Amaterasu

Izanagi returned from the underworld where he had gone to retrieve his dead wife Izanami. He washed himself in a river to purify the death he had seen. When he washed his left eye, Amaterasu was born. When he washed his right eye, the moon god Tsukuyomi appeared. When he washed his nose, the storm god Susanoo emerged. Izanagi gave Amaterasu dominion over the heavens.

The Cave

Susanoo, Amaterasu’s brother, behaved with escalating violence in heaven: destroying rice paddies, flaying a horse and throwing it through the roof of the weaving hall, killing one of Amaterasu’s attendants. Amaterasu retreated into the Ama-no-Iwato, a cave, and sealed the entrance with a boulder. The sun disappeared. The world went dark.

Eight hundred gods gathered outside the cave. The goddess Ame-no-Uzume overturned a tub, stood on it, and danced. The dance became ecstatic. Ame-no-Uzume exposed herself. The gods laughed. Amaterasu, curious about the noise, opened the cave a crack. The gods held up a mirror, the Yata no Kagami. Amaterasu saw her own light reflected and stepped forward. A god grabbed her hand and pulled her out. The sun returned.

The Imperial Line

Amaterasu’s grandson Ninigi descended from heaven to rule the Japanese islands, carrying three sacred objects: the mirror (Yata no Kagami), the sword (Kusanagi no Tsurugi), and the jewel (Yasakani no Magatama). These three items remain the Imperial Regalia of Japan. The current emperor is, according to this tradition, a direct descendant of Amaterasu. The Ise Grand Shrine, her principal sanctuary, is dismantled and rebuilt every twenty years in a cycle that has continued for over 1,300 years.

Sources

Bibliography. The same list is held in the article’s frontmatter for the citation tools that read it programmatically.

• Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters, 712 CE)
• Nihon Shoki (Chronicles of Japan, 720 CE)