Amaterasu, in Japanese mythology the sun goddess and head of the pantheon of Shinto gods; The full name is Amaterasu-o-mi-kami, which means "the majestic one who makes the heavens shine." She was born by the god Izanaki from drops of water with which he washed himself after returning from Yomi no Kuni, the land of the dead. The solar goddess appeared from his left eye, and the moon god Tsukuyomi appeared from his right. Izanaki entrusted Amaterasu with the possession of the High Sky Plain and gave her his sacred necklace. The storm god Susanoo, born from Izanaki's nose, angered his father by declaring that he would not rule the waters, but would go to his mother, Izanami, in the land of the dead. Before leaving, he wanted to say goodbye to his sister, Amaterasu. Suspecting his brother that he is trying to deprive her of her possessions, Amaterasu suggests that the one who creates more male gods should be considered stronger.
She broke her brother's sword into three parts, chewed it and spat it out. From the mouth came mist in the shape of three goddesses. Susanoo gnawed the fertility beads that were woven into Amaterasu's hair and hands, and from them five male gods emerged. Susanoo began to vigorously celebrate the victory: he destroyed the rice fields, destroyed the irrigation canals, and to complete the atrocities, he tore the skin off a living horse and threw it into the crack in the roof of the sacred chambers, where Amaterasu and his assistants were weaving. One of the girls died of fright, and Amaterasu flew into a rage and took refuge in a grotto, leaving the world in darkness; however, the gods used a trick. They found a rooster, whose crowing heralds the dawn, and made a mirror decorated with precious stones. At their request, the goddess Ame no Uzume danced on an inverted vat, and it resembled the sound of a war drum. The rooster crowed, and the goddess's dance became more and more excited. In ecstasy, she threw off her clothes and the gods began to laugh. Surprised, Amaterasu looked out of the grotto and, seeing her reflection in the mirror, was unable to resist the desire to contemplate her beauty, and the world was again illuminated by the sun. Until 1945, Amaterasu was revered as the sacred ancestress of the Japanese imperial family, and the mirror was part of the imperial regalia. Millions of pilgrims still come to the main sanctuary of the goddess in Isa.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru