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Amaterasu, a MythSource painting
Japanese

Amaterasu

01Identity

Amaterasu in Japanese tradition

Amaterasu is the sun goddess of Shinto, honoured especially at Ise. In imperial tradition, the Japanese emperors trace their ancestry to her through her grandson Ninigi. Stories tell of her retreat into a cave, the loss of daylight, and the gods' efforts to bring her back.

SourceThe Oxford Companion to World Mythology: Amaterasu and Susanowo· The Oxford Companion to World Mythology: Shinto Mythology

  • Sun-Goddess in Aston's Nihongi birth account.

    SourceNihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 (Aston translation, 1896): Book I, I.11-I.12, printed pp. 18-19, Sun-Goddess and Moon-god birth sequence

02

Context

Roles

Also called Amaterasu Omikami, she belongs to the divine lineage from which imperial tradition traces the origins of Japan. The Oxford Companion lists Amaterasu, the moon god Tsukiyomi and Susanowo among the offspring of Izanagi and Izanami. Its account traces a line from Amaterasu through Ninigi to his grandson Jimmu Tenno, the first emperor in that tradition.

SourceThe Oxford Companion to World Mythology: Amaterasu and Susanowo· The Oxford Companion to World Mythology: Shinto Mythology

Worship and practice

Amaterasu's sanctuary is at Ise, near Nagoya. The Oxford Companion connects her worship with the Yamato sun cult, in which she was the principal deity, and with the imperial tradition that regarded the emperors as her descendants.

SourceThe Oxford Companion to World Mythology: Japanese Sun Cult· The Oxford Companion to World Mythology: Amaterasu and Susanowo

Variants

In the Oxford Companion's telling, Susanowo's destruction drives Amaterasu into a cave. Ama no Uzume dances outside it; the gods laugh, Amaterasu sees her reflection in a mirror, and daylight returns when she comes out. Japanese mythological sources do not always tell a story the same way: the Nihongi, completed in 720 CE, often records several versions of a myth.

SourceThe Oxford Companion to World Mythology: Amaterasu and Susanowo· The Oxford Companion to World Mythology: Nihongi

Top questions

The quick answers

  • Who is Amaterasu?

    Amaterasu is a Japanese deity.
    Source

    Source

    • Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 (Aston translation, 1896): Book I, I.11-I.12, printed pp. 18-19, Sun-Goddess and Moon-god birth sequence

  • Is Amaterasu in SMITE?

    Yes. It is linked here to The Retreat into the Cave of Heaven.

  • What family links are recorded for Amaterasu?

    Father: Izanagi, Mother: Izanami, Spouse: Tsukiyomi, 5 children, 2 siblings. These are the relationships in the accounts cited below.
    Source

    Source

    • Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 (Aston translation, 1896): Book I, I.11, printed p. 18; Sun-Goddess production
    • Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 (Aston translation, 1896): Book I, I.11-I.12, printed pp. 18-19, Sun-Goddess and Moon-god birth sequence
    • Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 (Aston translation, 1896): Book I, I.30-I.32, printed pp. 35-37
    • Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 (Aston translation, 1896): Book I, I.32-I.33, printed pp. 37-38
    • Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 (Aston translation, 1896): Book I, I.30-I.31, printed pp. 35-36; elder-sister oath encounter
    • Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 (Aston translation, 1896): Book I, I.12-I.13, printed pp. 19-20; leech-child and Sosa no wo birth sequence

  • What happens in Amaterasu retreats into the Rock-cave of Heaven?

    Sosa no wo's violence drives Amaterasu into a sealed cave, and darkness falls across the land.
    Source

    Source

    • Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 (Aston translation, 1896) Book I, I.37-I.41, pp. 44-48
    • Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 (Aston translation, 1896)
03Family

Amaterasu’s family, at a glance

IzanagiIzanami
AmaterasuTsukiyomiSusanoo

with Tsukiyomi

AmatsuhikoneAme no HohiAme no OshihomimiIkutsuhikoneKumanokusubi

Father

  • Izanagi: Aston's birth account says Izanagi and Izanami together produced the Sun-Goddess.

    SourceNihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 (Aston translation, 1896): Book I, I.11, printed p. 18; Sun-Goddess production· Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 (Aston translation, 1896): Book I, I.11-I.12, printed pp. 18-19, Sun-Goddess and Moon-god birth sequence

Mother

  • Izanami: Aston's birth account says Izanagi and Izanami together produced the Sun-Goddess.

    SourceNihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 (Aston translation, 1896): Book I, I.11, printed p. 18; Sun-Goddess production· Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 (Aston translation, 1896): Book I, I.11-I.12, printed pp. 18-19, Sun-Goddess and Moon-god birth sequence

Consorts

  • Tsukiyomi: The birth account calls Tsukiyomi the Sun-Goddess's consort and says he shares in her government.

    SourceNihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 (Aston translation, 1896): Book I, I.11-I.12, printed pp. 18-19, Sun-Goddess and Moon-god birth sequence

Children

  • Amatsuhikone: Produced by Sosa no wo from Amaterasu's Yasaka jewels and claimed by her as her child in this account. The same account assigns its three sword-born daughters to Sosa no wo.

    SourceNihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 (Aston translation, 1896): Book I, I.30-I.32, printed pp. 35-37· Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 (Aston translation, 1896): Book I, I.32-I.33, printed pp. 37-38

  • Ame no Hohi: Produced by Sosa no wo from Amaterasu's Yasaka jewels and claimed by her as her child in this account.

    SourceNihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 (Aston translation, 1896): Book I, I.30-I.32, printed pp. 35-37· Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 (Aston translation, 1896): Book I, I.32-I.33, printed pp. 37-38

  • Ame no Oshihomimi: Aston's long name ends in oshi-ho-mimi; he is produced by Sosa no wo from Amaterasu's Yasaka jewels and claimed by her as her child in this account.

    SourceNihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 (Aston translation, 1896): Book I, I.30-I.32, printed pp. 35-37· Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 (Aston translation, 1896): Book I, I.32-I.33, printed pp. 37-38

  • Ikutsuhikone: Produced by Sosa no wo from Amaterasu's Yasaka jewels and claimed by her as her child in this account.

    SourceNihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 (Aston translation, 1896): Book I, I.30-I.32, printed pp. 35-37· Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 (Aston translation, 1896): Book I, I.32-I.33, printed pp. 37-38

  • Kumanokusubi: Produced by Sosa no wo from Amaterasu's Yasaka jewels and claimed by her as her child in this account.

    SourceNihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 (Aston translation, 1896): Book I, I.30-I.32, printed pp. 35-37· Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 (Aston translation, 1896): Book I, I.32-I.33, printed pp. 37-38

Siblings

  • Tsukiyomi: Tsukiyomi follows Amaterasu in the birth account as another child of Izanagi and Izanami.

    SourceNihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 (Aston translation, 1896): Book I, I.11, printed p. 18; Sun-Goddess production· Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 (Aston translation, 1896): Book I, I.11-I.12, printed pp. 18-19, Sun-Goddess and Moon-god birth sequence

  • Susanoo: Sosa no wo is the next child in the birth sequence after the unnamed leech-child; the same source account calls Amaterasu his elder sister in the oath encounter.

    SourceNihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 (Aston translation, 1896): Book I, I.30-I.31, printed pp. 35-36; elder-sister oath encounter· Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 (Aston translation, 1896): Book I, I.12-I.13, printed pp. 19-20; leech-child and Sosa no wo birth sequence

04The myths

The myths of Amaterasu

4 myths, with sources recorded for each, with 3 reviewed modern reworks linked where the evidence supports it.

