天岩ęøć®čŖ¬ę
Ama no Iwato Shinwa no Setsumei
Explanation of the Creation Myth

Welcome to Japan’s Most Famous Legend
Also, if you haven’t read Amaterasu and the Rock Cave and all of my footnotes, go do that first. Otherwise, none of this will make any sense to you.
The Rock Cave Myth is by far the most famous of all Japanese myths. If we keep in mind that 天ę¦å¤©ē Tenmu TennÅ Emperor Tenmu commissioned the Kojiki in order to emphasize the imperial familyās divine origins[i] and to clarify their position as the rightful rulers of the realm. It also legitimized the ranks and duties of the most noble clans of the 大åęå»· Yamato ChÅtei Yamato Court by illustrating their divine descent as well. In a not unobvious way, the Kojiki describes how the divine ancestors of the courtiers assisted the divine ancestor of the imperial family in the Rock Cave Myth which implies their subservience to the royal family. Furthermore, we see descriptions of ShintÅ rituals ā either the origins of them or hints that these rites and beliefs existed prior to the compilation of these myths in the 7th century.
One thing that Iāve kept coming back to is the precocious and sometimes silly or self-absorbed nature of the heavenly kami depicted in these myths. If these are indeed divine beings, they donāt impart any sort of morality and they rarely ā if ever ā act as role models. Thatās not their role in the universe. They are part of a natural order that are bound by the same rules as the humans who study these stories. As I mentioned in a previous article, Japanese religion is not a system based on authoritative texts like the Torah, the Bible, or the Qāuran. It is a syncretic polytheistic system which requires cultic practices[ii] similar to the Greek and Roman gods. Doing the correct rituals at the right time to appease them or to ask for their help is the most important thing for humans who wish to interact with kami. If Japanese gods teach us anything, itās how to observe rituals correctly.
So, Iām assuming that youāve already read my version of Amaterasu and the Rock Cave, so Iāve broken down my exegesis into about four sections going through each part of the myth. If you havenāt, Iām pretty sure none of this will make any sense. If you have, then letās get right into it!
Further Reading:
- What are kami?
- Japanese Cosmogony
- What is the Kojiki?
- What is the Nihon Shoki?
- The Kofun Period
- The Yayoi Period
Whatās up with Susanoāo?
Some have speculated that Susanoāoās obnoxious behavior is a memory of ancient rite whereby people summoned kami by howling and weeping. This might be true, but I think itās easier to just say gods are self-absorbed and you have to really work at getting their attention. In the Rock Cave Myth, the other kami campout and basically through a party with a stripper just to get Amaterasuās attention. If youāve ever visited a ShintÅ shrine, youāve probably walked up to the main hall, bowed, and then clapped twice to call the kami over to you. Shrine festivals usually included temporarily enshrining the kami in å¾”ē„輿 o-mikoshi a portable shrine which is picked up and carried around town while being shaken nonstop to the sound of chanting parishioners ā just to make sure the kami stays present for the whole day.
A lot has been written about Susanoāo. In the ancient records, he is depicted as hero god who slays a mythical snake and saves a sexy damsel in distress, but in the Kojiki, he is depicted as a whiny and obnoxious man-baby who throws a bizarre temper tantrum including animal torture and throwing shit all over his sisterās house. In my retelling of the myth, I call him the kami of winds and seas ā a common attribution. The great 20th century historian Tsuda SÅkichi thought that Susanoāo could be interpreted as a purely political actor in these myths and that he represented a faction of the Yamato Court that rebelled or went rogue, which is why he is portrayed as selfish and destructive[iii].
However, there are scholars who think that the angry é ä½ä¹ē·å½ Susanoāo in the Kojiki and the heroic ē“ ęåå°ē Susanoāo in the Nihon Shoki are two completely different deities who were assumed by the ancients to be the same (remember, orthography[iv] wasnāt standardized at the time, at least not as it is today). Some have even made the case that Susanoāo isnāt a native Japanese kami, but a god imported from the Korean peninsula original worshiped by immigrants from the Kingdom of Silla. Thereās no consensus as to Susanoāoās origins, and Iāve based my retelling only of the version in the Kojiki, so Iām not going to get into his character too deeply. Regardless of where he came from, scholar Emilia Gadeleva has suggested that Amaterasu and Susanoāo came to form āa pair consisting of a sun-deity and a water-deityā whose worship was critical to the cultivation of rice.
