, often called Amaterasu () for short, also known as and , is the goddess of the sun in Japanese mythology. Often considered the chief deity (kami) of the Shinto pantheon, she is also portrayed in Japan's earliest literary texts, the () and the (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. Along with two of her siblings (the moon deity Tsukuyomi and the impetuous storm-god Susanoo) she ranks as one of the "Three Precious Children" (, ), the three most important offspring of the creator god Izanagi.
Amaterasu's chief place of worship, the Grand Shrine of Ise in 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 shrines throughout Japan.
Name The goddess is referred to as ( / ; historical orthography: , Amaterasu Ohomikami; Old Japanese: Amaterasu Opomi1kami2) in the , while the gives the following variant names:
Ōhirume-no-Muchi (; Man'yōgana: ; hist. orthography: , Ohohirume-no-Muchi; Old Japanese: Opopi1rume1-no2-Muti) Amaterasu Ō(mi)kami (; hist. orthography: , Amaterasu Oho(mi)kami) Amaterasu Ōhirume no Mikoto () Hi-no-Kami (; OJ: Pi1-no-Kami2)
Amaterasu is thought to derive from the verb (; from and ) combined with the honorific auxiliary verb -su, while means 'great august deity' (ō + honorific prefix mi- + kami). Notably, Amaterasu in is not technically a name the same way Susanoo in Susa no O no Mikoto or Ōkuninushi in is. is an attributive verb form that modifies the noun after it, . 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 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, (, ), which is a plain, non-honorific version of , (2) alternative forms of the verb used elsewhere, for example its continuative form () in the Nihon Sandai Jitsuroku, and (3) similar uses of attributive verb forms in certain epithets, such as Emperor Jimmu's (, ). There are, still, certain verb forms that are treated as proper names, such as the terminal negative in 'Ugayafukiaezu no Mikoto' (, ).
Her other name, , is usually understood as meaning (cf. hiru , from hi + me ), though alternative etymologies such as (taking to mean ) or (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.Akima (1993). p. 172. 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. To this name is appended the honorific , which is also seen in a few other theonyms such as 'Ō(a)namuchi' or 'Michinushi-no-Muchi' (an epithet of the three Munakata goddesses).
As the ancestress of the imperial line, the epithet (, ; also read as ) is also applied to Amaterasu in names such as Amaterasu Sume(ra) Ō(mi)kami (, also read as 'Tenshō Kōtaijin') and 'Amaterashimasu-Sume(ra)-Ōmikami' ().
During the medieval and early modern periods, the deity was also referred to as 'Tenshō Daijin' (the on'yomi of ) or 'Amateru Ongami' (an alternate reading of the same).
The name has been translated into English in different ways. While a number of authors such as Donald Philippi rendered it as , Basil Hall Chamberlain argued (citing the authority of Motoori Norinaga) that it is more accurately understood to mean (because the auxiliary is merely honorific, not causative, such interpretation as would miss the mark), and accordingly translated it as .Chamberlain (1882). Section XI.—Investiture of the Three Deities; The Illustrious August Children. Gustav Heldt's 2014 translation of the Kojiki, meanwhile, renders it as "the great and mighty spirit Heaven Shining."
Mythology In classical mythology Birth
Both the () and the (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" (, ), however, vary between sources:
In the , Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi and Susanoo were born when Izanagi went to "[the plain of] Awagihara by the river-mouth of Tachibana in Himuka in [the island of] Tsukushi" and bathed () 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.Chamberlain (1882). Section XI.—Investiture of the Three Deities; The Illustrious August Children.Chamberlain (1882). Section XII.—The Crying and Weeping of His Impetuous-Male-Augustness. The main narrative of the has Izanagi and Izanami procreating after creating the Japanese archipelago; to them were born (in the following order) Ōhirume-no-Muchi (Amaterasu), Tsukuyomi, the 'leech-child' Hiruko, and Susanoo:
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. 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). 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.
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, the "Central Land of Reed-Plains") and visit the goddess Ukemochi. When Ukemochi 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 (), who found various food-crops and animals emerging from Ukemochi's corpse.
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.
This account is not found in the Kojiki, where a similar story is instead told of Susanoo and the goddess Ōgetsuhime.Chamberlain (1882). Section XVII.—The August Expulsion of His-Impetuous-Male-Augustness.
Amaterasu and Susanoo
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 three Munakata goddesses – to Susanoo.Chamberlain (1882). Section XIII.—The August Oath.
Susanoo, declaring that he had won the trial as he had produced deities of the required gender, 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" (, ), which he had flayed alive, into it. One of Amaterasu's weaving maidens was alarmed and struck her genitals against a weaving shuttle, killing her. In response, a furious Amaterasu shut herself inside the Ame-no-Iwayato (, , also known as Ama-no-Iwato), plunging heaven and earth into total darkness.Chamberlain (1882). Section XV.—The August Ravages of His Impetuous-Male-Augustness.
The main account in the Shoki has Amaterasu wounding herself with the shuttle when Susanoo threw the flayed horse in her weaving hall, while a variant account identifies the goddess who was killed during this incident as Wakahirume-no-Mikoto (, ).
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:
The Heavenly Rock Cave
After Amaterasu hid herself in the cave, the gods, led by Omoikane, the god of wisdom, conceived a plan to lure her out:
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 straw rope, preventing her from going back inside. Thus was light restored to the world.Chamberlain (1882). Section XVI.—The Door of the Heavenly Rock-Dwelling.
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 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 (, ), also known as Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi ( ), which he presented to Amaterasu as a reconciliatory gift.Chamberlain (1882). Section XVIII.—The Eight-Forked Serpent.
The subjugation of Ashihara-no-Nakatsukuni