Ashihara no Nakatsukuni
Encyclopedia
is, in Japanese mythology
, the world between Takamagahara
(Heaven
) and Yomi
(Hell
). In time, the term became another word for the country or the location of Japan
. The term can be used interchangeably with Toyoashihara no Nakatsukuni (豊葦原中国). There is a great dispute among historians about where exactly in Japan the term originally referred to.
Perhaps the term was considered appropriate to describe Japan because the land was damp and covered with reeds
(ashi) in ancient times. The meaning of naka (middle) in the word nakatsukuni is based upon the world view of ancient peoples, where nakatsukuni indicates the real world or country between Takamagahara
in the heavens and Yomi no kuni
in the netherworld.
Japanese mythology
Japanese mythology is a system of beliefs that embraces Shinto and Buddhist traditions as well as agriculturally based folk religion. The Shinto pantheon comprises innumerable kami...
, the world between Takamagahara
Takamagahara
Takama-ga-hara , literally "High Heaven's Plain" but often translated as the "High Plain of Heaven," is a place in Japanese mythology. In Shinto, Takama-ga-hara is the dwelling place of the Kami. It is believed to be connected to the Earth by the bridge Ama-no uki-hashi...
(Heaven
Heaven
Heaven, the Heavens or Seven Heavens, is a common religious cosmological or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings originate, are enthroned or inhabit...
) and Yomi
Yomi
, the Japanese word for the underworld in which horrible creatures guard the exits; according to Shinto mythology as related in Kojiki, this is where the dead go to dwell and apparently rot indefinitely. Once one has eaten at the hearth of Yomi it is impossible to return to the land of the living...
(Hell
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
). In time, the term became another word for the country or the location of Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. The term can be used interchangeably with Toyoashihara no Nakatsukuni (豊葦原中国). There is a great dispute among historians about where exactly in Japan the term originally referred to.
Perhaps the term was considered appropriate to describe Japan because the land was damp and covered with reeds
Reed bed
Reed beds are natural habitats found in floodplains, waterlogged depressions andestuaries. Reed beds are part of a succession from young reed colonising open water or wet ground through a gradation of increasingly dry ground...
(ashi) in ancient times. The meaning of naka (middle) in the word nakatsukuni is based upon the world view of ancient peoples, where nakatsukuni indicates the real world or country between Takamagahara
Takamagahara
Takama-ga-hara , literally "High Heaven's Plain" but often translated as the "High Plain of Heaven," is a place in Japanese mythology. In Shinto, Takama-ga-hara is the dwelling place of the Kami. It is believed to be connected to the Earth by the bridge Ama-no uki-hashi...
in the heavens and Yomi no kuni
Yomi
, the Japanese word for the underworld in which horrible creatures guard the exits; according to Shinto mythology as related in Kojiki, this is where the dead go to dwell and apparently rot indefinitely. Once one has eaten at the hearth of Yomi it is impossible to return to the land of the living...
in the netherworld.