Amaterasu Omikami - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

, or is apart of the Japanese myth cycle and also a major deity of the Shinto

Shinto

or Shintoism, also kami-no-michi, is the indigenous spirituality of Japan and the Japanese people. It is a set of practices, to be carried out diligently, to establish a connection between present day Japan and its ancient past. Shinto practices were first recorded and codified in the written...

religion. She is the goddess of the sun, but also of the universe. the name Amaterasu derived from Amateru meaning "shining in heaven." The meaning of her whole name

Name

A name is a word or term used for identification. Names can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. A personal name identifies a specific unique and identifiable individual person, and may or may not include a middle name...

, Amaterasu-ōmikami, is "the great August kami (god) who shines in the heaven". The Emperor

Emperor of Japan

The Emperor of Japan is, according to the 1947 Constitution of Japan, "the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people." He is a ceremonial figurehead under a form of constitutional monarchy and is head of the Japanese Imperial Family with functions as head of state. He is also the highest...

of Japan is said to be a direct descendant of Amaterasu.

History

The oldest tales of Amaterasu came from two ancient texts known as the Kojiki

Kojiki

is the oldest extant chronicle in Japan, dating from the early 8th century and composed by Ō no Yasumaro at the request of Empress Gemmei. The Kojiki is a collection of myths concerning the origin of the four home islands of Japan, and the Kami...

and the Nihon Shoki

Nihon Shoki

The , sometimes translated as The Chronicles of Japan, is the second oldest book of classical Japanese history. It is more elaborate and detailed than the Kojiki, the oldest, and has proven to be an important tool for historians and archaeologists as it includes the most complete extant historical...

. They are the oldest records of Japanese history dating back to aorund the 8th century.

Amaterasu was born from Izanagi

Izanagi

is a deity born of the seven divine generations in Japanese mythology and Shinto, and is also referred to in the roughly translated Kojiki as "male-who-invites" or Izanagi-no-mikoto. It is also pronounced Izanaki-no-Okami....

-no-Mikoto while he was purifying himself after entering Yomi

Yomi

, the Japanese word for the underworld in which horrible creatures guard the exits; according to Shinto mythology as related in Kojiki, this is where the dead go to dwell and apparently rot indefinitely. Once one has eaten at the hearth of Yomi it is impossible to return to the land of the living...

, the underworld, failing to save Izanami

Izanami

In Japanese mythology, is a goddess of both creation and death, as well as the former wife of the god Izanagi-no-Mikoto. She is also referred to as Izanami-no-kami.-Goddess of Creation:...

-no-Mikoto. As he purified himself, gods began to form from his body. From Izanagi's face, the most important gods fell, including Amaterasu who came from his left eye. She became the ruler of the sun and the heavens along with her brother, Tsukuyomi, the god of the moon and ruler of the night.

Originally, Amaterasu shared the sky with Tsukuyomi, her husband and brother until he killed the goddess of food, Uke Mochi

Uke Mochi

is a goddess of food in the Shinto religion of Japan. When Uke Mochi was visited by Tsukuyomi she prepared a feast by facing the ocean and spitting out a fish, then she faced the forest and bountiful game spewed out of her anus, finally turning to a rice paddy she coughed up a bowl of rice....

. She offered him food that she spit from her mouth. Disgusted, Tsukuyomi killed her upsetting Amaterasu. Labeling Tsukuyomi as an evil god, she split away from him separating night from day.

Goddess and the Imperial family

In 1946, Emperor Shōwa

Hirohito

, posthumously in Japan officially called Emperor Shōwa or , was the 124th Emperor of Japan according to the traditional order, reigning from December 25, 1926, until his death in 1989. Although better known outside of Japan by his personal name Hirohito, in Japan he is now referred to...

issued the Humanity Declaration. It was effectively a renunciation of the conception of , divinity in human form, and claimed his relation to the people did not rely on such a mythological idea but on a historically developed family-like reliance. Many authors, such as John W. Dower

John W. Dower

John W. Dower is an American author and historian.Dower earned a bachelor's degree in American Studies from Amherst College in 1959, and a Ph.D. in History and Far Eastern Languages from Harvard University in 1972, where he studied under Albert M. Craig...

and Herbert Bix, who dispute the former interpretation, consider that by choosing the word instead of arahitogami
Arahitogami
is a Japanese word meaning a kami who is a human being.It first appears in Kojiki , but is assumed to have been used before this book....

, Emperor Shōwa did not deny his divine descent from the goddess Amaterasu-ōmikami.

It must however be noted, that according to Shinto myths, all Japanese people descend from the gods, not only the Emperor. On this topic, Emperor Shōwa expressed in December 1945 his point of view to his vice-grand chamberlain Michio Kinoshita: "It is permissible to say that the idea that the Japanese are descendants of the gods is a false conception; but it is absolutely impermissible to call chimerical the idea that the emperor is a descendant of the gods."

Worshipping the Sun Goddess

The Ise Shrine

Ise Shrine

is a Shinto shrine dedicated to goddess Amaterasu-ōmikami, located in the city of Ise in Mie prefecture, Japan. Officially known simply as , Ise Jingū is in fact a shrine complex composed of a large number of Shinto shrines centered on two main shrines, and ....

located in Honshū

Honshu

is the largest island of Japan. The nation's main island, it is south of Hokkaido across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyushu across the Kanmon Strait...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

houses the inner shrine, Naiku dedicated to Amaterasu. Her sacred mirror, Yata no Kagami

Yata no kagami

is a sacred mirror that is part of the Imperial Regalia of Japan. It is said to be housed in Ise Shrine in Mie prefecture, Japan, although a lack of public access makes this difficult to verify. The Yata no Kagami represents "wisdom" or "honesty," depending on the source. Its name literally means...

is kept at this shrine as one of the Imperial Regalia of Japan

Imperial Regalia of Japan

The , also known as the Three Sacred Treasures of Japan, consist of the sword Kusanagi , the mirror Yata no Kagami , and the jewel Yasakani no Magatama...

. At this shrine, a ceremony known as Shikinen Sengu is held every 20 years to honor Amaterasu. The main shrine buildings are destroyed and rebuilt at a location adjacent to the site. New clothing and food is then offered to the goddess. This practice is apart of the Shinto faith and has been praticed since the 690s.

The worship of Amaterasu to the exclusion of other kami has been described as "the cult of the sun". This phrase can also refer to the early pre-archipelagoan worship of the sun itself.

History

Goddess and the Imperial family

Worshipping the Sun Goddess

See also