I n t r o d u c t i o n
Dawn from
on
the Eclipse was born unusual circumstances.
It involves a group of very inspiring friends, an amazing experience and a beautiful piece of music. It is the first title released on vinyl by record label Metempsychosis Records and composed by electronic music duo Tapefeed. To launch this four-track EP, Gabriella Gasparini wrote this charming story to narrate the origin of the project. Her words are a careful rendition of a Japanese mythological tale with elements of pure fiction. We, Le.BLUE, an illustration duo, attended the launch night organised by our friends. Upon hearing the enchanting recital of Gasparini’s story, accompanied by epic visuals projected across the stage from Jose Montemayor, it set an immense backdrop introducing Tapefeed’s track, Dawn on the Eclipse. We were so captivated by the experience, that we took it upon ourselves to translate Dawn on the Eclipse into a short illustrated story. Special thanks to dear friends Flaminia, Joe, Rick, Ale, Gabriella, Angelica and Jose for the inspiring moments.
Some myths remain hidden within the depths of time, others emerge triumphantly in broad daylight, like the Japanese myth of Amaterasu and Susanoo. This is a myth that transcends the legendary, the mythical, the supernatural. It tells the story of two siblings, one named Amaterasu, the Sun goddess, and that of her brother Susanoo, the god of the storm. Together, through companionship, betrayal, distrust, hope and finally love, they reveal to us the story of how the dawn finally ended the eclipse.
It all began one day, the tempestuous Susanoo barging into Amaterasu’s heaven with all his might. Like thunder and crashing lightning, his valor so powerful yet so unpredictable, his nature so transient and so irritable. Like such, the god of storm brought forth his temperament upon the sunny Amaterasu, shaking her tranquil sunlit paradise into a blustering darkened firmament. Shaken from this unparalleled entrance Amaterasu pleaded her brother to regain composure leaving Susanoo to implore for her kindness “O, radiant, fair sister, I wish you no harm. My only desire is your warm company, a glimpse of your lovely face, and a few pleasant words before I descend to the underworld to find our most esteemed mother.” Yet Susanoo’s words seemed to cast a rather odd echo within Amaterasu’s heart and, keeping her kingdom’s peace in mind, she asked her brother for one more proof of his good deeds.
Susanoo thus proposed they should create gods together as a sign of truce and comradeship. And so Susanoo gave his sword for his sister to eat and after days and nights of chewing through it out come three beautiful goddesses one mightier than the other. And thence came Amaterasu’s turn to gift his brother with her five jewel rings and after days and nights of chewing the jewels, out came five valiant gods in all their glory and power. Together, they had created amongst the finest gods and goddesses the earth had ever seen, yet rather than bringing the siblings together this heavenly creation seemed to have driven them apart as sooner, rather than later, the quarrels began. Proud yet perhaps too satisfied with his creation, Susanoo broke loose into a pompous dance hailing his five creations as the finest of them all, leaving his sister unimpressed by his pretentious outpour of self-appreciation. Susanoo, undeterred, continued his celebration and whilst ravaged by his own might lost all sense of self control releasing gusts of wind at every turn and torrents of rain at every slur.
With his every step an earthquake squandered down below and with his every pause lightning filled the sky above leaving Amaterasu to weep as she watched her placid kingdom come undone. Susanoo’s power transformed into a reign of terror and Amaterasu, hopeless and in the throes of dread decided to run and as she ran away from the calamitous realm her brother had suddenly unfolded, she found refuge within a cave. Once inside, Amaterasu felt overwhelmed by a sense of serenity and chose to lock herself within the depths of this cave by sealing the entrance with a boulder. Shunned, hidden, guarded within her own safe space, the rest of the world was left to descend into darkness. Out of panic, Susanoo and the gods try to lure Amaterasu out of her cave but all efforts seem in vain and thus, flustered by a sense of disgrace Susanoo leaves for the underworld carrying the weight of all his bad deeds within his heavy heart. As the days became nights the world saw no distinction between days and months and so the hours dragged by and the flowers wilted and the birds perished until there was almost no more life left on Earth to take.
And so, at the dead of night, the gods chose to reunite wishing the world would wake up from this nightmare and see the beaming light once more. In unison outside Amaterasu’s cave, they placed a mirror right outside her hideout and whilst envisaging what best to do the goddess of dawn, Ama no Uzume suddenly broke into an invigorating dance. As Ama no Uzume danced she stripped free of all her clothes and in a trance-like state she shaked her hips uncontrollably to the sound of her own wish and drummed her feet rhythmically to the beating of her own adoring heart. Bewildered, the gods watched Ama no Uzume perform the mightiest of all dances and began to clap and applaud her effort until they too broke into this dance moving their bodies and shaking their heads in approval until they heard a sigh from deep inside the cave.
Amaterasu, awoken by this sudden tremor beneath her sunken feet walked closer to the edge of the cave and mystified by the trance-like melodies that echoed in the hollows of her lonely frame, slid open the boulder that had shielded her from the outside world for ever so long. And as Amaterasu emerged from her den she was met with her own reflection staring back from the mirror the gods had placed outside her cave. Stunned by Ama no Uzume’s efforts and the unrivaled love showed by the many gods, Amaterasu took a good hard look at herself in the mirror and besieged by her own alluring radiancy she smiled and with her laughter came the light and sunshine that had been chastised for so long. As Amaterasu, Ama no Uzume and the gods laughed, danced and celebrated the sky filled with love and the dawn could be seen shining over the eclipse. The dark, murky sky slowly but surely gave way to the blushy pink, orange and then celestial blue tones of a sunlit summer’s day and on this very day, earth saw peace again.