Re: OT: White Goddess

Christophe Grandsire wrote:
>
> En réponse à Yoon Ha Lee <yl112@...>:
>
> >
> > I think I choked badly at the point where he cites a Japanese myth
> > about
> > poetry involving the sun-*god* and moon-*goddess.*  I sat there
> > thinking,
> > Is this a version of Japanese myth that never makes it into the
> > myth-books?  Or did Amaterasu undergo a sex-change while I wasn't
> > looking?
> >
>
> Amaterasu is a goddess?! Then it gives a very different reading to the
> name of
> one of the kings of the Five Stars Story: king Amaterasu (yes, king, not
> queen),
> a man with androgyneous beauty. BTW, do you know the manga Five Stars
> Story?
> I've only read about it but it sounds so great I really want to get it.
> Alas, it's not that easy in France...
Yes, indeed. Amaterasu is the sun goddess. Among her stories is a
"coming of spring" myth. She is attacked by her brother Susanou, and in
her despair retreats to a cave, plunging the world into darkness and
winter. Before all life can die, one of the other goddesses performs by
singing and dancing outside of the cave, tempting Amaterasu to rejoin
the world, and spring returns.

I hadn't known this about "Five Stars Story", as I haven't read or seen
that one yet. But it doesn't surprise me. The manga writers like to play
fast and loose with *everybody's* mythologies, including their own. But
I like it anyway. Are you familiar with "Aa! Megami-sama!" (translated
in English as "Oh, My Goddess!"? The three Norns of Norse mythology show
up in decidedly new guises.

Laurie
milo@winternet.com
http://www.winternet.com/~milo
--
"Being bright does not grant an immunity to doing idiotic
things; more like, it just enlarges the possible scope."
     -- Lois McMaster Bujold