Spear of the Living Earth
Stir the mantle, sink a plate, tear a sea open and wake the catfish beneath Japan. Follow the gods of the Kojiki and the rocks that tell the same story in a different language.
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and it is still being born
| The myth says | The rocks say |
|---|---|
| The gods stir the brine with a spear | Mantle convection drags the plates |
| Brine drips from the spear and hardens into Onogoro | A subducting slab releases water, flux melting makes magma, and volcanoes build islands |
| Izanagi and Izanami give birth to eight islands | The arc tears away from Asia, the Sea of Japan opens and the arc rises |
| Namazu the catfish thrashes beneath the stone | A locked megathrust fault slips: earthquakes and tsunami |