Throughout time, romance has been one of the fondest themes found in stories from various cultures. Love between a man and a woman is often the most intense of storytelling elements, and in several myths the love a man has for his woman - and the lengths to which he would go to protect and preserve her - is a powerful motivation to embark upon the most daring and dangerous of journeys. It is a grand and ancient longing for a man to fight the battle and rescue the beauty, as many myths depict the valiant hero engaging the enemy in order to rescue, defend, or avenge his beloved. It would seem as if a man could meet any outward challenge when faced with such a feat - even if meeting that challenge meant that he would have to journey into the darkest realms of the cosmos, to the land of the dead, or to the underworld.
However, just as man’s inner passions are what drive him to perform such heroic deeds, so are they often his greatest bane, as we will see in the exploration of three different myths from three different parts of the world. The Japanese story of the “primal couple”, Izanagi and his wife Izanami; the Greek story of Orpheus and his wife Eurydice; and finally, from North America, the Nez Percé story of Coyote and his wife, all tell the tale of love and loss, and of man’s desire for his woman, which can both inspire him to heroism and crush the very purpose of his quest at the same.
In the First and Second Parts of the Kojiki, the oldest of Shinto scriptures, the tragic tale of Izanagi and Izanami unfolds. Izanagi-no-Mikoto (literally translated the “Man-Who-Invites”) and Izanami-no-Mikoto (the “Female-Who-Invites”) were last of the “Seven Divine Generations” of deities. The first man-and-wife couple, Izanagi and Izanami were the creators of the islands of Japan, along with many of the Shinto deities. Although divine brother and sister, the two gods went on to create numerous other islands and deities, until Izanami gave birth to the “Fire-Burning-Swift-Male” deity, which “through giving birth to this child her august private parts were burned, and she sickened and lay down” (Kojiki “Retirement of Her Augustness”). Mortally wounded by the birth of her fire deity, Izanami dies, and Izanagi, raging and lamenting the death of his beloved wife, draws his sword and cuts the head off of the burning god.
After beheading his son, Izanagi follows his younger sister to Yomi, the underworld land of the dead, in hopes of catching her and bringing her back with him to the realm of the living. Upon finding his wife, Izanagi calls out to her, saying, “Thine Augustness, my lovely younger sister! The lands that I and thou made are not yet finished making; so come back!” (Kojiki “The Land of Hades”). Izanami, greatly desiring to return, agrees to go with her husband if he agrees not to look at her, as she answers his plea with, “Lamentable indeed that thou camest not sooner! I have eaten of the furnace of Hades. Nevertheless, as I reverence the entry here of Thine Augustness, my lovely elder brother, I wish to return. Moreover, I will discuss it particularly with the deities of Hades. Look not at me!” (Kojiki “The Land of Hades”).
As he anxiously waited for his sister to return from inside the palace of the underworld, Izanagi’s patience began to grow thin. In his impatience, he broke off a tooth from the comb that was in the left bunch of his hair and lit it as a torch. Then, using the torch as a light in the dark palace, he pursued his sister in order to hasten their departure. Upon finding his sister once again, Izanagi discovered that her flesh was rotting, maggots were swarming about her carcass, and eight evil thunder deities were dwelling in her body. Horrified, the god fled the underworld, which dishonored his now wretched spouse. Izanami sent her demons, the eight terrifying thunder deities, howling and scratching after her beloved. Izanagi evaded the demons, distracting them by turning his comb into grapes and his headdress into bamboo sprouts. Now thoroughly enraged, Izanami herself began to pursue Izanagi. The goddess-turned-demon soon caught up to her brother and the two exchanged curses (Yamato “Izanagi and Izanami”). Narrowly, Izanagi escaped his sister’s wrath, which could have been completely averted had Izanagi complied with his sister’s request, instead of giving in to his impatience and his burning desire to see his wife.
Similar to the story of Izanagi and Izanami is the Greek myth of the musician Orpheus, and his wife, Eurydice. Orpheus was a magical minstrel who charmed all who heard him, including animals, trees, rocks, and humans. His wife, Eurydice, was a young dryad or wood nymph. The couple’s tragedy begins when Eurydice meets Aristaeus, the patron deity of the hunt, in the valley of the river Peneius, near Tempe. Aristaeus makes advances towards Eurydice, much to her displeasure, so she attempts to flee his lusting grasp. In her flight, however, Eurydice steps on a venomous serpent and is bitten. Eurydice dies from the envenomation and is sent to the underworld, leaving her grieving husband behind. Orpheus, however, is not content to leave his beloved in the realm of the dead, so he travels through a portal at Aornum in Thesprotis and descends to the very realm Eurydice was cast down into (Bonnefoy 201). Orpheus descends into Tartartus - the deepest, darkest region of the universe - in much the same way that Izanagi descends into Yomi for his wife.
