Izanagi and Izanami, the divine couple who shaped the islands of Japan, brought forth a host of kami — Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, and Susanoo among the greatest, alongside Kagutsuchi whose birth killed Izanami, the mountain lord Ōyamatsumi, Shinatsuhiko, Kukunochi, Ōgetsu-hime, Ebisu, and Awashima.
⚠ The Kojiki and Nihon Shoki disagree on whether Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, and Susanoo were born to both Izanagi and Izanami or emerged from Izanagi's purification alone.
During the ukei oath trial with Susanoo, Amaterasu's magatama beads were chewed and spat forth as five male kami — Oshihomimi, Ame-no-Hohi, Amatsuhikone, Ikutsuhikone, and Kumanokusubi — whom she claimed as her own children, proof of her pure intentions.
⚠ The Kojiki attributes the five male gods to Amaterasu as the owner of the source material (magatama), though Susanoo performed the chewing. The Nihon Shoki offers variant attributions across its parallel accounts.
Izanagi's misogi purification at Tachibana in Hyūga birthed kami from every layer of water and light — the Watatsumi sea gods from the ocean depths, and from Izanagi's own face the Three Noble Children: Amaterasu from his left eye, Tsukuyomi from his right eye, and Susanoo from his nose.
⚠ The Nihon Shoki main text attributes the three noble children to both Izanagi and Izanami, while the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki alternate accounts describe them emerging from Izanagi's purification alone.
Wakahirume, the young sun maiden, weaves alongside Amaterasu in the celestial hall — her name and solar nature mark her as an earlier or subordinate form of the great sun goddess, absorbed into Amaterasu's expanding cult.
⚠ The Nihon Shoki main text has Amaterasu herself injured at the shuttle; a variant account substitutes Wakahirume. Whether Wakahirume is an independent deity, Amaterasu's attendant, or an older solar figure absorbed into the Amaterasu tradition remains debated.
Amaterasu stands as the divine ancestress and eternal guardian of Emperor Jimmu and the imperial line he founded, her sacred authority transmitted through the three Imperial Regalia she bestowed upon Ninigi.
Susanoo's violent rampage through heaven — destroying Amaterasu's rice paddies and hurling a flayed horse into her weaving hall — drove Amaterasu to withdraw into the cave Ama-no-Iwato, plunging the world into darkness.
Amaterasu banished Tsukuyomi from her presence after he killed the food goddess Uke Mochi at a feast, deeming his violence unforgivable. This separation of sun and moon is why day and night never meet.
⚠ This episode appears in the Nihon Shoki, which attributes the killing to Tsukuyomi. The Kojiki instead has Susanoo kill the food goddess Ōgetsu-hime, with no corresponding Amaterasu-Tsukuyomi estrangement.
Ame-no-Uzume served Amaterasu as one of her heavenly attendants and was dispatched by the sun goddess on missions including confronting Sarutahiko during Ninigi's descent (Kojiki).
Amaterasu decreed that Ashihara no Nakatsukuni should be ruled by her descendants, dispatching envoys and ultimately her grandson Ninigi to establish divine sovereignty over the earthly realm (Kojiki).
Amaterasu presides over Ise Jingū, the holiest Shinto shrine and her earthly seat, where the sacred mirror Yata no Kagami resides as her shintai in the Naikū.
Amaterasu rules over Takamagahara, the High Plain of Heaven, granted to her by Izanagi after her birth from his left eye during the misogi purification (Kojiki).
Takemikazuchi served as Amaterasu's divine enforcer, dispatched to pacify the earthly kami of Ashihara no Nakatsukuni before Ninigi's heavenly descent.
Takamagahara, the High Plain of Heaven, is the celestial realm where Amaterasu reigns supreme among the heavenly kami — the primordial Kotoamatsukami, the wisdom god Omoikane, the mighty Ame-no-Tajikarao, the dancer Ame-no-Uzume, and the moon god Tsukuyomi.
Amaterasu was identified with Vairocana (Dainichi Nyorai) through shinbutsu-shūgō, the medieval Japanese syncretism of Shinto and Buddhism.
Amaterasu bestowed the three Imperial Regalia upon Ninigi before his descent from Takamagahara: the Yata no Kagami (mirror), Kusanagi no Tsurugi (sword), and Yasakani no Magatama (jewel), commanding him to rule the earthly realm as she rules heaven.
Yamato-hime founded Ise Jingū to enshrine the Yata no Kagami, the sacred mirror that embodies Amaterasu. The sun goddess herself declared Ise the land where she wished to dwell (Nihon Shoki).
After the misogi purification, Izanagi appointed Amaterasu to rule Takamagahara, Tsukuyomi to govern the realms of night, and Susanoo to rule the sea plains.
Ame-no-Tajikarao stood hidden beside the rock door of Ama-no-Iwato and, when Amaterasu peered out at the gods' laughter, seized her hand and hauled the sun goddess bodily back into the world, then barred the cave so she could never retreat into darkness again.
Susanoo's rampage in heaven drove Amaterasu into hiding in Ama-no-Iwato. Ame-no-Uzume performed her ecstatic dance to lure Amaterasu out, restoring sunlight to the world as told in the Kojiki.
Amaterasu sent the three-legged crow Yatagarasu to guide Emperor Jimmu's army through the trackless mountains of Kumano during his eastern campaign to found the throne of Yamato.
Ise Jingū comprises two main sanctuaries: the Naikū enshrining Amaterasu and the Gekū enshrining Toyouke, whom Amaterasu summoned to Ise to prepare her sacred food offerings.
Susanoo presented Kusanagi to Amaterasu as a peace offering after finding it in Yamata no Orochi's tail. The gift partially healed the breach between the storm god and his sister the sun goddess (Kojiki).
Amaterasu sent heavenly messengers demanding Okuninushi cede sovereignty of the earthly realm. After negotiation and the threat of force, Okuninushi surrendered the visible world to Ninigi in the kuniyuzuri as told in the Kojiki.
Amaterasu originally chose Oshihomimi to descend and pacify the earthly realm, but he looked down from the Floating Bridge of Heaven, saw chaos, and refused. His son Ninigi was selected in his place for the tenson kōrin.
Amaterasu sent Tsukuyomi as her envoy to visit Ōgetsu-hime. His killing of the food goddess caused Amaterasu to banish him permanently, separating sun and moon into day and night (Nihon Shoki).
Amaterasu and Takamimusubi dispatched heavenly envoys to demand Okuninushi surrender sovereignty over the Central Land of Reed Plains, culminating in the kuniyuzuri that cleared the way for the divine descent.
During the ukehi oath ritual in Takamagahara, Amaterasu took Susanoo's ten-span sword Totsuka-no-Tsurugi, broke it into three pieces, chewed the fragments, and breathed forth three goddesses to prove Susanoo's intentions were pure.
Amaterasu withdrew into Ama-no-Iwato after Susanoo's transgressions, plunging the world into darkness until the assembled gods lured her out.
Omoikane, the god of wisdom, devised the elaborate plan to lure Amaterasu from the Ama-no-Iwato cave, organizing the mirror, jewels, roosters, and Ame-no-Uzume's dance (Kojiki).
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