View source for Amaterasu

{{Short description|Sun goddess in Shinto}}
{{Other uses|Amaterasu (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Japanese
| name = Amaterasu
| other_names = {{ubli|{{nihongo3||天照大御神, 天照大神|Amaterasu-Ōmikami}}|{{nihongo3||天照大神|Amaterasu Ōkami}}|{{nihongo3||天照皇大神|Amaterasu Sume(ra) Ōmikami}}|{{nihongo3||天照坐皇大御神|Amaterashimasu Sume(ra) Ōmikami}}|{{nihongo3||天照大日孁尊|Amaterasu Ōhirume no Mikoto}}|{{nihongo3||大日孁貴神|Ōhirume no Muchi no Kami}}|{{nihongo3||大日孁尊|Ōhirume no Mikoto}}|{{nihongo3||日神|Hi no Kami}}|{{nihongo3||撞賢木厳之御魂天疎向津媛命|Tsukisakaki Izu no Mitama Amazakaru Mukatsuhime no Mikoto}}|{{nihongo3||天照皇大神|Tenshō Kōtaijin}}|{{nihongo3||天照大神|Tenshō Daijin}}}}
| god_of = Goddess of the [[sun]] and the [[universe]]; the mythical ancestress of the [[Imperial House of Japan]]
| image = File:Amaterasu cave crop.jpg
| caption = Amaterasu emerging from the cave, [[Ama-no-Iwato]], to which she once retreated (detail of woodblock print by [[Kunisada]])
| planet = [[Sun]]
| consort = {{ubli|Unnamed sun god (One Myth)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kawamura |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IihmAgAAQBAJ&q=virgin+amaterasu&pg=PA205 |title=Sociology & Society Of Japan |date=2013-12-19 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-79319-9 |pages=205 |language=en}}</ref>|Tsukuyomi (some myths)}}
| parents = {{ubli|[[Izanagi]] ({{Lang|ja-latn|[[Kojiki]]}})|[[Izanagi]] and [[Izanami]] ({{Lang|ja-latn|[[Nihon Shoki]]}})}}
| siblings = {{ubli|[[Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto|Tsukuyomi]]|[[Susanoo-no-Mikoto|Susanoo]]|(and [[Kamiumi|others]])}}
| children = {{ubli|[[Ame-no-oshihomimi|Ame-no-Oshihomimi]]|[[Ame no Hohi]]|[[Amatsuhikone]]|[[Ikutsuhikone]]|[[Kumanokusubi]]}}
| texts = {{Lang|ja-latn|[[Kojiki]]}}, {{Lang|ja-latn|[[Nihon Shoki]]}}, ''[[Kujiki|Sendai Kuji Hongi]]''
| cult_centre = [[Ise Shrine]]
| abode = [[Takamagahara]]
| artifacts = [[Yata no Kagami]] and [[Magatama#Yasakani no Magatama|Yasakani no Magatama]]
| animals = Snake and dragon
}}
{{nihongo|'''Amaterasu Ōmikami'''|天照大（御）神||{{IPA|ja|aꜜ.ma.te.ɾa.sɯ {{pipe}} oː.mʲiꜜ.ka.mʲi}}<ref>{{cite book|script-title=ja:NHK日本語発音アクセント新辞典|publisher=NHK Publishing|editor=NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute|date=24 May 2016|lang=ja}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|script-title=ja:新明解日本語アクセント辞典|edition=2nd|editor-last=Kindaichi|editor-first=Haruhiko|editor-link=Haruhiko Kindaichi|editor-last2=Akinaga|editor-first2=Kazue|publisher=[[Sanseidō]]|date=10 March 2025|lang=ja}}</ref>}}, often called '''Amaterasu''' ({{IPA|ja|aꜜ.ma.te.ɾa.sɯ|}}) for short, also known as {{nihongo|'''Amateru Kami'''|天照神}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%A4%A9%E7%85%A7%E7%A5%9E-427082|script-title=ja:天照神|script-website=ja:コトバンク|lang=ja}}</ref> and {{nihongo|'''Ōhirume no Muchi'''|大日孁貴}},<ref>{{cite web|url=https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%A4%A7%E6%97%A5%E5%AD%81%E8%B2%B4-450724|script-title=ja:大日孁貴|script-website=ja:コトバンク|lang=ja}}</ref> is the [[Solar deity|goddess of the sun]] in [[Japanese mythology]]. Often considered the chief [[Kami|deity]] (''kami'') of the [[Shinto]] [[Pantheon (religion)|pantheon]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Varley |first1=Paul |title=Japanese Culture |date=1 March 2000 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=978-0-8248-6308-1 |page=8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lZ0BEAAAQBAJ |access-date=1 January 2024 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Narayanan |first1=Vasudha |title=Eastern Religions: Origins, Beliefs, Practices, Holy Texts, Sacred Places |date=2005 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-522191-6 |page=440 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Snp0vXCTFqEC&pg=PA440 |access-date=1 January 2024 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Zhong |first1=Yijiang |title=The Origin of Modern Shinto in Japan: The Vanquished Gods of Izumo |date=6 October 2016 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-4742-7110-3 |pages=2, 3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eLrMDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA2 |access-date=1 January 2024 |language=en}}</ref> she is also portrayed in Japan's earliest literary texts, the {{Lang|ja-latn|[[Kojiki]]}} ({{Circa|712 CE}}) and the {{Lang|ja-latn|[[Nihon Shoki]]}} (720 CE), as the ruler (or one of the rulers) of the heavenly realm [[Takamagahara]] and as the mythical ancestress of the [[Imperial House of Japan]] via her grandson [[Ninigi-no-Mikoto|Ninigi]]. Along with two of her siblings (the moon deity [[Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto|Tsukuyomi]] and the impetuous storm-god [[Susanoo-no-Mikoto|Susanoo]]) she ranks as one of the "Three Precious Children" ({{lang|ja|三貴子}}, {{transliteration|ja|mihashira no uzu no miko / sankishi}}), the three most important offspring of the creator god [[Izanagi]].

Amaterasu's chief place of worship, the [[Ise Grand Shrine|Grand Shrine of Ise]] in [[Ise, Mie|Ise]], [[Mie Prefecture]], is one of Shinto's holiest sites and a major pilgrimage center and tourist spot. As with other Shinto ''kami'', she is also enshrined in a number of [[Shinto shrine]]s throughout Japan.

==Name==
The goddess is referred to as ''Amaterasu Ōmikami'' ({{lang|ja|天照大御神}} / {{lang|ja|天照大神}}; [[Historical kana orthography|historical orthography]]: {{lang|ja|あまてらすおほみかみ}}, ''Amaterasu Ohomikami''; [[Old Japanese]]: ''Amaterasu Opomi<sub>[[Old Japanese#Syllables|1]]</sub>kami<sub>2</sub>'') in the {{Lang|ja-latn|[[Kojiki]]}}, while the {{Lang|ja-latn|[[Nihon Shoki]]}} gives the following variant names:

*Ōhirume-no-Muchi ({{lang|ja|大日孁貴}}; [[Man'yōgana]]: {{lang|ja|於保比屢咩能武智}}; hist. orthography: {{lang|ja|おほひるめのむち}}, ''Ohohirume-no-Muchi''; Old Japanese: ''Opopi<sub>1</sub>rume<sub>1</sub>-no<sub>2</sub>-Muti'')<ref name="Kuroita">{{cite book |last1=Kuroita |first1=Katsumi |title=Kundoku Nihon Shoki, vol. 1 (訓読日本書紀 上巻) |date=1943 |publisher=Iwanami Shoten |pages=27 |url=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1904260/151}}</ref><ref name="Aston18">{{cite wikisource |author-first= William George |author-last= Aston |chapter= Book I |wslink= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |plaintitle= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |year= 1896 |publisher= Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.|wspage=18}}</ref>
*Amaterasu Ō(mi)kami ({{Lang|ja|天照大神}}; hist. orthography: {{Lang|ja|あまてらすおほ(み)かみ}}, ''Amaterasu Oho(mi)kami'')<ref name="Kuroita"/><ref name="Aston18"/>
*Amaterasu Ōhirume no Mikoto ({{lang|ja|天照大日孁尊}})<ref name="Kuroita"/><ref name="Aston18"/>
*Hi-no-Kami ({{lang|ja|日神}}; OJ: ''Pi<sub>1</sub>-no-Kami<sub>2</sub>'')<ref name="Kuroita"/><ref name="Aston18"/>

