Izanami giving birth to Kagutsuchi / Fire - Shikanda.net

1. Introduction
1.1. Synopsis of the myth of Giving Birth to Kagutsuchi / Fire
Point of departure of my argument is the myth of the Japanese goddess Izanami
(イザナミ, also given as 伊弉冉尊 or 伊邪那美命, meaning ‘she who invites’)
giving birth to the Fire God Kagutsuchi (カグツチ), also called Kagutsuchi no kami
(迦具土の神), Hinokagutsuchi (火之迦具土), or Ho musuhi (火産霊). Izanami is the
sister and spouse of Izanagi (イザナギ, recorded in Japanese classic histories (early
8 th c. CE) as 伊弉諾 – in the Kojiki 古事記 – or as 伊邪那岐 – in the Nihon Shoki or
Nihongi –, also written as 伊弉諾尊, meaning ‘he who invites’). These two creation
deities of the eighth generation have, geomythically, produced the islands, sea, rivers,
mountains, trees, herbs, of the Japanese archipelago. Although many instances of
procreation in the early phase of the ‘Age of the Gods’ are indirect and non-genital –
with numerous clusters of gods springing from implements, acts, conditions etc.), the
earliest geomythical phase of this process is implied to have taken place in the normal
manner of human birth, from Izanami’s womb and via the natural birth channel
(which marks her as a great Mother Goddess). Yet, amazingly enough, considering
the diverse nature of this offspring, no obstetric problems presented themselves (apart
from some highly significant miscreants to which we shall return) until Izanami gives
birth to Kagutsuchi / Fire. Then (at least, according to the Kojiki, and one alternative
version cited in the Nihongi) her genitals are lethally burnt, and she retreats to Yomi
黄泉 / ‘Yellow Springs’, the land of death, where her dealings with Izanagi constitute
a dramatic and moving parallel to the Orpheus and Eurydice theme from Ancient
Graeco-Roman mythology. 2 Fleeing from Yomi and pursued by Izanami and the eight
Thunder gods that have sprung from her putrefying body, Izanagi erects a number of
boundaries between Yomi and the land of the living, separates from Izanami who thus
become the Death goddess, kills Kagutsuchi / Fire, and engages in elaborate purificatory
lustration, – in the process all the while generating new clusters of gods, including
the two protagonists of the next mythical episode: the Ocean/rainstorm god
Susanowo スサノオ, and his sister the Sun goddess Amaterasu-ōmikami
(天照大神/天照大御神) or Ōhiru-menomuchi-no-kami (大日孁貴神).
1.2. Central question and disclaimer
My argument seeks to answer the central question as to why, after giving birth to
islands, mountains, rivers and trees for which the human womb and the human natural
birth channel are equally unequipped, giving birth to Kagutsuchi / Fire should be
so utterly disruptive, both to Izanami and her sibling spouse, and to the narrative
sequence of the canonical Japanese cosmogony.
2 Cf. Ovid., Metamorphoses 10; Apollodorus, Bibliotheke, 1.3.2; Pausanias, 9.30; Vergil., Georgica,
4.453.
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