For the purposes of my retelling of this myth, we only see Susanoāo briefly. Heās a major player, and one day, Iāll get to him, Iām sure. In the Kojiki, his life unfolds in four parts: 1) as a petulant child who cries incessantly which brings disorder to the world; 2) as a teenager or young man who is rebellious and terrifying (especially to Amaterasu); 3) a mature man who slays a serpent, gets married, and builds a home; 4) as a father, he is the Lord of the Underworld[v] and protective father who harasses his daughterās suitor[vi]. Today we only see stages one and two, which, letās be honest, donāt paint him in a very good light.
Iād like to say one more thing about Susanoāo before we move on. After bringing devastation to the world by his āweeping and howling,ā he tells Izanagi that he wants to go to the Land of his Deceased Mother[vii]. This is strange since his mother died before his birth (which kinda makes her not his mother, technically, right?), but Gadeleva insists that āthe landā is his destination, not his mother. And that land is the underworld, which will become his realm later in his life. If this is true, then including Susanoāoās troubled early years is a kind of foreshadowing of his ultimate destiny. But yeah, for the time being heās just an annoying brat.
Lastly, in support of the theory that Amaterasu and Susanoāo were worshipped as a pair of agricultural deities (sun and rain), there is a hint in their actions that is not so obvious upon your first reading. Both Amaterasu and Susanoāo accidentally cause great disasters to the Central Land of Reeds. The brotherās incessant crying (storms and rains) made the trees wither and the rivers run dry[viii]. The sisterās retreat into the Heavenly Rock Cave plunged the world in darkness and brought the evil kami out of the shadows. If you donāt believe me that there are parallels between these two deities (I was skeptical myself at first, too), just check this out:
Amaterasu and Susanoāo as Divine Foils[ix] | |
Amaterasu | Susanoāo |
Female | Male |
Disciplined | Undisciplined |
Cosmos | Chaos |
Order | Disorder |
Pure | Impure |
Associated with heaven | Associated with Earth, later the Underworld |
Establishes the rightful clan at Yamato | Establishes the rival clan at Izumo |
Weaver | Warrior |
Wears jewels (magatama beads)[x] | Wears a sword |

The Divine Commands
After purifying himself from the contagions he was covered in after leaving the Land of Yomi, Izanagi gives birth to the Three Noble Children. Susanoāo is given control of the seas and storms, fitting his character nicely (at least as portrayed in the Kojiki). Tsukuyomi is given control of the night (which is inherently mysterious and fits his character nicely). However, before giving Amaterasu rule over the heavens and earth, Izanagi does something special. He takes off his necklace decorated with magatama beads and places it around his daughterās neck. He doesnāt do this for the other two Noble Children.
In the text, the necklace is called å¾”åęæęä¹ē„ Mikuratama no Kami. In that name we have ęæę tama which is probably ateji for the homophones /tama/ which mean jewel/bead, ball, or soul. In Modern Japanese the kanji é/é tama conveys the idea of soul while ē tama means ball, bead, or jewel. The word appears in the term å¾ē maga-tama comma-shaped jewels prized by Yayoi and Kofun Period Wajin. One way to read the necklaceās name Mikuratama no Kami is ādeity of the treasury of divine spiritsā which demonstrates that the necklace isnāt just a necklace, but it is, in fact, a kami in its own right. Furthermore, it implies that this kami protects the souls of the imperial family and its divine ancestors.

Izanagi shakes the necklace before putting it on Amaterasu. This action is instantly recognizable as a ShintÅ ritual. Itās reminiscent of cultic practices to pacify spirits called é®é chinkon, which we will discuss later. Ultimately, the shaking of the beads indicates that this is a sacred act. In the Age of Gods, the rattling sound attracted the attention of nearby kami as witnesses; and in the Age of Man, it beckons both kami and humans.
This is thought to be a prayer for Amaterasuās longevity, an act Izanagi doesnāt perform for Tsukuyomi or Susanoāo. Therefore, I think itās pretty clear that giving Amaterasu these beads represents a transfer of divine authority from Izanagi the creator kami to the sun goddess[xi]. Make no mistake about it. This is foreshadowing. It reminds us of Amaterasuās later transfer of divine authority to her grandson who later transfers this sacred rulership to his grandson, thus establishing the imperial line. In European terms, the imperial family can later be seen to rule Dei gratiÄ by the grace of God[xii].
