Izumo Dragon

 Izumo Dragon~

The Japanese Deities in the Heavens 

Good Afternoon my dear Friends and Followers I have a new post about another Dragon from Japan. It is from ancient Japan Culture that this story comes from.. I hope that you all will Enjoy the Tale. It says in the ancient Japanese scripture that the Kojiki, after Susa-no-O is expelled from the Heavens, he encounters two Kuni-tsu-Kami(earthly deities) near the head of the Hi River in Izumo Province. These two Deities of the Heavens, Kuni-tusu-Kami are weeping because they had to give the sinister Orochi one of their daughters once every year(which was sacrificed as all their daughters were) and now they must sacrifice their eighth and last daughter to the Evil Orochi; whose name was Kushi-inada-hime. But this time the Sinister Orochi who dominated a certain area of Japan in this ancient time, which some say was the Izumo Province demanded Virgin sacrifices this time.   This is a more shorter version of the tale I will continue with the longer version too. So what happens next is; Susa-no-O asks for Kushi-inada-hime's hand in marriage and them he transforms her into a comb(kushi) which he then places into his hair. He then asks her parents to brew some sake that has been refined eight times and then builds a round enclosure with eight gates around that. Each has a platform for each sake vat. They would all together and help fill the sake vats and then wait, it wasn't that long to wait for the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi.

Showing the Izumo Dragon
Drinking from the Sake Vats

Evil Orochi to appear. He dips his head into each of the vats and is soon intoxicated, allowing Susa-no-O to cut him into pieces. When he cuts the middle tail, his sword is chipped and there he finds the legendary sword;
Some version call the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi is called - Kusanagi-no-Tsunegi which means in English ' The Grass-Cutting Sword'.  This Sword was given to Amaterasu, Susano- sister, who is the Japanese Goddess of the Sun. She then gave it to her descendants on Earth, the Emperor, form that point on it is said that it has been kept as one of the Three Sacred Treasures of Yamato.
How for the longer version which I thought you all might Enjoy!
I am sorry I wasn't able to find very many images for this post. But then again this is an ancient legend of Japan, from centuries ago so that could be one of the reasons why. The story begins after Amaterasu Omikami, the Japaneses Sun Goddess, was picked by her father, Izanagi-no-Mikoto(the Japanese Adam) to succeed him as the divine sovereign. All went well until Amaterasus recalcitrant brother, Susano challenged his sister to rule over the cosmos-Nihonshoki,  so in order to settle the controversy they the brother and sister performed a grand divination in which each deity magically spat out offspring; This is how the legend of the Izumo Dragon started and the magick sword too. So this is how it worked, with the pieces of Amaterasu-Susano initial sword and his sister goddesses of the Sun magatama or fertility jewel, the God was able to produced more children than his sister. However, Amaterasu-Susano brood produced more males, so his sister was adjudged the winner by the assembled gods. This didn't stop Susano, he refused to accept defeat from his sister and the assembled gods. So he stamped down on the dikes between the divine rice paddies and threw a piebald horse into the divine weaving hut thereby killing one of his sisters handmaidens. Well this was the end of that ever kinda relationship Amaterasu Omikami  had with her brother. After he killed one of her beloved handmaidens out of anger she withdrew from the heavens into
'THE CAVE OF DARKNESS'. However, she was tricked into reemerging from the cave, from her fellow deities, after insisting that she banish her brother Susano from the Heavens.
This is how the story of the famous dragon sword came about between the to siblings - The God Amaterasu-Susano of the night sky's and his sister the Goddesses-Omikami of of the Sun magatama and fertility.
When Amaterasu-Susano arrived to Earth near the headwaters of the HI river, which is now the northern part of the island of Kyushu, he noticed a pair of chopsticks were floating downstream so he decided to investigate,  being the curious God that he was. Once he got to the opposite end of the river he soon found a beautiful young maiden and her parents crying by the side of the stream. When he inquired as to why they were so sad, he learned that the girl (Kusa-Nada-hime/'Rice Paddy Princess), would soon be the latest offering/sacrifice to the ravenous eight-headed, eight-tailed dragon monster that they all called the~
YAMATA NO OROCHI ~ WHICH IN ENGLISH IS CALLED 'EIGHT-TAILED DRAGON' who was terrorizing the region of Japan. So as the tale goes~ The God Amaterasu-Susano then identified himself to the family and then he asked the doomed girls parents to bring him a large tub. Since they were desperate  to save their child they did as the God Amaterasu-Susano said hoping he could save their child from the sacrifice to the monster. So what the God Susano did was to ask the parents for their finest sake, and then filled the tub with the sake, Then being a God he was able to have the power to turn the beautiful young maiden Kusa-nada-hime or Rice Paddy Princess into a comb, which he inserted into his hair. Then he told the girls parents to hide. When the monster dragon finally did appear - all of his eight heads immediately began to drink the fine sake. You see all people and even monsters love the sake of the rice paddy of japan. The Creature drank so much of the sake he became very drunk almost dead like, so it was very easy for the God Susano to slay him. So when the God Susano hacked and slayed the dead drunk monster dragon, he started with one of the many tails and discovered a wondrous, magically sword, which he named the 'Mura-kumo-no-Tsurugi or 'Assembled Clouds Sword'. It was also called Kojiki Nihonshoki too. All of this was actually done for an peace offering to his divine sister.
Kinda makes you wonder what his true intentions really were when he was helping the young maiden and her parents. So back the the tale; once Susano had sent the sword up to his divine sister as a peace offering,  He restored the beautiful young maiden Kusa-nada-hime to a human form and married her. Even though he was a God, took up residence in a palace at Suga near the site of the Izumo Taisha Shrine in Shimane Prefecture. Well the tale doesn't end there, two generations later, when the Goddesses Amaterasu-Omikami, the Japaneses Sun Goddess sent her grandson, Honinigi, to claim the Reed Plain on her behalf, Honinigi brought with him three talismans of divine sovereignty; the Mirror, in which Amaterasu-Omikami thought she saw another Sun Goddess and was tricked into leaving the CAVE OF DARKNESS, the divine MAGATAMA, THAT IS, A FERTILITY JEWEL SIMILAR TO THE ONE THE GOD SUSANO HAD CHEWED UP DURING THE AFOREMENTIONED GRAND DIVINATION AND FINALLY LASTLY THE MURA-KUMO SWORD.
[note; if you are curious the monster at the times in ancient Japan was described besides the eight heads and tails, he also had eyes as red as winter-cherries. It was so long that its body would extend over eight valleys and eight hills, and its belly is always bloody and inflamed. Its back was covered with hikage(club-moss), hinoki(Japanese cypress) and sugi(Japanese cedar). I thought you all might like a clear description of the monster...]

