The blighting and ocean-drying tears of Susa-no-wo were evidently those of an evil or angry deity, or of one who was sick with sorrow.
Izanagi, beholding the ocean-ruler in tears, asked him why he wailed and wept.
Susa-no-wo made answer: “I wail because I wish to depart to the land of my dead mother (Izanami) in the Nether-Distant Land (Yomi, i.e. Hades)”.
Izanagi was very angry, and said: “If that be so, you [[366]]shall not dwell in the ocean domain”. He then banished Susa-no-wo to Afumi.[21]
Susa-no-wo made answer that he would first take leave of his sister, Ama-terâsu, goddess of the sun. He rose in the air, as does a thunder-bringing dragon. Says the Ko-ji-ki:
“(With these words) he forthwith went up to Heaven, whereupon all the mountains shook, and every land and country quaked. So Ama-terâsu, alarmed at the noise, said: ‘The reason of the ascent hither of His Augustness my elder brother[22] is surely no good intent. It is only that he wishes to wrest my land from me.’ ”[23]
The goddess unbound her hair, twisted it into bunches, put on her string of five hundred curved jewels (maga-tama, i.e. claw-shaped),[24] and armed herself with bow and arrows. She stood “valiantly like unto a mighty man”, and asked her brother why he had ascended. Susa-no-wo declared he had no evil intention, and she asked him to give proof of his sincerity and goodwill. He proposed that they should pledge their faith and produce children. To this she consented, and they “swore to each other from the opposite banks of the Tranquil River of Heaven”.[25]
Ama-terâsu asked Susa-no-wo for his sword. He gave it to her and she broke it into three pieces. She then made a jingling sound with her jewels, brandished and washed them in the True-Pool-Well of Heaven[26] and “crunchingly crunched them”. Then from the mist (of [[367]]her breath) were born the deities Torrent-Mist-Princess, Lovely-Island-Princess, and Princess-of-the-Torrent.
Susa-no-wo then asked for and obtained from Ama-terâsu the string of five hundred curved jewels[27] which was twisted in the left bunch of her hair. He made a jingling sound with the jewels, washed them in the Pool, and, having crunched them, “blew them away”. From his breath were born the god “Truly-Conqueror-I-Conquer-Conquering-Swift-Heavenly-Great-Great-Ears”, the god Ame-no-hohi,[28] the god “Prince-Lord of Heaven”, the god “Prince-Lord of Life”, and the god of Kumano. In all eight deities—three goddesses and five gods—were born.
From these deities the Japanese noble families have claimed descent. The Mikados were supposed to be descended from the Conquering God with Great Ears (Masa-ya-a-katsu-kachi-haya-hi-ama-no-oshi-ho-mi-mi). Another myth makes the Mikado a descendant of the sun-goddess and Taka-mi-musubi (the High, August God of Birth and Growth), who, in a sense, is a Japanese Osiris. He has been compared to the Hindu god Shiva. Aston says that “musubi” is “the abstract process of growth personified—that is, a power immanent in nature and not external to it”.[29] Breasted similarly regards Osiris as “the imperishable principle of life wherever found”.[30] Shiva, as “the fructifying principle”, is represented by the phallus. It is believed that this symbol was the “shintai” (god body) of Musubi.[31]