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Shikome

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Yomotsu-shikome(Hoàng tuyền xấu nữ,lit. 'Ugly Woman of the Underworld'),inJapanese mythology,was a hag sent by the deadIzanamito pursue her husbandIzanagi,for shaming her by breaking promise not to see her in her decayed form in the Underworld (Yomi-no-kuni). Also recorded by the nameYomotsu-hisame(Tuyền tân ngày hiệp nữ),the name may have been a term referring collectively to eight hags, not just one.

Accounts in mythology

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Further information:Izanami and Izanagi

The hag appears by the Yomotsu-shikome (or Ugly-Female-of-the-Underworld "[1]) name in the eldest Japanese chronicleKojiki.But either eight demon-hags (femaleoni) or a woman/women named Yomotsu-hisame hunted after Izanagi according to theNihon Shoki,which frequently gives different readings from alternative sources.

Kojikiversion

Izanagi was fleeing the Underworld with Yomotsu-shikome in hot pursuit. Izanagi first cast down his black headdress,[a]which turned into a kind ofgrapes[b]and slowed the hag's advance as she devoured them. Next he broke off his comb Yutsu-tsuma-gushi(Canh tân trảo lược)[c]and cast them, and the broken piece (the teeth?[2]) turned intobamboo shoots,slowing her down again as she pulled them out and ate them. But the hag was now joined by a large army 1500 strong led by eight Thunder-deities. Izanagi brandished hisTotsuka-no-Tsurugi(Mười quyền kiếm)but still they pursued, until he climbed atop the "flat slope" or "Even Pass"[1]at the entrance to the Underworld, and flung three peaches, whereby the pursuers retreated. After this, Izanami herself came in pursuit, and Izanagi blocked the entrance at the slope with a boulder.[1][3]

Nihon Shokiversion

Apart from the variant name and the possibility of multiple hags ( "eight Ugly Females of Yomi,"[4]) are some minor discrepancies, such as the lack of mention of the Thunder god and the army and the peaches. As Izanagi reached the entrance, Izanami was already there. According to one telling, Izanagi urinated at the large tree, so that the water swelled into a river, and before Yomotsu-hisame could cross it, Izanagi reached the entrance named the "Even Pass of Yomi".[4][5]

Critical literature

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Several commentators have pointed to the connection between the peach in this story and the general traditional belief or superstition that the peach has supernatural evil-warding powers.[6][7]The symbolism of the "Peach Boy" orMomotarōthat defeated theoniis often used as a familiar illustrative parallel.[7]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^plant woven into a wreathe (Chamberlain (1882),p. 36, note14), and used to ward off evil (Takeda (1996),p. 29 note18)
  2. ^ebikazura(Bồ tử),which is Old Japanese foryamabudō(Sơn quả nho,Vitis coignetiae77)(Takeda (1996),p. 29 note19)
  3. ^Izanagi earlier broke off the end of this comb to ignite the fire in order to have a light source to peek at his wife

Citations

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  1. ^abcChamberlain (1882),p. 36, I.IX The Land of Hades
  2. ^Sweet, Charles Filkins (1919).New life in the oldest empire.Macmillan. pp. 1–7.
  3. ^Takeda, Yūkichi[in Japanese](1996) [1977]. Nakamura, Hirotoshi (ed.).Shintei kojikiTân đính cổ sự nhớ(in Japanese). Kodansha. pp. 27–30.ISBN978-4-04-400101-8.
  4. ^abAston, William George(1896).Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697.Vol. 1. London: Japan Society of London. pp. 24–.ISBN9780524053478.
  5. ^Ujitani, Tsutomu[in Japanese](1988).Nihon shokiNhật Bản thư kỷ(in Japanese). Vol. 1. Kodansha. pp. 27–8.ISBN9780802150585.
  6. ^Akagi, Takehiko (2006).Kojiki Nihonshoki no kaimei: sakusei no dōki to sakusei no hōhō『 cổ sự nhớ 』『 Nhật Bản thư kỷ 』 の giải minh: Tác thành の động cơ と tác thành の phương pháp.Bungeisha. p. 238.ISBN9784286017303.citing sinologist Mitsuji Fukunaga(Phúc vĩnh quang tư)on several Chinese use of the peach, including the wood of the bow of the mythicYi( nghệ ).
  7. ^abShoji, Komukai (1992).Shintō no honThần đạo の bổn.Books Esoterica. Vol. 2. Gakken. pp. 27, 130–131.(zasshi code 66951-07; kyōtsu zasshi code T10-66951-07-1000)

References

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