Comparing Creation Myths In Japan And Greece

Creation myth is a basic type of myth. Normally, creation myths contain information and describe how the world is created in different ways, based on the country’s culture and geography. The countries that are located in the same area may have the same or similar myth, while the countries that are located in different area may have different myth. In almost every myths, magical or supernatural elements are included, and that make the story fun and interesting.

Japan and Greece are located in different parts of the world, so their myths have many different parts. First, the main characters are not the same even they are all gods. Japanese myth have six main gods; the first god, Izanagi, Izanami, Amaterasu, Tsuki-yami, and Sosano-wo. Greek myth have much more gods, which are Nyx, Eros, Zeus, Gaia, Uranus, Kronus, Rhea, Pandora,

They both have the theme about gods and have magical or supernatural elements in the story. The examples for Japanese myth are a green shoot that grew and reached the clouds transformed into a god, one god was making other gods, and gods turned into Sun, Moon, and storm maker. Magical elements for Greek myth are the mystery box (Pandora box), the bird (Nyx) that laid the egg and created the earth, and the gods’ story. Geography and cultures can be reflected by the myths. Japanese myth is related to the islands and the sea, this shows that Japan contained a group of islands which are surrounding by ocean. Also, the first child of the two gods bore a son who later became the emperor of Japan, and all the emperor since then have claimed descent from him. This shows that the emperors have some connections with the god. At the same time, Greek myth reflects that birds and fire are the symbols and very significant to Greece. According to these myths, we can see that even the countries are located in different parts of the world, they are still some similarities between