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Authors: J.F. Bierlein
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finally took a good look at her, he was so horrified that he began to run away. Izanami sent the Ugly Night Spirit to retrieve him.
Izanagi continued to run in terror and disgust, leaving the horrible Land of Night behind him. As he was running away, he cast down the comb from the right side of his hair, and the comb miraculously became grapevines. Then he cast down the comb from the left side of his hair, and it became bamboo shoots. When the Ugly Night Spirit stopped to eat the grapes and bamboo shoots, Izanagi was able to escape toward the upper world.
Izanami was now more determined than ever to get her husband back. She now sent eight thunder-spirits and all the warriors of the Land of Night after him. But Izanagi outran them all. Out of breath, he stopped to rest beneath a peach tree at the border between the Land of Night and the upper world. When the forces sent by Izanami approached, Izanagi threw peaches at them. To his amazement, they ran in terror; to this day it is known that peaches dispel evil spirits.
Izanami was now furious. She called to her husband, “If you continue to flee, I will strangle one thousand of the people of earth every day.” Izanagi replied that if she did that, he would cause one thousand new people to be born every day. Thus, death entered the worldbut the human race still survives. Izanagi then took a great rock and sealed off the Land of Night. Izanami’s spirit remains there, ruling over the dead.
Izanagi was tired after his flight from the terrible land and refreshed himself by bathing in a stream. He needed to wash away the defilements of the terrible land of the dead and, as he did, gods and goddesses were produced. As he washed his left eye, Amaterasu Omikami, the sun-goddess and ancestress of the emperor, was born. As he washed his right eye, it became Tsukiyomi-no-Mikoto, the moon. When he washed his nose, Susano-O, the storm god, was born.
THE POLYNESIAN CREATION MYTHS
NOTE : The Polynesian cultural area extends from Easter Island, off the coast of Chile, to New Zealand, Tahiti, and Hawaii.
AO AND PO
T he entire universe is dual in nature. There is Ao: light, day, sky, the male principle. Its opposite is Po: darkness, night, the earth, the female principle. The darkness of Po should not be confused with the use of the word
darkness
to mean “evil.” The darkness of Po is warm and nurturing like the earth or the womb.
In the Hawaiian Creation story, the Kumulipo, or “Genealogy of All Things,” there was only a great watery Chaos at the beginning until Ku, the Creator, began to chant, separating Ao from Po.
Hanau ke po i ke po no
Hanau mai a puka i ke ao malamalama
.
Things born from po are po;
things born from ao are ao.
Of course this could be translated a number of ways, such as “things of darkness give birth to darkness” and “things of light give birth tolight.” But the great act of Creation was the work of separating Ao from Po, making the world possible and separating day from night.
Ku drew out Kanaloa, the squid, later the god of the sea. Then Ku drew out Kane (Tane, in New Zealand). Perhaps Kane was born out of the union of Ku, as Father Sky, with Hina, as Mother Earth.
Kane
means “man.” Kane had intercourse with a number of beings and thus produced grass, streams, and reptiles. But he wanted a child in his own image. So he took some soft red clay from Hawaiki, the mythical homeland of the Polynesians, and fashioned Hine-hau-ona, or “earth-formed woman.” Their first child was Hine-titama, or “dawn woman,” since dawn is the point when night meets day. But Kane became wicked and took Hine-titama, his own daughter, as a wife, concealing from her that he was her father.
This was a basic violation of the laws of nature, the great
kapu
, or taboo, against incest. Hina knew that Kane’s desires were wrong. When Hine-titama learned that Kane was also her father, she ran screaming into her mother’s domain, the Po world of
Izanagi continued to run in terror and disgust, leaving the horrible Land of Night behind him. As he was running away, he cast down the comb from the right side of his hair, and the comb miraculously became grapevines. Then he cast down the comb from the left side of his hair, and it became bamboo shoots. When the Ugly Night Spirit stopped to eat the grapes and bamboo shoots, Izanagi was able to escape toward the upper world.
Izanami was now more determined than ever to get her husband back. She now sent eight thunder-spirits and all the warriors of the Land of Night after him. But Izanagi outran them all. Out of breath, he stopped to rest beneath a peach tree at the border between the Land of Night and the upper world. When the forces sent by Izanami approached, Izanagi threw peaches at them. To his amazement, they ran in terror; to this day it is known that peaches dispel evil spirits.
Izanami was now furious. She called to her husband, “If you continue to flee, I will strangle one thousand of the people of earth every day.” Izanagi replied that if she did that, he would cause one thousand new people to be born every day. Thus, death entered the worldbut the human race still survives. Izanagi then took a great rock and sealed off the Land of Night. Izanami’s spirit remains there, ruling over the dead.
Izanagi was tired after his flight from the terrible land and refreshed himself by bathing in a stream. He needed to wash away the defilements of the terrible land of the dead and, as he did, gods and goddesses were produced. As he washed his left eye, Amaterasu Omikami, the sun-goddess and ancestress of the emperor, was born. As he washed his right eye, it became Tsukiyomi-no-Mikoto, the moon. When he washed his nose, Susano-O, the storm god, was born.
THE POLYNESIAN CREATION MYTHS
NOTE : The Polynesian cultural area extends from Easter Island, off the coast of Chile, to New Zealand, Tahiti, and Hawaii.
AO AND PO
T he entire universe is dual in nature. There is Ao: light, day, sky, the male principle. Its opposite is Po: darkness, night, the earth, the female principle. The darkness of Po should not be confused with the use of the word
darkness
to mean “evil.” The darkness of Po is warm and nurturing like the earth or the womb.
In the Hawaiian Creation story, the Kumulipo, or “Genealogy of All Things,” there was only a great watery Chaos at the beginning until Ku, the Creator, began to chant, separating Ao from Po.
Hanau ke po i ke po no
Hanau mai a puka i ke ao malamalama
.
Things born from po are po;
things born from ao are ao.
Of course this could be translated a number of ways, such as “things of darkness give birth to darkness” and “things of light give birth tolight.” But the great act of Creation was the work of separating Ao from Po, making the world possible and separating day from night.
Ku drew out Kanaloa, the squid, later the god of the sea. Then Ku drew out Kane (Tane, in New Zealand). Perhaps Kane was born out of the union of Ku, as Father Sky, with Hina, as Mother Earth.
Kane
means “man.” Kane had intercourse with a number of beings and thus produced grass, streams, and reptiles. But he wanted a child in his own image. So he took some soft red clay from Hawaiki, the mythical homeland of the Polynesians, and fashioned Hine-hau-ona, or “earth-formed woman.” Their first child was Hine-titama, or “dawn woman,” since dawn is the point when night meets day. But Kane became wicked and took Hine-titama, his own daughter, as a wife, concealing from her that he was her father.
This was a basic violation of the laws of nature, the great
kapu
, or taboo, against incest. Hina knew that Kane’s desires were wrong. When Hine-titama learned that Kane was also her father, she ran screaming into her mother’s domain, the Po world of
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