''Amaterasu'' is thought to derive from the verb {{Lang|ja-latn|amateru}} {{Gloss|to illuminate / shine in the sky}} (''[[:wikt:天#Etymology 1|ama]]'' {{Gloss|sky, heaven}} + ''[[:wikt:照る#Japanese|teru]]'' {{Gloss|to shine}}) combined with the honorific [[Japanese grammar#Auxiliary verbs|auxiliary verb]] ''[[:wikt:す#Etymology 2|-su]]'',<ref>{{cite encyclopedia| editor=Akira Matsumura| encyclopedia=[[Daijirin]]| language=ja| edition= 2nd| script-title=ja:大辞林| year=1995| publisher=[[Sanseido]] Books| isbn=978-4385139005}}</ref> while ''Ōmikami'' means 'great august<!-- adjective meaning "noble", not the month of August --> deity' (''[[:wikt:大#Etymology 2|ō]]'' {{Gloss|great}} + honorific prefix ''[[:wikt:御#Etymology 4|mi-]]''{{Efn|Rendered as "august" by [[Basil Hall Chamberlain]] in his translation of the ''[[Kojiki]]''.|倭国}} + ''[[kami]]''). Notably, ''Amaterasu'' in ''Amaterasu Ōmikami'' is not technically a name the same way ''Susanoo'' in [[Susanoo-no-Mikoto|''Susa no O no Mikoto'']] or ''[[Ōkuninushi]]'' in ''Ōkuninushi no Kami'' is. {{Lang|ja-latn|Amaterasu}} is an [[Japanese verb conjugation#Verb bases|attributive verb form]] that modifies the noun after it, {{Lang|ja-latn|ōmikami}}. This epithet is therefore, much more semantically transparent than most names recorded in the ''Kojiki'' and ''Nihon Shoki'', in that it means exactly what it means, without allusion, inference or etymological opacity, literally 'The Great August<!-- adjective meaning "noble", not the month of August --> Goddess Who Shines in Heaven'. This usage is analogous to the use of [[relative clauses]] in English, only different in that Japanese clauses are placed in front of the noun they modify. This is further exemplified by (1) an alternative epithet, {{Lang|ja-latn|Amateru Kami}} ({{Lang|ja|天照神}},<ref>{{cite web |url= https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%A4%A9%E7%85%A7%E7%A5%9E-427082|title= 天照神 |website= kotobank.jp}}</ref> {{Gloss|The Goddess Who Shines in Heaven}}), which is a plain, non-honorific version of {{Lang|ja-latn|Amaterasu Ōmikami}}, (2) alternative forms of the verb {{Lang|ja-latn|amaterasu}} used elsewhere, for example its [[Japanese verb conjugation#Verb bases|continuative form]] {{Lang|ja-latn|amaterashi}} ({{lang|ja|天}}{{lang|ja|照}}{{lang|ja|之}}) in the ''[[Nihon Sandai Jitsuroku]]'',<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ja.wikisource.org/wiki/%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E4%B8%89%E4%BB%A3%E5%AF%A6%E9%8C%B2%E3%81%AE%E5%9C%B0%E9%9C%87%E5%8F%B2%E6%96%99|title=日本三代實録の地震史料|website=ja.wikisource.org}}</ref> and (3) similar uses of attributive verb forms in certain epithets, such as [[Emperor Jimmu]]'s {{Lang|ja-latn|Hatsu Kunishirasu Sumeramikoto}} ({{Lang|ja|始馭天下之天皇}},<ref>{{cite web|url= https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%A7%8B%E9%A6%AD%E5%A4%A9%E4%B8%8B%E4%B9%8B%E5%A4%A9%E7%9A%87%E3%83%BB%E5%BE%A1%E8%82%87%E5%9B%BD%E5%A4%A9%E7%9A%87-359483|title= 始馭天下之天皇・御肇国天皇|website= kotobank.jp|access-date= 2022-12-26|archive-date= 2022-12-26|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20221226133551/https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%A7%8B%E9%A6%AD%E5%A4%A9%E4%B8%8B%E4%B9%8B%E5%A4%A9%E7%9A%87%E3%83%BB%E5%BE%A1%E8%82%87%E5%9B%BD%E5%A4%A9%E7%9A%87-359483|url-status= dead}}</ref> {{Gloss|His Majesty Who First Rules the Land}}). There are, still, certain verb forms that are treated as proper names, such as the [[Japanese verb conjugation#Verb bases|terminal]] negative {{Lang|ja-latn|fukiaezu}} in '[[Ugayafukiaezu|Ugayafukiaezu no Mikoto]]' ({{Lang|ja|鸕鷀草葺不合尊}}, {{Gloss|His Augustness, Incompletely-Thatched-with-Cormorant-Feathers}}).

Her other name, {{Lang|ja-latn|Ōhirume}}, is usually understood as meaning {{Gloss|great woman of the sun / daytime}} (cf. ''[[:wikt:昼#Etymology 2|hiru]]'' {{Gloss|day(time), noon}}, from ''[[:wikt:日#Etymology 3 2|hi]]'' {{Gloss|sun, day}} + ''[[:wikt:女#Etymology 3|me]]'' {{Gloss|woman, lady}}),<ref name="tatsumi">{{cite web |last1=Tatsumi |first1=Masaaki |title=天照らす日女の命 (Amaterasuhirumenomikoto) |url=http://k-amc.kokugakuin.ac.jp/DM/detail.do?class_name=col_dsg&data_id=68210 |website=万葉神事語辞典 |publisher=Kokugakuin University |access-date=2020-10-11 |language=ja |archive-date=2020-10-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201011084255/http://k-amc.kokugakuin.ac.jp/DM/detail.do?class_name=col_dsg&data_id=68210 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Naumann |first1=Nelly |title='Sakahagi': The 'Reverse Flaying' of the Heavenly Piebald Horse |journal=Asian Folklore Studies |year=1982 |volume=41 |issue=1 |pages=26–27 |doi=10.2307/1178306 |jstor=1178306 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Akima |first1=Toshio |title=The Myth of the Goddess of the Undersea World and the tale of Empress Jingū's Subjugation of Silla |journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies |date=1993 |volume=20 |issue=2–3 |pages=120–121 |url=https://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2513 |publisher=Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture|doi=10.18874/jjrs.20.2-3.1993.95-185 |doi-access=free }}</ref> though alternative etymologies such as {{Gloss|great spirit woman}} (taking {{Lang|ja-latn|hi}} to mean {{Gloss|spirit}}) or {{Gloss|wife of the sun}} (suggested by [[Orikuchi Shinobu]], who put forward the theory that Amaterasu was originally conceived of as the consort or priestess of a male solar deity) had been proposed.<ref name="tatsumi"/><ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Eliade |editor1-first=Mircea |title=The Encyclopedia of Religion, vol. 1 |date=1987 |publisher=Macmillan |page=228 |chapter=Amaterasu}}</ref><ref>Akima (1993). p. 172.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Matsumura |first1=Kazuo |title=Mythical Thinkings: What Can We Learn from Comparative Mythology? |date=2014 |publisher=Countershock Press |page=118 |isbn=9781304772534 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=skh8BwAAQBAJ&pg=PA118}}</ref> A possible connection with the name [[Hiruko]] (the child rejected by the gods [[Izanagi]] and [[Izanami]] and one of Amaterasu's siblings) has also been suggested.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wachutka |first1=Michael |title=Historical Reality Or Metaphoric Expression?: Culturally Formed Contrasts in Karl Florenz' and Iida Takesato's Interpretations of Japanese Mythology |date=2001 |publisher=LIT Verlag Münster |pages=113–114}}</ref> To this name is appended the honorific {{Lang|ja-latn|muchi}},<ref>{{cite web |title=貴（むち） |url=https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/%E8%B2%B4_%28%E3%82%80%E3%81%A1%29/ |website=goo国語辞書 |access-date=2020-10-11 |language=ja}}</ref> which is also seen in a few other [[theonym]]s such as '[[Ōkuninushi|Ō(a)namuchi]]'<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tsugita |first1=Uruu |title=Shinpan Norito Shinkō (新版祝詞新講) |date=2008 |publisher=Ebisu Kōshō Shuppan |pages=506–507 |isbn=9784900901858 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b3aYegMdAPMC}}</ref> or 'Michinushi-no-Muchi' (an epithet of the [[Munakata Taisha|three Munakata goddesses]]<ref name="Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co">{{cite wikisource |author-first= William George |author-last= Aston |chapter= Book I |wslink= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |plaintitle= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |year= 1896 |publisher= Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.|wspage=40}}</ref>).

As the ancestress of the imperial line, the epithet {{Lang|ja-latn|Sume(ra)-Ō(mi)kami}} ({{Lang|ja|皇大神}}, {{Lit|great imperial deity}}; [[Kanji#On'yomi (Sino-Japanese reading)|also read as]] {{Lang|ja-latn|Kōtaijin}}<ref>{{cite web |title=皇大神 |url=https://kotobank.jp/word/%E7%9A%87%E5%A4%A7%E7%A5%9E-496430 |website=Kotobank|script-website=ja:コトバンク |publisher=The Asahi Shimbun Company |access-date=2020-10-11}}</ref>) is also applied to Amaterasu in names such as Amaterasu Sume(ra) Ō(mi)kami ({{Lang|ja|天照皇大神}}, also read as 'Tenshō Kōtaijin')<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tobe |first1=Tamio |title="Nihon no kami-sama" ga yoku wakaru hon: yaoyorozu no kami no kigen / seikaku kara go-riyaku made o kanzen gaido (「日本の神様」がよくわかる本: 八百万神の起源・性格からご利益までを完全ガイド) |date=2004 |publisher=PHP Kenkyūsho |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CK27BQAAQBAJ&pg=PR5}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Nagasawa |first1=Rintarō |title=Kōso kōsō no seiseki (皇祖皇宗之聖蹟) |date=1917 |publisher=Shinreikaku |page=1 |url=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/913588/9}}</ref> and 'Amaterashimasu-Sume(ra)-Ōmikami' ({{Lang|ja|天照坐皇大御神}}).<ref>{{cite web |title=天照大御神(アマテラスオオミカミ) |url=https://www.kyototuu.jp/Jinjya/MikotoAmaterasu.html |website=京都通百科事典 (Encyclopedia of Kyoto) |access-date=2020-10-11}}</ref>

During the medieval and early modern periods, the deity was also referred to as 'Tenshō Daijin' (the ''[[Kanji#On'yomi (Sino-Japanese reading)|on'yomi]]'' of {{Lang|ja|天照大神}}) or 'Amateru Ongami' (an alternate reading of the same).<ref>{{cite book |author1=Teeuwen, Mark |editor1-last=Scheid |editor1-first=Bernhard |editor2-last=Teeuwen |editor2-first=Mark |title=The Culture of Secrecy in Japanese Religion |date=2015 |publisher=Routledge |page=1999 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3Lk7lt70qDcC&pg=PA199 |chapter=Knowing vs. owning a secret: Secrecy in medieval Japan, as seen through the ''sokui kanjō'' enthronement unction|isbn=9781134168743 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Kaempfer |first1=Engelbert |title=Kaempfer's Japan: Tokugawa Culture Observed |date=1999 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |page=52 |isbn=9780824820664 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H2xdLbvCR6sC&pg=PA52|translator-last=Bodart-Bailey |translator-first=Beatrice M.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Hardacre |first1=Helen |title=Kurozumikyo and the New Religions of Japan |date=1988 |publisher=Princeton University Press |page=53 |isbn=0691020485 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=veE9DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA53}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Bocking |first1=Brian |title=The Oracles of the Three Shrines: Windows on Japanese Religion |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781136845451 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sUldAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA49}}</ref>

The name ''Amaterasu Ōmikami'' has been translated into English in different ways. While a number of authors such as [[Don Philippi|Donald Philippi]] rendered it as {{Gloss|heaven-illuminating great deity}},<ref>{{cite book |last1=Philippi |first1=Donald L. |title=Kojiki. Translated with an Introduction and Notes |date=1968 |publisher=University of Tokyo Press |page=454}}</ref> [[Basil Hall Chamberlain]] argued (citing the authority of [[Motoori Norinaga]]) that it is more accurately understood to mean {{Gloss|shining in heaven}} (because the auxiliary {{Lang|ja-latn|su}} is merely honorific, not causative, such interpretation as {{Gloss|to make heaven shine}} would miss the mark), and accordingly translated it as {{Gloss|Heaven-Shining-Great-August-Deity}}.<ref>Chamberlain (1882). [https://www.sacred-texts.com/shi/kj/kj017.htm Section XI.—Investiture of the Three Deities; The Illustrious August Children.]</ref> Gustav Heldt's 2014 translation of the ''Kojiki'', meanwhile, renders it as "the great and mighty spirit Heaven Shining."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Heldt |first1=Gustav |title=The Kojiki: An Account of Ancient Matters |date=2014 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-2311-6388-0 |pages=xiv, 18}}</ref>

==Mythology==
===In classical mythology===
====Birth====
[[File:阿波岐原 - Awagihara.jpg|thumb|150px|[[Izanagi]] purifying himself (''[[misogi]]'') by immersing in the Tachibana River ([[Natori Shunsen]])]]
[[File:Installation of the Sun Goddess (Amaterasu) c1870 after Kawanabe Kyosai.jpg|thumb|Installation of the Sun Goddess (Amaterasu)]]
Both the {{Lang|ja-latn|[[Kojiki]]}} ({{Circa|712 CE}}) and the {{Lang|ja-latn|[[Nihon Shoki]]}} (720 CE) agree in their description of Amaterasu as the daughter of the god [[Izanagi]] and the elder sister of [[Tsukuyomi]], the deity of the [[moon]], and [[Susanoo]], the god of storms and seas. The circumstances surrounding the birth of these three deities, known as the "Three Precious Children" ({{Lang|ja|三貴子}}, {{Lang|ja-latn|mihashira no uzu no miko or sankishi}}), however, vary between sources:

*In the {{Lang|ja-latn|[[Kojiki]]}}, Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi and Susanoo were born when Izanagi went to "[the plain of] Awagihara by the river-mouth of Tachibana in [[Hyūga Province|Himuka]] in [the island of] [[Kyushu|Tsukushi]]"{{efn|'Awagihara' or 'Awakihara' ([[Old Japanese]]: ''Apaki<sub>1</sub>para'') is a toponym meaning "a plain covered with ''[[Lespedeza bicolor|awagi]]'' shrubs". Its actual location is considered uncertain,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Philippi |first1=Donald L. |title=Kojiki |date=2015 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1400878000 |pages=462–463}}</ref> although a pond near [[Eda Shrine]] in modern-day Awakigahara-chō, [[Miyazaki, Miyazaki|Miyazaki]], [[Miyazaki prefecture|Miyazaki Prefecture]] (corresponding to the historical [[Hyūga Province|Himuka / Hyūga Province]]) is identified in local lore as the exact spot where Izanagi purified himself.<ref>{{cite web |title=みそぎ祓（はら）いのルーツ・阿波岐原 |url=http://mppf.or.jp/awaki/myth/ |website=Awakigahara Forest Park |access-date=2022-02-12}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=阿波岐原 |url=http://kojiki.kokugakuin.ac.jp/chimei/awakihara/ |website=國學院大學 古事記学センター |publisher=Kokugakuin University |language=Japanese}}</ref>}} and [[Misogi|bathed]] ({{Lang|ja-latn|misogi}}) in the river to purify himself after visiting [[Yomi]], the underworld, in a failed attempt to rescue his deceased wife, [[Izanami]]. Amaterasu was born when Izanagi washed his left eye, Tsukuyomi was born when he washed his right eye, and Susanoo was born when he washed his nose. Izanagi then appoints Amaterasu to rule [[Takamagahara]] (the "Plain of High Heaven"), Tsukuyomi the night, and Susanoo the seas.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Philippi |first1=Donald L. |title=Kojiki |date=2015 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1400878000 |pages=68–71}}</ref><ref>Chamberlain (1882). [http://sacred-texts.com/shi/kj/kj018.htm Section XI.—Investiture of the Three Deities; The Illustrious August Children.]</ref><ref>Chamberlain (1882). [http://sacred-texts.com/shi/kj/kj019.htm Section XII.—The Crying and Weeping of His Impetuous-Male-Augustness.]</ref>
*The main narrative of the {{Lang|ja-latn|[[Nihon Shoki]]}} has Izanagi and Izanami procreating after [[Kuniumi|creating the Japanese archipelago]]; to them were born (in the following order) Ōhirume-no-Muchi (Amaterasu), Tsukuyomi, the 'leech-child' [[Hiruko]], and Susanoo:

{{blockquote|After this Izanagi no Mikoto and Izanami no Mikoto consulted together, saying:—"We have now produced the Great-eight-island country, with the mountains, rivers, herbs, and trees. Why should we not produce someone who shall be lord of the universe?" They then together produced the Sun-Goddess, who was called Oho-hiru-me no muchi. [...] <br />The resplendent lustre of this child shone throughout all the six quarters. Therefore the two Deities rejoiced, saying:—"We have had many children, but none of them have been equal to this wondrous infant. She ought not to be kept long in this land, but we ought of our own accord to send her at once to Heaven, and entrust to her the affairs of Heaven."<br />
At this time Heaven and Earth were still not far separated, and therefore they sent her up to Heaven by the ladder of Heaven.<ref name="Aston18"/>}}

*A variant legend recorded in the ''Shoki'' has Izanagi begetting Ōhirume (Amaterasu) by holding a [[bronze mirror]] in his left hand, Tsukuyomi by holding another mirror in his right hand, and Susanoo by turning his head and looking sideways.<ref name="Aston20">{{cite wikisource |author-first= William George |author-last= Aston |chapter= Book I |wslink= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |plaintitle= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |year= 1896 |publisher= Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.|wspage=20}}</ref>
*A third variant in the ''Shoki'' has Izanagi and Izanami begetting the sun, the moon, Hiruko, and Susanoo, as in the main narrative. Their final child, the fire god [[Kagutsuchi]], caused Izanami's death (as in the ''Kojiki'').<ref name="Aston20"/>
*A fourth variant relates a similar story to that found in the ''Kojiki'', wherein the three gods are born when Izanagi washed himself in the river of Tachibana after going to Yomi.<ref>{{cite wikisource |author-first= William George |author-last= Aston |chapter= Book I |wslink= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |plaintitle= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |year= 1896 |publisher= Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.|wspage=28}}</ref>

====Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi====
One of the variant legends in the ''Shoki'' relates that Amaterasu ordered her sibling Tsukuyomi to go down to the terrestrial world ([[Ashihara no Nakatsukuni|Ashihara-no-Nakatsukuni]], the "Central Land of Reed-Plains") and visit the goddess [[Ukemochi]]. When Ukemochi [[Dema Deity|vomited foodstuffs out of her mouth]] and presented them to Tsukuyomi at a banquet, a disgusted and offended Tsukuyomi slew her and went back to Takamagahara. This act upset Amaterasu, causing her to split away from Tsukuyomi, thus separating night from day.

Amaterasu then sent another god, Ame-no-Kumahito ({{Lang|ja|天熊人}}), who found various food-crops and animals emerging from Ukemochi's corpse.

{{blockquote|On the crown of her head there had been produced the [[ox]] and the [[horse]]; on the top of her forehead there had been produced [[millet]]; over her eyebrows there had been produced the [[silkworm]]; within her eyes there had been produced [[Panicum|panic]]; in her belly there had been produced [[rice]]; in her genitals there had been produced [[wheat]], large beans and small beans.<ref name="Aston32-33">{{cite wikisource |author-first= William George |author-last= Aston |chapter= Book I |wslink= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |plaintitle= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |year= 1896 |publisher= Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.|wspage=32-33}}</ref>}}

Amaterasu had the grains collected and sown for humanity's use and, putting the silkworms in her mouth, reeled thread from them. From this began [[agriculture]] and [[sericulture]].<ref name="Aston32-33"/><ref name="Roberts 110">{{cite book| last = Roberts| first = Jeremy| title = Japanese Mythology A To Z| location = New York| publisher = [[Chelsea House Publishers]]| year = 2010| edition = 2nd| url = http://www.enryo.ro/carti/Japanese%20mythology%20A%20to%20Z.pdf| isbn = 978-1604134353| access-date = 2012-04-04| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171119221829/http://www.enryo.ro/carti/Japanese%20mythology%20A%20to%20Z.pdf| archive-date = 2017-11-19| url-status = dead}}</ref>

This account is not found in the ''Kojiki'', where a similar story is instead told of Susanoo and the goddess [[Ōgetsuhime]].<ref name="ChamberlainXVII">Chamberlain (1882). [http://sacred-texts.com/shi/kj/kj024.htm Section XVII.—The August Expulsion of His-Impetuous-Male-Augustness.]</ref>

====Amaterasu and Susanoo====
{{see also|Susanoo-no-Mikoto#Susanoo and Amaterasu}}

When Susanoo, the youngest of the three divine siblings, was expelled by his father Izanagi for his troublesome nature and incessant wailing on account of missing his deceased mother Izanami, he first went up to Takamagahara to say farewell to Amaterasu. A suspicious Amaterasu went out to meet him dressed in male clothing and clad in armor, at which Susanoo proposed a trial by pledge (''[[ukehi]]'') to prove his sincerity. In the ritual, the two gods each chewed and spat out an object carried by the other (in some variants, an item they each possessed). Five (or six) gods and three goddesses were born as a result; Amaterasu adopted the males as her sons and gave the females – later known as the [[Munakata Taisha|three Munakata goddesses]] – to Susanoo.<ref>Chamberlain (1882). [http://sacred-texts.com/shi/kj/kj020.htm Section XIII.—The August Oath.]</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Philippi |first1=Donald L. |title=Kojiki |year=2015 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1400878000 |pages=72–78}}</ref><ref>{{cite wikisource |author-first= William George |author-last= Aston |chapter= Book I |wslink= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |plaintitle= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |year= 1896 |publisher= Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.|wspages=35-39}}</ref>

[[File:須佐之男命の乱暴 - Susanoo's Rampage.jpg|thumb|270px|[[Susanoo]] throwing the heavenly horse into Amaterasu's loom]]
Susanoo, declaring that he had won the trial as he had produced deities of the required gender,{{efn|Female in the ''Kojiki'', male in the ''Shoki''.}} then "raged with victory" and proceeded to wreak havoc by destroying his sister's rice fields and defecating in her palace. While Amaterasu tolerated Susanoo's behavior at first, his "misdeeds did not cease, but became even more flagrant" until one day, he bore a hole in the rooftop of Amaterasu's weaving hall and hurled the "heavenly piebald horse" ({{Lang|ja|天斑駒}}, {{Lang|ja-latn|ame no fuchikoma}}), which he had flayed alive, into it. One of Amaterasu's weaving maidens was alarmed and struck her genitals against a [[Shuttle (weaving)|weaving shuttle]], killing her. In response, a furious Amaterasu shut herself inside the [[Ama-no-Iwato|Ame-no-Iwayato]] ({{Lang|ja|天岩屋戸}}, {{Gloss|Heavenly Rock-Cave Door}}, also known as Ama-no-Iwato), plunging heaven and earth into total darkness.<ref>Chamberlain (1882). [http://sacred-texts.com/shi/kj/kj022.htm Section XV.—The August Ravages of His Impetuous-Male-Augustness.]</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Philippi |first1=Donald L. |title=Kojiki |year=2015 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1400878000 |page=79}}</ref>

