Once upon a time...
an Empress lived in Japan. She was young, beautiful, kindly, and wise, and her name was Jowka. She dreamt of living in peace, thinking of the welfare of her people. But in the northern mountains, a rebellion broke out led by prince Kokai.
He sent a message to the Empress,
"Jowka, either you must marry me and share the throne, or I will put your kingdom to the flame and sword!" Jowka, who knew the empresses never flinch at threats, replied,
"Kokai, we shall fight!", and sent an army against the rebels. The army was strong and well led and it defeated the rebels in more than one battle. But, just before the most important battle of all, something terrible and magical happened.
Kokai pleaded with one of the evil gods and it started to rain. The rivers grew swollen with water and broke their banks. There were appalling floods which took the Imperial army by surprise and swept it away. Every man, from the general to the humblest soldier, was drowned. And Kokai the rebel came down from the mountains and approached the capital of the Empire. Jowka sent other armies against him, but each one met the same fate: swept away in the swirling waters that obeyed Kokai's orders. The whole of Japan was terror- stricken. Was power to be seized by a merciless rebel magician?
Jowka was lost in thought over this when, one night, she heard a rustle in the room where she was saying her prayers. Lifting her eyes, she saw, standing in front of her, a man wearing a long tunic and holding a stick. He had long white hair and a flowing beard, as soft as silk. The Empress jumped in surprise, but the old man said:
"Have no fear, Jowka, I'm a friend, I'm the God of Fire. I heard your prayers, I know how much you are suffering, and I'm here to help. Don't worry! I shall join your armies and Kokai's magic will do nothing against me."
"Tell me, God of Fire, what must I do?" the Empress murmured.
"You must gather a new army to send against the rebel. I will march at the side of your general." And so the Empress ordered the greatest and biggest army ever seen in Japan to be mustered, and a huge number of men, horses and chariots set out.
Everyone, including the Imperial and rebel soldiers, knew that the battle about to be fought would be final. The two opposing armies slowly drew closer on a vast plain, and the general leading the imperial troops murmured:
"It is unwise to march here. Kokai could easily flood this area!"
The God of Fire, marching at the general's side in the guise of a bold young officer said:
"Have no fear, I'm far stronger than water." There were a few skirmishes, then Kokai, high on the mountain where he had made his camp, raised his arms invoking the help of the elements. The earth shook, there was a fierce gust of wind and an immense rush of water swept down the mountainside onto the plain. The Imperial soldiers screamed with terror, but the God of Fire simply said:
"Keep calm! That water will not even lap our feet." And indeed, the huge foaming waves that seemed to gallop towards the army, suddenly slowed down when they reached the God of Fire, drew back, split with a tremendous roar and were swallowed up by the earth.
"This is the end of Kokai! March on!" ordered the general, and the entire army marched on towards the mountain and defeated the enemy. Kokai saw that the rebellion was now over, his power had gone and his fortune too had disappeared. But rather than surrender to the Empress Jowka, who would have forgiven him, he hurled himself, head first, against the mountain and died. But the blow was so hard that the mountain, named Shu, cracked and from the crack gushed out fire, poisonous fumes and lava, that quickly invaded the plain below, burning and suffocating everything on it. A far worse danger now threatened the empire of the wise Jowka!
The Empress remained quite calm. Then she received another terrible piece of news. The crack in the mountain and the disaster that followed, had also cracked the pillars that held up the sky, damaging the pathway along which, every day, the Sun and the Moon traveled with their chariots, carrying the light.
In a short time, in fact, a dreadful dark shadow fell over all the world. People were afraid of the darkness, they wept and despaired. So wise Jowka ordered huge bonfires to be kept alight,so that the flames would give them comfort, courage and new hope. And she sent word to all her subjects that they should collect blue, white, orange and red stones and bring them to the palace. When that was done, the Empress ground down the stones, and made a kind of paste, something like liquid porcelain, transparent and shiny.
She put it in a pot, then with a magic spell summoned a cloud, climbed on top of it and made it carry her to the exact spot where the heavenly pillar was cracked. There, she repaired the damage using the strange colored paste. As she went back to earth, she said to herself, "There! The pillar is mended. The chariots of the Sun and the Moon can take to the road again and the light will return." Alas! Things didn't quite happen that way! Days went by and the light had still not come back. The Sun and the Moon were nowhere to be seen. And the people, who had had such high hopes, again began to weep and wail. Everyone began to say, "Oh dear! We shall live the rest of our lives in the dark! We will go blind, we will die of the cold! Nothing will grow in the fields, and if we survive the dark and the cold, we will die of hunger!"
Once again, the Empress kept calm and was unworried. She called together all the wise men of the realm and asked them to find out what had happened. Long discussions took place, then a very learned philosopher went before Jowka and told her,
"Your most gracious Highness, I know exactly what has happened! When the pillar of heaven cracked the Sun and the Moon shut themselves away in their palaces in alarm. And they have never come out again. How can they possibly know the pillar has been repaired?"
"Yes! Yes! That is so!" chorused the other wise men. The Empress then said, "There is only way to tell them. Send a messenger!"
"A messenger?" they asked. Jowka went on.
"Yes. Or rather, two! One to gallop to the Sun and the other to the Moon. We can't be discourteous, and if we were to warn one before the other, then the second one might take offense." All over the empire, a search was made for two horsemen brave enough to face such a long journey, and two horses strong enough to gallop into the heart of Day and Night. It wasn't easy to find suitable men but in the end, two young men came to Jowka, and she told them what had to be done...
The messengers set off. It was a long and fearful journey, from cloud to cloud, from heaven to heaven, through winds and storms, brushing past comets and shooting stars. But they delivered the Empress's message to the Sun and the Moon. The pillar had been repaired, their chariots could return to the heavenly pathways. The Sun and the Moon thanked the messengers.
The next day, the shadows disappeared from the daylight world, and light flooded back again, as before. the two messengers knelt before the Empress on their return, but Jowka made them rise to their feet, saying:
"No! Men like you shall always remain on their feet before anyone on earth, for you have looked the Sun and the Moon in the face!"