Izanami, the Japanese Shinto Goddess of Creation and Death.

In Japanese mythology, Izanami was one of the first gods and the wife of Izanagi. They created the ocean by churning the seas with the heavenly spear and then had many children. The first two were deformed and could not be dieties because Izanami greeted her husband first for consummation. The next eight children became the islands of Japan and they continued to have more children, creating more dieties. This included Amaterasu the Sun Goddess in one variation of the myth. Sadly, Izanami eventually died in childbirth, and when Izanagi went to the Underworld to save her, he was horrified to see that she was now a rotting corpse, fled and declared them divorced. In anger, Izanami retaliated by claming she would become the Goddess of Death, claiming 1,000 lives each and everyday.

Izanami is another one of my favorite goddesses, because she is a beautiful and tragic figure. She is both a dual Goddess of Creation and Destruction. I feel a lot of sympathy for her, because it's not her fault she died in childbirth, nor was it her fault that she became a rotting corpse/zombie thing in the Underworld. (Izanagi is such a butthead! ><) Though it seems that Izanami gets the last laugh – in some variations of her myth, her greatest child and accomplishment was giving birth to the Sun Goddess Amaterasu, who later became the head diety of Japan. XD

On an artistic note, this was my final project for my Mythology: General Survey class (had to depict a figure from the mythologies we discussed in any medium of choice). I felt a great deal of sympathy and compassion for Izanami, and as such, I wanted to depict her as a very beautiful, but obviously dead figure – nothing more than a forlorn beauty that is now skin and bones. Top further emphasize her "Death Goddess" role, she's dressed in the traditional white funeral robes of Japan, but a part of her "Creation Goddess" role remains as well. XD

Music: "Into the West" – Annie Lennox; "The Grey Heavens" – Howard Shore
Materials: Paper, Pencil, Pigma Pen, Photoshop CS2

Artwork by Cheetah Smith. Please do not take or use without due permission.