 | Amaterasu: Encyclopedia - Amaterasu
Amaterasu
This article is about the sun goddess of Shinto. For the fictional character of the same name, please see Five Star Stories.
Amaterasu is a Shinto sun goddess; she is the mythical ancestress of the royal family of Japan. Her full name is Amaterasu-ō-mi-kami (天照大神 or 天照大御神 — literally meaning "Great Goddess Who Shines in the Heavens"). She may also be referred to as Ōhiru-menomuchi-no-kami (大日孁貴神).
Amaterasu was born from the left eye of the primordial god Izanagi while he was purifying himself in a river. She became the ruler of the High Celestial Plain (Takamagahara).
Kojiki, the earliest Japanese sacred chronicle, recounts an ancient tale, which is clearly an example of an occurrence of the missing sun motif. When her unruly brother, the storm god Susanoo, ravaged the earth and ruined his sister's rice fields, garden and temples, Amaterasu was so embarrassed that she retreated into the cave, Ama-no-Iwato. The world was plunged into darkness.
The other gods begged her to come out, to no avail. Then the goddess Ama-no-Uzume had an idea. She hung a mirror on a nearby tree, organized a celebration and performed an erotic dance before the cave. It made the other gods laugh so loud that Amaterasu became curious and peeked out. She saw her own reflection in the mirror, which startled her so much that the other gods were able to pull her out and convince her to return to the sky.
Later she sent her grandson Ninigi-no-Mikoto to pacify Japan: his great-grandson became the first emperor Emperor Jimmu. With him he had a sacred sword (Kusanagi), jewel and mirror that became the Japanese imperial regalia.
Amaterasu is commonly known as a female, however, the Kojiki gives little clue about her sex. (Early Japanese language does not use gender-specific pronouns.) Some other books, notably the Hotsuma Tsutae, describe "her" as a male.
Amaterasu is also credited with inventing the cultivation of rice and wheat, the use of silkworms, and weaving with a loom. Her most important shrine, Ise Shrine, is located in Ise, Japan on the island of Honshu. The shrine is torn down and rebuilt every twenty years. In that shrine she is represented as a mirror.
She is celebrated every July 17 with street processions all over the country. Festivities on December 21, the winter solstice, celebrate her coming out of the cave.
Until the end of World War II, the Japanese royal family claimed descent from Amaterasu, and the emperor was officially considered divine.
Amaterasu - Trivia
- The protagonist of the Capcom video game Ōkami is named after Amaterasu.
Japanese mythology, Japanese nationalism, An alternative look at the Birth of Japan
See also
- Japanese mythology
- Japanese nationalism
- An alternative look at the Birth of Japan
Categories: Japanese goddesses | Solar goddesses | Shinto kami
Other related archivesAma-no-Iwato, Ama-no-Uzume, Capcom, December 21, Emperor Jimmu, Five Star Stories, Honshu, Hotsuma Tsutae, Ise, Ise Shrine, Izanagi, Japan, Japanese goddesses, Japanese imperial regalia, Japanese mythology, Japanese nationalism, July 17, Kojiki, Kusanagi, Ninigi-no-Mikoto, Shinto, Shinto kami, Solar goddesses, Susanoo, World War II, emperor, fictional character, gender-specific pronouns, loom, missing sun motif, protagonist, rice, royal family, silkworms, sun goddess, video game, weaving, wheat, Ōkami
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Amaterasu", http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amaterasu, used and available under the GNU Free Documentation License. |