After being banished, Susanoāo storms up to the heavens to ā presumably ā say farewell to Amaterasu. She immediately thinks he wants to steal her lands. She suits up for battle complete with bow and arrow. She stands ready to confront her immature brother and defend her realm, but oddly, she doesnāt shoot him nor does she reprimand him. To modern minds, Amaterasu seems weak and incapable of protecting herself and standing up to her brother. Even after Susanoāo destroys her rice paddies, shits in her dining room, and then throws a dead horse in her weaving room, she forgives him by pretending to misunderstand his intentions. And when things get so bad, she canāt take it anymore; rather than fight, she retreats to the Rock Cave and hides. However, this shouldnāt be seen as weakness, but magnanimity. She is the divine ancestor of the emperors. She may rule during a state of war, but she does not fight herself. Rather, she delegates that power to others and they fight to defend her, just as the Japanese emperors ruled from their palaces and engaged in rituals while warriors fought on behalf of the imperial family[xiii].

The Divine Competition
Upon first reading, this seemed like little more than a cosmic dick waving competition disguised as a super-boring sacred genealogy. Basically, this chapter is an excuse to have Amaterasu and Susanoāo pop out some baby kami who the compilers of the Kojiki assumed were the divine ancestors of high-ranking clans in the Yamato Court or at very least kami enshrined at very important shrines of the 6th and 7th centuries. I skipped that entire part of the story because itās just as boring as any of the ābegatsā you read in the Bible or Torah. A lot of scholars get boners for this sort of thing, but Iām not even half-mast about it, soā¦
Anyhoo, in the Kojiki, Susanoāo gives birth to äøč²“å Miharashi no Uzu no Miko the Three Divine Daughters[xiv]. The ancient Japanese name is unwieldy, so Iāll use the Chinese reading San Kishi[xv] if I ever have to refer to them again. These girlsā names are: å¤ē“ēęÆå£²å½ Takiri-hime no Mikoto, åøåÆøå¶ęÆå£²å½ Ichikishima-hime no Mikoto[xvi], and å¤å²é½ęÆå£²å½ Takitsu-hime no Mikoto. The middle name is the only one important these days. If youāve ever been to the sacred island of 宮島 Miyajima in Hiroshima, youāve probably visited the famous shrine å³å³¶ē„社 Itsukushima Jinja Itsukushima Shrine (the one with the floating gate). The three daughters are enshrined there and you may have seen their images in the underground passage that leads from 宮島å£é§ Miyajimaguchi Eki Miyajimaguchi Station over to the ferries that take you to the island. If the name Ichikishima (sometimes read as Itsukishima) sounds similar to Itsukushima, well, I think you can put two and two together.

Susanoāo Rages with Victory
As the kami of the oceans and storms, Susanoāo is seen as a negative and even destructive nature god. This is definitely in line with his popular image, but as I mentioned earlier, my account only includes stages one and two of his character arc[xvii]. Some scholars claim he represents unsuccessful revolts by other kingdoms against a rising Yamato hegemony ā or even a rogue faction within the Yamato Court itself, which had to be exiled[xviii]. An older version of this myth, which appears in the Nihon Shoki, states that Susanoāo gave birth to three sons reflecting the patrilineal hierarchy of the Kofun Period and later Heian Period. However, the version in the Kojiki, has Susanoāo give birth to three females, which some scholars believe remembers a matrilineal monarchy that existed in the earlier Yayoi Period[xix]. Again, this kami is quite the conundrum.
Susanoāo commits several significant desecrations of Amaterasuās palace. First, he destroys rice paddies. Next, he shits in her dining room and throws poo everywhere. Then he flays a horse, throws it into her weaving hall, and kills her weaving maiden.
Now, this is all pretty fucked up stuff. First, I want to say that many scholars from the Edo Period until present day have interpreted the Rock Cave Myth as an allegory comparable to the autumn equinox or even a solar eclipse (death and rebirth of the sun, yada yada yada). If we accept the autumn equinox hypothesis, that puts us in harvest season. ę°åē„ Niiname no Matsuri the Festival of the First Fruits was an important ritual in which the first harvest was presented to the village headman or local magistrate, or in the case of the capital, to the emperor and his court. Rice paddies take a lot of work to build and maintain, but the payoff is great. Rice is food. Excess rice is income. To destroy someoneās rice paddies is to undo all of the backbreaking hard work invested in feeding people. If the village headman canāt keep the agricultural kami happy, the village starves. If the emperor canāt keep the agricultural kami happy on a national scale, the country starves. Also, he loses money. He loses respect. He theoretically could lose his familyās right to rule. So, destroying rice paddies should be seen as an outrageous sacrilege.
