Japan is an incredibly interesting country in East Asia, which is associated with many mysteries, secrets and legends. For two hundred years, Japan was isolated from the entire surrounding world, which led to the creation of an unusual, but very interesting culture. The clearest example of this is the original Japanese mythology.
Despite the long isolation of the Land of the Rising Sun from European states, Japan is full of various religions. Confucianism, some branches of Buddhism, Christianity and Islam are practiced on its territory. But most of the inhabitants are converted to Shintoism. However, in Japan there is also a special religious system - syncretism, which unites several different religions at once, which speaks of the Japanese tolerance towards other religions.
Demons and spirits
The basic principle of Japanese mythology is the belief in the divine origin of natural elements and in the fact that each thing has its own essence. Therefore, demons and spirits are also present in it in large numbers. The inhabitants of Japan believe that both spirits and various animals can be supernatural beings. The spirit can represent the ghost of a deceased person, which should be called yurei.
In ancient Japanese legends, youkai ghosts often appear - an unpleasant-looking creature with a long neck and a single eye. Mysterious creatures can be either evil or quite friendly, but they usually avoid humans. In winter, it is almost impossible to meet this kind of evil spirits.
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Aka-name (literally the name of the demon is translated as "licking the dirt"). This character visits unscrupulous people who forget to clean their baths on time. It does not pose any threat, but it looks just disgusting. It is believed that people are beginning to take better care of the washing facilities, so as not to meet again with Aka-name.
Bake-zori. This is an old and shabby sandal, which was poorly looked after by the owners. This shoe runs around the house and for some reason sings songs. And the songs are rather stupid.
Bake-neko, an animal in the form of a giant cat. In accordance with the ideas of the Japanese, in order to get bake-neko at their disposal, one should have a domestic cat and feed it in one place for 13 years. Then the cat turns into a ghost, grows up to one and a half meters, gets the ability to create illusions and walk on two legs. She becomes a keeper for people who have treated her well. Bake-neko brings misfortune to those who chased the cat.
Gyuki or yushi-oni. It is a chimera with a body like a bull. The favorite habitat of the gyuki is water bodies - ponds, rivers, lakes or waterfalls. Sometimes yushi-oni can take on the appearance of an attractive girl. The demon pursues its victim completely silently, one cannot hide from him even at the edge of the Earth. Gyuki drinks the shadow of a person, after which the victim soon falls ill and dies.
Dzyubokko are predatory trees. Probably everyone knows that medieval Japan was a rather warlike country. On its territory, bloody battles almost constantly took place, which gave rise to the myth of dzyubokko. According to legend, on the battlefield, special trees grew that were addicted to human blood. They caught gaping travelers with their branches, and then drank their blood.
Deities and heroes
Japan is rich in temples of a wide variety of deities. Some of them are credited with creating the earthly firmament, the firmament, the sun, people and animals. Japanese sacred texts tell about the events that took place from the moment of the creation of the world and the deities to the beginning of the reign of emperors. It should be noted that nothing is said about time frames in the ancient manuscripts.
It is quite obvious that the earliest myths in Japan are about the origin of the world. According to them, initially there was some kind of chaos, which later split into the Takamagahara Plain and Akushitsima Island, which is called the "Dragonfly Island". Later, various deities appeared, pairs of brothers and sisters who symbolized the elements of nature. The main deities for the inhabitants of ancient Japan were the spouses god Izanagi and goddess Izanami. From the marriage of this couple, a large number of different islets appeared, inhabited by people and other gods.
Goddess Izanami fell ill and passed away immediately after giving birth to the deity of Fire. She ended up in the afterlife, which in Japanese mythology is called "the darkness of Yomi." You cannot return from this place. Her husband, the god Izanagi, was not able to resignedly accept the death of his wife and hurried after her. However, Izanagi found his wife not in the best condition, and fled from the world of darkness, blocking the entrance to it.
The goddess became angry at the act of her husband and promised him that every day she would take the lives of many thousands of people. This myth shows that anyone, even a god, can die. Therefore, attempts to return the departed are pointless. Another legend tells how Izanagi returned from a gloomy world and washed away all the filth after visiting the "darkness of Yomi". From the drops that fell from him, a new sun deity appeared - the goddess Amaterasu.
Shinto is the essence of the "divine path"
The most important religion of Japan, Shintoism, gave rise to the development of the mythology of the Land of the Rising Sun. The main Japanese religion is based on reverence and worship of natural elements. The inhabitants of ancient Japan believed that absolutely every creature contains a certain divine essence "kami" (jap. 神). Shintoism involves the worship of various deities and spirits of departed people.
The "Divine Path" includes the cult of the totem, witchcraft, the cult of protective amulets, rituals and ritual actions. Buddhism has had a significant impact on Shintoism, because the most important principle of the inhabitants of Japan is a calm life in harmony with natural elements. The Japanese perceive the world as a place where people, gods and spirits live together.
A feature of Shintoism is the absence of strict frameworks and restrictions in the concept of good and evil. All mortal actions are judged only by the purpose for which the individual performs them. In the minds of the Japanese, a kind person is one who respects elders, is friendly to the people around him, is able to sympathize and help. Also, one of the first virtues is fulfilling one's duty. A bad person is selfish, impatient, violating social norms.
In Shinto, there are no such absolute criteria as good and evil. A person must himself distinguish between these concepts, but for this he needs to live in harmony with the environment, to purify his mind and body.