Ōyashimanokuni

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Ōyashimanokuni

Ōyashimanokuni (大八洲 – Great Land of Eightfold Isles) is the collective name for the Eight Islands created by Izanami and Izanagi when they created Japan. The term would later come to be a general term for the entirety of Japan.1

The first eight islands made related in the kojiki are Awaji Shima, Iyo, Okigashima, Tsukushi, Ikinoshima, Tsushima, Sado Island and Yamato.1

The nihongi gives a different list of islands birthed by these kami. Izanami being the mother of (in order of birth), Ohoyamatonotoyoakitsushima, Iyo, Tsukushi, Oki and Sado Island, Koshi, Ohoshima, Kibi no Ko, Tsushima and Iki.2

Footnotes

1. Yasumaro. O, translated by Gustav Heldt. (2014) “Kojiki. An Account of Ancient Matters”. New York: Columbia University Press.
2. Aston. W.G. (1896) “Nihongi Volume 1: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to AD697”. Tuttle Publishing.

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Ōyashimanokuni