Mythology Around The World: From Mexico And Japan

Theres 100’s of cultures on Earth, each with their own ancient stories and ways of explaining unusual natural phenomenon Introduction. What myths do you know? Most of us have grown up in the United States of America, so we probably know of Johnny AppleSeed, Paul Bunyan and his Blue Ox, and George Washington chopping down his father’s favorite cherry tree

A lot of these stories were told to us as small children to teach us a lesson in honesty, integrity or they were just told as fun bedtime stories. But every other culture on earth has a entirely new set of tall tales and folklore to set examples, explain the complexities of the after life, or maybe scare misbehaving kids just a little bit. Today, we will discuss different myths and mythical creatures from the wildly different cultures of Mexico and Japan.

Japan and Mexico were chosen because these 2 cultures have had very limited to no historical contact, so the myths the indigenous peoples who lived there would be as different as possible. First, Hal will tell us about (Hal). Then I (Wyatt) will tell you all about various lore from the Land of the Rising Sun.

One of the most ancient and massive celebrations of spirits, ghosts and the deceased in the world happens each year immediately after Halloween in Mexico. I’m speaking of course of the famous Día de Los Muertos. The two-day celebration is just a piece of Mexico’s rich tradition of ghosts in folklore, religion, and cultural tradition. The evolution of the holiday is perhaps as interesting as the festival itself. Nearly 3, 000 years ago the festival began in late summer, the ninth month of the Mayan calendar. This ancient version of the festival lasted a whole month and payed homage to a goddess called “Lady of the Deal”. Over the millennia, and with the influence of Christan “All Saint’s Day’ and “All Souls Day”. By the 20th century the holiday is unanimously practiced on the 1st and 2nd of November

1. Nov 1st: Dia de Los Incentes - a day to pay tribute to dead children and babies.
2. Nov 2nd: Dia de Los Muertos - a day in remembrance of dead adults.

The tradition and cultural significance of the holiday is impressive to say the least. Families will often prepare for the festival throughout the year and on halloween. Integral to the celebration of Dia de Los Muertos are the alters or Ofrendas. These altars are decorated with belongings and pictures of the deceased as well as their favorite food and drinks. The altars are built I the cemeteries to draw out the souls of loved ones. Prior to the holiday, public schools of all age groups build ofrendas in class. (minus any religious symbols). Government buildings will often erect small altars to celebrate a holiday that is deeply important to the Mexican heritage.

The cultural fascination with ghosts and spirits goes beyond the festivities in November. Mexican folklore and superstition tells of various ghosts and hauntings.

La Llorona - The Crying Woman is perhaps the most popular ghost legend in Mexico. La Llorona was a beautiful woman who drowned her children to pursue a man she loved but was ultimately rejected and took her own life. She is said to be curse, wandering, searching for her children. If she finds wandering or misbehaving children, she abducts them.

La Planchada - The Ironed Lady is a legend that is known throughout the medial community in Mexico. La Planchada is said to haunt hospitals in northern Mexico, most notably the Hospital Juárez, in a perfectly ironed nurses uniform. She has been said to heal patents in the emergency rooms at night, in the morning patients feel much better and are taken to recovery sections of the hospital. Patients claim that a nurse came in to heal them but none of the nurses on duty were responsible, and no record of treatment exists. Though these are just legends, their popularity illustrates a willingness to believe and a deep tradition of interactions, perceived or real, with spirits. Now, its time to ditch your tequila and get a glass of sake, because were going 11 thousand miles away to the land of the rising sun.

