50 Fun Facts About Japanese Mythology

In Japanese folklore, the thrashing of which giant creature beneath the islands causes earthquakes?

A catfish called Namazu lies beneath Japan, pinned under a heavy stone by the god of Kashima. Whenever his guard slips, the fish thrashes and the ground shakes.

Which skinned animal does the kind god Ōkuninushi heal in a famous Kojiki tale, winning a princess?

A hare had lost its fur to the sea beasts it tricked, and Ōkuninushi's cruel brothers told it to bathe in the salty sea. He sent it to wash in a river and roll in soft pollen, and the healed hare foretold his marriage.

How did the courtier Hieda no Are preserve the records behind Japan's oldest chronicle?

Memorised them: Emperor Tenmu had Hieda no Are, famed for a flawless memory, learn the records by heart. The recital was written down only in 712, long after the emperor's death.

Japan's official history of 720, the Nihon Shoki, was written in which foreign language?

Chinese, in its classical form, was the language of official documents at the Japanese court, so the scholars working under Prince Toneri used it for all 30 volumes of the national history.

On what are Japan's Seven Lucky Gods said to arrive at New Year, bringing good fortune?

A treasure ship, the Takarabune, carries the seven gods and their magical cargo. People used to sleep with a print of it under the pillow at New Year, hoping for a lucky dream.

Izanagi and Izanami created the first island by stirring the sea with what?

A jewelled spear, pushed down from the Floating Bridge of Heaven: when the couple lifted it, the brine dripping from its tip piled up into the first land, and they came down to live there.

In The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, where does Princess Kaguya return at the story's end?

The Moon: found as a tiny girl inside a glowing bamboo stalk, Kaguya turns down five noble suitors and the emperor himself before her own people come down to take her home.

Izanami died after giving birth to which god?

Kagutsuchi, god of fire, burned his mother so badly at his birth that she died. Izanagi, mad with grief, cut the newborn down, and still more gods sprang from the remains.

What is the name of the underworld Izanagi entered to retrieve Izanami?

Yomi is the land of the dead, and Izanami had already eaten at its hearth, so she could not leave. When Izanagi broke his promise not to look at her, he saw a rotting corpse and ran.

With what did Izanagi permanently seal the entrance to the underworld?

A massive boulder: from behind it, Izanami swore to kill a thousand of the living every day, and Izanagi answered that he would see fifteen hundred born. So the myth explains death and birth.

In the Kojiki, Amaterasu was born when Izanagi washed which part of his face?

Left eye: Izanagi was scrubbing off the filth of the underworld in a river when the sun goddess appeared. Tsukuyomi followed from his right eye and Susanoo from his nose.

Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi and Susanoo are known collectively as what?

The Three Precious Children were Izanagi's last and proudest creations, and he shared out the cosmos among them: the heavens to Amaterasu, the night to Tsukuyomi and the seas to Susanoo.

Which heavenly realm does Amaterasu rule?

Takamagahara, the High Plain of Heaven, was her father's gift: Izanagi took off his own necklace, hung it on her and told her to rule there.

Which animal did Susanoo flay and hurl into Amaterasu's weaving hall?

A piebald horse, skinned and dropped through a hole he broke in the roof: in the Kojiki the shock kills one of her weavers. He had already wrecked her fields and fouled her dining hall.

After Amaterasu was drawn out of hiding, the gods barred her way back with the first of which Shinto objects?

A sacred straw rope, the shimenawa: a god strung one behind her and told her she could go no further back. Shrines still hang them to mark off holy ground.

Which goddess danced on an overturned bucket to lure Amaterasu from the cave?

Ame-no-Uzume stamped out her dance and bared herself until all the gods of heaven roared with laughter. Baffled that anyone could rejoice in the dark, the sun goddess opened the door to ask why.

Which god, the deity of counsel and thought, led the plan to draw Amaterasu from the cave?

Omoikane was asked by the assembled gods to think of a way out. He began by gathering roosters to crow outside her door, as if dawn had managed to break without her.

What startled Amaterasu as she emerged from the cave?

Her own reflection, in a mirror the gods held up to the door: told that a deity greater than herself had arrived, she leaned out for a better look, and a strong god hauled her into the open.

Amaterasu's chief place of worship is the Grand Shrine at which town?

Ise pulls down its main halls and rebuilds them in fresh cypress every 20 years, a cycle that began in the 7th century, so the shrine is always brand new and its design always ancient.

In the Nihon Shoki, Tsukuyomi angered Amaterasu by killing Ukemochi, the goddess of what?

Food: Ukemochi served Tsukuyomi a feast she had brought up from her own mouth, and he killed her in disgust. Amaterasu refused ever to face him again, which is why day and night keep apart.

Which jolly shape-shifter of Japanese folklore appears as a statue outside homes and shops?

Tanuki is a real animal as well as a legend: a shy wild dog that looks like a raccoon. Folklore made it a merry master of disguise, which is how its statue came to grin at passers-by.

How did Susanoo beat the serpent Yamata no Orochi?

Got it drunk: strong sake stood ready for each of its eight heads, and once the monster had drunk itself to sleep, he hacked it to pieces.

How did Susanoo hide Kushinadahime from the serpent?

Turned her into a comb, which he tucked into his own hair for the fight. With the monster dead, he took her as his wife and built a palace for the two of them.

In the Kojiki, where in the slain serpent Yamata no Orochi did Susanoo find the sword Kusanagi?

In its tail: his own blade chipped on something hard as he hacked at the carcass, so he slit the flesh open and found a great sword inside.

What does the name Kusanagi no Tsurugi mean?

