nirai kanai

The Name The first time I came across nirai kanai (ニライカナイ) was RahXephon. The word was just so pretty and it was so symbolic that when I started this blog there was only one thing I could name it: nirai kanai. Not to mention I loved RahXephon.

The Meaning The English translation reads “On Earth as it is in Heaven”. It is also sometimes translated as “came from the roots and reached the gods.” It can be spelled as either two separate words or as one.

Wikipedia:

Nirai Kanai is the mythical place from which all life originates. It is worshipped facing westward. Gods from Nirai Kanai are said to have brought different crops and tools to the Ryukyuan people at different times.

NIRAI KANAI[1], is an Okinawan myth about a magical island off the coast of Okinawa where the gods live. In Okinawa, they believe that the gods come from this island every year to bless their people.

The Japan Times:

the faraway utopia where gods live and all things begin.

Encyclopedia of Shinto:

The Other Realm across the sea (or, on the seabed) where the deities dwell, and from where they bring both good fortune and catastrophe to the human world. A belief held in the area stretching from Amami to Okinawa. In many cases it is considered to exist in the east, but there are regional differences based on location as well as variations in nomenclature (such as niruya-kanaya).The ni of nirai means “root”, meaning the source of all things in this world. Tradition says that fire and rice originated there, as well as rats and insects that can harm the crops. Thus there exist festivals to return what is harmful to nirai. On the basis of this view of the Other Realm (takaikan), during festivals the deities are invited to visit from the Other Realm. Examples include the Izaihō and other rituals on Kudaka Island, the Unjami festival of northern Okinawa, and the Akamata-Kuromata and Mayunganasu festivals of the Yaeyama islands. Nirai-kanai is also the place where the spirits of the dead go. For instance, the spirits of female lay ritualists (Jp. kamionna, Okinawan nanchu) on Kudaka Island are said to go there after death.—Hatakeyama Atsushi

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