Takamagahara- Japanese LocationLocation · Realm"Realm of the Heavenly Gods"

Before the Separation

Before heaven and earth existed as separate things, all was chaos. The Nihon Shoki compares it to the inside of an egg, murky and undifferentiated. When separation came, the lighter elements rose and became Takamagahara while the heavier sank to form the earth below.

The first kami appeared there spontaneously, emerging from the new order itself. Ame-no-Minakanushi, the Central Master of Heaven, came first, then Takamimusubi and Kamimusubi, the two creative forces. These three vanished almost immediately, hidden and bodiless, but they had set divine generation in motion. Kami followed kami in succession until Izanagi and Izanami, the last pair, were charged with making the formless waters below into solid ground. They descended to the Floating Bridge of Heaven, stirred the brine with the Heavenly Jeweled Spear, and from the drops that fell the first island took shape.

After Izanagi returned from Yomi bearing the pollution of the dead, he washed himself in a river. From his left eye came Amaterasu. Izanagi gave her rulership of Takamagahara and his own necklace of magatama jewels as the sign of her authority. The High Plain of Heaven had its sovereign.

The Heavenly Rock Cave

Amaterasu's brother Susanoo, exiled from heaven for his rampages, destroyed the rice paddies of Takamagahara, defiled its sacred halls, and hurled a flayed horse into the weaving room where Amaterasu's attendants worked. One of the women died. Amaterasu withdrew into the Ama-no-Iwato, the Heavenly Rock Cave, and sealed it shut. Without the sun goddess, Takamagahara went dark. The earth went dark. Eternal night settled over all three realms.

The gods assembled by the Tranquil River of Heaven. Omoikane, the god of wisdom, devised the plan. They hung a mirror and curved jewels on a sakaki tree outside the cave, set roosters to crow as though dawn had come, and Ame-no-Uzume climbed onto an overturned tub and danced. She bared herself, stamped her feet, and the assembled gods roared with laughter so loud it shook Takamagahara.

Amaterasu cracked the cave door open. Why were they laughing when the world was dark? They held the mirror before her face. While she stared at her own light, Ame-no-Tajikarao seized her hand and pulled her out. A shimenawa rope was stretched across the cave entrance so she could never hide again. Light returned to all three realms.

The Subjugation of the Earth

From Takamagahara, the heavenly kami looked down and decided the earthly realm should belong to Amaterasu's line. The earth was not empty. Ōkuninushi, the Great Land Master, had built it into a working world, but the Kojiki says its kami buzzed with incessant noise, "like summer flies." Amaterasu sent envoys to compel the transfer of power.

The first envoy, Ame-no-Hohi, descended to negotiate but was won over by Ōkuninushi and sent no word for three years. The second, Ame-no-Wakahiko, married Ōkuninushi's daughter and refused to return. When a pheasant was sent to investigate, he shot it with an arrow that flew back to heaven and killed him.

Only Takemikazuchi succeeded. He descended to Inasa Beach in Izumo, thrust his sword into the crest of a wave, and sat cross-legged on its tip. He demanded submission. Ōkuninushi's warrior son Takeminakata challenged him and lost, fleeing to Lake Suwa where he was cornered and surrendered. Ōkuninushi agreed to cede the visible world, asking only that the gods build him a great shrine. That shrine is Izumo Taisha.

The Descent

Amaterasu sent her grandson Ninigi to rule the earth. She gave him the Three Sacred Treasures: the Yata no Kagami mirror forged during the Iwato crisis, the Kusanagi no Tsurugi sword, and the Yasakani no Magatama jewels. At the crossroads where the paths of heaven and earth converged, the radiant god Sarutahiko stood waiting to guide the way.

Ninigi descended from Takamagahara to the peak of Mount Takachiho in Kyūshū. The Kojiki records what Amaterasu told him as he left: the mirror was herself. He should worship it as he would worship her. The imperial line that descended from Ninigi carried these treasures forward, and the mirror still rests at Ise Grand Shrine.