A2A World · Field Guide 03 of the World’s Mythologies
日本神話
The Japanese archipelago
Names, attributes, and narratives from Japan’s creation myths, its kami, its yōkai and guardians, and its stranger tales — organised so each entry can be used as a search target in deliberate pareidolia practice.
In the oldest Japanese account, the islands themselves are born as children of the gods — a tradition that already treats the land as a living, storied body.
© A2A World LLC 2026
Context
Japanese mythology centres on the kami — spirits present in mountains, rivers, trees, ancestors and natural forces — honoured in Shintō shrines. Buddhism, arriving in the 6th century, blended with Shintō for over a thousand years. Folk belief adds a vast population of yōkai: spirits, shape-shifters and creatures of the countryside.
Principal Sources
The Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters, 712 CE) and the Nihon Shoki (Chronicles of Japan, 720 CE) record the creation and the age of the gods. The regional Fudoki gazetteers (from 713 CE) preserve local legends of places. Later folklore, Edo-period illustrated catalogues of yōkai and oral tradition supply the creatures and stranger tales.
A Japanese precedent
In the Kojiki, Izanagi and Izanami stir the ocean with a jewelled spear; brine dripping from its tip forms the first island, and the islands of Japan are then born to them one by one. Mountains such as Fuji and Miwa are themselves treated as sacred bodies. The land as a born, living figure is central to the tradition.
The two best first targets
1. Yamata no Orochi — the eight-headed, eight-tailed serpent; branching river systems and peninsulas suit it. 2. The kitsune (fox), messenger of Inari, with its many tails. Strong alternates: the turtle of Urashima Tarō, the tengu, and Amaterasu emerging from the cave.
I · Creation & Founding
The divine couple, the birth of the islands and the sun’s withdrawal.
伊邪那岐 · 伊邪那美
Key Attributes
The creator couple.
Story
Standing on the Floating Bridge of Heaven, they stir the sea with the spear Ame-no-nuboko; the dripping brine forms the island Onogoro. Izanami gives birth to the islands and many kami, and dies giving birth to fire.
Look For in the Land
Two figures on a bridge; a spear dripping into the sea.
黄泉
Key Attributes
The descent to the land of the dead.
Story
Izanagi follows Izanami to Yomi but breaks his promise not to look at her and sees her decaying body. He flees and seals the passage with a great boulder.
Look For in the Land
A fleeing figure; a boulder blocking a passage.
天岩戸
Key Attributes
The sun goddess withdraws.
Story
Offended by her brother Susanoo, Amaterasu hides in the Heavenly Rock Cave and the world goes dark. The goddess Ame-no-Uzume dances, the gods laugh, and Amaterasu peers out at a mirror and is drawn back into the world.
Look For in the Land
A figure emerging from a cave; a dancer; a round mirror.
天孫降臨
Key Attributes
Grandson of Amaterasu.
Story
Sent down to rule the earth, he descends to Mount Takachiho carrying the mirror, the sword and the jewel — the Three Sacred Treasures.
Look For in the Land
A figure descending onto a peak with three objects.
因幡の白兎
Key Attributes
Lord of the land of Izumo.
Story
A hare tricks crocodiles (wani) into forming a line across the sea, is skinned by the last one, and is healed by Ōkuninushi with fresh water and cattail pollen.
Look For in the Land
A hare at the end of a line of creatures across water.
II · Gods & Goddesses
Kami of sun, storm, rice and the sea.
天照
Key Attributes
Sun goddess; ancestor of the imperial line.
Story
Born from Izanagi’s left eye as he purified himself. Honoured at the Grand Shrine of Ise.
Look For in the Land
A radiant figure; a mirror disc.
須佐之男
Key Attributes
Storm god; turbulent brother of Amaterasu.
Story
Banished from heaven, he descends to Izumo, slays the serpent Orochi, and finds the sword Kusanagi in its tail.
Look For in the Land
A warrior with a sword above a serpent.
月読
Key Attributes
Moon god.
Story
Kills the food goddess Ukemochi in disgust at how she produces food; Amaterasu refuses to see him again, so the sun and moon live apart.
Look For in the Land
A figure turned away from another.
稲荷
Key Attributes
Kami of rice, fertility and prosperity.
Story
Served by white foxes; honoured at tens of thousands of shrines, including Fushimi Inari with its tunnels of red torii gates.
Look For in the Land
A fox; a long line of gates.
龍神
Key Attributes
Dragon god of the sea.
Story
Lives in the undersea palace Ryūgū-jō and controls the tides with the tide jewels.
Look For in the Land
A dragon in a bay; two jewels.
III · Creatures & Guardians
Shape-shifters, mountain spirits and river creatures with distinctive forms.
八岐大蛇
Key Attributes
Eight-headed, eight-tailed serpent.
Story
Susanoo sets out eight vats of strong sake; each head drinks and the serpent falls asleep, and he cuts it to pieces.
Look For in the Land
Eight branching heads or tails — river systems and peninsulas.
狐
Key Attributes
Fox spirit; gains tails with age, up to nine.
Story
Can be a faithful messenger of Inari or a trickster who takes human form.
Look For in the Land
A fox with fanned tails.
天狗
Key Attributes
Mountain spirit; long-nosed or crow-beaked.
Story
Masters of martial arts who live in mountain forests; in legend they trained the young warrior Minamoto no Yoshitsune.
Look For in the Land
A winged figure with a long nose on a peak.
河童
Key Attributes
River creature with a water-filled dish on its head.
Story
If tricked into bowing, it spills the water and loses its strength. It loves cucumbers.
Look For in the Land
A crouching figure by a river.
狛犬
Key Attributes
Lion-dog shrine guardians.
Story
Placed in pairs at shrine entrances — one with mouth open, one closed.
Look For in the Land
Paired seated beasts facing each other.
IV · The Unusual and Odd
Folk tales of time, gratitude and the moon.
浦島太郎
Key Attributes
The fisherman and the turtle.
Story
He rescues a turtle and is carried to the Dragon Palace. Returning home after what seems three years, he finds three hundred have passed; opening a forbidden box, he turns old.
Look For in the Land
A man riding a turtle; a box.
かぐや姫
Key Attributes
The moon princess from the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter.
Story
Found as a tiny child inside a glowing bamboo stalk, she sets impossible tasks for her suitors and finally returns to the moon.
Look For in the Land
A figure inside a stalk; a procession rising.
桃太郎
Key Attributes
The Peach Boy.
Story
Born from a giant peach, he sails to Onigashima with a dog, a monkey and a pheasant to defeat the ogres.
Look For in the Land
A peach shape; three animals following a figure.
鶴の恩返し
Key Attributes
The crane’s return of a favour.
Story
A rescued crane returns as a woman and weaves beautiful cloth from her own feathers, on condition she is never watched at the loom.
Look For in the Land
A crane with outspread wings.
雪女
Key Attributes
The snow woman.
Story
A pale spirit of winter storms who spares a young woodcutter on condition he never speaks of her.
Look For in the Land
A pale woman with long hair in a snowfield.
A Note on Names, Versions and Respect
Names follow Hepburn romanisation. Many kami are actively worshipped and some sites are sacred; tell the stories with care and confirm local versions with a Japanese source before public use.
© A2A World LLC 2026 · a2aworld.ai/field-guides/japanese