Page:The International Folk-Lore Congress of the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, July, 1893.djvu/367

Rh elements, phenomena and forces, such as the sun, the moon, the wind, the thunder, the lightning, etc.

In Japanese Mythology the first manifestations of the male and the female principle are Izanagi and Izanami. In one tradition (related in Dr. Griffis's paper), that many gods of various grades sprang from the rinsings of Izanagi's august person, we are reminded that blood from the wounded genitals of Uranus produced giants, fairies and nymphs. And as Venus sprang from the foam produced when the mutilated parts of Uranus fell into the sea; so her Japanese (but Buddhist) counterpart, Beuten, goddess of beauty, is fabled to have sprung from the sea. In another tradition Izanagi corresponds to Saturn, each of whom assigns to his three children the kingdoms, respectively, of the heaven, the night (Hades), and the sea. Still a third legend to which Dr. Griffis alludes is the Japanese version of Orpheus and Eurydice. Izanami had died in bringing forth her last born, the god of fire, who was then slain by his father. The latter descends to the lower world in search of his wife, who, however, speaks to him, warning him not to try to enter, but to wait patiently, as she hopes to be able to persuade the Japanese Pluto, named Emma, to allow her to return. Izanagi, however, impatiently rushes in, only to find "her corpse a mass of putrefaction."

The Græco-Roman explanation of an eclipse of the sun by a story of Phaeton's unsuccessful attempt to drive his father's chariot of the sun has a counterpart, though somewhat different, in Japanese lore. Amaterasu, the first-born of Izanagi and Izanami, is the sun-goddess, who, being provoked by her boisterous brother, Susanro, retires to a cavern, and leaves the world in darkness. After long effort, a shrewd appeal to feminine curiosity and jealousy succeeds in enticing her out once more to shine again on the world.

In Græco-Roman tradition, Philemon and Baucis, an aged and poor couple, living in a mean hut, nevertheless, do not hesitate to be hospitable to Jupiter and Mercury in disguise. The neighbors, who had been rude to the strangers, were overwhelmed in destruction; but the poor couple, who had entertained angels unawares, were bountifully rewarded. So in Japanese tradition, that unruly Susanro, on account of his misdeeds having been expelled from heaven, "on his way to