Book Review
Title: The Goddesses of Japan (The Goddesses of the World #1)
Author: Kazuko Nishimura
Genre: Historical
Rating: ****
Review: Before this book even starts, we have a huge cast of characters that you will probably have to go back to more than once throughout the novel, but I was so excited to read a book about Japanese mythology as I love all things Japanese. I also loved the full-color image of what I believe is Mt. Fuji at the opening of the first chapter was beautiful and one day I’d love to see it in real life. Part one of this novel is entitled The Origins of the Land of the Rising Sun and it is Izanami’s鈥檚 story and we know that Izanami is the female Deity, Creator of Japan. We learn of how she and Izanagi-no-Mikoto: male Deity, Creator of Japan married and together created Japan and populated it with their children who were given dominion over particular domains. The tragic story of the love between Izanami and Izanagi was beautiful but then we move onto the lives and conflicts of their children.
We know that Izanagi killed the child that killed Izanami, but their other children are just as powerful. The two children that don’t stay on Earth with their parents are Amaterasu; the Sun Goddess and Tsukuyomi; the Moon God. The siblings are given dominion over part of the heavens and create day and night but also the seasons. We see the struggles they face in creating the right balance between light and darkness and between warm and cold. They also create the first eclipse after the death of their mother. However, Amaterasu has difficulty with her brother Susanowo; the deity of storms. Susanowo believes that their parents loved Amaterasu more and made her more powerful and challenges her for her dominion when he loses, he enraged Amaterasu with cruel pranks causing her to hide away on seclusion driving the world of warmth and light, all the other Kami rally together to get her back and eventually succeed, showing even in the darkest of times there is hope.
Kushinada’s story should have really been called the redemption of Susanowo. After being banished and punished for his actions against his sister, Susanowo meets Kushinada and falls in love. However, the Land is terrorized by a giant evil serpent called Yamata锟緉o-Orochi who always killed the family’s oldest daughter and Kushinada is their last child. Susanowo vows to kill the beast if he can have Kushinada as his wife and the family agrees. True to his word Susanowo kills Yamata and marries Kushinada who gives him a son and even helps him made amends with Amaterasu, however, as his wife is meek, he son has to return to his duties leaving behind his wife and on Ashihara. Amaterasu wise to her brother believes that he is deceiving her again and wants dominion over Ashihara, so she sends several of her son’s to claim it in her name. But these sons don’t return claiming to love living on Ashihara, so Amaterasu refuses to give them light. Despite the tussle for dominion, the people of Ashihara knows it is better to be ruled by the Sun Goddess who gives them light and survive rather than stand their ground and have everything they love perish. Thus Ashihara now belongs to Amaterasu.
Uzume is a good friend of Amaterasu and is invited to the coronation of her grandson, Ninigi who is becoming the first ruler of Ashihara. Amaterasu asks Uzume to be one of the deities who travel to Earth with Ninigi, as her powers as the Goddess of Mirth might prove useful. Shortly after arriving she needs to convince an earthly Kami Sarutabiko 聽to let them cross the Bridge of Heaven which works but he does want to marry get unnerving Uzume. However, we learn that Ninigi married Sakayu and insulted her greatly when he implied that the child, she is carrying isn’t his, although he is proven wrong when she gives birth to fire triplets and both mother and children survive the home bring down. All the while Uzume is an observer to their lives. It is also this delegation that lay down the foundations of the Shinto religion which along with Buddhism is the main religions of Japan. Nevertheless, Uzume does get her own happily ever after with a husband of her own choosing.
Toyotama we learn is the eldest daughter of the Deity of the Sea and it is her story that we get next. Toyotama next to her sister is considered plain and ugly but when she meets Hohodemi that changes. Hohodemi is a Gifted Hunter on land while his brother is a Gifted Hunter of the sea.
One Day Hohodemi and his brother switch equipment to test their skills and Hohodemi loses his brother’s fishhook. Hohodemi travels into the sea kingdom in order to recover the fishhook for his brother but after meeting Toyotama he falls in love and married her, years later, he remembers the mission he came to the sea for and feels he has to return to the land and brings his wife with him. When Toyotama goes into labour early she makes her husband promise not to look into the cabin while she gives birth and obviously, he disobeys. Hohodemi sees a crocodile in the cabin and attacks it not knowing that this is Toyotama’s true form, this causes her to return to the sea and breaks the connection she has to the land so she can never return again. However, she leaves her son Ugayafukiaezu with his father and is raised primarily by her sister Tamayori who is the one who tells Ugayafukiaezu of his birth and the circumstances surrounding it. Eventually, we learn that Ugayafukiaezu has fallen in love with Tamayori and this makes Toyotama very happy knowing the people she loves the most are happy together.
We then return to Amaterasu’s story to learn that 1.8 million years have passed since Ninigi’s descent to Earth. However, this story doesn’t follow Amaterasu but rather the children of Tamayori and Ugayafukiaezu. It also begins to chronicle the conflicts arising on Earth as well as in the Heavens. So far, this has been the story I enjoyed the least as it loses some of the mystical elements that we have come to expect from this story, but we are moving on to the appearance of China and Korea as well as Japanese lore.
