Storytelling Week 6: In the Footsepts of Gods

In the first breath of the universe, there was nothing but tumultuous seas and vast expanses of thundering skies. In the second breath, there was light and from that light came Izanagi and Izanami. Together, these two entries lived on the light above the rolling seas. They forged a city out of golden sunshine, glistening with liquid life. But, Izanagi and Izanami were lonely. As beautiful as their city was, they were its only inhabitants. Though they had each other there was no life to be found, there were no trees, no flowers, no creatures, to give that place a sense of anything beyond itself.

Izanagi and Izanami often ended up on the edge of their city. Together, they would sit on the bridge that overlooked the rolling seas, longing for something that they had no comprehension of. Then, one day Izanagi took his spear, a long golden pole made of a single ray of sunshine, and dipped it into the seas bellow. He did not know what he was searching for in those untamable seas. Perhaps it was mere curiosity of what lay beneath its waves or maybe he hoped to find some other being to commune with, but he found nothing in those depths. As Izanagi brought the spear back to the heights, Izanami, his beautiful wife wept in despair. Those tears fell and were caught by the shaft of the spear. They rolled along the shaft until they reached the tip, and fell off into the seas. As the tears was captured by the waves they began to harden the waters around it. Land sprouted up from the seas, hard and craggy, untamed and raw.

Izanagi and Izanami were curios about this new construct. It was something wild, so unlike their kingdom in the sky. Though it was dark and foreboding it was calm and inviting. A dream that had been unknown to them until that moment. So together, they went down from the clouds and touched land for the first time. Where ever they walked life began to flourish. Grass sprouted from their footsteps. Their stay hairs became great trees. Every place their hands touched sprouted flowers and wondrous flora. As they spoke beneath the clouds, every breath made birds appear from the heavens, a sigh caused a fish to flicker beneath the waves, and one word made small animals burrow up from the ground. Entire conversations created peaceful animals of awe-inspiring sizes and shapes.

The two lived for many years in this place, until one day Izanagi fell ill and died. Devastated, Izanami wept for her husband for many days. From her tears came rivers, her grief carved valleys and raised mountains across the landscape. Her wailing caused great beasts to appear, mighty and terrifying. They prayed upon the peaceful creatures that had sprang from Izanagi and Izanami joy. Slowly Izanami calmed, but the damage had already been done. No longer was the world a thing of tranquility, it had become a thing of wildness and untameable beauty. Izanami grew tired and lay down next to her husband. As she fell asleep she thought that one thing was missing from this world, something that she and her husband could never have created. She never woke again.

Many years later something shifted. The bones of Izanagi and Izanami were stripped from the last of their flesh by the wandering creatures. From those sun bleached bones emerged humans, a new type of creature bone from the death of their parents but able to bear more of their own from that sacrifice.

Izanagi and Izanami by Kaworukunchan
DeviantArt

Bibliography- The Romance of Old Japan by E.W. Champney and F. Champney: Online Source


Authors Note: My story is very different from the original. In the traditional Japanese Story there is only a bridge on which Izanagi and Izanami live. Really the only think that I kept from the original story was that there was a spear, and a drop from that spear caused land to spring up. Izanagi and Izanami did not cause every thing else, it just happens. I wanted my story to go more into what could have happened. I wanted it to fist: parallel other creation stories but also to stand on its own as a unique story. For me the biggest thing I wanted it to be is that every thing was an accident, and unknown, even to the gods.