As Orpheus enters this dark land, he uses his beautiful voice and his magical lyre to charm the ferryman, Charon, to take him across the river Acheron. After reaching the gates to the underworld, Orpheus again uses his lyre to charm the beast Cerberus, a mighty three-headed dog who guards the entrance to Hades, lulling the monster to sleep. After passing through the gates, Orpheus and his lyre perform an even greater feat by charming the heart of Hades, the lord of the netherworld. Hades thus agrees to grant Orpheus the safe passage of his wife, but on one condition: Orpheus is not to look back at Eurydice until they are both back under the light of the sun. But, just as Izanagi could not comply with his sister’s request for him not to gaze upon her, Orpheus’ desire to see his wife overcomes him, and he glances back at her just as they reach the edge of the sunlight. Eurydice then fades into an intangible smoke and is lost forever (Graves 112). Again, a man’s passions and desires take him into the depths of hell, only to have his prize snatched out of his hand due to his inability to control those same desires.
Poor Izanagi. Poor Orpheus. One is compelled to pity them for their inconsistent practice of will power, which leads them down the throat of the underworld at one moment, and strips them of their beloved wives the next. Perhaps the wise and cunning Coyote will be more cautious and heed the warnings he is given.
Coyote’s story is found in a myth of the Nez Percé tribe of North America, called “Coyote Was Going There.” In this story, Coyote’s wife became ill and passed away, leaving Coyote very, very lonely. The famous trickster could do nothing but weep for his loss, when suddenly a death spirit came to him, saying, “Coyote, do you pine for your wife?”, to which Coyote answered, “Yes, friend, I long for her...” (Parabola 66). The spirit then offered to take Coyote to the place where his wife was, the place where the dead dwelt, but only if Coyote agreed to do everything exactly as the spirit did, and to not disregard anything the spirit commanded him to do. Coyote enthusiastically agreed, and so the two set off.
The spirit took Coyote on a wonderful journey, which, to Coyote, seemed to be largely imaginary. The spirit picked berries, admired the many horses, and entered a very long lodge, all of which were invisible to Coyote. Yet, determined to be with his wife again, Coyote mimicked the spirit perfectly and obeyed his every command. As the two sat in the lodge, which seemed like an empty prairie to Coyote, the spirit explained that Coyote’s wife was preparing food for him and that they should eat. Once again, Coyote complied, and as soon as it began to grow dark, the lodge that was previously invisible slowly started to appear around him, along with the inhabitants of the lodge. Coyote’s wife was among them (Parabola 68).
Coyote stayed at the lodge for several days, and every night he saw his wife and deceased loved-ones. One day, however, the spirit came to Coyote and ordered him to go back to his home and to take his wife along. Coyote was to travel back over five mountains for five days, and although he was allowed to take his wife with him, he faced one stipulation: just as Izanagi’s wife told him not to look at her, and even more similar to Hades’ command that Orpheus not gaze upon his wife until they had reached a certain point, Coyote was not to touch his wife until they had descended from the fifth mountain. Coyote agreed, but as he and his wife were camping on the last night of their journey, the trickster was overcome with his desire for his wife, and as he rushed over and touched her, she vanished before his eyes (68).
Because of his impatience and his inability to control the desire that drove him into the depths, Izanagi was pursued by his furious wife-turned-demon, narrowly escaping his demise and ultimately separating him from his spouse for the rest of his life. Orpheus had a strong desire for his wife as well, yet he likewise lacked the will to restrain it, and thus lost his beloved. The mythical character Coyote possessed just as much longing for his spouse as his Japanese and Greek counterparts had for theirs, but he also was unable to control it, and so he shared the fate of Izanagi and Orpheus. Desire can indeed push a man to achieve the otherwise impossible, but, as we have seen in these three stories, it can often push too hard, thus thwarting his valiant quest.
Works Cited
Bonnefoy, Yves. Greek and Egyptian Mythologies (Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1992).
"Coyote and the Shadow People." Parabola. Summer 1997. 66-69.
Graves, Robert. Greek Myths (New York, USA: Penguin, 1955).
Kojiki. “Retirement of Her Augustness” and “The Land of Hades” Trans. B.H. Chamberlain, 1882. 29 April 2004.
“Yamato Glossary/Characters” Izanagi and Izanami. U of California, Berkeley. 29 April 2004.
Sweet..great write!
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