So on with the tale- Although I couldn't find where it the Goddess Amaterasu-Omikami of the Divine Heavens and Sun, grandson Honinigi was able to claim the Reed Plain on her behalf; I did find when Honinigi's great-grandson; Jimmu Tenno and his warriors marched on an conquest from the Island of Kyushu along the north-coast of the Island Sea to Yamato, where Jimmu Tenno became the first Emperor of Japan. It seems that several generations of the line of Jimmu Tenno all played an wondrous and major part in Japanese culture, with the grand sword of the Izumo Dragon. Well I have more to tell you about this tale but it is getting a bit long so I will continue this with the Saga of the Yamato-takeru the Japan's greatest epic hero. 

I will try and get the Saga of the Yamato-Takeru out as soon as 

I can my dear Friends & Followers I love you all and I hope you all

Enjoy the tale in Ancient Japan 

YOUR WENDY

TipsFromtheGarden~RecyleYourBrokenTerraCottaPots-

TipsFromtheGarden~
RecyleYourBrokenTerraCottaPots~

An used Terra-Cotta
Pot with over-grown wild flowers

Good afternoon My dear Friends & Follower I hope you are all

doing Well! I am doing better everyday now with the weather starting to 

get into early spring here in Seattle WA.  Its been in the 50degrees for the last 

couple of weeks. Also my bulbs for my daffodils and purple iris have 

started  to bloom! My purple lilac is starting to bloom too!

So when they all start blooming I'll post pictures of them all. 

For today's post I have some hints to recycling 

your broken - Terra-Cotta Pots.

Because when It comes to salvaging broken Terra-Cotta pots, 

using the shards to cover other types of pots drainage holes there isn't 

any better way to recycle these old Terra-cotta pots in my option. 

~Some other creative Ideas too~ 

 1~Topsy-Turvy container gardens - stack damaged pots

at angles to form the basis for a lush, over grown display.

Trailing plants looking stunning this way.

2~Mulch-Crush them into gravel size pebbles and spread over soil to 

stifle weed growth. 

3~Row Markers- Glue pieces to chopsticks and paint names 

for instant identification. 

4~Mosaics - save up your shards and design a garden border

or pathway for your garden too ( don't forget the wear gloves)

5~Toad abode - Half a pot nestled in a flower bed is a convenient 

shelter for these tiny critters and provide free pest control too. 

So I hope that this post will help with so great idea with 

your Broken Terra-Cotta Pots!

I hope these images will help you too!

Terra-Cotta Fairy Garden from start to finish

Fairy Garden

Path of different colors of Terra-Cotta Pieces 

I will be adding a few images too to help

your all with the ideas too.  

