The beast was inside
Such imperatives are cultivated from the womb
So I never wanted to walk these islands of Izanage my father
because the beast cried within me
—Why did I have to leave the womb?
I wailed and railed
My sister Amaterasu, great goddess of the sun, was happy with her lands
while my father assigned others of his creation to me
He did not recognize the beast
because the recognized beast is open to defeat
and the unrecognized one stays forever
So I wailed and railed
He punished my cries with banishment
In truth he missed my mother
jeweled conjurer of birth, then death
even more than I did
because he breached the land of the dead to find her
Before leaving I reached out to Amaterasu whom I would miss dearly
But she mistrusted my intentions, leading us into a contest
and when I matched her fertility and grace in offspring
my entitlement exploded such that I grew drunk with pride
I released what was inside
And thereby raged the beast!
It ravaged—
no, I ravaged—the lands of Amaterasu and frightened her into hiding
which plunged the entire earth into darkness
Andy Oram
October 9, 2026