Volume 1, Section 1: The Beginning of Heaven and Earth

The names of the Deities [1] that were born [2] in the Plain of High Heaven[3] when the Heaven and Earth began were the Deity Master-of-the-August-Center-of-Heaven, next the High-August-Producing-Wondrous Deity [4], next the Divine-Producing-Wondrous-Deity [5][6]. These three Deities were all Deities born alone, and hid their persons [7]. The name of the Deities that were born next from a thing that sprouted up like unto a reed-shoot when the earth, young and like unto floating oil, drifted about medusa-like, were the Pleasant-Reed-Shoot-Prince-Elder Deity [8], next the Heavenly-Eternally-Standing Deity. These two Deities were likewise born alone, and hid their persons [9]

The five Deities in the above list are seperate heavenly Deities [10]

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General comments

This chapter, like several among the next ones, and in particular chapter 2, appears as a rather boring list of names. The reasons behind this is that those chapters, and most of the deities named in them, were most probably made up for the sole purpose of the Kojiki by its compiler, and did not exist previously in the Japanese folklore. It is also important to remember that the aim of such a chronicle was to provide for a divine justification of the Emperor's power, that is, to estabish that the Emperor was indeed descended from the divine - in this case from the deity Amaterasu. Therefore, they took little care in establishing a coherent and thourough account of the genesis of the world and its cosmogony

An important, albeit unrelated, note I must make here is that the names figuring in the text are Chamberlain's translations of the Japanese names, some of which are highly debatable, in particular those lesser known of deities that were made up for the Kojiki. The notes found in the later translation by Philippi often underline that exact translations of those names are unknown, or are mere hypothesis are some of the words/characters that make up those names in Japanese have lost all meaning today and are therefore difficult to figure out. The English names given in Chamberlain's text must be taken with caution

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Notes

[1] "Deity" is used for the Japanese word "Kami", which is used to design something that is "above" or "superior", and doesn't necessarily carry the same sense of sacred associated with words such as "god" or "deity"

[2] Literaly "that became" or "that came into being"

[3] In Japanese "Takama-no-para", that is the Upper World, home of the heavenly deities, described in the Kojiki as a world of mountains and rivers, yet it is a mytho-religious place that doesn't correspond to anywhere on Earth. It is distinct from the "central" land, where men live, and the underground land of Yomi then

[4][5] In Japanese "Taka-mi-musu-bi-no-kami", although it is possible that it should be read as "Taka-mi-musubi-no-kami", which would be translated as "High-August-Producing Deity". This doubt also exist regarding "Divine-Producing-Wondrous-Deity". Taka-mi-musubi-no-kami is also the only of the first three deities to play a role beyond chapter 1. The shinto belief system gives Taka-mi-musubi-no-kami the role of Deity of Birth and Kami-musubi-no-kami (see below) the role of Deity of Growth

[6] In Japanese "Kami-musu-bi-no-kami" and sometimes later appears as "Kami-musu-bi-mi-oya-no-mikoto, which can be translated as "His Augustness the Deity-Producing-Wondrous-August-Ancestor"

[7] Unlike other beings, including other deities, they were not procreated and, for Donald L. Philippi, had no counterparts as will be the case for deities coming later

[8] In Japanese "Umasi-asi-kabi-piko-di-no-kami", which may be a deification of the sprouting of reed-shoots' vital forces

[9] This section should be understood as the description of the first things in the world being created, emerging from the primeval waters

[10] This sentence is actually a note in the original text and may mean that these deities remain in the Heaven, that is play no role in the creation of the world. Another interpretation would be that they are thus distinguished as descending from Heaven to the Earth, whereas other Deities were born in Japan, on the Earth itself


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