Amaterasu was born from Izanagi
Izanami died after giving birth to the kami of fire. Izanagi journeyed to Hades to find her. Finding her decayed body crawling with maggots he fled in horror back to the land of the living. To purify himself he entered a body of water and when he washed his left eye there came into existence the Sun Goddess, the Great Kami Amaterasu; and when he washed his right eye Tsukiyom the Moon Kami, emerged. After years of struggle the Japanese people were waring against each other and the Sun Goddess sent her grandson, Ninigi, to become the first emperor of Japan. Shinto is unique among the religions of the world in representing the Supreme Being as feminine in gender.
paganmystics.proboards101.com/index.cgi?board=japanese&action=display&thread=1170628130Amaterasu
Amaterasu (Ama Terasu, Omikami, Shinmei, Ten-sho-Ko-Daijan, O-Hiru-Me-No-Muchi), was a highly revered Japanese Shinto sun goddess. The daughter of the Creator god Izanagi and goddess Izanami, Amaterasu was known as "She Who Shines in the Heavens", "Illustrious Goddess" and "Ruler of the Plain of Heaven", and the Japanese Imperial family was descended from her. Written about in the Kojiki and Nihongi Japanese Sacred Texts, she has been revered since at least 600 A.C.E. The principal Kami of Shintoism, Amaterasu has been depicted in artistic paintings and sculptures.
Honored at every family shrine, her primary Sacred Site is the Ise Naiku Shrine, where the body of Amaterasu is represented by a mirror. Located at Ise-Jingue on Ise on the island of Honshu, the Naiku Shrine is pulled down every twenty years and then rebuilt in its original form.
The tutelary goddess of the Emperor, Amaterasu created rice fields called "inada" where she cultivated rice. She also taught the people how to cultivate wheat and silkworms, as well as, how to weave with a loom. Amaterasu has reunited and reestablished her partnership with her brother/husband god Susanowa and regularly spends some time with him at his Sacred Site at Keino Matsubara, Awajishima. For more updated current information about her, please see the Hierarchs of Twelve Universal Rays article about Amaterasu.
paganmystics.proboards101.com/index.cgi?board=japanese&action=display&thread=1169001902NAME: Amaterasu Omi-kami, Heavenly Illuminating Great August Deity
IMAGE: Said to be the most beautiful woman in all the world or Heaven.
SYMBOLS: Rising sun, eight sided mirror, white face, or "omo-shiroi" which was said to be the first words she spoke on leaving a cave she had been hiding in due to trouble Susano-o had started plunging the world into darkness. It means interesting and was in response to her seeing her own face for the first time in the mirror they used as part of the plain to lure her out of the cave.
HOLY DAYS: 12/22. Tohji-Taisai--Shinto rite honoring Sun Goddess Amaterasu. After Storm God Susano-o angered Her, and She withdrew into a cave until enticed out with music and dance.
HOLY BOOKS: The Kojiki (Chronicles of Ancient Events) and the Nihongi (Chronicles of Japan).
PLACE OF WORSHIP: Temple the one at Ise being the largest.
RELATIVES: Izanagi (father), Tsuki-Yumi no Mikoto, Susano-o no Mikoto (brothers), Ninigi (grandson.)
SYNODEITIES: Saule (Latvian), Shakti & Surya (Hindu), Brunissen (Celtic), Igaehindvo (Cherokee), Walu (Aboriginal), Sekhmet (Egypt), Cailleach & Aine (Ireland), Sul (Gaelic.)[/QUOTE]
Amaterasu is the most important divine being in Shintoism and the ruler of all the Kami (higher beings), while there are other Gods and Goddesses who came into being before her, such as Kuni toko tachi no Mikoto the first God, and the Eight Divine Pillars who came after him.
She is the one who it is said to rule the Plain of High Heaven and is the source of all light and life, as well as the Goddess who introduced most agriculture and silk worms to Japan, although female is the starting place for the Yang that comes to Earthly beings.
Not born in the conventional way she and her two brothers came about when Izanagi, the God Who Invites, began to grieve for his wife Izanami, the Goddess Who Invites, who had died giving birth to the God of fire.
Having failed to win her back from Yomi no Kuni, the Land of the Dead, when he was overcome by revulsion on seeing her dead form. Izanagi retuned to the Earth and washed himself to clean away his shame and defilement.
While washing, the water that fell from his left eye became Amaterasu the Goddess of the sun, water falling from this right eye became her brother Tsuki-Yumi the moon, while the belligerent God of storms Susano-o appeared when he blew his nose.
Along with providing life and light to the land, Amaterasu made life better for the people by taking over from goddess of food Uke-mochi, who use to produce the lands bounty by vomiting it out, introducing the growing of millet, beans, rice, and wheat. Which had to make dinner a much more pleasant affair!
Amaterasu could be said to be the very spirit of Japan, so much so that it was once believed that she sent her grandson Ninigi to become Jimmu the first emperor ( 660 B.C.E.), giving him the three imperial regalia; the mirror for brightness and honesty, the sword for strength, resolution and wisdom and the jewels for gentleness and compassion, after him the land was ruled by her though the subsequent emperors within whom she was said to dwell.
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