is a deity born of the seven divine generations in
Japanese mythology and
Shintoism, and is also referred to in the roughly translated Kojiki as "male who invites", or 'Izanagi-no-mikoto'.
He and his spouse
Izanami bore many islands, deities, and forefathers of Japan. When Izanami died in childbirth, Izanagi tried (but failed) to retrieve her from
Yomi (the
underworld). In the cleansing rite after his return, he begot
Amaterasu (the
sun goddess) from his left eye,
Tsukuyomi (the
moon god) from his right eye, and
Susanoo (tempest or
storm god) from his nose.
The story of Izanagi and Izanami has close parallels to the Greek Myth of
Orpheus and
Eurydice, but it also has a major difference. When Izanagi looks prematurely at his wife, he beholds her monstrous and hellish state and she is shamed and enraged. She pursues him in order to kill him. She fails to do so, but promises to kill a thousand of his people every day. Izanagi retorts that a thousand and five hundred will be born every day.
There are similarities also between Izanami and Izanagi on the one hand, and the
Mayan deities
Itzamna and
Ix Chel on the other . Among the Maya as among the Yamato, the male god is a gentle deity, creator of the sun and moon, while the female goddess (Ix Chel in Central America) is only benevolent while in company of her husband. If isolated from him, she becomes a malevolent goddess of floods, destruction and death. She has a serpent growing from her head, much like Izanami in Yomi.