Talk:Izanagi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Religion, a project to improve Wikipedia's articles on Religion-related subjects. Please participate by editing the article, and help us assess and improve articles to good and 1.0 standards, or visit the wikiproject page for more details. | |
| ??? | This article has not yet received a rating on the Project's quality scale. Please rate the article and then leave a short summary here to explain the ratings and/or to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the article. | |
| This article falls within the scope of the Interfaith work group. If you are interested in Interfaith-related topics, please visit the project page to see how you can help. If you have any comments regarding the appropriateness or positioning of this template, please let us know at our talk page
|
||
 |
This article is part of the Mythology taskforce of WikiProject Japan, which aims to improve and expand Wikipedia's coverage of Japanese mythology. If you would like to participate, you can edit this article, or visit the taskforce page, where you can join the taskforce and see a list of open tasks. | |
| Start | This article has been rated as Start-Class on the Project's quality scale. | |
 |
This article is supported by the WikiProject Japan Shinto taskforce, a group dedicated to expanding, organizing, verifying, and NPOVing articles related to Shintō. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this page, or visit the taskforce page, where you can join the taskforce and/or contribute to the discussion. | |
| Start | This article has been rated as Start-Class on the Project's quality scale. (If you rated the article please give a short summary at comments to explain the ratings and/or to identify the strengths and weaknesses.) |
|
 |
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Japan, a project to improve all Japan-related articles. If you would like to help improve this and other Japan-related articles, please join the project. All interested editors are welcome. |
| Start | This article has been rated as Start-Class on the assessment scale. |
| ??? | This article has not yet received a rating on the importance scale. |
|
Japan To-do:
|
|
 |
It is requested that a photograph or photographs be included in this article to improve its quality.
Wikipedians in Japan may be able to help! |
| The Free Image Search Tool (FIST) may be able to locate suitable images on Flickr and other web sites. |
[edit] Alleged parallel with Mayan Gods
A common mistake made by those unfamiliar with the ways that linguists show how languages are related (see historical linguistics for an intro) is to assume that similar-sounding words are related. While this is sometimes true, it is not relevant for determining whether or not two languages are related. Rather, what counts is regular sound correspondence between languages. For example, English heart and Greek kardia (which shows up as cardio- in English) don't have a lot in common, but the h:k and t:d correspondences show up in hundreds and hundreds of words. This sort of data, not words that are similar (like Japanese Izanagi and Itzamna for Mayan) are what linguists use.
Furthermore, based on time alone, the proposition that there is a connection between Japanese and Mayan cultures seems almost impossible to demonstrate. The Japanese came into Japan as early as 500 BCE, and no later than 250 BCE, while the Mayan culture flourished from about 1000 CE—a difference of over 1200 years. (Those who lived in Japan before 500 BCE, the Jomon people, are not the cultural or primary genetic ancestors to the modern Japanese people.)Godfrey Daniel 02:08, 28 February 2006 (UTC)
The ancestors of the Yamato must have come from Siberia - same as the ancestors of the Maya. Since Izanami is a female and Itzamna a male, the names must have been transmitted (if they were transmitted) from one culture to another, which would account for the gender confusion. Such confusion does happen when one culture borrows from another. Das Baz 15:46, 12 October 2006 (UTC)
Fair enough, but as Godfrey Daniel points out above, the fact that they sound similar does not mean that they are the least bit related. 125.237.61.132
