Utagawa Toyokuni III (Public Domain) Ruling the Underworld The god, rather unimpressed no doubt, promptly threw the arrow back down to earth where it landed rather unfortunately in the chest of Ame-waka-hiko and killed him outright. However, as the arrow was a divine one, it shot straight through the unlucky pheasant and carried on straight up to heaven, landing finally at the feet of Taka-mi-Musubi. The latter though, on seeing the pheasant, took the bird for a bad omen and swiftly shot the poor creature on the spot with one of his arrows. After eight years without any news, the gods finally sent the pheasant Na-naki-me to find Ame-waka-hiko. He too, though, proved a less than reliable envoy when he was distracted by and married Shita-teru-hime (the daughter of Oho-kuni-nushi) so that he forgot completely his original mission. This time the gods sent Ame-waka-hiko armed with his divine bow and arrows. However, after a period of three years, there had still not been any word from Ama-no-Hoki and so a second council was called. The decision of this council was to send Ama-no-Hoki down to earth and properly assess the situation. At this Amaterasu asked the advice of Taka-mi-Musubi, and consequently, a council of all the gods was convened. However, when he stood on Ama-no-hashidate, the bridge which linked heaven to earth, and saw the disorder amongst the earthly deities he rather petulantly refused the role. Japanese nobility also claimed descent from the goddess.Īmaterasu's son is Ama-no-Oshiho-mimi who was requested by his mother to reign over the terrestrial kingdom. Tuto-Tamu then held behind the goddess a pole of plaited straw and emphatically stated that the goddess could hide no longer and the world was once more bathed in her radiant sunlight. Opening the blocked cave just enough to see what was going on and whilst distracted by seeing her stunning reflection in the mirror, the strong god Ame-no-tajikara-wo yanked the goddess out of the cave entrance. In addition, the goddess Amenouzume (or Ama-no-Uzeme) danced so wildly in a striptease routine that the other gods' uproarious laughter finally excited the curiosity of Amaterasu. The gods also placed a large sakaki tree ( Cleyera japonica) near the cave entrance and decorated it with sparkling jewels ( magatama), fine white clothes and a mirror at its centre. On the advice of Omohi-Kane, cocks were set outside the cave in the hope their crows would make the goddess think that dawn had come. The gods tried all manner of ways to persuade the peeved goddess to leave the cave. As a consequence of Amaterasu's disappearance, the world was cast in total darkness and evil spirits ran riot over the earth. Perhaps the most celebrated myth concerning Amaterasu is when she blocked herself in a cave following an argument with Susanoo when he surprised the goddess with a monstrous flayed horse when she was quietly weaving in her palace with her younger sister Waka-hiru-me.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |