Cult of Gods

Izanagi

Japanese (Shinto) tradition. See the whole pantheon.

Domains
creation of the islands, the male principle
Symbols and attributes
Jewelled spear
Partner
Izanami
Children
Kagutsuchi, Ōwatatsumi, Amaterasu Ōmikami, Tsukuyomi, Susanoo
Utagawa Kuniyoshi, 'Sangoku ken', a 19th-century woodblock print.
Utagawa Kuniyoshi, 'Sangoku ken', a 19th-century woodblock print.

Key myth

With Izanami he stirred the ocean with a spear and made the first island of Onogoro. After Izanami's death he followed her to Yomi, the land of the dead, and fled, purifying himself in a river.

Primary sources

  • Kojiki, Book 1

All sources for the Japanese (Shinto) pantheon

Place in the family graph

Choose a deity to see where it comes from. Dashed lines are links the sources describe that are not parent and child.

IzanagiIzanamiAmaterasu ŌmikamiTsukuyomiSusanooKagutsuchiŌwatatsumiTakemikazuchiAme-no-UzumeŌkuninushiNinigiInari Ōkami

More traditions

Odin rides to Hel, W. G. Collingwood, after the Poetic Edda.NorsePapyrus of Ani, British Museum (New Kingdom), a Book of the Dead.EgyptianA chaos monster and a sun god, drawn by L. Gruner for A. H. Layard's Monuments of Nineveh.MesopotamianVishvarupa Vishnu, Kashmir or Himachal, in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art collection.Hindu

Elsewhere in the world

Deities in other traditions who share a theme with Izanagi: creation and first beings. This is overlap in one area only.

Norse

Ymir

first giant, raw material of the world

Norse

Búri

first of the gods

Norse

Borr

father of Odin, Vili and Vé

Egyptian

Nun

the primeval waters

Egyptian

Atum

creator, the completed one

Egyptian

Ra

sun, kingship, order

Egyptian

Ptah

craftsmen, creation by speech

Compare across cultures