The second desecration is closely related to the first, and is probably equally as impactful to modern minds as it was to ancient ones. Susanoāo broke into Amaterasuās home, proceeded to her ādining hallā which conjures up the imagery of the Festival of the First Fruits, a sacred space to present the harvest that will get the people through the harsh winter and guarantee the stability of the ruling family. Rather than respect this room, the petulant brother takes a crap on the floor and throws shit everywhere. Obviously, this is dirty and disgusting. I mean, itās just not sanitary. Nobody wants to shit where they eat. But Susanoāo deliberately intends to up end the cosmic order by not shitting in proper toilet, rather he does it inside his sisterās house. Human excrement was collected and repurposed as fertilizer, so shit had a monetary value that was being wasted here. Not only did he poop in the wrong place, his poop was just wasted. Well, he already destroyed the rice paddies, so⦠whatever.

The Weaving Room & the Flayed Pony
The final desecration is the weirdest one. Despite being armed with a bow and two quivers of arrows, Amaterasu makes excuses for Susanoāoās behavior and hopes heāll calm down and behave. She quietly retreats to the Heavenly Weaving Room in her palace to oversee the manufacture of sacred, ritual garments by her weaving maiden. We know that during the celebration of the First Fruits Festival at ä¼å¢ē„å®® Ise JingÅ« Ise Grand Shrine, the center of the Amaterasu cult, expensive new garments were woven by women and presented by women to the goddess[xx]. The original readers of the Kojiki or anyone who heard this myth retold probably would have an instant image in their head of what is going on by placing Susanoāoās final act of sabotage in the Weaving Room. One other image they may have had in mind is the 大åē„ daijÅ-sai Imperial Accession Ceremony which developed out of the Festival of the First Fruits[xxi]. There are ritual elements drawn from the Weaving Room Myth and the Rock Cave Myth.
While Amaterasu is overseeing this important ritual activity to ensure a good harvest and healthy winter for all, her dickhead brother goes out and finds a baby horse and flays it alive. Flaying is the act of removing the skin from an animal[xxii] usually from head to tail which is easier. Instead, Susanoāo doesnāt kill the colt first, no. He flays skins the animal alive backwards ā ie; from tail to head[xxiii]. This has long been interpreted as a kind of black magic or curse. And as if torturing an innocent animal to death in the most drawn out, agonizing way wasnāt enough; he drags the animal up to the top of the house and then destroyed her thatched roof (very expensive and winter is coming) and tosses the poor creature into the Weaving Hall. The weaving maiden is caught off guard, and accidentally runs the weaving shuttle into her vagina which kills her instantly.
OK, thereās a lot to unpack there. First, why a pony? Well, remember, this is ShintÅ. These days, many shrines may have some sacred animals on their premises. Roosters and deer are the most common in my experience. Some very important shrines may have stables with some sacred horses ā ę„å ę±ē §å®® NikkÅ TÅshÅ-gÅ« comes to mind[xxiv] ā but more often than not, there may be a statue of a white horse in a symbolic āstable.ā The horse is meant to represent the kamiās personal steed, so until the Meiji Period, local lords or courtiers would donate expensive horses to shrines as an act of ritual piety. Perhaps this horse was Amaterasuās personal ride?
The death of the weaving maiden is often thought to be a substitute for the death of Amaterasu and a foreshadowing of her symbolic death in the Rock Cave. First, if the heavenly ancestor of the imperial family stabbed herself in the vagina by accident and died, it wouldnāt be a good look. Right? Therefore, the maiden dies in her place. Claude LĆ©vi-Strauss calls the maidenās death and Amaterasuās symbolic death in the cave āa single chord sounded by several notesā which is just a poetic, French way of saying foreshadowing. Whyād the weaver have to get stabbed in the pussy? Your guess is as good as mine, but I suppose it makes a good parallel with Izanami’s death by having her pussy burned to death by Kagutsuchi the fire kami[xxv].
