The History and Significance of the god Ninigi

Ninigi, who is also known as Honinigi, is one of the great ancestral deities from the Japanese Shinto belief system. He was the son of Ame-no-Oshiho-mimi and the grandson of Taka-mi-musubi and the sun goddess Amaterasu.

According to mythology, Amaterasu had been desperately trying to find someone worthy of ruling over earth. Initially, she sent her son, Ame-no-Oshiho-mimi, to rule but as he looked over the Floating Bridge of Heaven, he saw the many disturbances on earth and refused to go.

The gods gathered and decided that Ame-No-Hohi should be sent. However, after three years the gods had not heard from him so they decided that his son, Ame-No-Wakahiko, should investigate. Before he left, they gave him a bow and arrows.

Ame-No-Wakahiko went to earth and eventually married Shitateru-Hime, the daughter of Okuninushi, the god of medicine and magic. This time, eight years passed without any word to the rest of the gods. Determined to find out, they sent a pheasant down to watch him.

The pheasant perched outside a tree of the god’s house. When one of the women of the house saw it, she told Ame-No-Wakahiko that it was a bad omen and immediately, the god shot it. However, the arrow passed straight through the bird and entered heaven, falling straight at the feet of Amaterasu. Recognising the arrow, she flung it back at the direction it came in fury, where it killed Ame-No-Wakahiko.

Two of the gods then visited earth themselves and came before Okuninushi, who told him that they had come on the sun goddess’ orders to bring peace and prosperity to the land under her control. Okuninushi spoke to his sons; the elder son agreed to worship Amaterasu but the younger son refused. The two gods then overcame the younger son who then promised not to resist the goddess. Okuninushi also agreed to recognise the sun goddess’ rule, on the condition that a place should be reserved for him amongst the major deities worshipped at the Izumo shrine. This Amaterasu agreed to.

The great sun goddess finally sent her grandson, Ninigi, to earth. Before he left, he was given many divine objects, including the mirror that Amaterasu had gazed into when she first emerged from the cave. He was also given the jewels that had produced Amaterasu’s sons and the storm god Susano-Wo’s sword, Kusanagi. It was these signs that would become the emblems of Japanese imperial power in later years.

On earth, Ninigi married Kono-Hana-Sakuyu-Hime, the daughter of a mountain god. When she conceived their child on the first night of their marriage, Ninigi suspected that she had been unfaithful to him. He built her a house with no doors and when she was ready to give birth, she entered it. She stated that if she had been unfaithful then her child would die. Eventually, Kono-Hana-Sakuyu-Hime gave birth to three sons; one of them, Hikohohodemi, would later go on to father a child who, upon his death, would be known as Jimmu-Tenno. It would be Jimmu-Tenno that would be the founder of the imperial line of Japan.

Looking at the history and significance of the god, one scholar states that Ninigi was the “exemplary ‘archetype’ of the historical Japanese emperors who, based on the richness and abundance of the rice harvest, maintain the cosmic order overarching the three cosmic zones”. His myth also establishes the most important event in the traditional, official myth structure of early Japan, accentuating the divine derivation of the imperial family line and the kinship theology, established in the Kojiki (compiled 712 CE) and the Nihongi (720 CE).

Bibliography:

Waida, Wanabu (1976) Sacred Kingship in Early Japan: A historical Introduction, History of Religions, The University of Chicago Press.

Waida, Wanabu (1973) Symbolism of “Descent” in Tibetan Sacred Kingship and Some East Asian Parallels, Numen, BRILL.

The History and Significance of the goddess Benten

Japanese mythology is full of interesting deities; for the scholar it can be somewhat difficult to unravel the ties between Shinto, the native religion of Japan, and the Indian gods that travelled with Buddhism to the country during the sixth century CE.

One of the most interesting goddesses in the Shinto pantheon is Benten, who is also known as Benzai-ten. She was a sea-goddess, a goddess of music and one of the seven Shinto deities of good fortune known as the Shichi Fukujin.

The Shichi Fukujin was a group of seven deities that were assembled sometime during the 17th century CE by a monk; it was his intention to present them as a symbol of all the virtues that a man of his time should inspire to.

Benten can be compared to that of the ancient Greek goddess Aphrodite and the Hindu Sarasvati, in that she was known as the Queen of Love. She is believed to help humans in acquiring material gains and to bring good fortune in marriage. Benten is also the patron of geishas and worshipped by gamblers and jealous women. As well as this, she is the goddess of oratory, happy wisdom, longevity, freedom from harm, and victory. The island of Enoshima is sacred to her and, according to the noh drama Chikubushima, is where the goddess resides.

According to mythology, Benten was said to have descended to earth where she met and married a dragon in order to stop him eating young children. Because of this, she is sometimes depicted as riding a dragon in art.

Another legend tells of how the goddess helped the young poet Baishu. He had found a poem written by a maiden and had fallen in love with her, despite never having seen what she looked like. Praying to the goddess for help, Benten arranged for the young poet and the girl to meet outside the shrine. Later, it turned out that the young girl Baishu had fallen in love with was actually the soul of the women he later met and married.

In art, Benten is sometimes shown with snakes. Some statues of her reveal eight arms, six of these which are raised and the hands holding different objects. These include a bow and arrow and two hands are folded in prayer.

Bibliography:

Shokyu, Arii and Sato, Hiroaki (2002) Record of an Autumn Wind: The Travel Diary of Arii Shokya, Monumenta Nipponica.