and, after talking with the colonel, looking angrily at Pierre, went down again, ordering the infantry cover, which was standing behind the battery, to lie down so as to be less exposed to shots. Following this, in the ranks of the infantry, to the right of the battery, a drum was heard, shouts of command, and from the battery it was clear how the ranks of the infantry moved forward.
Pierre looked over the shaft. One face in particular caught his eye. It was an officer who, with a pale young face, was walking backwards, carrying a lowered sword, and looking around uneasily.
The ranks of infantry soldiers disappeared into the smoke, their long-drawn cry and frequent firing of guns were heard. A few minutes later, crowds of wounded and stretchers passed from there. Shells began to hit the battery even more often. Several people lay uncleaned. Near the cannons, the soldiers moved busier and more lively. No one paid any attention to Pierre anymore. Once or twice he was angrily shouted at for being on the road. The senior officer, with a frown on his face, moved with large, quick steps from one gun to another. The young officer, flushed even more, commanded the soldiers even more diligently. Soldiers fired, turned, loaded and did their job with intense panache. They bounced along the way, as if on springs.
A thundercloud moved in, and that fire burned brightly in all faces, the flaring up of which Pierre watched. He stood beside the senior officer. A young officer ran up, with his hand to his shako, to the older one.
- I have the honor to report, Mr. Colonel, there are only eight charges, will you order to continue firing? - he asked.
- Buckshot! - Without answering, shouted the senior officer, who was looking through the rampart.
Suddenly something happened; the officer gasped and, curled up, sat down on the ground like a bird shot in the air. Everything became strange, unclear and cloudy in Pierre's eyes.
One after another, the cannonballs whistled and beat at the parapet, at the soldiers, at the cannons. Pierre, who had not heard these sounds before, now only heard these sounds alone. On the side of the battery, on the right, with a cry of “Hurrah,” the soldiers ran not forward, but backward, as it seemed to Pierre.
The core hit the very edge of the shaft in front of which Pierre was standing, poured the earth, and a black ball flashed in his eyes, and at the same instant slapped into something. The militia, who had entered the battery, ran back.
- All buckshot! the officer shouted.
The non-commissioned officer ran up to the senior officer and in a frightened whisper (as the butler reports to the owner at dinner that there is no more required wine) said that there were no more charges.
- Robbers, what are they doing! the officer shouted, turning to Pierre. The senior officer's face was red and sweaty, and his frowning eyes shone. - Run to the reserves, bring the boxes! he shouted, angrily looking around Pierre and turning to his soldier.
“I will go,” said Pierre. The officer, without answering him, walked with long strides in the other direction.
- Do not shoot ... Wait! he shouted.
The soldier, who was ordered to go for the charges, collided with Pierre.
“Oh, master, you don’t belong here,” he said and ran downstairs. Pierre ran after the soldier, bypassing the place where the young officer was sitting.
One, another, a third shot flew over him, hit in front, from the sides, behind. Pierre ran downstairs. "Where am I?" he suddenly remembered, already running up to the green boxes. He stopped, undecided whether to go back or forward. Suddenly a terrible jolt threw him back to the ground. At the same moment, the brilliance of a great fire illuminated him, and at the same moment there was a deafening thunder, crackling and whistling that rang in the ears.
Pierre, waking up, was sitting on his back, leaning his hands on the ground; the box he was near was not there; only green burnt boards and rags were lying on the scorched grass, and the horse, waving the fragments of the shaft, galloped away from him, and the other, like Pierre himself, lay on the ground and squealed piercingly, lingeringly.

Pierre, beside himself with fear, jumped up and ran back to the battery, as to the only refuge from all the horrors that surrounded him.
While Pierre was entering the trench, he noticed that no shots were heard on the battery, but some people were doing something there. Pierre did not have time to understand what kind of people they were. He saw a senior colonel lying on the rampart behind him, as if examining something below, and he saw one soldier he noticed, who, breaking forward from the people holding his hand, shouted: “Brothers!” - and saw something else strange.
But he had not yet had time to realize that the colonel had been killed, that shouting "brothers!" was a prisoner that in his eyes another soldier was bayoneted in the back. As soon as he ran into the trench, a thin, yellow man with a sweaty face in a blue uniform, with a sword in his hand, ran up to him, shouting something. Pierre, instinctively defending himself from a push, since they, without seeing them, ran up against each other, put out his hands and grabbed this man (it was a French officer) with one hand by the shoulder, with the other proudly. The officer, releasing his sword, grabbed Pierre by the collar.