One final comment about the Weaving Room. The act of weaving can be interpreted as bringing order to chaos, and even to the myth-making process itself. In Modern English, we have a phrase āto weave a taleā which means āto create a storyā which shows this concept isnāt far removed from us in this day and age. We can think of humans engaging in agriculture as bringing order to chaos, something which Alan Miller has called ācosmic weaving.ā If this is the case, then all three of the desecration committed by Susanoāo can be seen as related. He undoes cosmic order by destroying the agricultural cycle by āunweavingā Amaterasuās divine order. He kills her priestess preparing the cultic offering usually given in exchange for a good harvest. That ceremony was the prototype for the ritual of imperial accession, so he threatens the cosmic order brought by the imperial clan. He defiles the purity of the weaving room and therefore the myths and rituals themselves. He craps in her dining hall making it impossible to perform the Festival of First Fruits and wastes much needed fertilizer for the fields by just flinging it around inside the palace. And lastly, he destroys the sacred rice paddies which deprive the people of food and the offerings they need to ask for good luck during the harvest and for the cold winter when resources are scarce ā ultimately bankrupting and potentially starving the world.
These are unforgivable transgressions, yet Amaterasu does not seek vengeance. She does not destroy Susanoāo. Instead, she hides.

The Rock Cave Myth
Is the Rock Cave Myth simply a solar myth? Is something similar to the Dying God myths of Western Antiquity? I think thereās good reason to think so. The Festival of First Fruits was held throughout ancient Japan up until the Heian Period. There are records from villages big and small, and the most important festival was based at the heart of the Amaterasu cult, Ise Shrine. Harvest festivals celebrated bountiful food resources to get the people through the winter until the next growing season. They gave thanks to the workers who toiled in the fields, gave honor and praise to the kami that helped them and requested continued support in the next cycle. They ensured a financially stable court and imperial family, who in turn guaranteed safety and prosperity to the common people. It was win-win-win[xxvi].
In order to get that win-win-win, you needed the sun and the rain to cooperate[xxvii], but clearly Amaterasu and Susanoāo are not playing well together. Things go so badly, that Amaterasu hides in the Heavenly Rock Cave, thus plunging the world into darkness. This darkness brings misery to both the kami and all other living things. This could represent a solar eclipse, which could be seen as trial run for a real eternal cosmic night[xxviii], or just winter, which could be seen as a metaphorical night. At any rate, bringing Amaterasu out of the cave and restoring order was of utmost importance.

The Rock Cave Myth is either a description of existing rituals or a template for new rituals regarding this death/rebirth concept. The two rituals in question are:
é®éē„ | a ritual to pacify spirits; in Modern Japanese, it refers to ceremonies for the repose of departed souls. |
大åē„ | originally the First Fruits Festival; a secret ceremony where a newly ascended emperor offers new rice to Amaterasu, ritually eats with her, then spends the night alone with her in a special temporary building called å»»ē«ę®æ kairyÅ«den. |
If we accept the interpretation that Amaterasuās retreat to the Rock Cave is a metaphorical death, then the chinkon-sai comparison is particular apt. Even if we disagree with that interpretation, the ritual elements present in this myth are obviously connected with these rites. However, according to John Breen and Mark Teeuven, itās unclear whether chikon-sai is a Daoist interpretation of the Rock Cave Myth or an older Japanese ritual reflected in the myth told in the Kojiki. Anyhoo, I think we can all agree the connection is obvious.
If we accept the version in the Nihon Shoki, where itās Amaterasu who gets banged in the pussy by the heavenly weaving loom and dies (as opposed to Amaterasuās maiden/priestess), we can see the Rock Cave Myth as the death and burial of the sun-goddess, followed by the other kami performing a ritual correctly in order to resurrect her. This is certainly possible and conforms with ShintÅ rites and cultic practices of other polytheistic cultures. If we superimpose this onto the daijÅ-sai, we can imagine the emperor entering the kairyÅ«den just as Amaterasu entered the cave, then reappearing later to bring back cosmic order and prosperity to the land. So, both rituals have death/rebirth elements.
This myth is perpetuated in modern Japan through the imported Buddhist concept of ćē o-Bon which in Japan, is a syncretic observance of the ancestor cults. You can read about it here, but long story short: all of the kami in Japan return to Izumo Province for a month to re-enact the Rock Cave Myth[xxix], in that time, the ancestors of your clan return home[xxx]. This month, in accordance with the agricultural cycles (and a little modern tweaking) is October which is traditionally called ē„ē”ę Kannazuki the month without kami. Conversely, in Shimane Prefecture (ancient Izumo Province) they call this month ē„ęę or ē„åØę Kamiarizuki the month with all the gods present.

