Japanese Mythology
0Loading crowd target
0Loading crowd target
6correct to beat the crowd
50 free Japanese Mythology trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Japanese mythology begins with a jewelled spear stirring the sea and ends, more or less, with an emperor. The Kojiki of 712 and the Nihon Shoki of 720 were written to prove the imperial family descended from the sun goddess Amaterasu, and on the way they record a husband chasing his dead wife into the underworld, a storm god flaying a horse, a goddess sulking in a cave until a striptease dance lured her out, and a sword pulled from the tail of an eight-headed serpent. These 50 questions cover the creation cycle and the folklore around it: Izanagi and Izanami, the Three Precious Children born from a face-wash, Tsukuyomi and the food goddess, Susanoo and Kushinadahime, Ōkuninushi and the surrender of the land, Ninigi's descent with the Three Sacred Treasures, and Jimmu's three-legged crow. Then the creatures and tales: Inari's white foxes and their tails, kappa and their cucumbers, long-nosed tengu, Raijin's drums, Momotarō's dog, monkey and pheasant, and Urashima Tarō's fatal box. Every answer is cited to a page we checked and each explanation adds one more detail. Play it solo or print it for a mythology night.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In Japanese folklore, the thrashing of which giant creature beneath the islands causes earthquakes?
A catfish
A catfish called Namazu lies beneath Japan, pinned under a heavy stone by the god of Kashima. Whenever his guard slips, the fish thrashes and the ground shakes.
Q 02Which skinned animal does the kind god Ōkuninushi heal in a famous Kojiki tale, winning a princess?
A hare
A hare had lost its fur to the sea beasts it tricked, and Ōkuninushi's cruel brothers told it to bathe in the salty sea. He sent it to wash in a river and roll in soft pollen, and the healed hare foretold his marriage.
Q 03How did the courtier Hieda no Are preserve the records behind Japan's oldest chronicle?
Memorised them
Memorised them: Emperor Tenmu had Hieda no Are, famed for a flawless memory, learn the records by heart. The recital was written down only in 712, long after the emperor's death.
Q 04Japan's official history of 720, the Nihon Shoki, was written in which foreign language?
Chinese
Chinese, in its classical form, was the language of official documents at the Japanese court, so the scholars working under Prince Toneri used it for all 30 volumes of the national history.
Q 05On what are Japan's Seven Lucky Gods said to arrive at New Year, bringing good fortune?
A treasure ship
A treasure ship, the Takarabune, carries the seven gods and their magical cargo. People used to sleep with a print of it under the pillow at New Year, hoping for a lucky dream.
Q 06Izanagi and Izanami created the first island by stirring the sea with what?
A jewelled spear
A jewelled spear, pushed down from the Floating Bridge of Heaven: when the couple lifted it, the brine dripping from its tip piled up into the first land, and they came down to live there.
Q 07In The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, where does Princess Kaguya return at the story's end?
The Moon
The Moon: found as a tiny girl inside a glowing bamboo stalk, Kaguya turns down five noble suitors and the emperor himself before her own people come down to take her home.
Q 08Izanami died after giving birth to which god?
Kagutsuchi, god of fire
Kagutsuchi, god of fire, burned his mother so badly at his birth that she died. Izanagi, mad with grief, cut the newborn down, and still more gods sprang from the remains.
Q 09What is the name of the underworld Izanagi entered to retrieve Izanami?
Yomi
Yomi is the land of the dead, and Izanami had already eaten at its hearth, so she could not leave. When Izanagi broke his promise not to look at her, he saw a rotting corpse and ran.
Q 10With what did Izanagi permanently seal the entrance to the underworld?
A massive boulder
A massive boulder: from behind it, Izanami swore to kill a thousand of the living every day, and Izanagi answered that he would see fifteen hundred born. So the myth explains death and birth.
Q 11In the Kojiki, Amaterasu was born when Izanagi washed which part of his face?
Left eye
Left eye: Izanagi was scrubbing off the filth of the underworld in a river when the sun goddess appeared. Tsukuyomi followed from his right eye and Susanoo from his nose.
Q 12Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi and Susanoo are known collectively as what?
The Three Precious Children
The Three Precious Children were Izanagi's last and proudest creations, and he shared out the cosmos among them: the heavens to Amaterasu, the night to Tsukuyomi and the seas to Susanoo.
Q 13Which heavenly realm does Amaterasu rule?
