Izanagi and Izanami: From Conflict and Opposition to Balance and Stability

Introduction: The Couple Who Gave Birth to Islands and Gods

Izanagi and Izanami, who laid the foundation of Japanese mythology, are a couple of creation who made islands by stirring the sea with a spear on the bridge of heaven and gave birth to numerous gods. However, their story does not stop at creation. The death of Izanami and the tragic reunion in Yomi (the underworld), and their eternal separation, show the deepest energies of conflict and opposition that the human spirit faces.

From a psychoanalytic perspective, their narrative is a process of ‘mourning’ that one goes through when losing a loved object, and a drama showing how to psychologically integrate and separate the extreme energies of life and death.

1. Facing the Decayed Object: Refusal and Confrontation of Mourning

Izanagi, unable to forget his dead wife Izanami, goes to Yomi to find her. However, the image of Izanami he faced there was a decayed corpse with maggots.

• Initial Stage of Mourning: When we lose a precious object, we deny it and want to return to its previous form. The journey to Yomi means ‘clinging to not acknowledging the loss.’
• Reality of Fear: The decayed corpse Izanagi saw symbolizes the relentless realization of reality for the ‘changed object.’ The moment the loved object turns into an object of hatred and fear, the ego experiences extreme confusion.

2. Escape from Yomi and the Boundary: Drawing Psychological Boundaries Between Life and Death

Izanami chases to kill Izanagi who saw her, and Izanagi blocks the path with a large rock to set a boundary between this world and the underworld.

• Healthy Boundary: This is the process of drawing a boundary so that ‘past wounds (death)’ do not erode ‘present life’ within us. The scene where Izanami curses to kill a thousand people a day and Izanagi declares that he will make 1,500 people be born shows the will of the ego to find psychological stability by growing vitality more than the sadness of loss.

3. Ritual of Purification (Misogi): Washing Away Conflict and New Birth

Izanagi, who returned from Yomi, finally shakes off the energy of death through ‘Misogi (purification)’, washing his body with water. In this process, important gods like Amaterasu (Sun), Tsukuyomi (Moon), and Susanoo (Storm) are born.

• Sublimated Energy: The act of washing away conflict and wounds is not a simple avoidance, but means ‘sublimation’ that creates new psychological resources by taking pain as nutrients. The setting that the brilliant sun and moon are born only after going to the threshold of the darkest death symbolizes that only the ego that has passed through hardships can reach true maturity.

Conclusion: What Kind of Rock is Between Your This World and the Underworld?

The opposition between Izanagi and Izanami is a fight between ‘regret for the past’ and ‘vitality toward the future’ that takes place every day inside us.

Anyone lives with a Yomi in their heart. However, what is important is not staying in that darkness forever, but returning to the realm of life by placing a rock of boundary at the appropriate time. If your heart is heavy today, have your own ‘Misogi’ that purifies your life. Your own sun and moon will rise from the place of washed-away wounds.

In the next post, through ‘Susanoo,’ a problem child and creative destroyer born from Izanagi, we will look at how anti-social energy is sublimated into great cultural achievements.