The main account in the ''Shoki'' has Amaterasu wounding herself with the shuttle when Susanoo threw the flayed horse in her weaving hall,<ref name="Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co"/> while a variant account identifies the goddess who was killed during this incident as Wakahirume-no-Mikoto ({{lang|ja|稚日女尊}}, {{Lit|young woman of the sun / day(time)}}).<ref>{{cite wikisource |author-first= William George |author-last= Aston |chapter= Book I |wslink= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |plaintitle= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |year= 1896 |publisher= Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.|wspage=46}}</ref>

Whereas the above accounts identify Susanoo's flaying of the horse as the immediate cause for Amaterasu hiding herself, yet another variant in the ''Shoki'' instead portrays it to be Susanoo defecating in her seat:
{{blockquote|In one writing it is said:—"The august Sun Goddess took an enclosed rice-field and made it her Imperial rice-field. Now Sosa no wo no Mikoto, in spring, filled up the channels and broke down the divisions, and in autumn, when the grain was formed, he forthwith stretched round them division ropes. Again when the Sun-Goddess was in her Weaving-Hall, he flayed alive a piebald colt and flung it into the Hall. In all these various matters his conduct was rude in the highest degree. Nevertheless, the Sun-Goddess, out of her friendship for him, was not indignant or resentful, but took everything calmly and with forbearance.<br />
When the time came for the Sun-Goddess to celebrate the feast of first-fruits, Sosa no wo no Mikoto secretly voided excrement under her august seat in the New Palace. The Sun-Goddess, not knowing this, went straight there and took her seat. Accordingly the Sun-Goddess drew herself up, and was sickened. She therefore was enraged, and straightway took up her abode in the Rock-cave of Heaven, and fastened its Rock-door.<ref>{{cite wikisource |author-first= William George |author-last= Aston |chapter= Book I |wslink= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |plaintitle= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |year= 1896 |publisher= Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.|wspage=47}}</ref>}}

====The Heavenly Rock Cave====
[[File:Origin of Iwato Kagura Dance Amaterasu by Toyokuni III (Kunisada) 1856.png|thumb|390x390px|Amaterasu emerges from the [[Amano-Iwato|Heavenly Rock Cave]], bringing sunlight back to the world (Triptych by [[Kunisada]])]]
[[File:Origin of the Cave Door Dance (Amaterasu) by Shunsai Toshimasa 1889.jpg|thumb|390px|''Origin of Music and Dance at the Rock Door'' by Shunsai Toshimasa, 1887]]
[[File:The Origin of Iwato Kagura Triptych (Amaterasu) by Utagawa Kunisada c1844.png|thumb|390px|The Origin of Iwato Kagura by Utagawa Kunisada, completed circa 1844]]
After Amaterasu hid herself in the cave, the gods, led by [[Omoikane (Shinto)|Omoikane]], the god of wisdom, conceived a plan to lure her out:

{{blockquote|[The gods] gathered together the [[Rooster|long-crying birds]] of Tokoyo and caused them to cry. (...) They uprooted by the very roots the flourishing ''[[Cleyera japonica|ma-sakaki]]'' trees of the mountain Ame-no-Kaguyama; to the upper branches they affixed long strings of myriad ''[[magatama]]'' beads; in the middle branches they hung [[Yata no Kagami|a large-dimensioned mirror]]; in the lower branches they suspended white ''nikite'' cloth and blue ''nikite'' cloth.<br />
These various objects were held in his hands by [[Futodama|Futotama-no-Mikoto]] as solemn offerings, and [[Ame-no-Koyane|Ame-no-Koyane-no-Mikoto]] intoned a solemn [[Norito|liturgy]].<br />
[[Ame-no-Tajikarao|Ame-no-Tajikarao-no-Kami]] stood concealed beside the door, while [[Ame-no-Uzume|Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto]] bound up her sleeves with a cord of heavenly ''hikage'' vine, tied around her head a head-band of the heavenly ''[[Trachelospermum asiaticum|masaki]]'' vine, bound together bundles of ''[[Sasa (plant)|sasa]]'' leaves to hold in her hands, and overturning a bucket before the heavenly rock-cave door, stamped resoundingly upon it. Then she became divinely possessed, exposed her breasts, and pushed her skirt-band down to her genitals.<br />
Then Takamanohara shook as the eight-hundred myriad deities laughed at once.<ref>Translation from {{cite book |last1=Philippi |first1=Donald L. |title=Kojiki |date=2015 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1400878000 |pages=82–84}} Names and untranslated words (transcribed in [[Old Japanese]] in the original) have been changed into their modern equivalents.</ref>|author=|title=|source=}}

Inside the cave, Amaterasu is surprised that the gods should show such mirth in her absence. Ame-no-Uzume answered that they were celebrating because another god greater than her had appeared. Curious, Amaterasu slid the boulder blocking the cave's entrance and peeked out, at which Ame-no-Koyane and Futodama brought out the mirror (the [[Yata-no-Kagami]]) and held it before her. As Amaterasu, struck by her own reflection (apparently thinking it to be the other deity Ame-no-Uzume spoke of), approached the mirror, Ame-no-Tajikarao took her hand and pulled her out of the cave, which was then immediately sealed with a [[shimenawa|straw rope]], preventing her from going back inside. Thus was light restored to the world.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Philippi |first1=Donald L. |title=Kojiki |date=2015 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1400878000 |pages=82–85}}</ref><ref>Chamberlain (1882). [http://sacred-texts.com/shi/kj/kj023.htm Section XVI.—The Door of the Heavenly Rock-Dwelling.]</ref><ref>{{cite wikisource |author-first= William George |author-last= Aston |chapter= Book I |wslink= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |plaintitle= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |year= 1896 |publisher= Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.|wspage=42}}</ref>

As punishment for his unruly conduct, Susanoo was then driven out of Takamagahara by the other gods. Going down to earth, he arrived at the [[Izumo Province|land of Izumo]], where he killed the monstrous serpent [[Yamata no Orochi]] to rescue the goddess [[Kushinadahime]], whom he eventually married. From the serpent's carcass Susanoo found the sword Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi ({{Lang|ja|天叢雲剣}}, {{Gloss|Sword of the Gathering Clouds of Heaven}}), also known as [[Kusanagi|Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi]] ({{Lang|ja|草薙剣}} {{Gloss|Grass-Cutting Sword}}), which he presented to Amaterasu as a reconciliatory gift.<ref name="ChamberlainXVII"/><ref>Chamberlain (1882). [http://sacred-texts.com/shi/kj/kj025.htm Section XVIII.—The Eight-Forked Serpent.]</ref><ref>{{cite wikisource |author-first= William George |author-last= Aston |chapter= Book I |wslink= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |plaintitle= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |year= 1896 |publisher= Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.|wspages=45, 52}}</ref>

====The subjugation of Ashihara-no-Nakatsukuni====
{{see also|Ōkuninushi|Kuni-yuzuri|Tenson kōrin}}
[[File:三種の神器 1200x1200.png|left|thumb|Artist's impression of the three [[Imperial Regalia of Japan]]]]
After a time, Amaterasu and the [[Kotoamatsukami|primordial deity]] [[Takamimusubi]] (also known as Takagi-no-Kami) declared that Ashihara-no-Nakatsukuni, which was then being ruled over by [[Ōkuninushi]] (also known as Ō(a)namuchi), the descendant (''Kojiki'') or the son (''Shoki'') of Susanoo, should be pacified and put under the jurisdiction of their progeny, claiming it to be teeming with "numerous deities which shone with a lustre like that of fireflies, and evil deities which buzzed like flies".<ref name="Nihongi64">{{cite wikisource |author-first= William George |author-last= Aston |chapter= Book II |wslink= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |plaintitle= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |year= 1896 |publisher= Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.|wspage=64}}</ref> Amaterasu ordered [[Ame-no-oshihomimi|Ame-no-Oshihomimi]], the firstborn of the five male children born during her contest with Susanoo, to go down to earth and establish his rule over it. However, after inspecting the land below, he deemed it to be in an uproar and refused to go any further.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Philippi |first1=Donald L. |title=Kojiki |date=2015 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1400878000 |pages=120–122}}</ref><ref name="ChamberlainSectionXXX">Chamberlain (1882). [http://sacred-texts.com/shi/kj/kj037.htm Section XXX.—The August Deliberation for Pacifying the Land.]</ref> At the advice of Omoikane and the other deities, Amaterasu then dispatched another of her five sons, [[Ame no Hohi]]. Upon arriving, however, Ame no Hohi began to curry favor with Ōkuninushi and did not send back any report for three years.<ref name="ChamberlainSectionXXX" /><ref name="Nihongi64" /> The heavenly deities then sent a third messenger, [[Ame-no-wakahiko|Ame-no-Wakahiko]], who also ended up siding with Ōkuninushi and marrying his daughter Shitateruhime. After eight years, a female [[Japanese green pheasant|pheasant]] was sent to question Ame-no-Wakahiko, who killed it with his bow and arrow. The blood-stained arrow flew straight up to Takamagahara at the feet of Amaterasu and Takamimusubi, who then threw it back to earth with a curse, killing Ame-no-Wakahiko in his sleep.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Philippi |first1=Donald L. |title=Kojiki |date=2015 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1400878000 |pages=123–125}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Mori|first1=Mizue|title=Amewakahiko|url=http://eos.kokugakuin.ac.jp/modules/xwords/entry.php?entryID=46|website=Encyclopedia of Shinto|publisher=Kokugakuin University|access-date=13 February 2017|archive-date=14 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200214230438/http://eos.kokugakuin.ac.jp/modules/xwords/entry.php?entryID=46|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite wikisource |author-first= William George |author-last= Aston |chapter= Book I |wslink= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |plaintitle= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |year= 1896 |publisher= Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.|wspages=65-66}}</ref>