The next story belongs to Empress Suiko, a scion of the Sun Goddess; Amaterasu. Suiko tells the tale of how Japan began to incorporate Buddhism into their lives firmly dominated by the Shinto religion. This transition isn’t easy, and several battles are waged and many of the Royals are killed along the way. It is down to first Empress of Japan to change things which she does but it also results in her death but her death leaves behind hope for the rest of the country which is still in its infancy. So far, I liked learning about the Japanese Culture but certain stories especially those focused on conflict left me feeling a little bored.
Empress Kōken/Shōtoku’s story is next, she was born Princess Abe but renamed Empress Kōken after she was crowned the 46th Empress of Japan. She is the sort of Empress that while she isn’t the first or the last woman to take the Japanese throne, she is the first Empress to stand up for her right to marry whoever she chooses and despite dying without getting her request granted she did pave the way for others.
The next chapter is entitled A Japanese Emperor with Korean blood, an Indian Faith and a Chinese capital and it is Takano-no-Niigasa’s story. Niigasa is of royal descent but from a Korean bloodline but she does end up marrying a minor Prince but as her family has little political influence her husband is forced to take a second wife to produce an heir despite already having two children with Niigasa. However, many years later Shirakabe is appointed as Crown Prince, meaning Niigasa is now a Queen but the Empress Consort has a higher rank than her until she is dismissed from Court and their son disinherited leaving Niigasa and their eldest son in a position of power. However, it isn’t until her son takes the throne that Niigasa gains any influence but after her death, the Korean bloodline is acknowledged and in future Emperors even praised.
While Niigasa’s story documents the movement of the Japanese capital the feudal Lords are remembered throughout history and I was excited to read Tokiwa’s story. Tokiwa is the concubine of Minamoto Yoshitomo and Taira Kiyomori, while she was married to Minamoto, she gave birth to 3 sons but the Minamoto and the Taira clans were at war with each other. When Minamoto is killed Tokiwa flees with her sons but is eventually caught and presented to Taira Kiyomori. Taira wants her as a concubine but she only agrees to do so if he spares her sons, while he agrees and sends them to a monastery two of her sons become fierce warriors after escaping the monks. We also get to see the birth of the Samurai and the Daimyo which would become quite infamous in Japan’s history. We also see the first European’s land on Japanese soil and sow the seeds of Christianity, but nothing can last forever, but Tokiwa’s ideals are held strong in her children.
Ōhōri Tsuru’s story is entitled the Ninja and the Samurai, which are integral parts of Japan’s violent history and I am excited to read this one. Ōhōri Tsuru is the chief priestess of the Oyamatsumi Shinto Shrine, which was a converted position for women working in Shrines. She is entrusted the Shrine to protect from outsiders which she does with an astonishing skill we are also introduced to Fumo Doziki, who is a shinobi or Ninja, but he was a born into a Samurai family and becomes a ninja to avenge them. This was one of my favourite stories, but it was a little short for my liking.
The next story belongs to Doshika Taka, who is a Christian Kunoichi (female shinobi) and the wife of Fumo Doziki, while this story tells the tale of her younger years it all ties together. Doshika Taka had a very hard and abusive life, but she was hand-picked to be part of a team of Kunoichi by Mochizuki Chiyome and the next story is hers.
We already know from Taka’s chapter that Chiyome was married to Samurai and had a happy life until he was killed despite being raised as a Kunoichi, the natural enemy of the Samurai class. We follow Chiyome as a widow training Kunoichi and her favourite is Taka as she sends them out on mission before completing one final mission of her own that will allow her to meet her true love again in another life. We then return to Taka’s story, which collides with Doziki’s and how they came to encounter each other for the first time which was interesting as they meet during one of Japan’s bloodiest civil wars and the most feudal periods in the country’s history.
We then move onto Lady Chacha’s story, she is the niece of Nobunaga and the second wife of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. It seems that Doziki and Taka’s story overlaps with that of Lady Chacha and Goemon, it was really touching to see these two couples fight so hard for survival but ultimately suffer the same fate despite an era of peace being brought to the country.
The last but one chapter is entitled The Trilogy of Terror and it is Yamamoto Yaeko’s story. Yamamoto Yaeko is an Aizu onna-bugeisha (female-samurai), turned nurse, who meets and eventually married Joseph Niijima, a Japanese ordained Protestant priest. Through their story, we see the end of feudalism in Japan and the foundations of modern Japan are firmly laid down. This book has a massive feminist feel to it as almost every female character oozes female empowerment but rather than gaining it through the subjugation of men they gain empowerment by working and fighting alongside their male counterparts. Overall, the Goddesses of Japan was a very interesting and informative read with a fictionalized element that made it very easy to read. Highly recommended especially for those like myself with a huge interest in Japanese Culture and history.
Buy it here:
Paperback: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
I received this review copy from Booksprout.
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