Yomi

250px|right|thumb|Yomotsu Hirasaka in Higashiizumo, [[Shimane Prefecture]] is the Japanese word for the land of the dead (World of Darkness). According to Shinto mythology as related in Kojiki, this is where the dead go in the afterlife. Once one has eaten at the hearth of Yomi it is (mostly) impossible to return to the land of the living. Yomi is most commonly known for Izanami's retreat to that place after her death. Izanagi followed her there and upon his return he washed himself, creating Amaterasu from his left eye, Susanoo from his nostrils, and Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto from his right eye in the process.

This realm of the dead shares geographical continuity with the living world, where souls "remain eternally in Japan." Yomi cannot be thought of as a paradise to which one would aspire, nor can it appropriately be described as a hell in which one suffers retribution for past deeds; rather, all deceased carry on a gloomy and shadowy existence in perpetuity, regardless of their behavior in life. Some "suggest that the concept of a life after death was not a familiar one to the ancient Japanese and it only took form with the introduction of Buddhism from China in the 6th century CE." Some have called it the "Japanese Upside Down." Scholars believe that the image of Yomi was derived from ancient Japanese tombs in which corpses were left for some time to decompose.