The Divine Camp Out and Sacred Stripper Party
For narrative purposes, the assembly of deities at the Heavenly River in front of the Heavenly Rock-Cave is just to get everyone together to figure out what to do about Amaterasu. Sheās supposed to weave order in the cosmos but instead as created chaos. Most textual analysis of this myth tends to view the encampment of kami as a meeting of the Yamato Court. The divine ancestors of many court families are present, which further legitimizes their status in that government. Iāve heard Mark Ravina say that he thinks this myth illustrates ādecision by committeeā as a kind of Japanese cultural trait that has persisted since time immemorial[xxxi]. Whether it reflects those ideas or not, the narrative is clear: this is big enough problem that all the kami need to come together and get Amaterasu out of the cave. In other myths, some kami help other kami, but this is the only instance in which every single kami[xxxii] comes to the assistance of just one kami. That makes Amaterasu one pretty important deity, Iāll say.
To coax Amaterasu out of the cave, the assembled kami perform a ritual. If youāre unfamiliar with ShintÅ practices, it seems like they improvise these actions. If youāre familiar with ShintÅ, it seems like they engage in very normal activities. This goes back to Breen and Teeuvenās question: are these religious innovations inserted into the myth or are these older rituals incorporated into the myth? My personal opinion is that there were existing similar practices, easily recognizable to the audience of the Kojiki and the Wajin population as a whole, but the āflavorā was distinctly that of Ise Shrine and the Yamato Court. Whether intentional or not, by writing these things down, the compilers of the Kokiki may have inadvertently ushered in an era of nationwide conformity in ShintÅ under the umbrella of the courtās most important Shrine[xxxiii].

First, the kami bring roosters on to the scene. When the sun rises, roosters crow. Anyone from any agrarian society can tell you this[xxxiv]. This is a kind of sympathetic magic ā ie; if the roosters crow, the sun will come up. Thatās the natural order of things to primitive minds. That said, the natural order has broken down. Susanoāo has wreaked chaos upon the world and Amaterasuās retreat into the cave has compounded this upending of order. And the people writing these myths werenāt primitive minds. Maybe shitty storytellers, but not primitive lol.
Anyhoo, the rooster didnāt work. So, next the gods try a real ritual. First, they call two very specific kami associated with metal-working: 天å å±å½ Ame no Koyane no Mikoto (Amenokoyane) and åøåēå½ Futo Tama no Mikoto (Futotama). In my article on Japanese Cosmology, I mentioned that these two kami are presented as divine ancestors of two priestly clans, äøč£ę° Nakatomi-uji the Nakatomi Clan and ęéØę° Imibe-uji the Inbe Clan respectively[xxxv]. The Nakatomi were responsible for chanting magic incantations, and the Inbe were responsible for performing cultic offerings. We see Amenokoyane and Futotama perform these same roles in front of the Rock Cave. The other main kami to feature prominently in the encampment of the kami is 天å®åč³£å½ Ama no Uzume no Mikoto (Amanoāuzume) who is presented as the divine ancestor of ēæå„³ę° Surume-uji the Surume clan. As you can probably guess, the Surume provided ritual dancers to the court. The dancing style perfected by the Surume eventually evolved into ē„愽 kagura shrine dancing[xxxvi]. All in all, seven kami are specifically listed as present at the encampment outside of the Rock Cave, all of them trying to coax Amaterasu to come outside. These seven kami will appear again in the Descent from Heaven Myth, which Iāll write about later. But for the time being, just recognize that the main actors in the Rock Cave Myth are considered ancestors of the highest-ranking members of the Yamato Court at the time these stories were compiled[xxxvii].

The metal-working kami forge a bronze mirror. Mirrors were considered symbols of the sun because they reflected light. Metal-working, and mirrors specifically, were foreign technologies and at one time were so rare and expensive, that it seems inevitable they were assigned magical and spiritual values. To this day, youāll still find mirrors in the ę殿 haiden front hall and/or ę¬ę®æ honden main hall[xxxviii] of most ShintÅ shrines. The tree replanted in front of the Rock Cave is of a variety that is still considered sacred today, and it is decorated with ropes upon which hang a myriad of magatama beads. Now we have two items included in the future imperial regalia mentioned specifically in writing: å «å«é” Yata no Kagami the Eight Ta Mirror[xxxix] and å¾ē magatama the sacred beads. Just as the presence of the divine ancestors foreshadows the Descent from Heaven Myth, I think the presence of these sacred items also foreshadows that same future myth which is critical to the legitimizing the imperial familyās divine right to rule Japan.