The preceding messengers having thus failed to complete their task, the heavenly gods finally sent the warrior deities [[Futsunushi]] and [[Takemikazuchi]]{{efn|So the ''Nihon Shoki'', the ''[[Kogo Shūi]]'',<ref>{{cite book |translator1-last=Katō |translator1-first=Genchi |translator2-last=Hoshino |translator2-first=Hikoshirō |title=Kogoshūi: Gleanings from Ancient Stories. Translated with an introduction and notes |date=1925 |publisher=Meiji Japan Society |page=16}}</ref> and the ''[[Sendai Kuji Hongi]]''. In the ''Kojiki'' (where Futsunushi is not mentioned), the envoys sent by the heavenly gods are Takemikazuchi and the bird-boat deity [[Kamiumi#Birth of the gods|Ame-no-Torifune]].<ref>Chamberlain (1882). [https://www.sacred-texts.com/shi/kj/kj039.htm Section XXXII.—Abdication of the Deity Master-of-the-Great-Land.]</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Philippi |first1=Donald L. |title=Kojiki |date=2015 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1400878000 |page=129}}</ref> In the ''Izumo no Kuni no Miyatsuko no Kanʼyogoto'' ("Congratulatory Words of the ''[[Kuni no miyatsuko|Kuni no Miyatsuko]]'' of Izumo" - a ''[[norito]]'' recited by the governor of Izumo Province before the imperial court during his appointment), Futsunushi's companion is Ame-no-Oshihomimi's son Ame no Hinadori.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=De Bary |editor1-first=Wm. Theodore |editor2-last=Keene |editor2-first=Donald |editor3-last=Tanabe |editor3-first=George |editor4-last=Varley |editor4-first=Paul |title=Sources of Japanese Tradition: From Earliest Times to 1600 |date=2001 |publisher=Columbia University Press |page=38 |isbn=9780231121385 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tNJ_s2FEOWcC&pg=PA38}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Takioto |first1=Yoshiyuki |title=Izumo no Kuni no Miyatsuko no Kan'yogoto no Shinwa (出雲国造神賀詞の神話) |journal=Komazawa Shigaku |date=2012 |volume=78 |pages=1–17 |url=http://repo.komazawa-u.ac.jp/opac/repository/all/32737/rsg078-01-takiotoyoshiyuki.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://repo.komazawa-u.ac.jp/opac/repository/all/32737/rsg078-01-takiotoyoshiyuki.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |publisher=[[Komazawa University]] |language=ja}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Nishioka |first1=Kazuhiko |title=Amenooshihomimi |url=http://k-amc.kokugakuin.ac.jp/DM/dbSearchList.do?class_name=col_eos&search_condition_type=1&db_search_condition_type=4&View=2&startNo=1&focus_type=0&searchFreeword=Amenooshihomimi&searchRangeType=0 |website=Encyclopedia of Shinto |publisher=Kokugakuin University |access-date=2020-03-25 }}{{Dead link|date=December 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>}} to remonstrate with Ōkuninushi. At the advice of his son [[Kotoshironushi]], Ōkuninushi agreed to abdicate and left the physical realm to govern the unseen spirit world, which was given to him in exchange. The two gods then went around Ashihara-no-Nakatsukuni, killing those who resisted them and rewarding those who rendered submission, before going back to heaven.<ref>{{cite wikisource |author-first= William George |author-last= Aston |chapter= Book I |wslink= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |plaintitle= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |year= 1896 |publisher= Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.|wspages=68-70}}</ref>

[[File:Ninigi.jpg|thumb|280px|[[Ninigi]] and his retinue at Mount Takachiho]]
With the earth now pacified, Amaterasu and Takamimusubi again commanded Ame-no-Oshihomimi to descend and rule it. He, however, again demurred and suggested that his son [[Ninigi]] be sent instead. Amaterasu thus bequeathed to Ninigi, the sword Susanoo gave her, along with the two items used to lure her out of the Ame-no-Iwayato: the mirror Yata-no-Kagami and the jewel [[Yasakani no Magatama]]. With a number of gods serving as his retinue, Ninigi came down from heaven to [[Takachiho, Miyazaki|Mount Takachiho]] in the [[Hyūga Province|land of Himuka]] and built his palace there. Ninigi became the ancestor of the [[Imperial House of Japan|emperors of Japan]], while the mirror, jewel, and sword he brought with him became the [[Imperial Regalia of Japan|three sacred treasures]] of the imperial house. Five of the gods who accompanied him in his descent - Ame-no-Koyane, Futodama, Ame-no-Uzume, [[Ishikori-dome no Mikoto|Ishikoridome]] (the maker of the mirror), and [[Tamanoya]] (the maker of the jewel) - meanwhile became the ancestors of the clans involved in court ceremonial such as the [[Nakatomi clan|Nakatomi]] and the [[Inbe clan|Inbe]].<ref>Chamberlain (1882). [https://www.sacred-texts.com/shi/kj/kj040.htm Section XXXIII.—The August Descent from Heaven of His Augustness the August Grandchild.]</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Philippi |first1=Donald L. |title=Kojiki |date=2015 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1400878000 |pages=137–141}}</ref><ref>{{cite wikisource |author-first= William George |author-last= Aston |chapter= Book I |wslink= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |plaintitle= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |year= 1896 |publisher= Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.|wspages=70, 76-77}}</ref>

====Emperor Jimmu and the Yatagarasu====
{{see also|Emperor Jimmu}}
[[File:Tennō Jimmu.jpg|thumb|450px|left|[[Yatagarasu]] the sun crow guiding Emperor Jimmu and his men towards the plain of [[Yamato Province|Yamato]]]]
Many years later, Ninigi's great-grandson, Kamuyamato-Iwarebiko (later known as [[Emperor Jimmu]]), decided to leave Himuka in search of a new home with his elder brother Itsuse. Migrating eastward, they encountered various gods and local tribes who either submitted to them or resisted them. After Itsuse died of wounds sustained during a battle against a chieftain named Nagasunehiko, Iwarebiko retreated and went to [[Kumano Region|Kumano]], located on the southern part of the [[Kii Peninsula]]. While there, he and his army were enchanted by a god in the shape of a giant bear and fell into a deep sleep. At that moment, a local named Takakuraji had a dream in which Amaterasu and Takamimusubi commanded the god Takemikazuchi to help Iwarebiko. Takemikazuchi then dropped his sword, [[Isonokami Shrine|Futsu-no-Mitama]], into Takakuraji's storehouse, ordering him to give it to Iwarebiko. Upon waking up and discovering the sword inside the storehouse, Takakuraji went to where Iwarebiko was and presented it to him. The magic power of the Futsu-no-Mitama immediately exterminated the evil gods of the region and roused Iwarebiko and his men from their slumber.

Continuing their journey, the army soon found themselves stranded in the mountains. Takamimusubi (so the ''Kojiki'') or Amaterasu (''Shoki'') then told Iwarebiko in a dream that the giant crow [[Yatagarasu]] would be sent to guide them in their way. Soon enough, the bird appeared and led Iwarebiko and his men to safety. At length, Iwarebiko arrived at the [[Yamato Province|land of Yamato]] (modern [[Nara Prefecture]]) and defeated Nagasunehiko, thereby avenging his brother Itsuse. He then established his palace-capital at [[Kashihara, Nara|Kashihara]] and ruled therein.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Philippi |first1=Donald L. |title=Kojiki |date=2015 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1400878000 |pages=163–177}}</ref><ref>{{cite wikisource |author-first= William George |author-last= Aston |chapter= Book I |wslink= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |plaintitle= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |year= 1896 |publisher= Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.|wspages=114-128}}</ref>

====Enshrinement in Ise====
{{see also|Ōmononushi|Saiō}}
[[File:Hibara-jinja, torii-2.jpg|thumb|240px|[[Ōmiwa Shrine|Hibara Shrine]] at the foot of [[Mount Miwa]] in [[Sakurai, Nara|Sakurai]], [[Nara Prefecture]]. The shrine is identified as the place where the Yata-no-Kagami and the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi were first enshrined after they were removed from the imperial palace.]]
An anecdote concerning [[Emperor Sujin]] relates that Amaterasu ([[Shintai|via the Yata-no-Kagami and the Kusanagi sword]]) and [[Yamato Okunitama|Yamato-no-Okunitama]], the [[tutelary deity]] of Yamato, were originally worshipped in the great hall of the imperial palace. When a series of plagues broke out during Sujin's reign, he "dreaded [...] the power of these Gods, and did not feel secure in their dwelling together." He thus entrusted the mirror and the sword to his daughter {{Ill|Toyosukiiri-hime|lt=Toyosukiirihime|ja|豊鍬入姫命}}, who brought them to the village of Kasanuhi,<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6" /> and she would become the first [[Saiō]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://d-museum.kokugakuin.ac.jp/eos/detail/?id=8608 | title=Encyclopedia of Shinto詳細 }}</ref> and delegated the worship of [[Yamato Okunitama|Yamato-no-Okunitama]] to another daughter, Nunakiirihime. When the pestilence showed no sign of abating, he then performed [[Futomani|divination]], which revealed the plague to have been caused by [[Ōmononushi]], the god of [[Mount Miwa]]. When the god was offered proper worship as per his demands, the epidemic ceased.<ref name=":5">{{cite wikisource |author-first= William George |author-last= Aston |chapter= Book I |wslink= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |plaintitle= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |year= 1896 |publisher= Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.|wspages=151-154}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{cite book |translator1-last=Katō |translator1-first=Genchi |translator2-last=Hoshino |translator2-first=Hikoshirō  |title=Kogoshūi: Gleanings from Ancient Stories. Translated with an introduction and notes |date=1925 |publisher=Meiji Japan Society |pages=29–30}}</ref>

During the reign of Sujin's son and successor, [[Emperor Suinin]], custody of the sacred treasures were transferred from Toyosukiirihime to Suinin's daughter [[Yamatohime-no-mikoto|Yamatohime]], who took them first to "Sasahata in Uda" to the east of Miwa. Heading north to [[Ōmi Province|Ōmi]], she then eastwards to [[Mino Province|Mino]] and proceeded south to [[Ise Province|Ise]], where she received a revelation from Amaterasu:

{{blockquote|Now Ama-terasu no Oho-kami instructed Yamato-hime no Mikoto, saying:—"The province of Ise, of the divine wind, is the land whither repair the waves from the eternal world, the successive waves. It is a secluded and pleasant land. In this land I wish to dwell." In compliance, therefore, with the instruction of the Great Goddess, a shrine was erected to her in the province of Ise. Accordingly an [[Abstinence Palace]] was built at Kaha-kami in Isuzu. This was called the palace of Iso. It was there that Ama-terasu no Oho-kami first descended from Heaven.<ref>{{cite wikisource |author-first= William George |author-last= Aston |chapter= Book I |wslink= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |plaintitle= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |year= 1896 |publisher= Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.|wspages=176}}</ref>}}

This account serves as the origin myth of the [[Ise Grand Shrine|Grand Shrine of Ise]], Amaterasu's chief place of worship.