Well I hope you Enjoy my Saturday Post

for today my dear Friends & Followers 

I love you all very much.. I wish you

all a very happy Saturday 

YOUR WENDY 

HUGSSSSS

LUTEY & THE MERMAID~

LUTEY & THE MERMAID~

The Mermaid hurt by the sharp rocks 

This is a charming tale of an fisherman from Cornwall and a Mermaid. I thought you might enjoy the tale. I know I did when I found the story. So just sit back and grab a good cup of warm coffee and a warm blanket and enjoy the tale and the music that I have on my blog.
The story starts with a an fisherman of Cornwall; in the ancient days of Cornwall Ireland the fisherman of the ships would search the shipwrecks on the beaches for valuables that would wash up a shore from all the fishing ships in the day. It seems in those days many of the fishing ships were taken by the cruel rocky coastlines.
One day the fisherman Lutey of Cury who lived near Lizard Point discovered a lovey & beautiful Mermaid that was stranded in one of the many tidepools among these rocky coastlines where the fisherman lost there own lives in their fishing ships. She looked like she had been hurt, from the sharp rocks that she was hanging from. Lutey couldn't see her face but he could tell she was very beautiful and needed help. It had looked like she had taken something to help, because there was a small crystal bottle on the sand near her and it was empty. Lutey did believe in mermaids and has seen them in the distance, but this was the first time he had seem one close-up and in trouble too. As he approached her Lutey discovered that indeed the mermaid was very beautiful and he had no problem with her trust to persuaded her to let him carry her down off the receding rock coastline to the sea below.

Lutey caring the Mermaid
to safety

 The closer Lutey was able to get the mermaid down of the spark rocks the more she began to trust the human man even more. She was snuggling Lutey by the time they were at the shoreline and she offered him three wishes for his kindness. Since Lutey was a good and kindly man, his first wish was; to have the power to break witch spells(black magick); second wish was the power to force witches familiars to do good to others; Finally the third wish; that these two powers be inherited by his descendants. The mermaid was very glad to grant all three wished to such a kindly and good man that had saved her from curtain death, because he had chosen wisely and unselfishly too. Besides the mermaid added two more gifts too his 3 wishes, First Gift; that none of his family should every want; Second Gift; was away for him to call her when in need by the use of her magic golden comb. Lutey thanked the mermaid and still carried her without effort and placed her toward the sea.

The Mermaid singing her siren kinda
sounds that mortal men can resist 

Now Lutey was a very handsome man and very strong too. Those wishes that he asked of the mermaid well there was more to this story; you see it seem that the mermaid began to wish that the fisherman, an mortal handsome man might see her more in a romantic way. How the mermaid was indeed a most beautiful creature herself. However she didn't quite know how to get the human to get him to see her in a more romantic way. Then it came to her, her voice of song. It can melt anyone heart and make anyone follow the sound of her sounds...  So when the two finally came to the edge of the crashing waves of the sea, the mermaid began to plead with the fisherman Lutey to come with her into her world under the sea. At his point she had her hands and arms around his neck. She was quite healthy and healed from her wounds from the spark rocks, so her had him tightly about his neck when she was pleading with him to come with her to the underwater city with her. Lutey was just about to put her into the sea gently, when the mermaid's  voice was so gentle and the movement of her lithe body so sweet in his arms that Lutey started to forget his surroundings; the crashing ocean just in front of him, the depths of the sea cliff just under his feet; it was just a few more steps and he would be gone forever to the world that he knows, as he strides onward into the sea. If it wasn't for his dog barking frantically from the shoreline none stop and reminding Lutey of his own dear wife and children. However, by now the beautiful mermaid was clinging onto Lutey even more fiercely and tightly around his neck and she would have dragged him under to her world under the sea if Lutey hadn't unsheathed his knife and threatened her with it. merfolk, so she jumped out of Lutey arms, dashed away into the crashing waves, calling back to him,

Mermaid saying goodbye and I will be
back in Nine years my Love!

This he didn't want to do but he had to because he didn't want to leave his family. and the mermaid ~ The knife was made of iron, and metal which is repulsive to
'Farewell, farewell
and keep thee well, my love!
For nine long years I'll wait for thee
And hold thee in my heart, my love
And then I shall return!
Lutey's wishes did all come true and his family and descendant's all became famous healers too. Plus the mermaids promise also came true, nine years to the day she said it. He was our fishing with one of his many sons and she rose high in the water that was as green as her big beautiful green eyes were. She shook her very long black hair to beckon Lutey.
Lutey turned to his son and said' Its time, my son I must pay my debt' Yet he didn't seem in the least unhappy as he jump of the pier into the green depths with his silvery voice love.

It is said also that since that day , every nine years an Lutey of Cury would be lost at sea. Know one really knows if they are as lucky as the first Lutey being a joyous one, but one hopes that they all joy the underworld of mermaids where the first Lutey is to live a very happy life. I hope that you all Enjoy the tale of the Mermaid and the fisherman Lutey of Cury. 

I love you all my dear Friends & Follower 

YOUR WENDY