Monday, November 14, 2016

Tsukiyomi




Numazu, Tasogare-zu by Andō, Hiroshige. (Brought to
you by the interesting and useful NYPL Digital Collections).


A full moon the night after a "super moon"? Imma write me a moon-themed post! Specifically, I think I'll write about the kami of the moon and/or night. (See, I can be seasonal. Sort of.) 

But before we really get started, I wanna say something. It seems a lot of information about Tsukuyomi comes from two imperial court-ordered works, the Kojiki (made around 712 AD) and the Nihon shoki/Nihongi (made around 720 AD). That is, a lot of books/sources I used referenced them a lot. And I've noticed a good chunk of this post is basically a comparison of them. Well, here's the end of the introduction! See you at the bottom.




Names
First, a(nother) quick(ish) side note, this time on honorifics. In the Kojiki, they add 命 to the end of Tsukuyomi, and I've found this means "no mikoto" (yes, I know the connective "no" is missing -- apparently they did that back then. And kind of now, actually). 

The Nihon Shoki uses 尊instead, and currently I don't know why yet).  And while we're on it, not all books I've read add "no mikoto", probably because it's just a title, not a name, I reckon. So, on to the names!

The Shared Name
In spite of all the wildly different statements between the two books (as you'll soon see) the Kojiki and Nihongi do share a name used for Tsukuyomi. What is it? Tsukuyomi. The kanji for this is: 月読, the first of which means "moon" and the second one means "read". (I've also found  月讀. JapanDict says 讀 has a meaning of "read" so I guess it's an archaic version?)

Nihongi Only Names
There are three other names for Tsukuyomi in the Nihongi. Two are Tsuki-yumi no mikoto (kanji thusly: 月弓尊 -- that middle one means "bow" -- and a pretty beat up one, if ever I saw...) and Tsuki no Kami, which is "moon kami" (haven't seen kanji for this one so far). The third is (I'm kinda guessing here) an alternate spelling of Tsukuyomi, 月夜見. The second kanji means "night" and the third means "see/view".

Kojiki Names
There's also Tsukiyomi (note the "i" -- which I've thoughtfully italicized -- where the second "u" was). This name apparently also uses characters for "moon" and "read" -- therefore until otherwise corrected, let's just assume it's just alternate reading of the same characters. (the source I had didn't use the kanji themselves.) Ise Jingū uses Tsukiyomi too, though... Hm...

Conclusion
So Tsukuyomi, Tsukiyomi, Tsukiyumi -- Potayto, Potahto and, um, Patata. I guess.

Birth
Like his name, should they look, any interested reader will be blessed with more than one account of Tsukuyomi's birth. Here's a second comparative look at the Nihongi and the Kojiki.

Nihongi
In the Nihongi, he was -- in the "main" part of the work, as I've heard it called -- the son of both Izanagi and Izanami. In this account, he's made to work with the sun kami, Amaterasu. (One place said he was made to  be Amaterasu's husband, and that they were supposed to rule the sky together).

But in the Nihongi, there's another writing, deemed "alternate" (the Nihongi's like this). This writing says that Tsukuyomi came to be when the kami Izanagi held a white copper mirror in his right hand (Amaterasu happens when he holds a white copper mirror in his left hand).

Another story in the Nihongi, again outside the "main" part, says that Tsukuyomi came from Izanagi's right eye as he washed it as part of a cleansing process that he went through after a very awkward visit with his late wife, Izanami, Yomi, the land of the dead. (Susano-o, god of storms, came from his nose, while Amaterasu came from his left eye). Before researching Tsukuyomi, it's this story I was familiar with whenever a book talked about how Amaterasu came to be.

Kojiki
The Kojiki repeats the story from the above paragraph -- and never talks about Tsukuyomi again.

Function
The mystery that is Tsukuyomi,
a la Venn diagram, by me.
Now that we know about Tsukuyomi's origins, we must ask ourselves, what exactly is Tsukuyomi the kami of? The answer is: it depends on which books you've read.

Some authors just say he's the kami of the night, some say moon, some say both. I don't remember where at the moment, but I thought that I read he's supposed to give off light, with only Amaterasu being  brighter. Like, implying he's the moon, maybe?

Well, as you might guess, it's time for the requisite comparison between the Nihongi and the Kojiki, as I understand it from other people. In the Kojiki, Tsukuyomi is the kami of the night -- and I guess the moon within that? And, because it's important for the comparison I'm making, in the Kojiki Susano-o is the sea kami.

