IZANAMI

Real Name: Izanami

Occupation: Queen of the Underworld, former goddess of the moon

Legal Status: Exiled citizen of Ama

Identity: The general populace of earth is unaware of Izanami except as a mythological character.

Other Aliases: Kiki Bones

Place of Birth: Kyushu (now part of modern Japan)

Marital Status: Separated

Known Relatives: Inn (father), Gaea (mother, alias Yo), Izanagi (brother/estranged husband), Maricia-ten (sister-in-law), Uhjini, Tunokui, Ontonoji, Omadaru (brothers), Suhjini, Ikugui, Ootonobe, Kashikone, (sisters), Amaterasu, Uke-Mochi, Kawanokami, Shinatobe, Kawanokami, Kuraokami (daughters), Takamimusubi, Susanowo, Takamikusubi, Oowadatsumi, Kagutsuchi, Tsukiyomi, Shinatsuhiko, Emma-O, Hiruko, Minatatonomi, Ooyamatsumi, Wakahirume, Takaokami (sons)

Group Affiliation: The Gods of Japan, member of an unnamed cabal of underworld-gods

Base of Operations: Yomi

First Appearance: (unidentified) Thor I Annual 10, (identified) Man of Steel #126

History: Izanami is one of an extra-dimensional race of beings known as the Kami who were worshipped as gods by the Ancient Japanese. Not much is known about her origins, but she was historically born on the island now known as Kyushu in modern-day Japan to obscure primal deities known as Inn and Yo, who are described as the male and female principals of the universe, respectively. (According to one account, Yo might actually be the Japanese name of Gaea, one of the Elder Gods who admitted to being the primal ancestor of all the gods of earth.)

Izanami was taken as the wife of Izanagi, who may have been one of the first Emperors of Japan before ascending into godhood. According to myth, together, they created the eight islands of Japan by standing upon Amanohashidate, the floating bridge of heaven, and then stirring the ocean with a jeweled spear in order to stir the islands up from the bottom of the sea. Izanagi claimed all the islands as his own and built a house on the island of Onokoro to be their home. Izanami had several children by Izanagi, but he did not favor all his children by her. His first son, Hiruko, did not please him and he set him adrift in a boat of reeds upon the ocean. Among his favored children were Amaterasu the sun-goddess, Tsukiyomi the moon-god and Susanowo the storm-god with whom he shared his powers. However, when Kagutsuchi was born, Izanami was set afire by his birth and so badly burned that she lost part of her godhood and died. Izanagi was so furious that he cut Kagutsuchi up into three pieces and cast his remains to the wind. Kagutsuchi later regenerated enough of himself to survive and became god of fire.

Izanami, meanwhile, departed earth, taking her children with her children for the underworld of Yomi, the Land of Gloom. Because Yomi was accessed by underground inter-dimensional access points, it was long considered beneath the earth and the land of the dead.  Izanagi departed looking for her and calling her name. Without seeing her, Izanagi heard her voice calling to him and warning him that she had already eaten from the table of the dead and could not return with him. She admitted she wanted to return to earth, but she would have to ask the spirits of the dead if she could be allowed to return with him. Eventually, Izanagi grew tired of waiting for him and descended down into Yomi to look for her and his children. When he found her, Izanagi discovered that she had become a rotting corpse covered in maggots devouring her flesh and recoiled from her horrible appearance. Collecting his abducted children, he fled from Yomi, but Izanami was so upset that he had stolen a look of her undead body that she sent the forces of the underworld upon Izanagi. To escape these demonic forces, Izanagi tossed away his headdress, transforming it into grapes that the demons stopped to eat. As they caught back up to him, Izanagi tossed away the comb from his hair, transforming it into bamboo shoots that the demons once more stopped to eat. When Izanami caught up to him, Izanagi reached the boundary of Yomi at a cave entrance that entered into the land of the living and erected a great barrier to forever separate the land of the living from the land of the dead. He also cast spells preventing it from ever being opened by mortal hands. Izanami cursed at him claiming that she would take a thousand people a year from earth for revenge, but he promised to cause one thousand and five hundred people to be born a year so that there would always be people on earth.  

Despite rescuing his children from Yomi, Izanagi had left one of his rejected children behind. Emma-O, the son of Izanagi and Izanami, remained behind to become god of the dead.

Izanami had little to do with the other Kami for millennia but was still worshipped and respected as one of the ancestral deities of Japan. She may have had a part in the escape of Mikaboshi, a powerful demon from Yomi, but this is undetermined. Mikaboshi severed Amanohashidate, the floating bridge of heaven, and laid siege to Ama, scattering or slaying the majority of the Kami through earth and heaven before being slain himself by the Olympian gods. Izanami had been previously contacted by rival underworld gods, Hades and Seth, in a plot to join their respective realms, but that plan was ruined by the primeval beast known as Demogorge. Ravanna, the Hindu god of evil, then took over the remaining underworld gods in an endeavor to twist as many of the heroes of earth into malicious beings subservient to their will. To reach that end, Izanami tried to seduce Lois Lane, the wife of Superman with offers of power in order to force his degradation, but Superman proved too noble to submit and defeated the rogue gods, restoring Lois to normal, and turning over Izanami and her other rogue gods back to their respective pantheons. 

Izanami was returned to Yomi; her next activities as yet unrevealed.

Height: 7' 0"
Weight: 360 lbs.
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black

Unusual Physical Traits: In her demonic form, Izanami has blue skin, horns, a reptilian tail and a face resembling kabuki make-up with a long prehensile tongue.

Strength Level: Izanami possesses superhuman strength enabling her to lift (press) at least 80 tons under optimal conditions.

Known Superhuman Powers: Izanami possesses the conventional physical attributes of the Kami or Japanese gods. Like all Kami, she is virtually immortal: she has aged at at an exceptionally slow rate since reaching adulthood and cannot die by any conventional means, but she is not a true immortal like the gods of Olympus. She is immune to all Earthly diseases and is resistant to conventional injury. If she were somehow wounded, her godly life force would enable her to recover with superhuman speed. It would take an injury of such magnitude that it dispersed a major portion of her bodily molecules to cause her a physical death. Even then, it might be possible for a god of significant power, like Izanami, or a group of Japanese gods of equal power working together to revive her. Izanami also possesses superhuman strength and her Kami metabolism provides her with far greater than human endurance in all physical activities. (Kami flesh and bone is about three times as dense as similar human tissue, contributing to the superhuman strength and weight of the Japanese gods.)

Izanami also has several powers to tap into and manipulate mystical occult energies for feats of magic. Her exact level of power is unrevealed, but it is believed she is equal to such goddesses as Hela, Tuonetar and Eriskegal. Although she is more powerful in her native realm of Yomi than she is on earth, she can cast spells to alter her appearance, grant immortality to mortals and erect and throw bursts of energy. Her exact level of power is unrevealed, but it is known she can command and control evil spirits and minor demons to follow her bidding.

Comments: This bio largely describes Izanami in the Marvel and DC Universes, although she is much more prominent in the DC Universe. Izanami also appeared with Izanagi in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #28-29 (Archie Comics, part of Image Comics). 

The Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe III Update incorrectly confuses Izanami as one of the forms of Gaea.

Clarifications: Izanami is not to be confused with:

Last updated: 07/31/07

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