The story of Amaterasu
Amaterasu was the sun goddess of Shinto, the oldest religion in Japan. Her name means ‘to illuminate all, and shine in the sky’. She represents fertility and the force of life that makes things grow and brings beauty to our world. As the guardian of the Japanese people, she is represented still by the emblem of the rising sun on the old Japanese flag.
The story goes that she loved the world and shone her beautiful light over it. But her brother was not so loving, and he wreaked havoc across her world….so she ran away and hid in a cave, frightened and doubting herself. She rolled a huge stone across the mouth of the cave and sunk into the darkness alone. But as she took herself into the darkness, this also made the whole world dark, both heaven and earth. Darkness fell everywhere, Amaterasu was alone and the world was in an eternal night.
To bring her out of her cave, and return light to the world, Uzume, goddess of laughter placed a mirror at the mouth of the cave, and then began to dance in a giddy frenzy, baring her breasts and dropping her skirt as she danced. And as she danced, the gods laughed with delight. The noise of the dancing and the party roused Amaterasu from her solitude, and she crept to the mouth of the cave to listen.
Uzume continued to dance, her nakedness a celebration of the female form, a worship of the life force of women, a force that can return the world to how it was meant to be…
Eventually, curious and unable to stop herself, Amaterasu emerged from the cave, flooding light across the land as she did so – but on seeing her reflection in the mirror, shining amidst the light, because she had spent so much time in the darkness, she didn’t recognise herself, and instead imagined it was another goddess, one more powerful and beautiful than herself. And she shrank back.
Until that is, that Uzume held her arm and gently pulled her forward towards the mirror and out of the cave - and as she moved, and the goddess in the mirror moved with her, she realised that she was the power she saw, she was the beauty she wondered at…
And, so, as she truly saw herself, she was so awed by her power and her beauty that she came out of hiding and the sun returned to the world. She swore never to hide her beauty, and her gifts from the world again.
Amaterasu reminds us to always let our maverick beauty shine forth. Ours is a beauty that comes from inner truth, from inner knowledge, from joy, from laughter. It overcomes comparison – which is the thief of all joy – and represents the unique gifts we have to offer to the world. If you too have withdrawn your splendour, now is the time to come out of hiding…