Amanoiwato Shrine

Amanoiwato Shrine preserves the location of Japan's most important creation myth—the withdrawal of the sun goddess Amaterasu into her cave, and the divine conspiracy that restored light to the world.

The Kojiki records that Amaterasu Ōmikami was born when the primordial deity Izanagi washed his left eye while purifying himself after visiting the underworld. She was appointed to rule Takamagahara, the High Plain of Heaven. Her brother Susanoo committed a series of terrible offenses—destroying rice paddies, spreading filth in the palace, and finally throwing a flayed horse into her weaving hall, causing the death of one of her attendants. Traumatized, Amaterasu retreated into the Ama-no-Iwato cave, sealing herself within. All light vanished from the universe. The eight million kami gathered at Amano Yasukawara to devise a plan. They commissioned the forging of a sacred mirror and strings of jewels, and asked Ame-no-Uzume, goddess of dawn and revelry, to perform before the cave mouth. Her dance became increasingly ecstatic—according to some versions, erotic—causing such uproarious laughter among the assembled gods that Amaterasu emerged to see what could possibly be so amusing. The deity Tajikarao seized her and pulled her fully from the cave, while others stretched a shimenawa rope across the entrance to prevent her return. Light flooded back into existence.