Izanagi and Izanami

Izanagi and Izanami came to earth over the Rainbow Bridge, and Izanagi brought his jeweled spear with him.  The earth was not as we know it now, however, but was a deep, oily ocean.  Izanagi plunged his spear into the chaos, and stirred it.  When it stirred around and around, he drew out the spear and let a single drop of water fall from the tip.  The water turned into an island.

They stepped off of the bridge and onto the island.  On this island, they created a tall stone column.  The column was sacred, and contained the sacred stories of the ancients.  Izanagi walked around the column in one direction, and Izanami walked around the column in the opposite direction.  They met, and the two were married, and they consummated that marriage.  From this coupling, Izanami gave birth to everything in the world:  the eight islands of The Empire, the gods and goddesses of water and nature, the mountains, streams, plants, animals, and even the mountains.  At long last, Izanami gave birth to fire, but the fire consumed her as a fever, and she died, descending into the Underworld.

Izanagi was grief-stricken and chased after her.  It was dark, and he was unable to see, so he pulled a comb from his hair.  The comb was wooden, and very ornate, but he did not care.  He lit it on fire, hoping to see his bride.  What he saw was terrifying, and he recoiled.

She was a rotting corpse, her flesh hanging off of her bones, her mouth agape.  Issuing from that dreadful mouth was a scream vile enough to cause Izanagi to turn and flee.  She flew after him, shrieking all the while, her demons and minions joining in the chase.

Izanagi made it to the entrance of the Underworld, and rolled a stone over the opening, trapping his corpse-bride and her demons inside.  She vowed that, as an act of revenge, she would steal 1,000 people a day in death.  Izanagi replied that he would cause 1,500 people to be born each day.  And so it was that, just as the two were married at a stone column, so did that marriage end at a stone, and thus are the living and dead forever separate.

-Japanese Folklore

So many parallels here, it's odd, to say the least.  There's a Rainbow Bridge (Norse), a deep, chaotic Ocean (Hebrew, Sumerian, Greek) the birth of gods and goddesses (Greece, Sumerian, Norse, etc.), Death and Pursuit to the Underworld (Greece), demons (most ancient religions everywhere).  It's almost as if the world's cultures were derived from, and spread from, a single origin.  It's almost as if one culture divided into several, and each of those divided into several more, and each of those divided, and so on, carrying parts of their ancient stories with them.  Just file that away under things that make you go "hmmmmm."