[[File:Yamato Takeru by Takahashi Yuichi (Geidai Museum).jpg|thumb|[[Yamato Takeru]]]]
Later, when Suinin's grandson Prince Ousu (also known as [[Yamato Takeru]]) went to Ise to visit his aunt Yamatohime before going to conquer and pacify the [[Kantō region|eastern regions]] on the command of his father, [[Emperor Keikō]], he was given the divine sword to protect him in times of peril. It eventually came in handy when Yamato Takeru was lured onto an open grassland by a treacherous chieftain, who then set fire to the grass to entrap him. Desperate, Yamato Takeru used the sword to cut the grass around him (a variant in the ''Shoki'' has the sword miraculously mow the grass of its own accord) and lit a counter-fire to keep the fire away. This incident explains the sword's name ("Grass Cutter").<ref>{{cite book |last1=Philippi |first1=Donald L. |title=Kojiki |date=2015 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1400878000 |pages=238–240}}</ref><ref>{{cite wikisource |author-first= William George |author-last= Aston |chapter= Book I |wslink= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |plaintitle= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |year= 1896 |publisher= Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.|wspage=205}}</ref> On his way home from the east, Yamato Takeru – apparently blinded by [[hubris]] – left the Kusanagi in the care of his second wife, Miyazuhime of [[Owari Province|Owari]], and went to confront the god of [[Mount Ibuki]] on his own. Without the sword's protection, he fell prey to the god's enchantment and became ill and died afterwards.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Philippi |first1=Donald L. |title=Kojiki |date=2015 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1400878000 |pages=245–249}}</ref><ref>{{cite wikisource |author-first= William George |author-last= Aston |chapter= Book I |wslink= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |plaintitle= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |year= 1896 |publisher= Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.|wspages=208-210}}</ref> Thus the Kusanagi stayed in Owari, where it was enshrined in the [[Atsuta Shrine|shrine of Atsuta]].<ref>{{cite book |translator1-last=Katō |translator1-first=Genchi |translator2-last=Hoshino |translator2-first=Hikoshirō |title=Kogoshūi: Gleanings from Ancient Stories. Translated with an introduction and notes |date=1925 |publisher=Meiji Japan Society |page=33}}</ref>

====Empress Jingū and Amaterasu's ''aramitama''====
[[File:Hirota-jinja, haiden-2-2.jpg|thumb|left|[[Hirota Shrine]] in [[Nishinomiya, Hyōgo|Nishinomiya]], [[Hyōgo Prefecture]], where Amaterasu's ''aramitama'' is enshrined]]
At one time, when [[Emperor Chūai]] was on a campaign against the [[Kumaso]] tribes of [[Kyushu]], his consort [[Empress Jingū|Jingū]] was possessed by unknown gods who told Chūai of a land rich in treasure located on the other side of the sea that is his for the taking. When Chūai doubted their words and accused them of being deceitful, the gods laid a curse upon him that he should die "without possessing this land." (The ''Kojiki'' and the ''Shoki'' diverge at this point: in the former, Chūai dies almost immediately after being cursed, while in the latter, he dies of a sudden illness a few months after.)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Philippi |first1=Donald L. |title=Kojiki |date=2015 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1400878000 |pages=257–258}}</ref><ref>{{cite wikisource |author-first= William George |author-last= Aston |chapter= Book I |wslink= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |plaintitle= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |year= 1896 |publisher= Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.|wspages=221-223}}</ref>

[[File:EmpressJinguInKorea.jpg|thumb|380px|[[Empress Jingū]]]]
After Chūai's death, Jingū performed divination to ascertain which gods had spoken to her husband. The deities identified themselves as Tsukisakaki Izu no Mitama Amazakaru Mukatsuhime no Mikoto ({{Lang|ja|撞賢木厳之御魂天疎向津媛命}}, 'The Awe-inspiring Spirit of the Planted ''[[Cleyera japonica|Sakaki]]'', the Lady of Sky-distant Mukatsu', usually interpreted as the ''[[Mitama|aramitama]]'' or 'violent spirit' of Amaterasu), Kotoshironushi, and the three gods of Sumie ([[Sumiyoshi taisha|Sumiyoshi]]): [[Sumiyoshi sanjin|Uwatsutsunoo, Nakatsutsunoo, and Sokotsutsunoo]].{{efn|The ''Kojiki''{{'}}s account meanwhile identifies the gods as Amaterasu and the three Sumiyoshi deities.<ref name="Philippi259-263">{{cite book |last1=Philippi |first1=Donald L. |title=Kojiki |date=2015 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1400878000 |pages=259–263}}</ref>}} Worshiping the gods in accordance with their instructions, Jingū then set out to conquer the promised land beyond the sea: the [[three kingdoms of Korea]].<ref name="Philippi259-263"/><ref>{{cite wikisource |author-first= William George |author-last= Aston |chapter= Book I |wslink= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |plaintitle= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |year= 1896 |publisher= Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.|wspages=224-227}}</ref>

When Jingū returned victorious to Japan, she enshrined the deities in places of their own choosing; Amaterasu, warning Jingū not to take her {{Lang|ja-latn|aramitama}} along to the capital, instructed her to install it in [[Hirota Shrine|Hirota]], the harbor where the empress disembarked.<ref>{{cite wikisource |author-first= William George |author-last= Aston |chapter= Book I |wslink= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |plaintitle= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |year= 1896 |publisher= Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.|wspages=237-238}}</ref>

== Family ==
{{Further|Family tree of Japanese deities}}

=== Family tree ===
{{chart top|Amaterasu's family tree (based on the ''Kojiki'')}}
{{Tree chart/start|align=center}}

{{Tree chart|A1|16=~|A2=[[Izanagi]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Izanagi|title = Izanagi and Izanami &#124; Shintō deity|website=Britannica.com}}</ref>|A1=[[Takamimusubi]]<ref>{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Nihongi:_Chronicles_of_Japan_from_the_Earliest_Times_to_A.D._697/Book_II|title = Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697, Volume 1| chapter=Book II }}</ref>|26=|25=A3|24=~|23=y|22=~|21=~|20=~|19=~|18=y|17=~|15=~||14=~|13=~|12=~|11=~|10=~|9=~|8=~|7=~|6=~|5=~|4=A2||A3=[[Izanami]]}}

{{Tree chart|!|16=|27=!|26=|25=|24=|23=|22=!|21=|20=|19=|18=|17=|15=||14=|13=|12=|11=|10=|9=|8=!|7=|6=|5=|4=||28=}}

{{Tree chart|!|16=||26=|25=B2|24=|23=|22=!|21=|20=|19=|18=|17=|15=||14=|13=|12=|11=.|10=-|9=-|8=+|7=-|6=-|5=,|4=|B2=[[Watatsumi]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Encyclopedia of Shinto詳細 |url=https://d-museum.kokugakuin.ac.jp/eos/detail/?id=9733 |access-date=2024-05-04 |website=國學院大學デジタルミュージアム |language=ja}}</ref>}}

{{Tree chart|!|15=|C2=[[Susanoo]]|C1='''Amaterasu'''|23=|22=|21=!|20=|19=|18=|17=|16=!|14=||13=|12=|11=|10=|9=|8=|7=|6=C3|5=C2|4=C1||C3=[[Tsukuyomi]]}}

{{Tree chart|!|16=-|28=|27=!|26=|25=|24=|23=|22=!|21=|20=|19=|18=|17=.|15=-||14=v|13=-|12=-|11=v|10=-|9=-|8=v|7=-|6=-|5=)|4=||29=}}

{{Tree chart|D1|12=|D6=[[Kumanokusubi]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www2.kokugakuin.ac.jp/ijcc/wp/cpjr/kami/matsumura.html|title="Alone among Women": A Comparative Mythic Analysis of the Development of Amaterasu Theology|access-date=2020-11-21|archive-date=2021-01-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126014124/http://www2.kokugakuin.ac.jp/ijcc/wp/cpjr/kami/matsumura.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>|D5=[[Ikutsuhikone]]|D4=[[Amatsuhikone]]|D3=[[Ame no Hohi]]|D2=[[Ame-no-oshihomimi|Ame-no-Oshihomimi]]|D1=[[Takuhadachiji-hime|Yorozuhata-Akitsuhime]]<br />(Takuhata-Chijihime)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://mythopedia.com/topics/ninigi|title=Ninigi|website=Mythopedia.com|access-date=26 June 2022}}</ref>|14=|13=!|11=|y|10=|9=D7|8=|7=D6|6=D5|5=D4|4=D3|D2|D7=[[Ōyamatsumi]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://eos.kokugakuin.ac.jp/modules/xwords/entry.php?entryID=132|title=Encyclopedia of Shinto - Home : Kami in Classic Texts : Ōyamatsumi|website=Eos.kokugakuin.ac.jp|access-date=2020-11-21|archive-date=2011-05-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110520004926/http://eos.kokugakuin.ac.jp/modules/xwords/entry.php?entryID=132|url-status=dead}}</ref>}}

{{Tree chart||16=|27=!|26=|25=|24=|23=|22=!|21=|20=|19=|18=|17=|15=||14=|13=|12=|11=|10=|9=|8=|7=|6=|5=|4=!||28=}}

{{Tree chart||15=~|E1=[[Ninigi]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ninigi |url=https://d-museum.kokugakuin.ac.jp/eos/detail/?id=9355 |access-date=2024-05-07 |website=Encyclopedia of Shinto詳細 |language=ja}}</ref>|25=|24=.|23=^|22=,|21=|20=|19=E2|18=~|17=~|16=~|14=~||13=~|12=~|11=y|10=~|9=~|8=~|7=~|6=~|5=~|4=~|E1|E2=[[Konohanasakuya-hime|Konohana-Sakuyahime]]}}

{{Tree chart||16=~|F2=[[Toyotama-hime|Toyotamahime]]|F1=[[Hoori]]|25=|24=F3|23=F2|22=~|21=~|20=~|19=~|18=~|17=y|15=~||14=~|13=~|12=F1|11=|10=|9=|8=|7=|6=|5=|4=||F3=[[Tamayori-hime (mother of Jimmu)|Tamayorihime]]<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://eos.kokugakuin.ac.jp/modules/xwords/entry.php?entryID=151 | title=Shinto Portal - IJCC, Kokugakuin University | website=Eos.kokugakuin.ac.jp | access-date=2020-11-21 | archive-date=2011-05-19 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110519004449/http://eos.kokugakuin.ac.jp/modules/xwords/entry.php?entryID=151 | url-status=dead }}</ref>}}

{{Tree chart||16=|28=|27=J|26=~|25=~|24=~|23=y|22=~|21=~|20=~|19=~|18=G1|17=|15=||14=|13=|12=|11=|10=|9=|8=|7=|6=|5=|4=||G1=[[Ugayafukiaezu]]<ref>{{cite web | url=http://eos.kokugakuin.ac.jp/modules/xwords/entry.php?entryID=161 | title=Shinto Portal - IJCC, Kokugakuin University | website=Eos.kokugakuin.ac.jp | access-date=2020-11-21 | archive-date=2011-05-18 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110518145338/http://eos.kokugakuin.ac.jp/modules/xwords/entry.php?entryID=161 | url-status=dead }}</ref>}}

{{Tree chart||17=|29=|28=|27=|26=|25=!|24=|23=|22=|21=|20=|19=|18=|16=||15=|14=|13=|12=|11=|10=|9=|8=|7=|6=|5=|4=||30=}}

