Read, reflect, pray
Nihon Shoki: Purification in water and the birth of kami
Nihon Shoki · Story 5 of 17
水で身を清め、神々が生まれる
Sumiyoshi’s deities, the sea deities, and sun, moon, and Susanoo.
English translation of this site’s published story summary and reading notes. This is a selected reading guide, not a complete translation of the ancient chronicle.
A variant account (issho, introduced as “one writing says”) is a different tradition preserved beside the main narrative. It is labeled separately below.
Variant account (issho)
Book 1, section 5 variant 6
Izanagi follows Izanami, who died giving birth to the fire deity, into Yomi. The two separate, and after returning he cleanses himself at Awagihara by Odo in Tachibana, Himuka of Tsukushi.
Washing at the bottom, middle, and surface of the sea brings forth the Watatsumi and Tsutsunoo deities. This account identifies Sokotsutsunoo, Nakatsutsunoo, and Uwatsutsunoo as Sumiyoshi’s great deities and the three Watatsumi as deities worshiped by the Azumi clan.
Washing the left eye produces Amaterasu, the right eye Tsukuyomi, and the nose Susanoo. Izanagi assigns Takamagahara to Amaterasu, the sea to Tsukuyomi, and the world below heaven to Susanoo. Earlier in the same variant is an account of Ukanomitama’s birth.
Compare with the Kojiki
Variant 6 records the same left-eye, right-eye, and nose sequence as the Kojiki, but assigns the sea to Tsukuyomi and the world below heaven to Susanoo. The Kojiki assigns night to Tsukuyomi and the sea to Susanoo. Similar birth sequences do not mean identical domains.
Purification and the three noble children →Connected figures
Names and relationships in a chronicle may differ from later traditions. Each figure’s introduction identifies its sources.
Sources and edition (1)
English explanations on this page were prepared by Inori no Mori from the cited text and its Japanese explanations. They are not an official translation or a prescribed liturgy.