Another point that might seem weird about the campsite is the collection of a deerās shoulder and hahaka wood from Mt. Amanokagu. This is a reference to an ancient type of divination called å uranai[xl]. This practice is not unlike divinations performed by haruspicÄs and auspicÄs in Ancient Rome. The former pulled out livers and organs of sacrificed animals and read them much as a palm reader might look at your hand today, while the latter looked for meaning in the flight patterns of birds. In ancient Japanese, burning a male deer bone over hahaka wood caused cracks to appear in the osseous material which the diviners āreadā ā again, just like a palm reader āreadsā the lines and fingerprints of your hand[xli]. While any information gleaned from these kinds of acts was meaningless, a lot of cultures have considered it valuable for millennia. The Yamato Court found it so valuable, in fact, that they had courtiers who oversaw such rituals and thought it important enough to include in the Kojiki.

Two other terms jumped out at me: éåå¹£ ao nikite blue cloth and ē½åå¹£ shiro nikite white cloth. These appear to be the precursors of what is as ubiquitous a symbol of ShintÅ as a é³„å± torii gate. That is, 徔幣 go-hei lightening-shaped pieces of white paper that decorate purified spaces. There are a few interesting things we can learn about the use of these terms ao nikite and shiro nikite. One is that they are quite ancient ritual items that predate the use of go-hei which are only made of white paper today (often of a very low-grade traditional paper). The second is that the custom predates the introduction of ę“ē£ę„ yÅsangyÅ sericulture (ie; silk culture), or at least the widespread cultivation of silkworms in Japan. Ao nikite was made from undyed hemp paper which has a naturally blue/green tint. Shiro nikite could be bleached hemp paper, but was more likely made from white mulberry bark which was naturally white[xlii].

Let’s Wrap Things Up
In the Rock Cave Myth, we see a crystallization of ShintÅ ritual and ShintÅ symbolism. The paper streams, the magic ropes, the magatama beads, the sacred mirror; ritual incantations, offerings, and dances; the stories of kami from whom the most elite of the elite members of the Yamato Court claimed descent from[xliii]; and we get hints at a fantasy-world cosmology slowly being consolidated into a national mytho-historic narrative that has clearly placed the sun goddess, Amaterasu, at the top of the spiritual hierarchy.
Iām going to take a break from mythology for a while because, wow⦠please understand that the research Iām doing into this is way above my pay grade (ps: I donāt have a pay grade. I do this for free, so if you like what I do, feel free to make a donation down below). However, when we return to the Japanese Creation Myths, itās gonna be just as much fun and just as nerdy. I promise.
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[i] Remember in a previous article I mentioned that emperors used to be called 大å Åkimi great kings, but since the Tenmu Emperorās time they we called 天ē tennÅ heavenly king (a term modeled on the Chinese å¤©åø tentei (actual Chinese reading is tiÄn-dƬ heavenly emperor). Both the Japanese and Chinese words are often translated as āson of heaven.ā
[ii] Remember, the word ācultā in this sense doesnāt mean Scientology or Jehovahās Witnesses or anything like that. It is the original meaning of the word, which is intrinsically tied to the Roman concept of cultus deÅrum devotion to the gods, observance of divine rituals.
[iii] These days, Tsudaās take on Japanese mythology seems quite cynical, as he seemed to interpret many characters and actions in the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki as mytho-historic political machinations within the Yamato Court.
[iv] Orthography is āspelling.ā
[v] Ne no Katasu no Kuni; itās unclear if this is the same of different than the Land of Yomi.
[vi] The suitor is Ånamuchi no Kami, who later becomes Åkuninushi no Kami. Weāll hear about him in the next article.
[vii] 妣å Haha no Kuni the Land of my Dead Mother.
[viii] Iām still not sure how adding more water makes a river run dry, but nobody asked me.
[ix] This chart is taken directly from Alan Millerās work.
[x] Amaterasu dons bow and arrow, yet never uses them. Therefore, I see her as a symbolic head of an army, but not a warrior herself. Furthermore, this donning of weaponry and striking a warlike pose (similar to what you see before a bout of ēøę² sumÅ begins) may hearken back to Amaterasuās prehistoric male origins. This is not, however, the mythological origins of sumÅ. Weāll cover that in a later article.