23:39

God Hachiman

Hachiman ("many flags"), in Japanese mythology, the patron god of warriors. Scientists suggest that his name comes from the custom of putting up flags in honor of the gods. In the Middle Ages, Hachiman acted as the patron of the samurai from the Minamoto clan, then as the protector of the military class of the samurai, "the god of the bow and arrows", that is, as the god of war. Then he began to be revered as the guardian of the imperial citadel and, ultimately, as the patron of the imperial family. Ancient monuments depict legends about the appearances of Hachiman in the guise of an old blacksmith, a three-year-old child, as well as about how God helped people. In Japan, his cult is very popular today. Under the name Hachiman, the ruler of the Ojin country, the fifteenth emperor of Japan, who ruled in 270 - 312, was deified, he was revered as the "god of the bow and arrows", and also as the patron of the military class of the samurai

02:27

God Tsukuyomi

Tsukiyomi, Tsukuyomi no mikoto, Tsukiyomi no mikoto (ancient Japanese “tsuku, tsuki”, “moon”, “yomi”, “reading”, “counting”; in general - “god of counting moons”, i.e. e. deity associated with lunar calendar; in the Nihongi his name is written in three ideograms: "moon", "night" and "see", which may mean "the moon seen at night"; in the same place, in one of the options, the name of this god is written as “tsukiyumi”, where “yumi” is “bow”, which means, therefore, “the curved bow of the moon”), in Japanese mythology, a deity born by the god Izanaki during purification , which he performs upon his return from the yomi no kuni, from drops of water, washing his right eye with them. Distributing his possessions - the universe - between the three “high” children born to him: Amaterasu, Tsukiyomi and Susanoo, Izanaki instructs Tsukiyomi to be in charge of the country where the night rules (“Kojiki”, St. I), the option is “together with the sun to control the sky” ( "Nihongi"). According to this version, Amaterasu, being in heaven, orders Tsukiyomi to descend to Ashihara no nakatsukuni (i.e., to the earth), where the grain deity Ukemochi no kami offers the moon god food taken out of his mouth, and the offended Tsukiyomi kills her. Angered by his act, Amaterasu declares that from now on, she and the moon god "should not be seen together". Since then, the myth says, the sun and the moon have lived separately (“Nihongi”, St. I, “The Age of the Gods”). According to another version, Izanaki instructs Tsukiyomi to manage the plains of the sea, which probably reflects the ancient Japanese ideas about the relationship of the ebb and flow with the moon.

17:07

God Susanno

As previously stated in my entry, the Gods Izanaki and Izanami had 3 children Susanno, Amaterasu and Tsukiyomi.

Susanoo ("the valiant quick fiery male god of Susa"), in Japanese mythology, a deity born to Izanaki from drops of water that washed his nose during purification after returning from the realm of the dead. Dividing his domain among his three "high children", Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, and Susanoo, his father assigned the plain of the sea to Susanoo. The dissatisfied lord of the deep sea was about to retire to the land of the dead and, in parting, offered his sister Amaterasu to give birth to children. From his sword, bitten by Amaterasu, goddesses were born, and from the magatama necklace, belonging to Amaterasu and bitten by Susanoo, gods. However, then Susanoo committed several serious crimes: he destroyed the boundaries and canals in the rice fields cultivated by Amaterasu, defiled the sacred chambers with feces, and, to top it all, tore off the skin from a living foal and threw it into the room where Amaterasu sewed ritual clothes. Exiled from the high sky plain, Susanoo saved people from the eight-headed and eight-tailed dragon, married Kushinadahime. One of his descendants is the god O-kuninushi, who ceded the country to the god Hikoko no Ninigino Mikoto, or Ninigi, a direct descendant of Amaterasu.

16:31

Gods of Gods Izanaki and Izanami

Izanaki and Izanami (probably "the first man" and "the first woman"), in Japanese mythology, the gods, the last of the five generations of gods that are born in pairs (before them there were seven single gods who had no sex). They are the first deities to have a form and are able to give birth to other gods. The highest heavenly gods, who appeared first at the separation of heaven and earth, instructed them to form the earth, which was in a liquid state and, like a jellyfish, rushed along the sea waves. Izanaki and Izanami plunged the spear granted to them by the gods into the sea water and kneaded it, rotating the shaft. Drops of salt, falling from a raised spear, thickened and formed an island; called Onogorojima ("self-thickened"). Having descended on the island, Izanaki and Izanami turned it into the middle pillar of the earth and performed a marriage ceremony, walking around the pillar and saying a love dialogue.
However, their offspring turned out to be unsuccessful: the first child was born without arms and legs, the second - the foamy island of Awashima. The upset spouses turned to the gods for advice and found out that the reason lies in their improper performance of the marriage ceremony: the goddess Izanami, a woman, was the first to utter the marriage words. The couple repeated the rite, but now it was Izanaki who spoke first. From their marriage, the Japanese islands are born, and then the gods of the earth and roof, wind and sea, mountains and trees, plains and mists in the gorges, and many others. The last to be born is the fire god Kaguiuchi. Appearing from his mother's womb, he scorched him, and Izanami died - retired to the realm of the dead. Grieving for her death, Izanaki went to the underworld to fetch his wife, as the country was "not settled yet." After many misadventures in the realm of death, Izanaki escaped from there and annulled the marriage with Izanami, who became the goddess of the underworld. On earth, Izanaki performed a purification, during which many gods were born. Three great deities were born last: from the drops of water with which Izanaki washed his left eye, the sun goddess Amaterasu appeared, from the water that washed his right eye, the god of the night and moon Tsukuyomi, and, finally, from the water that washed Izanaki's nose, the god of the wind and water spaces of Susanoo. Izanaki distributed his possessions between them: Amaterasu received the plain of the high sky, Tsukuyomi - the kingdom of the night, and Susanoo - the plain of the sea.

