By the Gods!
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Momotarou, which can be translated as “peach boy” or “peach first son”, is a popular hero in Japanese folklore.
The story goes like this:
There once was an elderly, childless couple who lived out in the country. One day, the wife was washing the clothes in the river when she came upon a large peach floating towards her. Well, the wife grabbed that peach and brought it back with her to the house. She and her husband decided to open the peach, to eat the flesh inside. And what do they find when they cut it open? A little boy! The child went on to tell them that he was sent from Heaven to be their son. They were overjoyed, and named him Momotarou.
Years pass by and Momotarou leaves his parents to go and fight this band of marauding oni’s (demons or ogres) on a distant island. While he’s on his way there, he happens to befriend a talking dog, monkey, and pheasant; who all agree to to help him on his quest. At the island, Momotarou and his talking animal friends are able to penetrate oni’s fort and literally beat those oni’s into surrendering! Momotarou and his friends return from the battle, with treasure and the oni leader as their captive.
Momotarou returns home to his parents with all his spoils, and they all live comfortably from then on.
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Thanks for the awesome submission! If you’re interested in more of the Japanese-style myths in our archives, check out the Shinto and Buddhist directories!
Futakuchi-Onna
The Futakuchi-Onnas originated in Japanese folklore and are two-mouthed women. A futakuchi-onna is a beautiful, skinny woman with a serious scalp condition. Under her hair at the back of her head is a large mouth with a sharp tongue that eats as much as it can find. The woman’s long beautiful hair acts as the mouth’s hands, reaching out for food and positioning itself to cover and hide the mouth whenever company is present. The woman herself does nothing to please the mouth other than lay beside a rice patch or dawdle near the fridge.
The mouth formed on the back of the head is normally connected to how little the woman eats. In many stories, the soon-to-be futakuchi-onna is a wife of a miser, so she rarely eats enough. To counteract this, a second mouth mysteriously appears on the back of the woman’s head. While little food passes through her normal lips, the mouth in the back of her head consumes twice what the other one would. Although these women eat so much unintentionally, they gain no weight. Where does the food go? If you don’t already know, I can’t tell you. (I don’t know.)
The most common story of the Futakuchi-onna goes a little like this: In a small village there lived a stingy miser who, because he could not bear the expense of properly feeding a wife, lived entirely by himself.
One day he met a woman who rarely ate anything, whom he immediately took for his wife. Though she never ate a thing, she was still a surprisingly hard worker. The old miser was thrilled with her, until his stores of rice started to slowly decrease. One day the miser pretended to leave for work, but instead stayed behind to spy on his new wife. To his horror, he saw his wife’s hair part on the back of her head, her skull split wide revealing a gaping mouth. She unbound her hair, which reached out like tentacles to grasp the rice and shovel it into the hungry mouth.
That is the whole story. I feel that we can safely surmise that Mr. Mouth was feeling a tad peckish that day and that the miser couldn’t run fast enough.
Note: When I say that this story is from “Japanese Mythology,” you might be wondering “well come on: which division of Japanese myth? Shinto? Buddhist? Agricultural folktales?” The correct answer seems to be a melding of the three. Buddhism did not simply override Shinto beliefs when it arrived in Japan, but adapted it, to give Japanese Buddhism its own individual flair. Folktales of this nature aren’t from any particular pantheon or belief set, but generate from the Japanese mythological identity as a whole, with all its subsets and separate communities and histories at play.
Fujin
One of the eldest of the Shinto deities, Fujin was the god of wind. He is said to have been present at the initial creation of the world, well before Izanagi and Izanami were sent to create the islands of Japan. During the world’s creation, Fujin released the wind from his bag, clearing out all the mists of the world, seemingly linking heaven with earth, allowing the gods to address the further creation of the world.
Fujin is portrayed as a distinctly freaky-looking demon. He wears animal skins and carries a large bag filled with the wind over his shoulders. The bag and the idea of wind being contained by the deity dates back to Greek mythology, specifically the depictions of the wind god Boreas, who wore a mantle similar to the representations of Fujin’s bag. There was a great degree of cultural diffusion and exchange between Greek, Chinese and Japanese beliefs in the Classical period, and so while he remained Fujin in Shinto mythology, the fusion of Fujin and Boreas was seen as Oado/Wardo in Chinese Buddhism. I don’t care what you call him, he’s scary as balls.
Izanagi and Izanami (Part Two)
Izanagi was understandably upset at the loss of his beloved Izanami to the land of the dead. Many deities were born of his tears, and when he sliced off the fire god’s head, even more deities came into being. After his rage subsided (poor fire god; it wasn’t his fault!) Izanagi went to Yomi to find Izanami. However, by the time he arrived there, Izanami had already eaten the food of the dead (just as we see in many mythologies with an underworld, this is a common theme. Think Persephone and Hades).