Meanwhile, in the Nihongi... Tsukuyomi is the sea god. (Gasp! They matched!) I don't know what Susano-o is (though I probably could find it if I look, but for the sake of my sanity, I don't think I will just yet).

If it helps, a PDF from the website of Ise Jingū (Ise Shrine), which looked like it was trying to be family friendly, also had an opinion. It said he was both the night and moon kami. 

Both then. We'll go with both. Except, there's a theory that goes like this: Tsukuyomi = possible agricultural deity. Why? Because moon = calendar and stuff like that. This possibly means the story where he kills Ukemochi (which I've put way down below) = harvest metaphor.



Shinto or Buddhist?
Obviously Shinto, Buddhism and Taoism has all been said to have blended together-like, over the years. Has he ever, some of you may ask, had a specific connection to Buddhism? Yep. Before the Meiji period, Tsukuyomi was considered a gongen, or avatar, of the buddha known in Japan as Amida Buddha. Yep, the buddha of Pure Land Buddhism. 

So, deity of the moon and/or night, and an avatar of Amida Buddha.

A (Frankly Disturbing) Story
This is a story I kept finding when looking up Tsukuyomi, and it's a story that happens in the Nihongi, not the Kojiki. The header to this section says it all, really. Here's how it goes, more or less (authors really ought to be more cooperatively corroborative):

Tsukuyomi was asked by Amaterasu this one time to go to the kami of food, Ukemochi, who was in the Central Country of Reed Plains. Why? Well, one recounting I found has it that she just wanted him to "wait on" Ukemochi. A different one says that she wanted to make sure that Ukemochi was making enough food. (There's also a book I came across that says Tsukuyomi just asked Ukemochi to make food. No Amaterasu involved.)

Whatever particular reason, Tsukuyomi, who must've known where the "Central Country of Reed Plains" was, went down to Ukemochi, who made food for him. By pulling it out -- like a sick magician -- of certain orificies, including throwing it up. Though there are places, including translations of the Nihongi, that say she only threw it up or that it just came from her mouth.

After making the food, Ukemochi had it all set on 100 tables for Tsukuyomi (not everyone mentions the tables, by the way. Weird, that. I guess those authors didn't think it was important enough). You know, to make it nice, a real feast. Because anyone would so want to eat after that.

Before I get to Tsukumochi's reaction, and what happens after, let's linger a moment over why Ukemochi made food in such an unhinged way. One author said that her motivation was an attempt at rudeness. (If so, then she can consider her mission accomplished, and with flying colors. Yuck.) No other place I've found mentions this, however. Sigh.

Well, whatever she meant by it, Tsukuyomi was (understandably) upset. He made a short, angry speech and (not so understandably) killed her. Some authors say the murder weapon was his sword. (So for you Clue enthusiasts: it was Tsukuyomi in the Central Country of Reed Plains with the sword.)

From Ukemochi's dead body, different kinds of stuff came forth. Animals and plants are mentioned across the sources I found. It's just finding out the particulars that's the problem. The details of this part of the story can be found in the section after it, which is basically a big list of things that don't match up with this version of the narrative, and that I thought I'd put in a separate section. Unlike the stuff I have as part of this narrative, which I suppose up to a certain degree is completely arbitrary. (Hurray for conjunctions and relative pronouns! I can make sentences almost infinitely long!)

Anyhow, getting back to Tsukuyomi, he goes up to Amaterasu, and tells her all about how the meeting went down. Though I've also seen a place tell it that Amaterasu just finds out about the murder. (Arrrrggsiiiigghhh... I guess I should just pick a time and sit down to read those two books, though I bet if I look at more than one translation for each, there'll be a noticeable incidence of non-matching word choices for the same passages. But that's a rant possibly best saved for whoever I manage to wrangle as editor for whatever post I'm working on.)

Amaterasu was deeply displeased by her brother, and decided never to see him again. The upshot of which was that the sun and moon were never together in the sky, forevermore.

Then Amaterasu sent another kami, one with an incredibly long-looking name, Amenokumanoushi (or Amekumabito or Ama no kumabito), to go see Ukemochi. Amenokumanoushi decided to bring back the stuff from Ukemochi's body, and Amaterasu took the all the stuff to earth, deciding that people should use them. (I wonder how she knew people could use them...)

