去って戻らない神々の神話Departing Divinities of Ancient Japan

Ancient Japanese myths often contain mysterious episodes in which kami leave this world never to return. These tales of “kami who depart permanently” (去る神) stand in contrast to the “visiting kami” (Raihoshin, 来訪神), which will be explored in a separate article, representing deities that periodically return. Understanding these departing kami first deepens our grasp of the significant ancient Japanese concept of “visiting kami.” But why did ancient people depict this motif of “kami departing”?

Behind these narratives lies a distinct ancient Japanese religious perspective concerning the relationships between kami and other worlds, such as Tokoyo (常世, the eternal land) and Yomi (黄泉, the land of the dead), as well as the distance between kami and the human world. This article examines several representative myths of “kami who never return” recorded in the Kojiki (712) and the Nihon Shoki (720) and explores their meanings.

The most famous among these myths involves Izanami from Japan’s creation myth known as “Kuniumi (国生み, Birth of the Country).” Izanami died giving birth to the fire kami (Hi-no-kami) and subsequently traveled to Yomi-no-kuni (黄泉の国, the land of the dead). Izanami’s departure deeply grieved her husband Izanagi, who followed her to Yomi, pleading, “The country-making is not finished yet; let’s return together.” However, Izanami replied, “I have eaten the food of Yomi and can no longer return,” promising to consult with the kami of Yomi regarding whether she could leave, before vanishing. Ultimately, Izanami never returned to the living world, and the two kami never reunited.

This myth symbolizes the ancient Japanese taboo that “once you eat the food of Yomi, you cannot return,” illustrating that once someone enters the land of the dead, returning to the living world is impossible. Izanami literally became the first “kami who never returned,” thereafter remaining in the underworld as “Yomotsu-Okami (黄泉津大神).” This complex narrative, vividly depicting the boundary between life and death, can be seen as humanity’s earliest recognition of death’s irreversibility and represents a solemn worldview that “even kami cannot return once they become dead.”

Another significant myth related to Izumo Taisha Shrine in present-day Shimane Prefecture is known as the “Kuni-yuzuri (国譲り, Relinquishing of the Land).” In this narrative, Amaterasu, the ancestral deity of the imperial family, sends messengers from the heavenly realm (Takamagahara) to request the earthly deity, Okuninushi, to relinquish his rule over the earthly world. However, the initial messengers and their successors became so enamored by Okuninushi that they abandoned their duties and never returned to Amaterasu. The existence of these “divine messengers who never returned” suggests that even within mythology, kami could choose the allure of earthly life over their divine missions. This tale can also be interpreted as a political allegory reflecting the significant political power of the imperial lineage during the early 8th century when these myths were compiled. On the surface, however, it portrays kami as capable of prioritizing emotion over duty, highlighting their human-like characteristics and suggesting the ancient Japanese perception of kami as closely intertwined and not entirely separate from humans.

Additionally, the myth of “Yamasachi and Umisachi,” involving two brother kami associated with the mountain and sea, features Toyotama-hime, the daughter of the sea kami. Toyotama-hime marries Yamasachi and eventually becomes pregnant. For her childbirth, she has a special hut built by the seashore, instructing her husband never to look inside. However, driven by curiosity, her husband peeks and discovers her true form as a gigantic shark-like creature called Yahirowani (八尋和邇). Deeply ashamed, Toyotama-hime entrusts their newborn child to her younger sister, declares, “I can never see you again,” and returns permanently to the ocean. This child would later become the father of Emperor Jimmu, Japan’s legendary first emperor. Toyotama-hime never returns to the human world, effectively severing their marital ties. This story follows a universal folklore pattern of “marriage to beings from another world,” wherein a spouse from another realm departs permanently after their true form is revealed, frequently seen across various cultures and abundantly present in Japanese folklore as well.

Toyotama-hime’s departure symbolizes the idea that beings belonging to the distant, mystical world of “Tokoyo” cannot remain long in the human world. Conversely, it implies ancient people’s belief that mystical kami from across the sea would permanently depart once certain conditions were violated. This ancient belief evolved into the essential Japanese folkloric concept of “marebito (客人),” divine visitors who appear temporarily. Numerous similar myths survive, indicating that such beliefs were deeply shared and preserved until at least the 8th century, as evidenced in the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki.

