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50 free Japanese Mythology trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Japanese mythology begins with a jewelled spear stirring the sea and ends, more or less, with an emperor. The Kojiki of 712 and the Nihon Shoki of 720 were written to prove the imperial family descended from the sun goddess Amaterasu, and on the way they record a husband chasing his dead wife into the underworld, a storm god flaying a horse, a goddess sulking in a cave until a striptease dance lured her out, and a sword pulled from the tail of an eight-headed serpent. These 50 questions cover the creation cycle and the folklore around it: Izanagi and Izanami, the Three Precious Children born from a face-wash, Tsukuyomi and the food goddess, Susanoo and Kushinadahime, Ōkuninushi and the surrender of the land, Ninigi's descent with the Three Sacred Treasures, and Jimmu's three-legged crow. Then the creatures and tales: Inari's white foxes and their tails, kappa and their cucumbers, long-nosed tengu, Raijin's drums, Momotarō's dog, monkey and pheasant, and Urashima Tarō's fatal box. Every answer is cited to a page we checked and each explanation adds one more detail. Play it solo or print it for a mythology night.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which two 8th-century texts are the oldest sources of Japanese mythology?
Kojiki and Nihon Shoki
They were completed in 712 and 720 under the Yamato state.
Q 02Who wrote down the Kojiki in 712 at the request of Empress Genmei?
Ō no Yasumaro
He recorded what the courtier Hieda no Are had memorised on Emperor Tenmu's orders.
Q 03Which court attendant of 'exceptional memory' was told to memorise the imperial records?
Hieda no Are
Emperor Tenmu commissioned the feat; the writing-down came decades later.
Q 04The Nihon Shoki was completed in 720 under whose editorial supervision?
Prince Toneri
It was written in classical Chinese so it could stand beside the Chinese annals.
Q 05Which Edo-period scholar's Kojiki-den commentary shaped modern understanding of the myths?
Motoori Norinaga
Before his work the Kojiki was widely seen as inferior to the Nihon Shoki.
Q 06Izanagi and Izanami created the first island by stirring the sea with what?
A jewelled spear
The brine dripping from its tip congealed into the island of Onogoro.
Q 07What is the name of the first island formed from the brine off Izanagi's spear?
Onogoro
The couple then descended to it and built a pillar and a hall.
Q 08Izanami died after giving birth to which god?
Kagutsuchi, god of fire
His flames killed her; Izanagi then cut the child down in grief and rage.
Q 09What is the name of the underworld Izanagi entered to retrieve Izanami?
Yomi
He disobeyed her order not to look at her, and fled from what he saw.
Q 10With what did Izanagi permanently seal the entrance to Yomi?
A massive boulder
The Kojiki places the entrance in Izumo province.
Q 11Amaterasu was born when Izanagi washed which part of his face?
Left eye
Tsukuyomi came from the right eye and Susanoo from the nose.
Q 12Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi and Susanoo are known collectively as what?
The Three Precious Children
They are the most important offspring of the creator god Izanagi.
Q 13Which heavenly realm does Amaterasu rule?
Takamagahara
The name means the High Plain of Heaven.
Q 14Which animal did Susanoo flay and hurl into Amaterasu's weaving hall?
Q 21After his banishment, Susanoo came down to which land of Japan?
Izumo
There he met the elderly couple Ashinazuchi and Tenazuchi and their last daughter.
Q 22How many heads did the serpent Yamata no Orochi have?
Eight
It also had eight tails and spanned eight valleys and eight peaks.
Q 23How did Susanoo hide Kushinadahime from the serpent?
Turned her into a comb
He stuck the comb in his hair, then had her parents brew eightfold-refined sake for the monster.
Q 24What did Susanoo find in the serpent's tail?
A piebald horse
The skinned horse killed one of her weaving maidens; he had also defecated in her palace.
Q 15Where did Amaterasu hide after Susanoo's rampage, plunging the world into darkness?
A rock cave
The Ame-no-Iwato, 'Heavenly Rock-Cave Door', was sealed with a straw rope once she was out.
Q 16Which goddess danced on an overturned bucket to lure Amaterasu from the cave?
Ame-no-Uzume
The gods' laughter made Amaterasu peek out; Ame-no-Tajikarao then pulled her free.
Q 17Which god, the deity of counsel and thought, led the plan to draw Amaterasu from the cave?
Omoikane
The plan involved crowing birds, a mirror hung in a sakaki tree and Uzume's dance.
Q 18What startled Amaterasu as she emerged from the cave?
Her own reflection
The mirror hung outside became one of the Three Sacred Treasures.
Q 19Amaterasu's chief place of worship is the Grand Shrine at which town?
Ise
It lies in Mie Prefecture and is among Shinto's holiest sites.
Q 20Tsukuyomi angered Amaterasu by killing Ukemochi, the deity of what?
Food
He was disgusted that she produced a banquet from her mouth and body; Amaterasu never saw him again.
A sword
He found it in the fourth tail and named it Ame-no-Murakumo, 'Heavenly Sword of Gathering Clouds'.
Q 25What does the name Kusanagi no Tsurugi mean?
Grass-Cutting Sword
Yamato Takeru used it to cut back burning grass when a warlord tried to trap him in a fire.
Q 26Which warrior received the sword from his aunt, the priestess of Ise, for protection?
Yamato Takeru
He discovered the blade could control the wind in the direction of his swing.
Q 27The original sword is considered entrusted to which Nagoya sanctuary?
Atsuta Shrine
Replicas of the sword and mirror were made as early as the 9th century.
Q 28Which three objects make up Japan's Imperial Regalia?
A sword, a mirror and a jewel
They stand for valour, wisdom and benevolence respectively.
Q 29In the regalia's symbolism, the mirror represents which virtue?
Wisdom
The sword stands for valour and the jewel for benevolence.
Q 30Emperor Hirohito's greatest fear when the Allied command arrived in 1945 concerned what?
The Three Sacred Treasures
He dreaded the regalia falling into enemy hands.