[xi] Remember, the Imperial Regalia of Japan are a sword, a mirror, and magatama beads.
[xii] But letās be truthful with out Latin, the Japanese imperial family ruled deÅrum infÄ«nÄ«tÅrum gratiÄ by the grace of the infinite gods.
[xiii] Keep in mind that the word ä¾ samurai literally means āservant of the imperial court.ā Before the rise of the samurai class, the unrefined warriors were the regional military governors who ruled and fought on behalf of their KyÅto benefactors. That is, until they realized they had all the armies and local villages and the courtiers in KyÅto were just a bunch of pussies who didnāt respect them and ordered them around. Then you got the rise of the samurai class.
[xiv] By the way, the Nihon Shoki claims Susanoāo has three sons, not daughters.
[xv] Apparently, SÄn GuƬzĒ in Chinese.
[xvi] Also written åøęµå³¶åŖå½ Ichikishima-hime no Mikoto.
[xvii] Weāll probably come back to stages 3 and 4 in a future installment ā probably next year.
[xviii] And perhaps was later allowed to return to the court after atonement.
[xix] Compare to Queen Himiko who reigned in the first half of the 3rd century, only appearing in ancient Chinese records.
[xx] Priestesses, not just any olā woman off the street, mind you.
[xxi] Among other ceremonies.
[xxii] And by animals, of course, I include humans. You can totally flay a human. If youāre interested in flaying humans, this website shows you how.
[xxiii] This would be excruciatingly painful to the animal causing it make a lot of noise and probably try to fight back or escape. Flaying an animal alive is just horrific.
[xxiv] I mention NikkÅ TÅshÅ-gÅ« because you can still see the descendants of Tokugawa Ieyasuās sacred horse there today.
[xxv] Keep in mind that at the time these myths were compiled, Confucianism had begun to take hold at the Yamato Court. This philosophy was very male-oriented (dare I say the word? āpatriarchalā) and was all about burning vaginas. In fact, to this day, Confuciusā most famous saying is still āJust kiss. Donāt even wait. And when youāre a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Burn āem by the pussy. You can do anything.ā
[xxvi] The court won, the people won, and the kami won.
[xxvii] This goes back to the theory that Amaterasu and Susanoāo originally represented a relatively indivisible pair of agricultural kami.
[xxviii] Or even death.
[xxix] They also decide the ē¼ē» en-musubi personal relationships of all humans for the next year.
[xxx] Well, technically, they return to their graves and families leave incense and special dolls made from vegetables and chopsticks to guide the spirits back to the family home. Interestingly, all of the kami return to Izumo except for ęµęÆé Ebisu a god of good luck. He came to be associated with čå Hiruko the Leech Child whom Izanagi and Izanami put in the boat and sent off to sea. The idea is that Hiruko was lost at sea during the events of the Rock Cave Myth and so he stays among the humans, who can still pray to him for good luck.
[xxxi] I find this assessment kind of orientalist. I view āJapanese solve problems in groups/act in groupsā as weak as āJapanese are good at copying, but not innovation.ā
[xxxii] Minus Hiruko/Ebisu, of course.
[xxxiii] The most important shrine being Ise Shrine, obviously.
[xxxiv] When I lived in Italy, I didnāt need an alarm clock. The roosters always woke me up on time.[xxxv] In Old Japanese, Inbe was pronounced Imibe.
[xxxvi] See my article What does Kagurazaka mean? The term Kagura is supposedly derived from ē„ kami and 愽 raku/gaku music/entertainment/leisure.
[xxxvii] After Buddhism arrives, all bets are off. These court ritualists eventually disappearā¦
[xxxviii] Usually, the back hall which is generally off limits to normal people.
[xxxix] Ta is an ancient Chinese measurement. I think eight ta is the equivalent of 64 thumb lengths. Somebody correct me if Iām wrong. I once heard that āeight taā actually meant eight lines drawn out from the center of a circle, which created a primitive sun with sunbeams ā a prototype of modern čå¾”ē“ Kiku no Go-Mon the Chrysanthemum Crest (coat of arms of the Imperial Family). I donāt think I believe that second theory, but, again, somebody correct me if Iām wrong.
[xl] This was /ɯɾanapʰī/ in Old Japanese.
[xli] That is to say, itās utter horseshit.
[xlii] Or could be bleached to produce a whiter effect.
[xliii] And these ādivine ancestorsā may just be imaginary gods or actual historical figures with magical names!