Yasakani no Magatama- Japanese ArtifactArtifact"Sacred Jewel"
Also known as: 八尺瓊勾玉 and 八坂瓊曲玉
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Description
Crafted by a divine jeweler to lure Amaterasu from her cave, this great magatama was hung from a sacred tree alongside the mirror and caught the goddess's own light. She entrusted it to her grandson when he descended to rule the earth, and it has never left the imperial line since.
Mythology & Lore
The Heavenly Rock Cave
The jewel-making deity Tamanoya crafted the Yasakani no Magatama during the crisis at Ama-no-Iwato, when Amaterasu had withdrawn into the Heavenly Rock Cave and plunged the world into darkness. Tamanoya fashioned a string of curved magatama beads, which the assembled gods hung from the upper branches of a sacred sakaki tree alongside the mirror forged by Ishikoridome. When Ame-no-Uzume's dance and the gods' laughter drew Amaterasu to peer from the cave, the radiance of mirror and jewels reflected her own light back at her, and Ame-no-Tajikarao pulled her into the open.
The Imperial Jewel
Amaterasu entrusted the jewel to her grandson Ninigi when she sent him to rule the terrestrial realm, alongside the mirror Yata no Kagami and the sword Kusanagi no Tsurugi. These Three Imperial Regalia are transferred during each succession ceremony in wrapped packages that are never opened or publicly displayed.
The mirror resides at Ise. The sword is at Atsuta, though the Kusanagi was reportedly lost at sea during the Battle of Dan-no-ura in 1185. The jewel alone remains with the emperor, kept at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. Tradition holds it is the only one of the three that survives in its original form.
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