In writing the history of Rome, Dr. Thomas Arnold[36] said that the only way to treat its early history [pg 037] was to give the early legends in as nearly the form in which they had been handed down as possible; that in this way the spirit of the people would be preserved and the residuum of truth in them would become the heritage of the present generation. We have tried to treat the myths and legends of Japanese history in this manner, and have given the principal stories as they are preserved among the Japanese.
The Origin of the Celestial Deities.
The scene opens in the plain of high heaven. When heaven and earth began there were three deities[37] in existence, that is:
Master-of-the-August-Centre-of-Heaven,
High-August-Producing-Wondrous-Deity,
Divine-Producing-Wondrous-Deity.
These three came into existence without creation and afterwards died.
Then two other deities were born from a thing that sprouted up like unto a reed shoot when the earth, young and like unto floating oil, drifted about medusa-like, viz.:
Pleasant-Reed-Shoot-Prince-Elder-Deity,
Heavenly-Externally-Standing-Deity.