Grass-Cutting Sword: a prince trapped in a burning field mowed down the grass around him with it and escaped the flames. By one account it had been the Sword of Gathering Clouds until then.

Which warrior received the sword Kusanagi from his aunt, a shrine priestess, for protection?

Yamato Takeru later left the blade at home with his new wife and set off to fight a mountain god bare-handed. The god struck him down with an illness, and he died on the road.

Which shrine is said to hold the original sword Kusanagi?

Atsuta Shrine in Nagoya is its traditional home. Yet The Tale of the Heike has the sword sinking with a child emperor in the sea battle of Dan-no-ura, though some say only a copy went down.

Which three objects are Japan's Imperial Regalia?

A sword, a mirror and a jewel were Amaterasu's parting gifts to the grandson she sent down to rule the earth. Each new emperor still receives them as the proof of that descent.

The baku, a patchwork beast of Japanese folklore, is said to feed on what?

Nightmares are what the baku eats, which made it a welcome guardian of sleepers. Legend says the gods pieced it together from the scraps left over after making every other animal.

What is unusual about the Imperial Regalia when a new Japanese emperor receives them?

They stay hidden in boxes: when Akihito took the throne in 1989, the box said to hold one of them was handed to him and never opened. The public has never been shown any of the three treasures.

Amaterasu's grandson who descended to rule the earth was called what?

Ninigi married a mountain god's lovely daughter but sent her plain sister, the rock princess, back home. Her slighted father decreed that his line would fade like blossom, which is why emperors die.

Amaterasu's grandson descended to Mount Takachiho on which island?

Kyushu's Mount Takachiho is where he touched down. It was from that island that his great-grandson later set out east, conquered Yamato and became the first emperor.

At Setsubun each February, what do Japanese families throw to drive oni out of the house?

Roasted soybeans are flung around the house to the shout of 'Demons out, luck in!' Afterwards each person eats one bean for every year of their age.

Ōkuninushi is enshrined above all at which grand shrine in Shimane?

Izumo-taisha hosts the whole Shinto pantheon for a week each autumn. So the tenth lunar month is 'the month with gods' around the shrine and 'the month without gods' everywhere else.

Which 11 February holiday marks Emperor Jimmu's legendary accession?

National Foundation Day keeps the date that tradition gives for his enthronement in 660 BC, after he had fought his way east to conquer Yamato.

Which three-legged bird guided Jimmu from Kumano to Yamato?

Yatagarasu, a crow, was sent down from heaven when Jimmu's army was lost among hostile gods in the mountains, with the order to follow wherever it flew.

Inari is the kami of foxes, prosperity and, above all, which crop?

Rice was the staple of old Japan, so the god of the harvest came to be asked for success of every kind, and merchants and swordsmiths took Inari as their patron.

Kyoto's Fushimi Inari, chief shrine of the god Inari, is famous for its thousands of what?

Torii gates in bright vermilion tunnel up the mountain behind the shrine. Each was paid for by a person or a company hoping for good fortune, and the donor's name is carved on the back.

What is the maximum number of tails a kitsune may grow in folklore?

Nine is the most a fox spirit can have, and more tails mean stronger magic. They are also its weak point: a careless or drunken kitsune in human form may let one slip into view.

The fox spirit whose death produced the 'Killing Stone' is called what?

Tamamo-no-mae was an emperor's dazzling favourite until a court diviner exposed her as a fox draining his life. Hunted down on the plain of Nasu, she haunted a boulder said to kill whatever touched it.

What do kappa keep in the dish-like depression on their heads?

Water in the dish is what gives a kappa its strength. Bow to one and it cannot help bowing back, spilling the lot and leaving itself helpless.

Which vegetable do kappa famously favour?

Cucumber is the kappa's favourite meal, so people threw cucumbers into rivers and offered them at festivals, hoping a well-fed kappa would leave swimmers alone.

The tengu's famous long nose is thought to have begun as what?

A beak: the first tengu were winged monsters shaped like birds of prey. As they grew more human over the centuries, the bill turned into a nose.

Tengu are usually shown wearing the robes of which group?

Yamabushi are hermit monks who train in the mountains, the same peaks tengu were said to haunt. Legend has a tengu king teach swordsmanship to the young hero Yoshitsune.

What does the thunder god Raijin beat to make his noise?

Drums ring him in a great wheel, and their booming is the thunder. He is also said to have a taste for navels, which is why Japanese children are told to cover their bellies in a storm.

Which god stands opposite the thunder god Raijin at Tokyo's famous Kaminarimon gate?

Fūjin, god of wind, shares the gate with him, and its formal name honours both: the Gate of the Wind and Thunder Gods. Everyone just calls it Kaminarimon, the Thunder Gate.

Momotarō, the 'Peach Boy', recruited which three animal companions?

Dog, monkey and pheasant each begged one of the millet dumplings he carried and signed on in return. Together the four stormed the ogres' island and came home with its treasure.

Which Japanese prefecture promotes the folk hero Momotarō as its own?

Okayama has gone as far as naming its airport after him: travellers land at Okayama Momotaro Airport, and a statue of the Peach Boy greets them outside the city's main station.

What happens to Urashima Tarō when he opens the forbidden jewelled box?

He turns into an old man because the few days he spent under the sea were centuries on land. Opening the box, against the princess's warning, lets all those years catch up with him at once.

Urashima Tarō was carried to the Dragon Palace on the back of which animal?

A turtle he had saved from bullies carries him down in thanks. In the oldest written version there is no ride at all: he hooks the creature while fishing, and it turns into the woman he marries.