Izanami tried to persuade the gods of Yomi to allow her to return to the land of the living, but they refused her request. Izanagi stormed into the hall to save her, but when he saw his wife, he was terrified; she was now a walking corpse, squirming with maggots and snakes, and to top it all off eight thunder deities had taken up residence in her body. Izanagi, overcome with fear and sadness, ran like hell (pun intended). Izanami was now murderously pissed off at her husband for reacting the way he did, so she sent the hags of Yomi and an army of thunder spirits to hunt him down.
Izanagi used various magic tricks and his godlike strength and agility to escape, and stayed the hags by throwing peaches at them. You know, like you do with hags. Izanami herself pursued Izanagi, but Izanagi put a huge boulder in the passage that separated Yomi from the land of the living. Standing on each side of the boulder, Izanami told Izanagi that she would strangle 1,000 people every day as punishment for his behaviour. Izanagi replied that, each day, he would ensure that 1,500 people were born. He’s gonna be a busy guy.
Izanagi and Izanami (Part One)
According to Shinto belief, Izanagi and Izanami were the eighth pair of deities to appear after the heaven and earth had been formed out of chaos. They were ordered to create the islands of Japan, and did so by standing on the bridge of Heaven and lowering a spear into the sea and stirring. When Izanagi removed his spear, a droplet fell from its tip and became the first island. The two gods descended to the island, and built it up real pretty like.
One day, Izanami realized that her body was not fully formed in one place, and Izanagi realized that his had been formed in excess in that same place. You get what I’m saying? Might be a good pick-up line in the future. So, they brought these parts together, and Izanami bore a child, Hiruko, dubbed “Leech Child,” as he was deformed. They assumed he was deformed because Izanami, the woman, had spoken first during their courting ritual. They tried again with Izanagi speaking first, and this time Izanami gave birth to the islands of Japan, as well as to the gods and goddesses of waterfalls, mountains, trees, plants and the wind. Ouch. While giving birth to the god of fire, Kagutsuchi, however, Izanami was burned so badly that she died. Mega-Ouch. Even while dying she continued to bear more and more gods, but eventually disappeared to Yomi, the land of the dead.
There’s more to this story! Stay tuned for the conclusion of the tale of Izanagi and Izanami!
Kodama
In Japanese folklore the Kodama are spirits that inhabit and represent trees. They aren’t believed to dwell in every tree, but rather occupy specific and significant trees. Cutting down a tree that houses a Kodama is thought to bring ill fortune, and in Japan any such trees are often marked with a special rope. Japanese folklore takes influence from both Shinto and Buddhist beliefs, so it is difficult to pinpoint exactly where and how these spirits originated.
Their depictions vary; some believe them to take the form of a regular-looking human when they wander about beyond their tree, though their most famous representation is seen in the film Princess Mononoke, wherein they are cute as balls. It’s not even fair how adorable those little guys are.
Kitsune.
Kitsune originate from Japanese folklore and are mischievous fox spirits that are equivalent to fairies in European folklore. They are known for having magical capabilities and great wisdom that increases as they mature. Many believe that the Kitsune use these abilities to trick others, while some believe that they use these powers in a protective nature, for the greater good of Japan.
The Nihon Ryakki, suggests that the Kitsune originated by the mating of people and foxes centuries ago, as they used to “live in close proximity as equals.”
There are two different types of Kitsune: the benevolent Zenko, often associated with the god Inari, and the “field foxes,” and the Yako, who are often mischievous and malicious. Both can shapeshift into humans and aren’t limited by the fox’s age or gender.
Shinto Creation Myth
At the beginning of time, all matter that would become the world was mixed together in a great cloud. The lighter components rose up and became heaven, and the heavier parts descended and became a thick ocean of muddy water. A green sprout began to grow, and when it flowered the First God burst forth from it. This first god created Izanagi, the god of all that is light and heavenly, along with his wife and sister Izanami.
This First God gave Izanagi the task of finishing the creation of the world. Standing on a rainbow, Izanagi and Izanami plunged a jewel-crested spear into the ocean and stirred it. When they pulled it free, the water that dripped from the spear coagulated and formed the first island of Japan. The gods went down to the island, and from there created the rest of the Japanese archipelago.
Amaterasu-Okami, Goddess of the Sun.
A Shinto deity, her name means “that which illuminates Heaven.” She was born from the eye of Izanagi, (that’s right, the Izanagi who created Japan with the spear being dipped into the ocean) and is said to be linked directly to the Imperial Household of Japan. The Emperors were said to be her descendants.
The above picture is Amaterasu emerging out of a cave (she got thrown in caves a lot as part of evil plans) and bringing light back to the world.
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