Reading Part B: Japanese Mythology

 Japanese Mythology Part B

Picture of the underside of a Japanese Umbrella (Source: Pixabay )

The Labors of Yamato: The Grotto of Love 

-Benten- sea kami (goddess) one of the Seven Lucky Gods of Japan

-Yamato got bored with his wife Princess Tacibana

-he went hunting to stop his boredem 

-Enoshima 

-jumped from a cliff into the sea and found a grotto filled with emerald light

-"Upon a couch of coral bowered mid glittering sea-blooms, reclined his lost siren, singing softly the whiles she gently fingered a gold and amber lute."

-handmaidens of the siren Benten spread out a feast before Yamato

-"Grant me thy love, sweet siren- else I shall surely die."

The Labors of Yamato: The Golden Apple

-Benten tells the story of Jofuku who traveled and got a golden apple

-"Prince! If thou wouldst be my lover, that Enchanted Isle discover, Bring me back the Golden Apple, thy devotion thus to prove! Then in joyance beyond measure, in a round of ceaseless pleasure, Thou shalt dwell with me forever in eternal youth and love."

 The Labors of Yamato- The Demon Boar 

- very similar to the labors of Hercules 

-asked all the servants, sailors, and fishermen about the Golden Apple but no one knew anything

-depressed- "A lethargy of despair"

-boar in the forest of Hakone

-Ise- high priestess 

-the priestess tells Yamato that only the sacred sword can kill the boar and that he is only vulnerable in his tail and runs like the wind

-search brought them high into the mountains

-killed by cutting off tail and driving off a cliff

The Labors of Yamato- The Grass- Cleaving Sword

-Suruga 

-Sagami

-Princess Tacibana saves Yamato and men from  raging fire

The Labors of Yamato- The Sacred Sword

-Yamato starts thinking about Benten again and tells Tacibana to go home and hide herself till her hair grows back and her burns heal because he says she is hideous in his sight

-Benten trying to trick Yamato for the Sacred Sword for Susa-no-wo

-she got him drunk and made him pass out and she stole the Sacred Sword

-lost in the forest

The Labors of Yamato- The Sacred Sword (Cont.)

-Kwannon- the merciful, goddess of mercy and love

- told Yamato that the sword is in the horns of a stag

-made a lance from bamboo

-goddess lent Yamato her hounds for the hunt

The Labors of Yamato- The Dragon

-norito-an ancient exorcism to protect the faithful from serpents, sprites, and goblins

-Tacibana was "the goddess more beautiful than Benten whose love was greater than her own,"

-Susa-no-wo the dragon- "His head was like a camel, his horns were like a stag, and his eyes were glowing coals of fire. Scaled like a crocodile, he brandished a tiger's paw, armed with the talons of an eagle. 

-Yamato's wife died just like Hercules did in the story of his labors

The Jewel of Heart's Desire: The Land of Morning Calm

-Emporer Chiuai- son of Yamato

-the Empress had a vision from Amaterasu and the Emporer doubted it and was killed by the goddess

-the Land of Morning Calm

-jewel of heart's desire

Bibliography:

Romance of Old Japan by E. W. Champney and F. Champney (1917).