Even though Japan is the land of technological advances and robots, you can easily get on a train in Tokyo station and within 1 hour you can set off the train and feel as though it is the year 1700. Today, I want to discuss the various myths and legends associated with the Land of the Rising Sun. The first myth I will discuss today is the myth of how the Japanese islands themselves came to be and how the first people were brought to the islands. This is discussed in extreme detail in the ancient tome known as the “Kojiki”. This compilation of oral histories was first collected in 712 and the author is lost to history. The Japanese islands were made by benevolent and bored gods. According to this ancient text, directly after the spontaneous creation of Heaven and Earth, Izanami and Izanagi, 2 of the 7 original gods decided to give form to the soft muddy earth below them. Given a jeweled spear from the other 5 gods they began to shape the mud into the first island of Japan, named Onogoroshima. This island was their first child (translations of the Kojiki are extremely approximate and rough). There are 8 main islands of Japan, but at the time this text was collected, only 6 were known to the Japanese people. Someone later went in and edited the Kojiki to include the creation of Hokkaido and Ryukyu. In a related book, called “Nihon Shoki”, the gods discuss what to do with the islands after they are created. One suggestion was to leave the islands alone and just let time consume them and remake them again after they completely disappeared. Izanami and Izanagi didn’t want to waste their creation on time, so they suggested population the islands with beings. A majority of the gods liked that idea, but none of them knew how to do that. Izanami and Izanagi decided to model the people off their own anatomy. The Kojiki says that they studied each other ‘feverishly’ and humans came to be on the islands of Japan Transition between ideas (in the same country though). After the islands were populated with the children of these 2 deities, the gods decided to leave them be and only interfere when they thought it to be critical to the survival of the land they made.

Similar to the settlement of America, at one time, Japan was not a beautifully unified nation under a single governing body. For many decades, only half of the big island and none of the northern islands were under the control of the Japanese government. After rice farming was introduced to the islands, large provincial kingdoms were created around the leader of the rice farm. This continued for many decades, but as the small kingdoms grew and borders became more contested, war and fighting all across the country was common. This displeased the gods, especially the 2 who created the inhabitants of Japan in the first place, so the rest of the gods decided to step in for the first time since creation and guide the humans. The gods manifested as a 3 legged crow and appeared to the leader of the largest rice farm on the island, a man named Jimmu. With the help of the crow, Jimmu was able to unify all the peoples of what would be Japan and become the first emperor of the new country. This supposedly occurred in the year 660 B. C. , making Japan the 6th oldest continually inhabited and united country on earth according to Oldest. org.

After discussing the creation myth of this vibrant land, I would like to finally discuss just a fun myth. Japanese yōkai, or ghosts, in my opinion are some of the most fascinating mythological creatures you can read about. One of my favorites to read about are called “Tsukumogami”. Examples off these creatures can be found in the book Gazu Hyakki Yagyō. A Tsukumogami is quite literally just an object that has been around for 100 years, has not been badly damaged, and has been well loved/used. If an object makes it this far, it gets a soul and free will. If the person using the object treated it well, the Tsukumogami continues to act like a normal object (Teapot, lantern, etc. ) If the current user doesn’t treat it well, or is a bad person, then the spirit causes mayhem wherever it can without being discovered. This is a lot more motivating in japan, where a great number of every day items you use could very well be over 100 years old, because every family has dozens of heirlooms

Another one of my favorite Yokai can be found in the same book as the Tsukumogami. Its called Azukiarai. He is a ghost that sits next to fast moving rivers and continually washes Azuki beans. Some have attributed the sound of the river to be very similar to the sound of washing Azuki beans. Azukiarai is a physical manifestation of a water spirit who wants to eat human flesh. While he washes the beans, he continually sings, “Will I going my beans? Or will get a person to eat!?” Anyone who gets too close to the water will fall in and, according to the text, be eaten by the spirit. This myth is believed to be made to keep kids from wandering too close to dangerous bodies of water.

Conclusion

On this journey through the mystic, spiritual, and mythological in two countries with some of the most expansive beliefs in the ghosts of their heritage. I (Hal) brought you south of our border to Mexico to explore day of the dead origins and celebrations and discuss the famous and recurring ghost stories of the region. Then (Wyatt) went across the pacific to discuss one of the most ancient recorded religious beliefs in the world and talked about the gods and ghosts of the Land of the Rising Sun.

Two cultures with seemingly little in common both share strong and important beliefs in the mystical. Whether it is a local legend, or widespread religion based belief both cultures share a clear fascination with other-worldly apparitions. In a modern age that pulls farther and farther away from anything that is beyond the explanation of science, perhaps the cultural celebration of the departed in Mexico, and the deep religious roots of the Japanese shows that there is a place for the supernatural in today’s society.