{{Tree chart||17=|29=|28=|27=|26=|25=|24=H1|23=|22=|21=|20=|19=|18=|16=||15=|14=|13=|12=|11=|10=|9=|8=|7=|6=|5=|4=||H1=[[Emperor Jimmu]]}}

{{Tree chart/end}}
{{chart bottom}}


=== Consorts ===
She is a virgin goddess and never engages in sexual relationships.<ref>{{Cite web |title="Alone among Women": A Comparative Mythic Analysis of the Development of Amaterasu Theology |url=https://www2.kokugakuin.ac.jp/ijcc/wp/cpjr/kami/matsumura.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126014124/http://www2.kokugakuin.ac.jp/ijcc/wp/cpjr/kami/matsumura.html |archive-date=2021-01-26 |access-date=2020-11-21 |website=2.kokugakuin.ac.jp}}</ref> However, according to {{ill|Nozomu Kawamura|ja|河村望}}, she was a consort to a sun god<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kawamura |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IihmAgAAQBAJ&q=virgin+amaterasu&pg=PA205 |title=Sociology & Society Of Japan |date=2013-12-19 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-79319-9 |pages=205 |language=en}}</ref> and some telling stories place [[Tsukuyomi]] as her husband.<ref name=":03">{{Cite web|title=Amaterasu|url=https://mythopedia.com/japanese-mythology/gods/amaterasu/|access-date=2020-11-21|website=Mythopedia.com|language=en}}</ref>

=== Siblings ===
Amaterasu has many siblings, most notably [[Susanoo-no-Mikoto|Susanoo]] and [[Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto|Tsukiyomi]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Izanagi and Izanami {{!}} Shintō deity|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Izanagi|website=britannica.com|access-date=2020-11-20|language=en}}</ref> [[Basil Hall Chamberlain]] used the words "elder brother" to translate her dialog referring to Susanoo in the ''Kojiki'', even though he noted that she was his elder sister.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.sacred-texts.com/shi/kj/kj020.htm | title=The Kojiki: Volume I: Section XIII.—The August Oath|website=Sacred-texts.com }}</ref> The word (which was also used by Izanami to address her elder brother and husband Izanagi) was ''nase'' (phonetically spelt {{Lang|ja|那勢}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E5%8F%A4%E4%BA%8B%E8%A8%98/%E4%B8%8A%E5%8D%B7|title=古事記/上卷 - 维基文库，自由的图书馆|website=Zh.wikisource.org|access-date=26 June 2022}}</ref> in the ''Kojiki''; modern dictionaries use the semantic spelling {{Lang|ja|汝兄}}, whose [[kanji]] literally mean {{Gloss|my elder brother}}), an ancient term used only by females to refer to their brothers, who had higher status than them. (As opposed to males using {{nihongo|''nanimo''|汝妹|extra={{gloss|my younger sister}}}} ({{Lang|ja|那邇妹}} in the ''Kojiki'') to refer to their sisters, who had lower status than them.)<ref>{{cite book|title=スーパー大辞林|trans-title=Super [[Daijirin]]}}</ref> The ''Nihon Shoki'' used the Chinese word {{Lang|zh|弟}} ({{Gloss|younger brother}}) instead.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E6%9B%B8%E7%B4%80/%E5%8D%B7%E7%AC%AC%E4%B8%80|title=日本書紀/卷第一 - 维基文库，自由的图书馆|website=Zh.wikisource.org|access-date=26 June 2022}}</ref>

Some tellings say she had a sister named [[Wakahiru-me|Wakahirume]] who was a weaving maiden and helped Amaterasu weave clothes for the other kami in [[Takamagahara|heaven]]. Wakahirume was later accidentally killed by Susanoo.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Amaterasu|url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Amaterasu/|access-date=2020-11-20|website=[[World History Encyclopedia]]}}</ref>

Other traditions say she had an older brother named [[Ebisu (mythology)|Hiruko]].<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Coulter|first1=Charles Russell|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VWxekbhM1yEC&q=amaterasu&pg=PT91|title=Encyclopedia of Ancient Deities|last2=Turner|first2=Patricia|date=2013-07-04|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-96397-2|language=en}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=September 2021}}

=== Descendants ===
{{Original research|date=September 2021}}
Amaterasu has five sons, [[Ame-no-oshihomimi]], [[Ame no Hohi]], [[Amatsuhikone]], [[Ikutsuhikone]], and [[Kumanokusubi]], who were given birth to by Susanoo by chewing her hair jewels. According to one account in the ''Nihon Shoki'', it was because these children were male that Susanoo won during the ritual to prove his intent, even though they were not his children, but hers. This explanation of the outcome of the ritual contradicts that in the ''Kojiki'', according to which it was because she gave birth to female children using his sword, and those children were his. The ''Kojiki'' claims he won because he had daughters to whom she gave birth, while the ''Nihon Shoki'' claims he won because he himself gave birth to her sons. Several figures and noble clans claim descent from Amaterasu most notably [[Imperial House of Japan|the Japanese imperial family]] through Emperor Jimmu who descended from her grandson [[Ninigi-no-Mikoto|Ninigi]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kitagawa|first=Joseph Mitsuo|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h1xcc4cGL5cC&pg=PA145|title=On Understanding Japanese Religion|date=1987-10-21|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-10229-0|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":03" />

Her son [[Ame no Hohi]] is considered the ancestral [[kami]] of clans in [[Izumo Province|Izumo]] which includes the [[Haji clan]], [[Sugawara clan]], and the [[Senge clan]]. The legendary [[sumo]] wrestler [[Nomi no Sukune]] is believed to be a 14th-generation descendant of Amenohohi.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Encyclopedia of Shinto - Home : Kami in Classic Texts : Amenohohi|url=http://eos.kokugakuin.ac.jp/modules/xwords/entry.php?entryID=33|access-date=2020-11-21|website=eos.kokugakuin.ac.jp|archive-date=2020-11-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201130114722/http://eos.kokugakuin.ac.jp/modules/xwords/entry.php?entryID=33|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Borgen|first=Robert|date=1975|title=The Origins of the Sugawara. A History of the Haji Family|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2383977|journal=Monumenta Nipponica|volume=30|issue=4|pages=405–422|doi=10.2307/2383977|jstor=2383977|issn=0027-0741|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Cali|first1=Joseph|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dNV7LoexIgoC&q=Amenohohi|title=Shinto Shrines: A Guide to the Sacred Sites of Japan's Ancient Religion|last2=Dougill|first2=John|date=2012|publisher=University of Hawaiʻi Press|isbn=978-0-8248-3713-6|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Sumo|url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Sumo/|access-date=2020-11-21|website=[[World History Encyclopedia]]}}</ref>

==Worship==
[[File:Amanoiwato Nishihongu.jpg|thumb|220px|[[Amanoiwato Shrine]]  ({{lang|ja|天岩戸神社}})]]
{{Shinto}}
The [[Ise Grand Shrine]] ({{lang|ja|伊勢神宮}} {{Lang|ja-latn|Ise Jingū}}) located in [[Ise, Mie|Ise]], [[Mie Prefecture]], [[Japan]], houses the inner shrine, Naiku, dedicated to Amaterasu. Her sacred mirror, [[Yata no Kagami]], is said to be kept at this shrine as one of the [[Imperial Regalia of Japan|Imperial regalia objects]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=Ellwood|first=Robert S.|date=1968|title=Harvest and Renewal at the Grand Shrine of Ise|journal=Numen|volume=15|issue=3|pages=165–190|doi=10.2307/3269575|issn=0029-5973|jstor=3269575}}</ref> A ceremony known as {{ill|Jingū Shikinen Sengū|ja|神宮式年遷宮}} ({{Lang|ja|神宮式年遷宮}}) is held every twenty years at this shrine to honor the many deities enshrined, which is formed by 125 shrines altogether. New shrine buildings are built at a location adjacent to the site first. After the transfer of the object of worship, new clothing and treasure and offering food to the goddess the old buildings are taken apart.<ref name=":2" /> The building materials taken apart are given to many other shrines and buildings to renovate.<ref name=":2" /> This practice is a part of the Shinto faith and has been practiced since the year 690 CE, but is not only for Amaterasu but also for many other deities enshrined in Ise Grand Shrine.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MUBtPYKeQvEC&q=Shikinen+Sengu+690&pg=PA215|title=Demographic Change and Local Development Shrinkage, Regeneration and Social Dynamics: Shrinkage, Regeneration and Social Dynamics|last1=Cristina|first1=Martinez-Fernandez|last2=Naoko|first2=Kubo|last3=Antonella|first3=Noya|last4=Tamara|first4=Weyman|date=2012-11-28|publisher=OECD Publishing|isbn=9789264180468|language=en}}</ref> Additionally, from the late 7th century to the 14th century, an unmarried princess of the Imperial Family, called "[[Saiō]]" ({{lang|ja|斎王}}) or {{Lang|ja-latn|itsuki no miko}} ({{lang|ja|斎皇女}}), served as the sacred priestess of Amaterasu at the Ise Shrine upon every new dynasty.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Takeshi|first=Matsumae|date=1978|title=Origin and Growth of the Worship of Amaterasu|journal=Asian Folklore Studies|volume=37|issue=1|pages=1–11|doi=10.2307/1177580|jstor=1177580}}</ref>

The {{Nihongo|[[Amanoiwato Shrine]]|天岩戸神社}} in [[Takachiho, Miyazaki|Takachiho]], [[Miyazaki Prefecture]], [[Japan]] is also dedicated to Amaterasu and sits above the gorge containing [[Amano-Iwato|Ama-no-Iwato]].

