Ah... well. [She clears her throat a little self-consciously.]
What I was told... I am from a chain of islands called Nippon, mostly known as Japan around these parts, personally from the city of Edo but now most people know it as Tokyo. As things are said, it's not like the islands started out like that...
Before there was life on the earth at all, the universe was just a homogeneous morass of stuff and silence. But there was life in there too, and the life moved around, mixed with everything, and got things going. All of the heavier parts of the universe sank, while all the lighter parts rose up; the parts that rose up made up heaven, and the heavier part made the earth, which was submerged in water at the time and for a long while. But a shoot grew out of the water and grew up into heaven and that's what made the first god, which got lonely after a time and started making other gods. The last two it made were named Izanagi and Izanami, and those two were the ones who made Japan.
One day they were just kicking around when they looked down at the ocean and for the first time wondered if there was anything that might be underneath it. Izanagi took his spear and jabbed it down through the water, and some muck stuck to it and when he lifted it out that muck fell in the water again, but it didn't sink. That time it grew and grew and eventually made the islands that would be Japan.
Izanagi and Izanami decided to go down and see what was what and explore what had been created. They separated for a long time, making animals, plants, all the things that people would need... finally they met again, and when they did they decided they'd get married. Their first daughter was a girl so beautiful her parents didn't think she should stay in Japan. They put her up in the sky and she became the sun. That was Amaterasu. Their second daughter was named Tsukiyami and they put her up to be the moon. Their third child was a son and a wild child, named Sosasno-wo, and they put him in the sea, where he still kicks up storms. And a long time later, Amaterasu had a son too. Her son became the first emperor of Japan, and all of the Japanese people are said to be descended from him.
What I was told... I am from a chain of islands called Nippon, mostly known as Japan around these parts, personally from the city of Edo but now most people know it as Tokyo. As things are said, it's not like the islands started out like that...
Before there was life on the earth at all, the universe was just a homogeneous morass of stuff and silence. But there was life in there too, and the life moved around, mixed with everything, and got things going. All of the heavier parts of the universe sank, while all the lighter parts rose up; the parts that rose up made up heaven, and the heavier part made the earth, which was submerged in water at the time and for a long while. But a shoot grew out of the water and grew up into heaven and that's what made the first god, which got lonely after a time and started making other gods. The last two it made were named Izanagi and Izanami, and those two were the ones who made Japan.
One day they were just kicking around when they looked down at the ocean and for the first time wondered if there was anything that might be underneath it. Izanagi took his spear and jabbed it down through the water, and some muck stuck to it and when he lifted it out that muck fell in the water again, but it didn't sink. That time it grew and grew and eventually made the islands that would be Japan.
Izanagi and Izanami decided to go down and see what was what and explore what had been created. They separated for a long time, making animals, plants, all the things that people would need... finally they met again, and when they did they decided they'd get married. Their first daughter was a girl so beautiful her parents didn't think she should stay in Japan. They put her up in the sky and she became the sun. That was Amaterasu. Their second daughter was named Tsukiyami and they put her up to be the moon. Their third child was a son and a wild child, named Sosasno-wo, and they put him in the sea, where he still kicks up storms. And a long time later, Amaterasu had a son too. Her son became the first emperor of Japan, and all of the Japanese people are said to be descended from him.
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