She planted the plants, and then invented sericulture (that's silkworm farming), this being a recounting where silkworms occurred. For some reason, she invented the latter by putting the silkworms in her mouth and managing to make thread from them.

I bet you'll never look at a grain product the same way again. Or beans.

Alternate Forms of the (Frankly Disturbing) Story

As might  be expected, other another versions of the icky story exist. The Kojiki has one. The changes to the tale go like this:

Susano-o is the killer. Ukemochi, depending on who you talk to, is still the victim, but you'll also find at times it's Ōgetsuhime --  with whom Susano-o had been staying after being sent away from heaven. (Some people say Ukemochi and Ōgetsuhime are the same kami, because the variations of the story are so close.) In this version, the kind of beans that grow out of the body are red beans.

On to another version I found, though where it comes from I know not. Inari, a kami of different stuff including rice is the victim instead of Ukemochi or Ōgetsuhime. It seems that, in this version, Inari only vomited the food and that he'd been entertaining Tsukuyomi. But that's me trying to figure out this one book.

As for what grew forth from Ukemochi's body... It may've been soybeans, beans, wheat, rice and millet, and apparently also the horse as well as the cow. Or horses and cows from her head, rice from her belly, and both beans and wheat from a place I'd rather not say, and if you really want to know (you don't, trust me), you'll just have to go see the for yourself. (Sheesh, these old-time stories sometimes, I'm tellin' ya...). I've also seen it that millet came from her forehead, silkworms from her eyebrows, and panic grass (it's a cereal) from her eyes. And in one place, the beans weren't even mentioned. *Gives a louder sigh.*

Oh, and another book doesn't mention Amaterasu doing anything with the stuff from Ukemochi's body. Instead, Inari feels bad that there's no one to watch over the rice crops, so he decides to make himself the kami who fulfills that necessity.

Yeah... *Shrugs* I guess it all depends on which region you grew up in. 

Shrines
Confusion has seriously been haunting my attempts at researching Tsukuyomi. But from what I understand, he's worshiped at a boatload of different shrines, including an auxiliary shrine in the Naiku (Inner Shrine) at Ise Jingū. Tsukuyomi also has shrines around the Ise area as well as the Yamashiro area and in Yamagata Prefecture.


References:
As for myself, I know now for a fact that -- whether academia or "amateur" publishing -- the world of information products is unquestionably undeniable proof of quantum mechanics at work within the human conciousness. Again and again the question lingers, why do books not agree? Variations, vagaries and just plain guessing? Political machinations of the tenure-less, desperate not to loose funding? Printing accidents? *Shakes head* The world may never know...


"Japanese Mythology A to Z"; Jeremy Roberts; 2009


"Handbook of Japanese Mythology"; Michael Ashkenazi; 2003


"Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest of Times to A.D. 697 "; W. G. Aston (translator); 1972

"Dictionary of Nature Myths: Legends of the Earth, Sea, and Sky"; Tamra Andrews; 1998

Kokugakuin University: Encycopledia of Shinto: Ukemochi

"Dragon Ball Culture Volume 2: Adventure"; Derek Padula; 2015

Kokugagkuin:  Encyclopedia of Shinto: Mikoto


Ise Jinguu: The Bestugu Sanctuaries in Geku: The sanctuary Tsuki-no-miya

"The National Faith of Japan: A Study in Modern Shinto"; D.C. Holm; 1965

"Studies In Shinto & Shrines"; R. A. B. Ponsonby-Fane; 2004


"The Cambridge History of Japan" Volume I Ancient Japan; Delmer M. Brown; 1993


"Mythical Thinkings: What Can We Learn from Comparative Mythology?"; Kazuo Matsumura; 2013


"Traditional Japanese Literature: An Anthology, Beginnings to 1600"; Haruo Shirane; 2007


"Eyewitness Companions: Religions"; Philip Wilkinson; 2008


JapanDict: 讀

"A Popular Dictionary of Shinto"; Brian Bocking; 1995


"Shinto: At the Fountainhead of Japan"; Jean Herbert; 1967 (Don't worry, this edition came from 2011.)

Kokugakuin University: Encyclopedia of Shinto: Tsukuyomi


Image References:
The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection, The New York Public Library. "Numazu, Tasogare-zu" The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1832. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/69f3e5ef-fcc6-0a54-e040-e00a180636a3



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