Takamagahara
Takamagahara, the High Plain of Heaven, was her father's gift: Izanagi took off his own necklace, hung it on her and told her to rule there.
Q 21Which jolly shape-shifter of Japanese folklore appears as a statue outside homes and shops?
Tanuki
Tanuki is a real animal as well as a legend: a shy wild dog that looks like a raccoon. Folklore made it a merry master of disguise, which is how its statue came to grin at passers-by.
Q 22How did Susanoo beat the serpent Yamata no Orochi?
Got it drunk
Got it drunk: strong sake stood ready for each of its eight heads, and once the monster had drunk itself to sleep, he hacked it to pieces.
Q 23How did Susanoo hide Kushinadahime from the serpent?
Turned her into a comb
Turned her into a comb, which he tucked into his own hair for the fight. With the monster dead, he took her as his wife and built a palace for the two of them.
Q 14Which animal did Susanoo flay and hurl into Amaterasu's weaving hall?
A piebald horse
A piebald horse, skinned and dropped through a hole he broke in the roof: in the Kojiki the shock kills one of her weavers. He had already wrecked her fields and fouled her dining hall.
Q 15After Amaterasu was drawn out of hiding, the gods barred her way back with the first of which Shinto objects?
A sacred straw rope
A sacred straw rope, the shimenawa: a god strung one behind her and told her she could go no further back. Shrines still hang them to mark off holy ground.
Q 16Which goddess danced on an overturned bucket to lure Amaterasu from the cave?
Ame-no-Uzume
Ame-no-Uzume stamped out her dance and bared herself until all the gods of heaven roared with laughter. Baffled that anyone could rejoice in the dark, the sun goddess opened the door to ask why.
Q 17Which god, the deity of counsel and thought, led the plan to draw Amaterasu from the cave?
Omoikane
Omoikane was asked by the assembled gods to think of a way out. He began by gathering roosters to crow outside her door, as if dawn had managed to break without her.
Q 18What startled Amaterasu as she emerged from the cave?
Her own reflection
Her own reflection, in a mirror the gods held up to the door: told that a deity greater than herself had arrived, she leaned out for a better look, and a strong god hauled her into the open.
Q 19Amaterasu's chief place of worship is the Grand Shrine at which town?
Ise
Ise pulls down its main halls and rebuilds them in fresh cypress every 20 years, a cycle that began in the 7th century, so the shrine is always brand new and its design always ancient.
Q 20In the Nihon Shoki, Tsukuyomi angered Amaterasu by killing Ukemochi, the goddess of what?
Food
Food: Ukemochi served Tsukuyomi a feast she had brought up from her own mouth, and he killed her in disgust. Amaterasu refused ever to face him again, which is why day and night keep apart.
Q 24In the Kojiki, where in the slain serpent Yamata no Orochi did Susanoo find the sword Kusanagi?
In its tail
In its tail: his own blade chipped on something hard as he hacked at the carcass, so he slit the flesh open and found a great sword inside.
Q 25What does the name Kusanagi no Tsurugi mean?
Grass-Cutting Sword
Grass-Cutting Sword: a prince trapped in a burning field mowed down the grass around him with it and escaped the flames. By one account it had been the Sword of Gathering Clouds until then.
Q 26Which warrior received the sword Kusanagi from his aunt, a shrine priestess, for protection?
Yamato Takeru
Yamato Takeru later left the blade at home with his new wife and set off to fight a mountain god bare-handed. The god struck him down with an illness, and he died on the road.
Q 27Which shrine is said to hold the original sword Kusanagi?
Atsuta Shrine
Atsuta Shrine in Nagoya is its traditional home. Yet The Tale of the Heike has the sword sinking with a child emperor in the sea battle of Dan-no-ura, though some say only a copy went down.
Q 28Which three objects are Japan's Imperial Regalia?
A sword, a mirror and a jewel
A sword, a mirror and a jewel were Amaterasu's parting gifts to the grandson she sent down to rule the earth. Each new emperor still receives them as the proof of that descent.
Q 29The baku, a patchwork beast of Japanese folklore, is said to feed on what?
Nightmares
Nightmares are what the baku eats, which made it a welcome guardian of sleepers. Legend says the gods pieced it together from the scraps left over after making every other animal.
Q 30What is unusual about the Imperial Regalia when a new Japanese emperor receives them?
They stay hidden in boxes
They stay hidden in boxes: when Akihito took the throne in 1989, the box said to hold one of them was handed to him and never opened. The public has never been shown any of the three treasures.