Note 5 — Chapter XXI · Ancient Mikados and Heroes

The location of the Eternal Land has greatly puzzled native scholars. Some suppose it was a part of Korea and others that it was Southern China or the Loocho Islands. According to the Nihon-gi, Tajima-mori found the Eternal Land to be inhabited by gods and dwarfs. As it lay somewhere to the west of Japan, it would appear to be identical with the Western Paradise which, according to Chinese belief, is ruled over by Si Wang Mu (the Japanese Seiobo), the “Royal Mother” and “Queen of Immortals”. Instead of the Chinese Peach Tree of Life, the Japanese had in their own Western Paradise the Orange Tree of Life. The orange was not, however, introduced into Japan until the eighth century of our era.5 Whether or not it supplanted in the Japanese paradise an earlier tree, as the cassia tree supplanted the peach tree in the Chinese paradise, is at present uncertain. It may be that the idea of the Western Paradise was introduced by the Buddhists. At the same time, it will be recalled that the Peach Tree of Life grew on the borderland of Yomi, which was visited by Izanagi.