21:56

Japanese mythology

Japanese mythology, the totality of ancient Japanese (Shinto), Buddhist and late folk mythological systems that arose on their basis (with the inclusion of elements of Taoism). Ancient Japanese mythology is captured in numerous monuments, such as Kojiki (Records of Ancient Affairs, 712), Nihongi (or Nihonshoki, Annals of Japan, 720), ethnogeographic descriptions of Japanese provinces, the so-called fudoki (“Records of lands and customs”, 8th century), the most ancient prayers of norito, “Kogoshui” (“Collection of ancient words”, beginning of the 9th century) and “Kyujihongi” (“Main records of the affairs of antiquity”, beginning of the 12th century). The largest number myths, whole cycles of them were included in the Kojiki and Nihongi. These codes constituted the official Shinto mythology, partially adapting, and partially pushing local shamanistic cults to the periphery and lower mythology. The materials of the first scrolls in both sets allow us to distinguish three main mythological cycles in them: in the first, cosmological cycle, the action takes place on the high sky plain - takama no hara, where the heavenly gods live, and in the realm of the dead yomi no kuni.
In the second cycle, the action takes place on the land of Izumo (Izumo is the ancient name for the area now located in the eastern part of Shimane Prefecture in central Japan). The third cycle tells about the events taking place in the area of ​​Himuka (present-day Miyazaki Prefecture, Kyushu). The heroes of myths in these scrolls are the gods - kami (otherwise called mikoto), some of which act and speak like people, while others personify abstract, speculative ideas. The highest category of kami are heavenly kami, among which, in turn, "special heavenly" kami stand out, below them are earthly kami, usually tied to a certain area; and even lower - kami-spirits, the manifestation of the existence of which are the objects and phenomena of nature. In Japanese mythology, there is no single creator - the initiator of the universe, the demiurge. Everything begins not with chaos, but with the spontaneous establishment of the most original and elementary order, the simultaneous appearance of gods-kami. There are three first kami: Ame no Minakanushi, Takamimusubi and Kamimusubi. Unlike subsequent generations of gods, which are couples, they do not have gender and any external signs. Behind this trinity, four more lone kami appear. They are already less abstract and are associated with certain natural objects. Two of them (cf. Ame-notokogami) were born in the bosom of the earth, which can be identified with Japan (the poetic name of Japan in myths is Ashihara no Nakatsukuni, "the reed plain is the middle country"). Next, a god is born, forever established on earth, and the god of abundant clouds over the plains - the last single gods. The god of floating mud and his younger sister the goddess of settling sand open the list of gods that are pairs. The completion of the cosmogonic process falls on the share of the fifth pair of these gods, Izanaki and Izanami. By the time they appeared, “the earth had not yet emerged from infancy” and was rushing along the sea waves, therefore the highest heavenly gods instruct these gods to turn the liquid earth into a firmament, which they do by stirring the water with a spear.

Then, having entered into a marriage, they give birth to the islands that make up Japan, and then - the gods-spirits who should inhabit this country. The world gradually takes on its usual form: mountains and trees, plains and gorges, fogs in gorges and dark crevices appear, and the kami born here become the “masters” of all objects and phenomena of the surrounding world. The eldest daughter of Izanaki, Amaterasu, takes possession of the "plain of the high sky" and becomes the main deity of the pantheon, the patroness of agriculture. The heavenly realm of Amaterasu is described as a kind of earth. There are rice fields, weaving chambers, etc. The narratives associated with the descent of Susanoo to Izumo can be seen as a kind of intermediary that unites two cycles of myths - the myths of the aliens and the myths of the native inhabitants of Izumo. In these latter, the most famous character is O-kuninushi, the offspring of Susanoo, who, with his helper Sukunabikon, organizes the world. With the arrival of Ninigi on earth and his entry into the possession of Japan, the third cycle of myths about the establishment of divine power on earth begins. The existence of two versions of bringing earthly gods to submission: a long and humane (“Kojiki”, “Nihongi”) and a short and warlike (“Kogoshui”) also reflects the presence of two different cultural traditions, one of which belonged to the conquerors (heavenly gods), the other - defeated (earth gods). A characteristic feature of Japanese mythology is the broad reflection in it of the belief of the ancient Japanese in magic. Researchers note that Japanese myths are more like a mixture of various superstitions than a coherent story system. Detailed description magical rites is given in the myth of the escape of Izanaki from the underworld, which contains the motif of stopping the chase by throwing various objects (“magical flight”), which is common in the folklore of many peoples, and in the myth of hiding the sun goddess Amaterasu in the grotto, where the most important thing in the magic ritual is dance of the goddess Ame no uzume. In Japanese myths, many fairy-tale motifs and plots are singled out, obviously of a later origin than the main storylines, for example, the myth of Susanoo's victory over the snake Yamata no Orochi. In myths, animals act as helpers. This is the mouse in the story about the trials of 0-kuninushi, the "naked hare" Akahada-no usagi in the myth of 0-kuninushi and his older brothers - yasogami. A complete and developed fairy tale plot is embodied in the mythological story about Hoori's stay in the underwater kingdom, which is also clearly a later inclusion in the mythological code.