The worship of Amaterasu to the exclusion of other {{Lang|ja-latn|kami}} has been described as "the cult of the sun."<ref name=Wheeler>{{cite book| last = Wheeler| first = Post| title = The Sacred Scriptures of the Japanese| location = New York| publisher = Henry Schuman| pages = 393–395| year = 1952| isbn = 978-1425487874}}</ref> This phrase may also refer to the early pre-archipelagoan worship of the sun.<ref name=Wheeler/>

According to the ''[[Engishiki]]'' ({{lang|ja|延喜式}}) and ''[[Sandai Jitsuroku]]'' ({{lang|ja|三代実録}}) of the [[Heian period]], the sun goddess had many shrines named "Amateru" or "Amateru-mitama", which were mostly located in the [[Kansai region|Kinki]] area. However, there have also been records of a shrine on [[Tsushima Island]], coined as either "Teruhi Gongen" or the "Shining Sun Deity" during medieval times. It was later found that such a shrine was meant for a male sun deity named Ameno-himitama.<ref name=":1" />

Amaterasu was also once worshiped at Hinokuma shrines. The Hinokuma shrines were used to worship the goddess by the Ama people in the [[Kii Province]]s. Because the Ama people were believed to have been fishermen, researchers have conjectured that the goddess was also worshiped for a possible connection to the sea.<ref name=":1" />

In [[Kurozumikyō]], a Shinto-derived new religion that was founded in 1814 by Munetada Kurozumi ([[:ja:黒住宗忠|黒住宗忠]]), Amaterasu is the supreme deity that is worshipped.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hardacre |first1=Helen |title=Kurozumikyo and the New Religions of Japan |date=1988 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=0691020485 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=veE9DwAAQBAJ}}</ref>

Amaterasu is also the main deity worshipped in the Shinto-derived new religion [[Tenshō Kōtai Jingūkyō]], founded by [[Kitamura Sayo]].<ref>{{cite web | title=Tenshō Kōtai Jingūkyō (Encyclopedia of Shinto) | website=國學院大學デジタルミュージアム | url=https://d-museum.kokugakuin.ac.jp/eos/detail/id=9131 | language=ja | access-date=2025-04-27}}</ref>

Amaterasu was thought by some in the early 20th century until after [[World War II]] to have "created the [[Japanese archipelago]] from the drops of water that fell from her spear"<ref>{{Cite web |last=Chira |first=Susan |author-link=Susan Chira |date=January 7, 1989 |title=Hirohito, 124th Emperor of Japan, Is Dead at 87 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/01/07/obituaries/hirohito-124th-emperor-of-japan-is-dead-at-87.html |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> and in historic times, the spear was an item compared to the sun and [[solar deities]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Takeshi |first=Matsumae |year=1978 |title=Origin and Growth of the Worship of Amaterasu |url=https://asianethnology.org/downloads/ae/pdf/a318.pdf |journal=[[Asian Ethnology]] |volume=37 |issue=1 |pages=3}}</ref>

== Differences in worship ==
Amaterasu, while primarily being the goddess of the sun, is also sometimes worshiped as having connections with other aspects and forms of nature. Amaterasu can also be considered a goddess of the wind and typhoons alongside her brother, and even possibly death.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=19&sid=dc46fdef-8850-424b-bf80-2fc68710bb7a%40sdc-v-sessmgr03|title=The Deity and Wind of Ise|last=Metevelis|first=Peter}}{{Dead link|date=December 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> There are many connections between local legends in the Ise region with other goddesses of nature, such as a nameless goddess of the underworld and sea. It is possible that Amaterasu's name became associated with these legends in the Shinto religion as it grew throughout Japan.<ref name=":02">{{Cite journal|title=The Origins of the Grand Shrine of Ise and the Cult of the Sun Goddess Amaterasu|journal=Nichibunken Japan Review|volume = 4|last=Akira|first=Toshio|doi = 10.15055/00000383|year = 1993}}</ref>

One source interprets from the Heavenly Rock Cave myth that Amaterasu was seen as being responsible for the normal cycle of day and night.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Bellingham |first1=David |title=Myths and Legends |last2=Whittaker |first2=Clio |last3=Grant |first3=John |publisher=Wellfleet Press |year=1992 |isbn=1-55521-812-1 |location=Secaucus, New Jersey |pages=198 |oclc=27192394}}</ref>

A historical myth holds that she painted the islands of Japan into being, alongside her siblings [[Susanoo-no-Mikoto|Susanoo]] and [[Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto|Tsukuyomi]].{{Citation needed|date=January 2024|reason=According to Encyclopedia.pub, Nature and Identity in Cross-Cultural Perspective has this story.}}

In contrast, Amaterasu, while enshrined at other locations, also can be seen as the goddess that represents Japan and its ethnicity. The many differences in Shinto religion and mythology can be due to how different local gods and beliefs clashed.<ref name=":02" /> In the Meiji Era, the belief in Amaterasu fought against the Izumo belief in [[Ōkuninushi]] for spiritual control over the land of Japan. During this time, the religious nature of Okininushi may have been changed to be included in Shinto mythology.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=9&sid=dc46fdef-8850-424b-bf80-2fc68710bb7a%40sdc-v-sessmgr03&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=BAS847138&db=bas|title=Freedom, Religion, and the Making of the Modern State in Japan, 1868-89|last=Zhong|first=Yijiang}}{{Dead link|date=December 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Osagawara Shouzo built shrines in other countries to mainly spread Japan's culture and Shinto religion. It, however, was usually seen as the worshiping of Japan itself, rather than Amaterasu.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bas&AN=BAS490582&site=ehost-live|title=Shinto Deities that Crossed the Sea: Japan's "Oversea Shrines" 1868-1945|last=Nakajima|first=Michio}}</ref> Most of these colonial and oversea shrines were destroyed after WWII.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=14&sid=dc46fdef-8850-424b-bf80-2fc68710bb7a%40sdc-v-sessmgr03|title=A Concept of Overseas Shinto Shrines: A Pantheistic Attempt by Ogasawara and Its Limitation|last=Suga|first=Koji}}{{Dead link|date=December 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

=== Other worshiped forms ===

==== Snake ====
Outside of being worshiped as a sun goddess, some{{who|date=September 2019}} have argued that Amaterasu was once related to snakes.<ref name=":1" /> There was a legend circulating among the Ise Priests that essentially described an encounter of Amaterasu sleeping with the [[Saiō]] every night in the form of a snake or lizard, evidenced by fallen scales in the priestess' bed.<ref name=":1" /> This was recorded by a medieval monk in his diary, which stated that "in ancient times Amaterasu was regarded as a snake deity or as a sun deity."<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|last=Kidder|first=Jonathan Edward|title=Himiko and Japan's Elusive Chiefdom of Yamatai: Archaeology, History, and Mythology|date=2007|publisher=University of Hawai'i Press|isbn=978-0-8248-3035-9|location=Honolulu|pages=265}}</ref> In the Ise kanjō, the god's snake form is considered an embodiment of the "three poisons", namely greed, anger, and ignorance.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Breen|first1=John|title=Shinto in History: Ways of the Kami|last2=Teeuwen|first2=Mark|date=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-82704-4|location=Oxon|pages=109}}</ref> Amaterasu is also linked to a snake cult, which is also tied to the theory that the initial gender of the goddess was male.<ref name=":3" />

==== Dragon ====
[[File:Mahavairocana.jpg|thumb|Amaterasu was identified with [[Mahavairocana]]]]
In general, some of these Amaterasu–dragon associations have been in reference to Japanese plays. One example has been within the [[Chikubushima]] tradition in which the dragon goddess [[Benzaiten]] was the emanation of Amaterasu.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|title=Protectors and Predators: Gods of Medieval Japan, Volume 2|last=Faure|first=Bernard|s2cid=132415496|date=2015-12-31|publisher=University of Hawai'i Press|isbn=9780824839314|doi=10.21313/hawaii/9780824839314.001.0001}}</ref> Following that, in the Japanese epic, [[Taiheiki|Taiheki]], one of the characters, [[Nitta Yoshisada]] ({{lang|ja|新田義貞}}{{lrm}}), made comparisons with Amaterasu and a dragon [[Ryūjin]] with the quote: "I have heard that the Sun Goddess of Ise … conceals her true being in the august image of [[Vairocana]], and that she has appeared in this world in the guise of a dragon god of the blue ocean."<ref name=":4" />

Another tradition of the Heavenly Cave story depicts Amaterasu as a "dragon-fox" ({{Lang|ja-latn|shinko}} or {{Lang|ja-latn|tatsugitsune}}) during her descent to the famed cave because it is a type of animal/[[kami]] that emits light from its entire body.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MADlfH002mAC&q=Amaterasu+and+dragon+myth&pg=PA95|title=Shinto in History: Ways of the Kami|last1=Breen|first1=John|last2=Teeuwen|first2=Mark|date=2000|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=9780824823634|language=en}}</ref>

The connection between the fox, [[Dakiniten]], and Amaterasu can also be seen in the ''Keiran Shūyōshū'', which features the following retelling of the myth of [[Amaterasu#The Heavenly Rock Cave|Amaterasu's hiding]]:

{{blockquote|Question: What was the appearance of Amaterasu when she was hiding in the Rock-Cave of Heaven?
Answer: Since Amaterasu is the sun deity, she had the appearance of the sun-disc. Another tradition says: When Amaterasu retired into the Rock-Cave of Heaven after her descent from Heaven (sic), she took on the appearance of a dragon-fox (''shinko''). Uniquely among all animals, the dragon-fox is a kami that emits light from its body; this is the reason why she took on this appearance.

Question: Why does the dragon-fox emit light?

Answer: The dragon-fox is an expedient body of Nyoirin [[Kannon]]. It takes the wish-fulfilling gem as its body, and is therefore called King [[Cintāmaṇi]]. ... Further, one tradition says that one becomes a king by revering the dragon-fox because the dragon-fox is an expedient body of Amaterasu.{{sfnp|Breen|Teeuwen|2013|p=114}}}}

Commenting on the ''sokui kanjō'', [[Bernard Faure]] writes:{{sfnp|Faure|2015|p=127}}<blockquote>under the name "Fox King," Dakiniten became a manifestation of the sun goddess Amaterasu, with whom the new emperor united during the enthronement ritual. [...] The Buddhist ritual allowed the ruler to symbolically cross over the limits separating the human and animal realms to harness the wild and properly superhuman energy of the "infrahuman" world, so as to gain full control of the human sphere.</blockquote>

== Relation to women's positions in early Japanese society ==
{{One source section
| date = May 2024
}}
Because Amaterasu has the highest position among the Shinto deities, there has been debate on her influence and relation to women's positions in early Japanese society. Some scholars{{who|date=September 2019}} have argued that the goddess' presence and high stature within the {{Lang|ja-latn|kami}} system could suggest that early rulers in Japan were female.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Japanese mythology A to Z|last=Roberts|first=Jeremy|date=2010|publisher=Chelsea House Publishers|isbn=9781438128023|edition= 2nd|location=New York, NY|oclc=540954273}}</ref> Others have argued the goddess' presence implies strong influences female priests had in Japanese politics and religion.<ref name=":0" />

==In Japanese new religions==
{{No footnotes|date=May 2025|section}}
Amaterasu is the main deity, or one of the main deities, worshipped in various [[Japanese new religions]], including [[Kurozumikyō]], [[Shintō Tenkōkyo]], [[Tenshō Kōtai Jingūkyō]], and [[Uchūshinkyō Kōmyōjin]].

==See also==
*[[Amaterasu particle]]
*[[Dakini]]
*[[First sunrise]]
*[[Himiko]]
*[[List of solar deities]]
*[[Amaterasu (Ōkami)|Ōkami Amaterasu]]
*[[Shinto in popular culture]]
*[[Solar myths]]
*[[Tokapcup-kamuy]]
*[[Vairocana]]

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==External links==
{{Wiktionary}}
*{{Commons category-inline}}

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