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Izanami (イザナミ) is the Queen of the Underworld. She is also the mother of Ebisu [1].

Appearance 

Whoever casts their eyes on Izanami sees her in the likeness of the person they feel most comfortable with. In Yato's case, she takes the appearance of Hiyori while in Ebisu's case she takes the appearance of an old lady who runs a certain western food shop called "The Olive House".

However, when Izanami loses her composure, the illusion maintaining her different appearances begins to fade; eventually breaking completely to reveal her true form. In reality Izanami's body is in a state of very severe decomposition - so much so that she is practically a living skeleton. It is unclear whether the long, dark hair she is seen having while already in her actual form is truly a part of her body that hasn't decomposed as badly or rather just a remnant of her fake appearance of Hiyori's under which she had appeared to Yato.

In all of her forms Izanami is seen wearing a long dyed kimono with flower motifs over a plain white kimono.

Personality

From her actions, it can be noted that she is quite lonely for a long time. It is implied that she has a sweet nature, yet she is also savage and barbarous. She seems to be aware of what form she takes depending on the person, as she flirted with Yato in Hiyori form but didn't do so for Ebisu, though she could just be observant and was able to tell Yato was attracted to her but not Ebisu. She is desperate to make others stay with her and be their friend, resorting to drastic measures such as having Yato and Ebisu fight over who would get to leave and chasing after them with her beldams. She is relentless in her pursuit and gets angry whenever she loses track of them or they run away. Interestingly though, she didn't care about having any of the Shinki be her friend or Bishamonten, both of which she fed to her beldams. The Shinki are pure souls and since pure souls can't live in the underworld Shinki would most likely die which would explain why she's not interested. She may also prefer male company since she decided to feed Bishamonten to her beldam rather than try to befriend her. She is consumed by her loneliness which makes her sad, emotional, impulsive, temperamental and irrational especially when someone goes to the underworld and doesn't want to be her friend.

Skills & Abilities

File:Izanami eyes chapter 37.jpg

Izanami's eyes while summoning ayakashi

Masks Summoning: An ability she obtains from using the Mandate of Hell (Phantom Brush). She is able to summon phantoms without chanting or affixing a mask, and without sustaining blight in the process, unlike Ebisu.

While summoning ayakashi Izanami's eyes look like two concentric circles with a black dot for a pupil inside. Afterwords, a similar pattern is replicated on the masks and bodies of phantoms she has evoked.

Izanami blocks exit

Yomi's exit sealed by Izanami

Underworld (Yomi) Control: Through the halo with spreading rays Izanami is capable of connecting to the Yomi infrastructure. She could effortlessly find Ebisu and Yato during and prevent their escape by sealing all the pathways out. Not only can Izanami control the whole Underworld environment, but she happened to be the commander of countless hordes of flesh-hungry Yomi entities.

File:Izanami's feeding rampage.jpg

Izanami's rampage

Those entities looks like young naked females with long dark hair. When Izanami is calm and pleased they stay under the Yomi waters. But when the Queen is disturbed, they'll hunt down and constrict victims, taking occasional bites or offering rotting foods of the Underworld (tasting from which renders one unable to ever leave the underworld).

File:Izanami Yato Hiki.jpg

Yato and Hiki captured by Izanami

Izanami's hair appears to be her personal weapon while having some tracking capability. Her hair's grip affects not only gods, but also their shinki, leaving them unable to fight back.

In Japanese Lore

Izanami (イザナミ, historically 伊弉冉尊 or 伊邪那美命; lit. "She Who Invites"), along with her husband Izanagi (イザナギ, historically 伊邪那岐; lit. "He Who Invites") belongs to the seventh generation of gods to be spontaneously created according to the Shinto creation myth. Since they were the first gods capable of reproduction, Izanami and Izanagi were tasked with making order in the chaos that was the universe and inhabiting it. After separating the world into the heavens (Takamagahara), the underworld (Yomi) and the "earthly realm" (Ashihara-no-Nakatsukuni), the couple descended to the earth in order to begin inhabiting it. The first offspring Izanami bore was a deformed child called Hiruko (蛭子; lit. "leech child") - later identified with Ebisu - which was cast to sea in a boat. The children that followed were gods that took the form of islands, making land rise from the sea - creating Japan.

Izanami's last child was the fire god Kagutsuchi (カグツチ), who killed his mother at birth, sending her to Yomi, the realm of the dead. After killing Kagutsuchi in a fit of rage, Izanagi sent for Yomi in order to retrieve his beloved wife. When he finally saw her, however, Izanagi found out that Izanami had already eaten from the food of the underworld - forbidding her from ever leaving. The sight of Izanami's decomposing body terrified Izanagi and made him flee, causing an enraged Izanami to send the fiends of Yomi after him in turn. After finally escaping from Yomi, Izanagi sealed its entrance (Yomotsu Hirasaka) with a boulder.

The entire tale of the creation of the world by Izanami and Izanagi has involved the spontaneous birth of countless gods, detailed in two historical text: the Kojiki and the Nihon-Shoki.

Trivia

  • Being bound to the underworld - an environment where uncorrupted souls cannot survive - Izanami is, in theory, a goddess with no means to ever procure Shinki.

References

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