Shinto — Spirits of the Ancestors

The chapter opens with the myth of the creation of the Japanese islands. Tasked by the heavenly kami with making the earth habitable, Izanagi and Izanami lower a sacred spear from the bridge linking heaven and earth and stir the ocean; a drop falling from the spear's tip forms the island of Onogoro. The couple circle a pillar they build there, and when they meet the woman speaks first — which curses the marriage: their children are only small islands. On the heavenly kami's orders they marry again, this time Izanagi speaks first, and the eight great islands of Japan are born.

The most powerful part of the chapter is the myth of death. Izanami dies giving birth to the fire kami Kagutsuchi and descends to the underworld, Yomi. Izanagi goes to the entrance to bring her back, but Izanami has already eaten the food of the underworld. Unable to resist, Izanagi lights a fire, looks inside, sees his wife's rotting body and flees; the furious Izanami chases him, and he seals the entrance with a boulder. Izanami swears to kill a thousand people every day; Izanagi replies that fifteen hundred will be born every day. The book conveys this exchange well: it sticks in the mind as a mythological explanation of the balance between life and death.

Next come the «Three Divine Children», born during Izanagi's purification ritual: the sun kami Amaterasu from his left eye, the moon kami Tsukuyomi from his right eye, and Susanoo, ruler of the earth and seas, from his nose. Amaterasu, hurt by Susanoo's mischief, shutting herself in a cave, the world left without sun, and the kami placing a sakaki tree decorated with a mirror and jewels before the cave and dancing — this is the liveliest stretch of the book. The mirror, jewel and sword are given to Amaterasu's grandson Ninigi as the three sacred treasures of Japan's imperial family.

The second half of the chapter turns to ritual: washing hands and mouth at the purification basin, offerings of rice wine (sake) and food, clapping to summon the kami, shamanic «kagura» dances, and the «torii» gates that separate the mortal world from the divine. Details such as the pilgrimage to Ise three times a year, children being taken to shrines at ages 3, 5 and 7, and weddings conducted by Shinto priests but funerals by Buddhist ones show well the mixed nature of Japanese religious life. The book notes that only 4–5 million of Japan's 125 million people are «pure» Shintoists.

However, the chapter has errors that a careful reader will spot. In one place the treasures of the three great kami are said to have been given by «their father Izanami» — even though a few lines earlier Izanami was presented as the mother and Izanagi as the father. Tsukuyomi is at one point called «ruler of the underworld», which does not match traditional sources. The Kaguya-hime tale is interesting, but why it belongs in a creation chapter is unclear. A Nihongi quotation objecting to the woman speaking first is flagged as Confucian influence, but the point is never developed.

Overall this chapter is the fullest part of the book and helps the reader quickly grasp the link between myth and ritual in Shinto. Marginal images and captions (Izanagi and Izanami, Ninigi) add visual support. But the unsourced text, editing errors and a short format that leaves no room for depth make it suitable only as a first acquaintance; readers who want to study the subject seriously should move on to a translation of the Kojiki or to academic works.

• Short sections and myth summaries
• Colour illustrations with captions
• Direct quotations from the Nihongi
• An alphabetical mythology glossary and bibliography at the end