Having finished the land, the couple bore the many gods of nature—mountains, seas, wind, trees. But when Izanami gave birth to the fire god, Kagutsuchi, the flames burned her, and she passed away into Yomi, the land of the dead.
Overcome with grief, Izanagi wept—and gods were born even from his tears. Then his sorrow turned to rage, and he drew his great sword and struck off the head of his own child, the fire god.
From the scattered blood and the pieces of the slain god, still more deities of thunder, blade, and mountain came into being. Both the joy of creation and the grief of loss gave rise to new gods—and the shape of the world deepened through pain.
