The Story of Shinatsuhiko - Episode 2: Magatsuhi-no-Kami and the Purifying Wind that Cleanses Heaven and Earth

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: The Changing Seasons and the Rising Yang Spirit

Ever since the two gods, Shinatsuhiko-no-Kami and Shinatsuhime-no-Kami, were bound together and the first balmy breeze blew across Oyashimakuni (The Great Eight Islands), heaven and earth had achieved remarkable growth.

Trees stretched their branches high into the heavens, growing thick with lush green leaves.

Beasts of the field ran about, and the ocean governed by Owatatsumi-no-Kami was also overflowing with the joy of life.

Flying together through the sky like birds sharing wings, the two wind gods became the gentle daily breezes, carrying pollen, flowing clouds, and endlessly aiding the breathing of Oyashima.

However, when the light of the sun gained heat day by day, and the earth began to be enveloped in an intense Yang spirit...

A slight, yet certain, anomaly began to occur in the aspect of Oyashimakuni.

Chapter 1: The Stagnation of Sweltering Heat and the Creeping Magatsuhi-no-Kami (God of Calamity)

“...The air is terribly heavy.”

Shinatsuhiko-no-Kami, looking down at the earth from the heavens, furrowed his brows in frustration.

Oyashimakuni, having welcomed midsummer, had its earth heated by the intense sunlight, and the moisture rising from the seas and rivers formed a thick lid in the sky.

Even when the wind gods blew down gentle breezes, they were blocked by that heavy, moist layer of air, and the pure wind could not reach the earth’s surface.

On the windless earth, a terrifying situation was progressing.

Clear streams stagnated into swamps, and the stench of rot hung around the roots of the overly dense trees.

From within that stagnation of rot and heat, an invisible impurity that erodes life—the presence of Magatsuhi-no-Kami (God of Calamity)—began to creep in like a black shadow.

“At this rate, Oyashima will perish from the heat and stagnation it has produced itself...”

Shinatsuhime-no-Kami murmured, looking painfully at the ground.

Her gentle, harmonious wind (nigikaze) could not blow away this thick, heavy stagnation of sweltering heat. It was the cruel truth of great nature that the power to merely cherish all things could not exorcise the disease nesting at the root of life.

Chapter 2: Awakening of the Aramitama

Shinatsuhiko-no-Kami took a deep breath and looked back at his wife with eyes of resolve.

In his gaze, there was no innocent joy of flaunting his power as he had shown when he was newly born. It harbored the heavy, painful resolve of a god who governs heaven and earth.

“Shinatsuhime. I must once again awaken that raging storm... my mighty Aramitama.”

At those words, Shinatsuhime-no-Kami softly gasped…

His excessively powerful wind was a double-edged sword that would sweep away the stagnation, but simultaneously and mercilessly snap the fragile lives rooted in the earth.

“To save life, will you blow a wind that harms life?”

“Indeed. But we must not let the great tree rot out of fear of breaking small branches. To shatter the stiffened lid of the sky and blow away Magatsuhi-no-Kami accumulated deep within the earth to the other side of the sea, my full-force storm is required.”

Shinatsuhiko-no-Kami fluttered the blue robes enveloping his body to the heavens.

It was the birth of what humans of later eras would call with fear and awe the “Nowaki” (field-dividing wind)—a giant typhoon.

Chapter 3: The Wind of Yin and Yang, the Nestling Nigimitama

Before her husband, who had hardened his tragic resolve, Shinatsuhime-no-Kami quietly stepped closer.

And, just like the day they first met, she grasped his hand gently, yet powerfully.

“Then, let me go with you. My husband.”

“You must not! My Aramitama is dreadful. It might blow away everything, even your soft wind!”

“No.”

The goddess’s eyes did not waver in the slightest.

“If you are to be the storm that returns everything to nothingness, I shall remain at the center of that storm and become its ‘Eye’.

So that your wind does not descend into mere destruction, I shall become the prayer of heaven and earth to guide you. And... immediately after you sweep away the impurities, I shall surely blow down the wind of the Nigimitama to heal the battered lives.”

The raging storm , the silence at its center , and the healing that follows the storm.

The two wind gods united their powers once again.

Destruction and rebirth are two inseparable sides of great nature. They were about to embody that harsh providence with their own beings.

Chapter 4: The Great Purifying Wind that Cleanses Heaven and Earth

Rooooooaaarrr!!!

The sky turned black, and with a roar that shook heaven and earth, the Nowaki unleashed by Shinatsuhiko-no-Kami struck Oyashimakuni.

It was different from the lonely storm of the past. It was a great purifying wind with a clear “will of purification.”

The fierce storm shattered the thick lid of heat covering the sky into pieces.

The wind penetrated deep into the forests, mercilessly stripping away rotting old leaves, and swept the waters of stagnant swamps up into the heavens.

Weak branches snapped, and the earth was smeared with mud by the raging wind and rain. However, from the path the storm passed through, the dark presence of “Magatsuhi-no-Kami” reliably vanished, blown away to the Ne-no-kuni (Root Country) beyond the sea.

Even while feeling the pain of his own wind harming the lives on earth, Shinatsuhiko-no-Kami never weakened the wind.

Because Shinatsuhime-no-Kami always stayed close to his back, continuing to support his raging soul with her warm hands.

“Endure, lives of Oyashima! Beyond this storm, a pure tomorrow surely awaits!”

The male god’s roar became the sound of the wind, echoing across heaven and earth.

Chapter 5: The Autumn Wind of Bountiful Harvest and the Golden Waves

Which had raged for many days, finally finished its duty and departed beyond the great ocean.

Oyashimakuni after the storm passed was enveloped in silence.

Many trees had fallen, and leaves were scattered everywhere... but there, not a single trace of the stench of stagnation or rot remained.

Into that pure space, Shinatsuhime-no-Kami softly fluttered down.

“Now, you have endured well. There is nothing to fear anymore.”

When she fluttered her sleeves, the clouds remaining in the sky completely cleared, revealing a boundlessly high, clear blue sky.

The cool, pleasant wind she released—the first “Autumn Wind” ever to blow—gently caressed the battered earth.

Then, a miracle occurred.

The plants and trees that had survived the storm, receiving the cool air of the autumn wind, made their vitality surge all at once, beginning to dye their leaves in vivid crimson and golden colors.

Fallen old trees became new nourishment for the soil, and seeds carried by the wind took root there. With the stagnation cleared, the sun’s light reached the depths of the earth, and nuts and grains plumply began to bear fruit.

An overwhelming scenery of bountiful harvest arriving after the storm of destruction had passed.

“Magnificent... My wife, your wind has turned the earth into a sea of gold.”

Having exhausted his power and descended from the heavens, Shinatsuhiko-no-Kami narrowed his eyes at the dazzling sight.

“No. It is precisely because you swept away the heavy stagnation and cleansed the vessels of life that this bounty exists.”

Shinatsuhime-no-Kami gently embraced her husband’s battered shoulders.

The balmy breeze of spring sprouts life, the Nowaki of summer clears the stagnation of heaven and earth, and the cool wind of autumn brings the harvest.

The two wind gods had herein completed the eternal rhythm called “the turning of the seasons.”

As long as the winds they blow down exist, the life of Oyashimakuni will never stand still, but will continue to circulate strongly and beautifully.

Under the clear blue autumn sky, the two wind gods drawing close together watched over the earth undulating in gold, with endless affection.