And above all, Okuninushi himself—the main deity enshrined at Izumo Taisha Shrine and central to Izumo mythology—is an essential kami who eventually vanished from the earthly realm. Defeated in the land transfer (Kuni-yuzuri) negotiations with the kami led by Amaterasu, Okuninushi requested, “I will retreat and hide myself in an unseen place, so in return, please build a splendid shrine to honor me.” When the land transfer agreement was ultimately realized, Okuninushi withdrew as promised into the hidden spiritual realm (幽界), thereafter remaining in worlds known as Tokoyo and Yumei (幽冥), never again appearing directly in the human world. Thus, Okuninushi became a deity whose soul alone is worshiped at Izumo Taisha, symbolizing a kami who left the earthly realm. This became the origin of the founding of Izumo Taisha Shrine.

These examples mentioned here briefly illustrate just a few cases, yet the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki contain numerous similar instances where kami who departed this world never returned. Even just these examples show stories passed down where, for various reasons, kami withdrew permanently from the earthly realm and never returned. The motif of “kami who never return,” found in these myths, reflects the ancient Japanese view of kami and the world. Particularly noteworthy is its connection with concepts of the afterlife or otherworlds. Prominent examples like Yomi-no-kuni (黄泉の国, the land of the dead) and Tokoyo-no-kuni (常世の国, the eternal land) were believed to be places from which one could not easily return once entered. As the myth of Izanami in Yomi illustrates, food taboos exemplify ancient rules suggesting that consuming anything belonging to the other world made returning to the human world impossible. The crucial element here involves regions deep in the mountains or across the sea, suggesting an ancient belief that kami descended from these distant realms and eventually returned there.

Folklorist Shinobu Orikuchi also referred to kami who annually or periodically visit from the distant land of Tokoyo across the sea as “Tokoyo-no-kami (常世神),” noting that Japan’s ancestors indeed worshiped these visiting deities. Orikuchi importantly pointed out that originally, kami came from across the sea, later transforming into kami descending from mountains or the sky or heaven. From this perspective, the “kami who depart and never return” in ancient mythology could be seen as an original form of this visiting-kami belief—kami arriving from other realms like Tokoyo, performing their roles, and then returning to their worlds. More than mere myth, this potentially symbolizes the historical realities of ancient Japan, an island nation surrounded by seas and located close to China and Korea.

However, the departures of kami depicted in ancient mythology are not periodic or recurring like the visiting kami celebrated in folk rituals across various regions later on. In some sense, the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki myths depict unique past events, particularly crafted to legitimize the imperial lineage or powerful clans. The kami who departed in these narratives thus attained divinity precisely by being described as never returning. For example, Toyotama-hime does not annually return from across the sea; instead, she departed permanently because her husband violated their agreement. Within the mythical context, a kami’s departure is typically portrayed as an irreversible loss. This loss may symbolize punishment for human transgression or the necessity for old local deities to withdraw to establish a new order. As someone who continues researching ancient Japanese history, I personally believe that actual historical events in the distant Jomon and Yayoi periods may have inspired these myths.

While myths of “kami who never return” appear melancholic, they eloquently reflect the worldview of ancient Japanese people. Conversely, because the kami departed, local communities accumulated historical traditions of praying through festivals and rituals for their return. Even kami who left the earthly realm in these myths continued to be revered throughout Japan in diverse forms, believed to watch over this land from Yomi, Tokoyo, or spiritual forms. For instance, Izanami is worshiped in Kumano (Wakayama Prefecture) and Izumo (Shimane Prefecture), and Toyotama-hime is enshrined in various Toyotama-hime shrines nationwide, often with her spirit symbolically dispersed. In other words, even if they appear to have departed permanently, kami continue interacting with people by changing forms and locations—perhaps explaining why Japanese people have historically perceived kami as extremely close beings.

For ancient Japanese, what mattered was not the constant presence of kami, but rather their timely arrival and appropriate departure. They likely believed this cycle maintained harmony in nature and society. Eventually, this notion evolved into the concept of “visiting kami” who appear at specific limited times, leading to the emergence of the concept known as “marebito,” divine visitors temporarily appearing in the human realm.