Of all the gods of the Japanese islands, none stands higher than Amaterasu Ōmikami, the “Great Kami Who Shines in Heaven.” From her throne in the Plain of High Heaven, she rules the sun, the seasons, and the destiny of the Japanese state. Her shrine at Ise is the most sacred in all Japan, her mirror is one of the three Imperial Regalia, and her descendant sits on the Chrysanthemum Throne to this day. To understand Amaterasu is to understand the religious and political heart of the Japanese myth.
Birth from the Eye of Izanagi
Amaterasu’s origin is described in the opening chapters of the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki, Japan’s two oldest chronicles, compiled in 712 and 720 CE. After the divine creator Izanagi lost his wife and sister Izanami in the underworld, he wandered through the land of the dead and was defiled by the sight of her rotting body. He fled and paused to purify himself in a river, an event sometimes called the “Divine Bath.”
As he washed, the great gods of the cosmos were born from him. The sun goddess Amaterasu emerged from his left eye. From his right eye came the moon god Tsukuyomi, and from his nose came the storm god Susanoo, the wild, weeping brother who was destined to bring her so much trouble. This triad of heavenly deities — sun, moon, and storm — came to divide the cosmos among them.
The myth establishes several important ideas. The sun is born from the act of purification, suggesting that the light of Amaterasu is a kind of moral brightness. The gods are born from the body of a creator who has descended into and emerged from the underworld, mirroring the journey of the sun itself, which descends into the west and rises in the east. The triple birth of sun, moon, and storm is also an early statement of cosmic order, in which Amaterasu presides over the light, Tsukuyomi over the night, and Susanoo over the chaotic forces of the sea and the weather.
Ruler of Takamagahara
Amaterasu ascended to Takamagahara, the Plain of High Heaven, where she built a magnificent palace and ruled over the eight million kami. She was the first to be assigned a domain and a sacred name, and she received from her father the three treasures that would become the sacred regalia of Japan: the mirror Yata no Kagami, the sword Kusanagi no Tsurugi, and the jewel Yasakani no Magatama. These three objects, sometimes called the Imperial Regalia, would later be entrusted to her grandson and would become the emblems of the Japanese state.
Her brother Tsukuyomi was given dominion over the night, and her brother Susanoo was assigned the seas. But Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi’s relationship was soon strained. In one famous episode, Tsukuyomi was sent to attend a feast given by the food goddess Uke Mochi. Outraged when she produced food from every part of her body — from her eyes, her nose, and even her rear — Tsukuyomi drew his sword and killed her. When Amaterasu heard of this outrage, she was so angry that she refused ever to look at her brother again, and she swore they would dwell in separate heavens. That is why day and night do not meet. The myth expresses a sensibility that runs through all of Shintō: a deep horror of pollution, and especially of pollution connected with death and the body.
The Imperial Ancestor
The most important political function of Amaterasu is her role as the divine ancestor of the Japanese Imperial line. According to the Nihon Shoki, after the heavenly gods had created and ordered the cosmos, it was time for a descendant of Amaterasu to descend to the earth and rule it. Her grandson Ninigi was chosen for this mission, but before he could descend, his path was blocked by the great earth-god Sarutahiko, who tested him and was satisfied by his courtesy.
When Ninigi descended from the heavens to the peak of Takachiho in Kyushu, he brought with him the three sacred treasures: the mirror, the sword (the very sword that his uncle Susanoo had discovered in the tail of the great serpent Yamata no Orochi), and the jewel. These became the symbols of his authority and the emblems of the imperial line he founded.
Ninigi’s great-grandson, Jimmu, became the first Emperor of Japan in 660 BCE according to the traditional chronology. The current Emperor of Japan thus traces his lineage, by way of the official court records, directly back to Amaterasu herself. The legitimacy of the Imperial line has rested, for more than two and a half millennia, on the myth of this divine descent.
The relationship between Amaterasu and the Imperial household was not merely symbolic. The Emperor, as descendant of the sun, was considered a living kami in his person, and he served as the chief priest of Shintō. He was responsible for the fertility of the land, the order of the seasons, and the ritual harmony between heaven and earth. The very name Nippon, or Nihon, “the origin of the sun,” is a reference to Amaterasu, and the Japanese flag, with its single red disc, evokes the rising sun of the goddess.
The Sacred Mirror
Of the three regalia, the Yata no Kagami, the eight-faceted mirror, is the symbol most closely associated with Amaterasu herself. According to the Kojiki, when the gods devised their plan to lure Amaterasu out of the cave in which she had hidden, they hung a mirror outside the cave and commanded the dawn goddess Ame-no-Uzume to dance before it. The mirror reflected Amaterasu’s own light back to her, and her curiosity overcame her anger.
The mirror that the gods used in the cave myth became the prototype of the mirror enshrined at the heart of the Ise Jingū, the great shrine of Amaterasu in Mie Prefecture. Ise is not merely a temple but a network of one hundred and twenty-five shrines centered on the Inner Shrine, or Naikū, dedicated to Amaterasu. The shrine is rebuilt every twenty years in a ritual of renewal called Shikinen Sengū, a practice that has continued for more than a thousand years.
