Yomi no Kuni

Yomi no Kuni, often translated as the "Land of Darkness" or "Underworld," is a significant concept in Japanese mythology. It is the realm where the dead reside, analogous to Hades in Greek mythology.1

In the creation myth, after the goddess Izanami dies from burns sustained during childbirth, the god Izanagi follows her to Yomi. He finds her in a decaying state and flees, sealing the entrance to the underworld with a large stone, thus breaking their union. Izanagi's subsequent purification from the miasma of Yomi marks the birth of several important deities, including the sun goddess Amaterasu. The concept of Yomi highlights the Japanese mythological understanding of death and the afterlife, and the separation between the world of the living and the dead.21