In the primordial era of the cosmos, when the earth was still young, drift-like, and unformed, two great primordial deities manifested from the seven divine generations of heaven. These were Izanagi-no-Mikoto, the "Male-who-invites," and his sister-wife Izanami-no-Mikoto, the "Female-who-invites." Together, standing upon the Floating Bridge of Heaven, they dipped the jeweled spear Ame-no-Nuboko into the chaotic oceans below. The drops that curdled from the tip of the spear formed the island of Onogoro, where they built a great palace and a central pillar to unite their spirits. From their sacred marital union, they gave birth to the islands of the Japanese archipelago and a vast pantheon of natural deities who ruled over the wind, the sea, the mountains, and the valleys. It was a golden age of creation, where life flowed abundantly under their joint benevolence.
However, this primordial harmony was shattered during the birth of their final child, Kagutsuchi-no-Kami, the incarnation of fire. As the fiery infant emerged into the world, his searing heat severely burned Izanami. Despite her agony, she continued to birth more deities from her fluids, but her physical form was too weak to survive the intense burns. As her life slipped away, she descended into the shadowy, subterranean realm of the dead known as Yomi-no-Kuni, a polluted land of perpetual gloom and decay. Izanagi was instantly consumed by an overwhelming, inconsolable grief. In his blinding rage and sorrow, he drew his ten-span sword, Ame-no-Ohabari, and decapitated the infant Kagutsuchi, whose blood gave rise to even more martial deities. Yet, the death of the fire god could not fill the void in Izanagi's shattered heart. He wept tears that formed further deities, but his mind remained fixed on one singular, desperate goal: he would journey to the dark underworld itself to retrieve his beloved wife and bring her back to the vibrant land of the living.
To reach the underworld, Izanagi had to travel to the boundary of existence, navigating the dark pathways that led deep beneath the earth. He reached Yomotsu Hirasaka, the sloping pass that serves as the physical threshold between the living world and the realm of Yomi. The air grew progressively heavy, cold, and laden with the stench of stagnant dampness as he descended. In this dismal land of shadows, where no natural sunlight could ever reach, the environment was oppressive and suffocating. Izanagi wandered through the gloomy corridors of the dead until he finally arrived at the palace of Yomi. There, in the dim, flickering shadows at the palace gates, he perceived the familiar silhouette of his beloved wife, Izanami.
Overjoyed but cautious, Izanagi called out to her in the darkness. He begged her to return with him to the world above, saying that their sacred work of creation was not yet finished and that the land they had labored so hard to shape still required their joint guidance. Izanami, speaking from the deep gloom, greeted him with great tenderness but also with profound sorrow. She explained that his rescue mission had come too late. She had already eaten the food cooked in the hearth of the underworld, a ritual act that legally and physically bound her soul to Yomi, making return impossible under normal circumstances. Yet, moved by her husband's intense devotion and unwilling to abandon him to his grief, Izanami offered a glimmer of hope. She promised to petition the resident gods of Yomi to grant her a release, so that she might ascend back to the earthly plane with him.
Before she stepped back into the inner chambers of the palace to consult the deities of the dead, Izanami gave Izanagi a strict, solemn prohibition: he must wait for her at the gates, and under no circumstances was he to look upon her or enter the private chambers while she was gone. Izanagi, desperate to have his wife back, readily agreed to the taboo and swore to remain in the outer darkness. He waited patiently for what felt like hours, then days. As the silence stretched endlessly in the stifling, black air of Yomi, his patience began to erode, replaced by an agonizing anxiety. He wondered if she had been imprisoned, if she had abandoned him, or if she was being subjected to torment. Unable to endure the agonizing suspense any longer, Izanagi broke his sacred oath.