Amaterasu: Japanese Sun Goddess

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Amaterasu

There’s a lot of hype following Capcom’s upcoming action game, Ookami, for the PlayStation 2. While it’s nod to Ukiyoe-flavored art is getting a lot of attention, let’s not forget the game’s heroine, the Japanese Sun Goddess, Amaterasu.

As the daughter of one of the deities charged with the task of creating the earth, Amaterasu holds a prominent position in Japanese mythology. There are many tales of the arguments she had with her brother, Susanowa, the God of Storms. In fact, it was this constant conflict that eventually led to the connection between the Japanese Royal Family, and the gods.

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What happened was that Susanowa managed to do some things that made the other gods rip-roaringly angry, and he was banished to Japan. Here he became a hero of sorts, vanquishing a serpent that had been harassing a town for quite some time. In time he became king of this region and held quite a bit of sway over the people. Seeing this, Amaterasu eventually decided that she wanted her grandson, Ninigi, to rule over the earth instead.

This took some time, as the Sun Goddess had to put down resistance from Susa no Wo’s descendents, but eventually she won out and it became safe for her grandson to descend to the earth and rule over its

people. Thus, this is how one can find the connections between the Emperor and the deities of Japan.

Another popular tale tells of how once Amaterasu and her brother got into such a heated argument that the Goddess ran off and hid in a cave, blocking the entrance with a boulder. Since she radiated with the light of the sun, once she did this the world was plunged into darkness, allowing demons to cause all sorts of

mischief. All of the other gods and goddesses tried their best to convince Amaterasu to come back out, but she would have none of that. Eventually, the goddess Uzume did a silly dance for the other deities, which they found quite funny. Hearing all of the laughter, Amaterasu became curious and poked her head out of the cave to see what was happening, and at this time the gods pulled her out, returning light to the world.

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