The Story of EBISU - Episode 1: Hiruko, Birth and Farewell

This is a completely original KAMIYO special episode that fills the “void” left unrecorded in the history books of Japanese mythology.

We weave the hidden, true tale of the gods here.

Welcome to the abyssal world of Japanese mythology.

Prologue: A Tear Woven by Love

Towering over Onogoro Island stood the "Ame-no-Mihashira" (The Heavenly Pillar).

During the sacred marriage ritual, the two gods were meant to circle the pillar and pledge their eternal love at the place where they met.

However, in that moment, a slight "tear in destiny" occurred.

The moment she finished circling the pillar and caught sight of her beloved Izanagi, the passion and affection within Izanami's chest exploded, surpassing the very rules of the universe.

The vow that should originally have been spoken first by the Yang (the male god) was instead spoken first by the Yin (the goddess), her voice trembling with joy.

"Oh... what a beautiful and beloved male god (Otoko)!"

Izanagi, too, was struck by the depth of her love and replied with a smile.

"Oh... what a beautiful and beloved maiden (Otome)."

The two lovers harbored no ill intent. Their feelings for each other were simply too strong.

However, in the still-unstable early universe, this "reversal of order" created a minute, yet decisive glitch in the program of creation.

Chapter 1: A Boneless Life, The Birth of Hiruko

After the loving union of the two gods, the first thing brought forth was not a majestic island.

What was born into Izanami's arms was a tiny, tiny "Life."

"Oh... is this our first child...?"

Izanagi timidly lifted the small body.

However, the faces of the two gods quickly turned pale.

The child lacked the "bones" needed to support the earth.

Its limbs were frail like fins, unable to stand on its own power or even maintain its shape. Like a jellyfish or a leech (hiru), it was an unfinished life, soft and entirely fluid.

This child, later to be called Hiruko (The Leech Child), possessed no voice, but his soul alone shone with a surprisingly pure and warm light.

He tried to grasp Izanagi's finger with his soft, squishy hands, and though he could not see, he seemed to sense Izanami's scent and smiled sweetly.

"Ah...! How precious. My child, my precious child...!"

Izanami held Hiruko tightly to her chest and wept aloud.

No matter his form, he was the crystal of their love. But in the material world governed by gravity, this child could not even support his own weight and would eventually perish under it.

Chapter 2: The Reed Boat, A Parent's Heart Torn Asunder

The laws of Takamagahara (The High Plain of Heaven) were cold and absolute.

"It is forbidden to mix an imperfect form into the foundation of a perfect homeland. That life must be returned to the great cycle before the world is fixed."

It was a cruel decree demanding they abandon Hiruko.

"No! This child is alive! Are you saying our love was a mistake?!"

"Izanami... please understand. If we leave him on the earth, he will be crushed in agony. ...We have no choice but to let him drift away. Into the gravity-free cradle called the sea."

Large tears spilled from Izanagi's eyes as well.

Despite possessing supreme power, he could not save this single, tiny life. It was his first taste of "powerlessness" and "sorrow," tearing his pride as a male god to shreds.

Collapsing in tears, Izanami wove reeds growing by the water's edge to make a small, sturdy boat.

She tore her own crimson robes to wrap Hiruko and laid him gently inside.

"I am sorry... I am so sorry, Hiruko. Please, please survive...!"

Izanagi pushed the reed boat out.

The boat slipped into the cold Sea of Chaos, rocking among the waves, and disappeared from sight in the blink of an eye.

On the shores of Onogoro Island, all that echoed was the wailing of a mother continuously screaming her child's name, and the stifled sobbing of a father clenching his bleeding fists.

Chapter 3: A Cradle of Waves, and a Shining Soul

Leaving his parents' heartbroken cries behind, the reed boat carrying Hiruko drifted across the raging ocean.

Yet, miraculously, the boat never capsized.

Inside the boat, Hiruko was not crying.

His boneless body synchronized perfectly with the swaying of the sea. The flesh that had been a heavy burden on land became a comforting rhythm on the waves, healing him.

