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IHIKA - (Japanese) The god that protects water wells. Has the form of a fish. It appeared when Ninige-no-Mikoto fell from Koutengen in the "Kojiki" (one of Japan's oldest books, that tells of the creation of Japan). As it moved through the underground waterways, it eventually came to be seen in a well somewhere.

IL-DANA - (Celtic) The old Irish word means the Master of Crafts, or Master of the Many Arts, and is a name which is specifically given to the god Lugh.

ILLUYANKAS - (Hittite) A giant dragon from Hittite mythology, similar to the "world serpent" in other mythologies. He was slain by Teshub, the god of lightning. There are two versions of this myth. In the old version, the two gods fight and Illuyankas wins. Teshub then goes to Inaras for advice, and she devises a trap for the dragon. She goes to him with large quantities of alcohol, and entices him to drink his fill. Once drunk, the dragon is bound, and Teshub appears with the other gods and kills him. In the later version, the two gods fight and Teshub still loses. Illuyankas then takes Teshub's eyes and heart hostage. Teshub has a son who grows and marries Illuyankas' daughter. Teshub tells his son to ask for his eyes and heart as a wedding gift, and it is given. Restored, Teshub goes to face Illuyankas once more. At the point of vanquishing the dragon, Teshub's son finds out about the battle; realizing that he had been used for this purpose. He demanded that his father take him along with Illuyankas, and so Teshub killed them both.

INCUBUS - (European) the male equivalent of a Succubus. A medieval European demon that had sex with women while they slept.

INDRA - (Hindu) the Hindu god of storms and lightning. He was also the king of the minor gods (devas). His weapon, the thunderbolt, is known as the vajra. Some traditions hold that he was cursed to be covered with - how shall I put it - female reproductive parts. Apparently he seduced some powerful sage's wife, and said sage was Not Amused, and cursed him ("If you're so fond of poonani, then....!"). He gains his immortality from a kind of divine food called Soma (the drink of the gods is called Amrita). He's rather an insecure god, always afraid that the demons or exceptionally powerful sages are going to usurp his throne.

IRIS - (Greek) Iris was the goddess of the rainbow, and the messenger of the gods. When she needed to go to earth to convey a message, she ran down the rainbow from heaven to earth.

ISHTAR - (Babylonian) The most powerful Middle-Eastern goddess in pre-Christian times. Ishtar ruled over the moon, war, love, and beauty. There are many myths about her, ranging from her struggle to become Queen of both Heaven and Hell to her pursuit of the legendary king Gilgamesh. In the latter tale (as told in the Epic of Gilgamesh), Ishtar wished to have sex with the semi-divine king Gilgamesh, but he refused, pointing out the unfortunate fates of her former lovers. She was infuriated, so she sent the Bull of Heaven after Gilgamesh and his companion Enkidu. They killed it, and Enkidu ripped off the bull's leg and threw it at Ishtar. She then cursed Enkidu to die of sickness, which made Gilgamesh aware of his own mortality and caused him to seek a way to live forever. Anyways, there are a lot of myths about her; look them up if you're interested.

IWATE - (Japanese) Banjaku-no-hime-mikoto. The benevolent empress. The first empress of Japan to come from lineage outside of the royal family. She was extremely jealous, and it was said that if the Emperor even set foot in the concubine's room, she became crazed with anger.

IXTAB - (Mayan) The Mayan goddess of suicide, Ixtab was portrayed as hanging from the sky by a noose. In her statues and glyphs, her eyes were closed and her cheeks already showed the first signs of decomposition. It was believed that suicides by hanging, warriors killed in battle, sacrificial victims, women who died in childbirth and members of the priesthood went directly to paradise, and Ixtab came to fetch these lucky souls. Mm mmm good.

IZANAMI - (Japanese) The first goddess in Japanese mythology, who helped her husband, Izanagi, create the world though a creation myth with very thinly veiled sexual references (look it up, if you're interested in the complete story - it involves "churning the sea" with a "spear" and when the "salty brine dripped off the spear," the first island of the Japanese archipelago, Onogoro Island, was formed.) Izanami was also the mother of many gods, but her first two children were deformed, supposedly because she took too active a role in their creation. >_> <_< (They 'created children' by circling a pillar, and she went first. Shame on her.) When Izanami gave birth to the god of fire, Kagutsuchi, she was burnt terribly and died in childbirth. Izanagi missed his wife, so he decided to go down to the underworld to retrieve her. The path to the underworld was a slope called "Yomotsu Hirasaka" (Eriko mentions this myth in connection with Sumaru City's own Hirasaka-ku in Tsumi). Anyways, Izanagi went into the dark and called to Izanami to come back up. She said that she'd already eaten the food of the dead, but if he waited here, she'd go ask for permission to return to the sunlight. The only thing was that he wasn't allowed to peek at Izanami while she was asking the gods of the underworld for permission to come to life. But, of course, he was impatient and peeked inside the underworld. (Sounds like the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice so far, right? Keep reading...) Izanagi was horrified to see that Izanami was a walking corpse, decaying and covered with maggots, holding eight thunder gods (Yakusa-no-Ikazuchi) inside her. He was terrified and began to ran up the Yomotsu Hirasaka back to earth, trying to escape Izanami. Izanami was furious and chased after him with some underworld demons. After several close shaves, Izanagi managed to make it out, and he blocked the road to the underworld with a huge rock, trapping Izanami inside. She cried out to him, "Let me out, or I will kill a thousand of your people a day." He promptly swore to create fifteen hundred new people a day, and from then on, Izanami became a ruler of the dead.

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