Japanese mythology tells that the first gods decided to create two divine beings, a god named

Izanagi and a goddess named Izanami. These divine beings were responsible for creating
numerous islands and more gods that would gradually come to form the earth on which we live
today. Izanagi and Izanami had many offspring, but when the goddess begot Kagutsuchi (god of
fire) perished. Izanagi was utterly desolate, loved his wife above all else and could not bear the
thought of spending the rest of his days away from his wife. This was the main reason he decided
to travel to Yomi (the land of the dead).

He soon arrived at the place where he was supposed to find her, a place that seemed to be no
different from the earthly world except for the absolute and perpetual darkness. Despite the
similarity with the outside Izanagi began to feel bad, he missed too much light and earthly
pleasures. Definitely that place was not meant for him. He then hastened to find Izanami and
when he found her he begged her to return to life on earth with him. Izanami spat back at his
partner, so he wanted to point out that it was too late. She did not want to move from Yomi, she
was well there and had become accustomed to the eternal darkness.

Izanagi in no way intended to accept Izanami's refusal, so he continued his struggle to convince his
wife. Finally the goddess agreed but first begged her god to allow her to sleep for a while without
entering her chambers. The nervous god could no longer endure the darkness, he needed to see
his wife, feel her, touch her. So, he decided to enter while she was sleeping and lit a comb as if it
were a torch. The vision that followed left the god completely frightened. She was completely
deformed, her flesh was rotten, full of worms. Without a doubt an image that left totally disgusted
the god who decided to run away from the world of the dead.

Izanami awoke and when he saw the rejection on the face of his beloved he was violently enraged.
He set out to chase him throughout Yomi for the sole purpose of killing him. To this persecution
were added the wild Shikomes or filthy women, but Izanami quickly threw his cap transforming it
into black grapes that somehow slowed the passage of these, however they continued to advance.

Faced with the failure of his attack, Izanami decided to launch his comb which turned into bamboo
shoots. It seems that this stopped the Shikomes, however, more horrible beings from Yomi began
to follow him. The god began to urinate in a tree creating a huge river but it was useless, later he
threw peaches that did not serve to stop the persecution but helped him to go further.

Izanagi arrived exhausted at the door that separated the world of the dead from the earthly world,
crossed the threshold and closed tightly the rock that separated them. At such an end, Izanami
shouted tearfully behind the obstacle, cursed her husband and announced that if he did not let
him go out, he would kill 1,000 men every day. Izanagi was furious with his wife's statements and
sentenced that if she did that he would give life to 1,500 men a day. This is how death started to
extend over the land.

Japanise mythology(the birth of death)Andres Blanco (Colombo 2019)(Based on Japanise

mythology)