Pilgrims to Ise walk through ancient cryptomeria forests, cross the Uji Bridge over the Isuzu River, and approach the plain wooden buildings of the shrine. Photography of the inner sanctuary is forbidden. The most sacred object inside is said to be the mirror itself, hidden from human eyes. The shrine also houses the Yata no Kagami and a sword, but the mirror is the central mystery.
Symbols and Sacred Objects
Amaterasu is associated with a constellation of sacred symbols beyond the three regalia. The rising sun is her emblem, and the chrysanthemum, the flower of the imperial house, is sometimes considered her flower. The sakaki tree, an evergreen with shiny leaves, is sacred to her, and its branches are used in Shintō ritual. The Yata no Kagami mirror is the symbol most directly tied to her, and the magatama, the curved jewels of jade or other stone, are found in ancient burial mounds as offerings to the kami.
The sword Kusanagi, although discovered by Susanoo in the tail of the great serpent, was given by him to Amaterasu as a token of reconciliation after the cave incident. It became one of the three regalia and is now enshrined at the Atsuta Shrine in Nagoya. The jewel Yasakani no Magatama is said to have been used by the gods to lure Amaterasu out of the cave, hung on a sakaki tree outside the entrance. It is now in the Imperial Palace in Tokyo.
The Cave of Heaven
Amaterasu’s most famous myth is her retreat into the cave, which plunged the world into darkness. The story, told in the Amaterasu and the Cave page, is one of the great cosmic dramas of Japanese mythology. It begins with the destructive behavior of her brother Susanoo, who wrecked her rice fields, killed her attendants, and even flayed a pony and threw it into her weaving hall, where a weaver was killed. Amaterasu, wounded and afraid, retreated into the cave called Ama-no-Iwato, “the cave of the heavenly rock,” and the world was plunged into eternal night.
The eight million kami gathered to discuss the crisis. The dawn goddess Ame-no-Uzume performed a lewd dance that made them all laugh, and they hung a mirror and a jewel outside the cave. Curious about the noise and the light, Amaterasu peeped out, and the strong god Ame-no-Tajikarao pulled her from the cave, after which the cave was sealed with a sacred shimenawa rope. Light returned to the world, and Susanoo was punished and banished.
The myth is the central myth of Shintō. It is a myth of light triumphant over darkness, of community victorious over division, of the goddess’s wounded pride overcome by the laughter and ingenuity of her fellow kami. It is also the origin myth of the shimenawa, the twisted rope of rice straw that marks sacred space in Shintō shrines to this day.
The Sister of the Sun
The relationship between Amaterasu and Susanoo is one of the great pairings of Japanese myth. She is the orderly, luminous, communal goddess of the cultivated field, the weaving hall, and the imperial lineage. He is the wild, weeping, destructive god of the storm and the sea. Together they embody the dual forces of cosmos: order and chaos, light and storm, the field and the flood. Their conflict is never finally resolved, but it is repeated in the cycles of the seasons, in the warfare of the gods, and in the moral struggles of every human being.
Amaterasu also has an important relationship with her brother Tsukuyomi, the moon. Their separation is one of the great mythological explanations of the alternation of day and night. In art, the sun is often shown in the company of crows — the yatagarasu, the three-legged crow that is her messenger and is sometimes considered an aspect of the sun itself. Tsukuyomi is associated with rabbits, which are seen pounding rice cakes on the moon in Japanese folklore.
The Cult of Amaterasu
The worship of Amaterasu is at the heart of Japanese religious life. The Ise Jingū is her principal shrine, but there are many others. The Atsuta Shrine in Nagoya is dedicated to her as well, although it is most famous for the Kusanagi sword. The Amanoiwato Shrine in Takachiho, Kyushu, marks the place of her grandson’s descent and is closely associated with the cave myth. The Tenson Shrine in Nikko also venerates her.
In popular devotion, Amaterasu is invoked at New Year, at the beginning of the harvest season, and at times of national crisis. The Emperor himself used to be considered her high priest, and even after the reforms of 1945, when the Emperor renounced his divine status, the ritual ties to Amaterasu continue as part of the cultural heritage of the nation.
Sun Goddess and World Myth
The figure of Amaterasu invites comparison with the great sun gods of other traditions. Like the Egyptian Ra, she sails across the sky each day, the source of light and life. Like the Greek Apollo, she is associated with light, order, and the arts of civilization. Like the Aztec Tonatiuh, she is the object of a state cult that ties the ruler to the sun.
The Japanese myth, however, has a unique character. Amaterasu is not a warrior, not a lover, not a triumphant hero. She is a goddess who retreats, sulks in a cave, and must be coaxed out by the laughter of the gods. The myth, in other words, is not about a goddess’s power but about a goddess’s feelings, and it is the strength of community, not of force, that brings her back. This sensitivity, this attentiveness to the inner life of the divine, is a particular gift of the Japanese tradition, and it has shaped the character of Shintō to this day.
Last reviewed: June 2026.