Kunibiki-shinwa

The Kunibiki-shinwa (国引き神話, kunibiki-shinwa; "land-pulling myth") is a Japanese myth recorded in Izumo fudoki. It describes the pulling of different parts of neighbouring lands to the land of Izumo by the deity Yatsukamizu-Omizunu-no-mikoto.[1]

According to the Izumo-fudoki annals, Yatsukamizu-omitsuno said: "The country Izumo, of the clouds rising, is a land like a pile of narrow cloth. First the land was made small. Therefore, it ought to be sewn larger". Using a hoe he pulled pieces of land from Shiragi (eastern Silla), Saki Country and other areas and connected them to Izumo to form the Shimane peninsula. The land pulled from Shiragi became Kidzuki Cape, beside which Izumo Taisha shrine is located. Its original name was Kidzuki-oyashiro and it was dedicated to Yatsukamizu-omitsuno. In another local myth the fight of Susanoo against Yamata no Orochi serpent may represent the flood control efforts of people living along Hii.[2][3][4][5][6]

There is a theory this myth reflects ancient geographical transformation of the land of Izumo, when the alluvium of the Hii River connected the Shimane Peninsula to Izumo (on the Honshu island).[2][3]

References

  1. ^ "国引き神話(くにびきしんわ)とは？ 意味や使い方 - コトバンク". kotobank.jp. Retrieved 2026-01-15.
  2. ^ a b Ikeuchi K. (1996). "The history of flood control and the floodway projects of the Hiikawa River" (PDF). International Workshop on Floodplain Risk Management. 159 (171): 11. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-08-16.
  3. ^ a b 関和彦 (2015). 国引き神話の深層. 学術の動向 (in Japanese). 20 (10): 58–61.
  4. ^ Anders Carlqvist (2010). "The Land-Pulling Myth and Some Aspects of Historic Reality". Japanese Journal of Religious Studies (in Japanese). 37 (2): 185–222. JSTOR 41038699.
  5. ^ "The Legend of Kunibiki From Izumo-no-kuni Fudoki". Shimane Prefecture. Retrieved 2021-09-04.
  6. ^ Toshio, Kuwako (2017). "Chapter 15. Planetary philosophy and social consensus building". Japanese environmental philosophy. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780190456320.
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