Drawn by the light of Hiruko's pure and innocent soul, various forms of life gathered from the deep sea.

Giant whales acted as wave-breakers, dolphins swam close beside the boat, and seabirds warned of approaching storms.

It was his parents, Izanagi and Izanami, who had given life to the Sea of Chaos. The sea, in turn, generously protected this infant—the firstborn of the Creators—as if he were its own prince.

(I do not resent my parents.)

Hiruko's soul spoke to the sea.

(Father and Mother loved me. I will never forget the warmth of those tears.)

That absolute "Affirmation" and "Innocence" absorbed the ancient mana (divine energy) sleeping at the bottom of the sea, preparing to trigger an unimaginable miracle.

Chapter 4: The Birth of Ebisu, The Laughter that Rules the Sea

How many hundreds, or perhaps thousands of years had passed?

Riding the ocean currents, the reed boat finally washed ashore on the mystical beaches of a faraway realm called "Tokoyo no Kuni" (The Eternal Land).

When the boat washed up on the golden sands.

What stood up from it was no longer a boneless, unfinished infant.

Having absorbed the rich vitality of the sea and overcome the trials of great nature, he had evolved into a magnificent young god with a robust and powerful body.

He took a branch dropped by a seabird, used it as a fishing rod, and cast a line into the waves.

Then, a massive, brilliantly colored "Red Sea Bream" leapt from the sea of its own accord, jumping right into his arms as if to bless him.

Holding the sea bream under his arm and resting the fishing rod on his shoulder, he looked up at the sky and let out a booming, boundlessly cheerful laugh: "Wahahaha!"

In that smile, there was not a shred of bitterness over his past tragedy.

There was only the joy of living, and an overwhelming aura of "Fortune" that forgave all and enriched all.

When he laughed, the seas yielded bountiful catches; when he walked, commerce flourished.

This was the birth of the god who would later be loved by the people as the leader of the "Seven Lucky Gods" (Shichifukujin).

The guardian deity of the sea who presides over bountiful catches and good fortune—Ebisu.

"Thank you, Father, Mother. For giving me life!"

His laughter rode the gentle sea breeze, carried far, far away to his distant homeland.

Chapter 5: A Gentle Breeze, and an Oath for the Next Creation

Meanwhile, back on Onogoro Island.

To recover from the deep sorrow of casting Hiruko away, Izanagi and Izanami had received advice from the Kotoamatsukami to "redo the ritual," and once again stood before the Heavenly Pillar.

This time, Izanagi called out first, exchanging vows of love in the correct order.

It was at that moment.

Whoosh...

From the direction of the sea, an endlessly warm and cheerful spring breeze blew through.

Within that breeze, they felt they could faintly hear someone's innocent, hearty "laughter."

The moment that wind caressed the cheeks of the two gods, the "guilt" and "cold pain" of abandoning their firstborn, which had clung to the depths of their hearts, suddenly melted away.

"...Izanami. Did it not just sound as if the wind laughed?"

Izanagi looked at the sea in wonder.

From Izanami's eyes, a single streak of warm tears—not of sorrow—spilled down.

"Yes, my love. ...It is him. He is blessing us from a distant sea."

It was not logic; it was a conviction of the soul.

The life they had brought forth was not in vain. He was living tenaciously, strongly, and smiling somewhere out there.

The hearts of the two gods attained complete salvation.

"Ah... I see. Then we, too, must look forward."

Izanagi gripped Izanami's hand tightly.

"Let us create a wonderful world, endlessly beautiful and overflowing with life, one that he can be proud of when he looks up from the sea. ...That is our duty as his parents."

"Yes. Let us fill this world completely with our love."

Receiving the blessing of their firstborn laughing among the waves, the two gods readied the Amenonuboko in perfect condition.

From here, as true Creator gods who had overcome sorrow, they would go on to birth Awaji Island and the rest of the Oyashimakuni (the Japanese Archipelago) in rapid succession.

The history of the gods is spun through failure, pain, and the "Power of Love" that surpasses them all.