Name Tsukuyomi-no-mikoto explains how Spirit calling the moon, which reflects the powers of this deity who calls upon the moon every night as he travels across the night sky. However, this name has other interpretations - for example Shining moon god, which was rejected by Professor Kotansky due to the absence in such an interpretation of the name of the dynamic qualities characteristic of the names of Japanese deities. Another version of the name of the deity, Spirit of the abiding moon considered very plausible by Wiesław Kotanski, but the Polish professor rejected this option, based on the fact that such an ancient name of the deity was unlikely to contain data on an advanced counting system.

There are hypotheses about the origin of "yomi" from the word "Yomi" (land of the dead), from the words "yo mi" (visible at night), by merging the words "Moonlight night" (tsukiyo) and "look" (world), and in one case the name written as Tsukuyumi - through the character "yumi" (弓) (bow for shooting). There are also discrepancies regarding the “field of activity” of the god: in the “Kojiki” it is indicated that he controls the night, in “Nihongi” - the sea.

Myths related to Tsukuyomi

Appearance

Murder of Ukemochi

After climbing the heavenly ladder, Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto lived in heaven, also known as Takamagahara. According to legend, Tsukuyomi lived in the heavenly palace with his sister, the sun goddess Amaterasu. Unlike Susanoo, he never challenged his sister's right to rule the High Sky Plain. One day she sent him to earth to the goddess Ukemochi. She treated him to food, which she vomited out of her mouth. This seemed disgusting to Tsukuyomi, and he killed Ukemochi. Amaterasu, learning about this, became angry and drove Tsukuyomi away from her, to another palace. Since then, the sun and moon have been separated: the sun shines during the day, the moon at night. In later versions of the myth, Susanoo is killed by Ukemochi.

According to Wiesław Kotanski, in this myth the goddess of the Sun tried to find an excuse to force Tsukuyomi to leave the plain of Heaven after another brother and provoked him to commit a crime. Amaterasu was well aware of Ukemochi's practices, which were so repugnant that they would have caused an outburst of indignation from the moon god anyway. The murder of the divine mistress was a good reason for Amaterasu to part with his brother, who was suspected by his sister as another potential competitor in the struggle for power over the universe.

Worship

Tsukuyomi is revered in several Shinto shrines, in particular, two temples are dedicated to him in the Ise-jingu complex:

• Tsukuyomi no miya at the Gekyu Miyajiri-cho Outer Temple in Ise City, Mie Prefecture, which is one of several smaller shrines outside the Ise jingu temple complex. The Outer Temple is dedicated to the goddess Ukemochi (Toyouke bime), and since the moon god is one of the symbols closely associated with the myth of Ukemochi, one of the shrines is dedicated to him.
• Tsukuyomi no miya in the inner temple of Naiku Nakamura-cho in Ise City, Mie Prefecture is one of several smaller shrines located inside the Ise Jingu temple complex. The inner shrines are dedicated to the goddess Amaterasu, and since Tsukuyomi is her brother, he also has a shrine in this place.

In popular culture

Notes

1. Jeremy Roberts. Japanese Mythology A to Z(English) . Archived from the original on September 5, 2012.
2. Mizue Mori. Tsukuyomi(English) . Encyclopedia of Shinto. Date of treatment December 1, 2011. Archived from the original on September 5, 2012.
3. Wiesław Kotanski. Japońskie opowieści o bogach(Polish). Archived from the original on September 5, 2012.
4. Akiko Okuda, Haruko Okano. Women and religion in Japan. - Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 1998. - S. 55-56. - 204 p. - ISBN 9783447040143.
5. Traditional Japanese Literature: An Anthology, Beginnings to 1600. - Columbia University Press, 2008. - P. 46. - 1255 p. -