Onokoro
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At the the beginning of time heaven and earth were not divided. From the
ocean of chaos a reed arose, and it was the eternal land ruler,
Kunitokotatchi. Then came the female god Izanami and the male god Izanagi. They stood on the floating bridge of heaven and stirred the ocean with a jeweled spear until it curdled, and so created the first island, Onokoro. They built a house on this island with a central stone pillar that is the backbone of the world. Izanami walked one way around the pillar, and Izanagi walked the other. When they met face to face, they united in marriage and procreation. Their first child was called Hiruko, but he did not thrive and when he was three they placed him in a reed boat and set him adrift. He became Ebisu, god of fisherman. Izanami then gave birth to the eight islands of Japan before the gods who would fashion and rule this new world came forth: gods of the sea and of the land, gods of the wind and of the rain. When Izanami gave birth to the god of fire she was badly burned and died. Izanagi was furious with the fire god and cut him into three pieces. Distraught with grief he set out in search of his wife. He went down into the Land of Gloom looking for her. He cried, 'Come back, my love. The lands we are making are not yet finished!' She came to him, saying 'You are too late. I have already eaten the food of this land. I would like to return however. Wait here for me, and I will ask permission from the spirits of the underworld. But do not try to look at me' Eventually Izanagi got tired of waiting, so broke off a tooth from the comb he wore in his hair to use as a torch and followed after Izanami. When he found her, he saw that she was already rotting and maggots were swarming over her body. She was giving birth to the eight gods of thunder. Izanagi drew back, revolted and Izanami called after him, 'Shame on you'. She commanded the foul spirits of the Land of Gloom to slay him. The spirits pursued Izanagi, but he managed to escape. He threw down his headdress and it turned into grapes, which the spirits stopped to eat. Then he threw down his comb which turned into bamboo shoots, and once again the spirits stopped to eat. By the time Izanagi reached the pass between the land of the dead and the land of the living, Izanami herself had nearly caught up with him. Izanagi saw her coming and quickly blocked the pass with a huge boulder that would take a thousand men to lift, so making a permanent barrier between life and death. Standing on the other side of the boulder, Izanami shouted, 'Every day I will kill a thousand people, and bring them to this land'. Izanagi replied, 'Every day I will cause one thousand and five hundred babies to be born'. Then Izanagi left Izanami to rule the Land of Gloom, and returned to the land of the living. The home that Izanagi and Izanami made for themselves was on a small island surrounded by darkness and the immenseness of un-creation. The island is called Onokoro, the first island to exist in the Japanese archipelago. So where is it? Scholars have argued about its exact location as if these myths are historical fact. Many islands around Japan proclaim themselves to be Onokoro. My friend Chris, also a teacher, works at the Iwaya Junior High School. When visiting him, I came across one such island proclaiming itself to be Onokoro. Iwaya is a tiny fishing town on the very northern tip of Awaji island, important for its harbours before the suspension bridge linking Awaji and Honshu was built. Lazy and quiet, the town's streets are filled with sand and the smell of fish. All the shops are small and old, the houses slowly weathering away, the sound of the highway a constant hum in the distance. Slowly Iwaya is reverting to how it was many years ago before the ferry terminals brought it a steady wealth. Now that there is a bridge, there is less need for ferries and the harbours grow quiet. The younger people move away and slowly the town is dying a quick death. Chris has a lot of free time on his hands because the school class sizes diminish year by year. By comparison, his apartment is five times the size of mine due to cheap rent. He does, however, have the inconvenience of living in the middle of nowhere. He is a car-drive away from the nearest town, which you can spot down the coast with its giant standing buddha looking out to sea. In Summer the tourists come to fill up the beach. The water is famously clean, the beach sand soft, and the views spectacular. Everything that Kobe's beaches aren't. Disembarking from the ferry, you walk past the 70s harbour buildings onto the road and then follow it to the beach. Behind, the mountains gently roll across the backbone of Awaji island. In the middle of the harbour is a small rock, bizarre because of it's rusty colour and pockmarked appearance. It is no bigger than a house, a small ice-cream shaped swirl with small shrine perched on top and still waters lapping at its base. After sitting and eating lunch, watching the traffic driving across the bridge (high up in the air), I noticed a small sign. . This is the birthplace of Japan. This is Onokoro. Chris explained that the locals constantly point it out to him. Awaji was the first island created by Izanami and Izanagi. Bearing that in mind there is a certain logical sense that this tiny island is Onokoro. But it is so small, so unimpressive. The backbone of the world once stood in a grand house upon this island? If you believe the creation story, then why not believe that this tiny, ragged rock is Onokoro. It is truly beautiful. |