Amaterasu retreats into the Rock-cave of Heaven

In the Nihongi account, Sosa no wo repeatedly disrupts Amaterasu's order. He breaks the divisions between her rice plots, releases piebald colts into the fields and soils the New Palace before the first-fruits feast. When he sees her in the sacred weaving hall, he flays a piebald colt and throws it through a hole in the roof. Amaterasu starts in alarm and wounds herself with the shuttle. Angry, she enters the Rock-cave of Heaven, fastens the Rock-door and remains in seclusion. Darkness spreads on every side, and no one can tell night from day.

The eighty myriads of gods meet beside the Tranquil River of Heaven to decide how to call her back. Omohi-kane gathers long-singing birds, while Ta-jikara-wo waits beside the door. Ame no Koyane and Futo-dama raise a five-hundred-branched sakaki tree and hang jewels, a mirror and offerings upon it. Ame no Uzume takes a spear, makes a head-dress and braces, lights fires, turns a tub upside down and performs a mimic dance and gives a divinely inspired utterance. Amaterasu hears this and asks how Ame no Uzume can be so cheerful while the world is dark. She opens the door a little and looks out. Ta-jikara-wo takes her hand and leads her outside. The gods mark the boundary with a bottom-tied rope and ask her not to return.

Amaterasu retreats into the Rock-cave of Heaven, a MythSource painting of the scene

In the modern world

Opowieść o bogini Amaterasu. Mit Japoński (1992)

Film

The sun goddess Amaterasu once ruled the world; her younger brother Suzano (Susanoo), god of wind and storms, causes great harm - the inciting conflict of the cave-retreat myth.

SMITE

Game

Susanoo's jealous rampage (burning her rice fields, shattering her looms) drives Amaterasu into a cavern in grief; the gods lure her out with a polished mirror that blinds her with her own reflection while Uzume, "Goddess of Mirth," dances on an upturned tub - the full cave-retreat sequence.

The Little Prince and the Eight-Headed Dragon

Film

Susanoo's destructive misbehaviour (flooding fields, destroying barns) in his sister's realm drives the Sun Goddess to seal herself in a cave; she is lured back out when a mirror is held up and she mistakes her own reflection for another, more radiant goddess.

3 sources· checked 2026-09-05

  1. 1Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 (Aston translation, 1896)T1
  2. 2Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 (Aston translation, 1896)T1
  3. 3Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 (Aston translation, 1896)T1

Amaterasu sends Ninigi to rule the land

In the first variant recorded in Book II of the Nihongi, the land below is not yet settled for Amaterasu's descendants. Katsu-no-haya-hi no Ama no Oshi-ho-mimi no Mikoto stands on Heaven's floating bridge, looks down and reports that the country is rough and disorderly. Amaterasu sends Taka-mika-tsuchi and Futsu-nushi to Idzumo to ask Oho-na-mochi whether he will surrender the land. He consults his son Koto-shiro-nushi, who agrees that the demand cannot be refused. The two gods return to Heaven and report that the Central Land of Reed-Plains has been pacified.

Amaterasu then resolves to send her child, but an August Grandchild is born. Her son asks that Ninigi go in his place, so she gives him the curved jewel, the eight-hand mirror and the Kusanagi sword. She appoints five divine attendants and commands him to govern the Reed-plain-1500-autumns-fair-rice-ear Land, with a wish that his dynasty may endure like Heaven and Earth. Before the descent, a strange god blocks the eight-cross-roads. Ninigi sends an attendant to question him. When no god can confront the stranger, Ninigi commands Ame no Uzume to question him. The god at the crossroads names himself Saruta-hiko and offers to go before the heavenly child. Uzume learns that Ninigi will go to the peak of Kushifuru in Takachiho, while Saruta-hiko will go to the upper waters of the River Isuzu at Sanada in Ise. After Uzume reports back, Ninigi leaves the heavenly rock-seat, parts the piled clouds and descends from Heaven. He arrives at the peak of Kushifuru in Hiuga, in the land of Tsukushi.

Amaterasu sends Ninigi to rule the land, a MythSource painting of the scene

5 sources· checked 2026-09-05

  1. 1Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 (Aston translation, 1896)T1
  2. 2Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 (Aston translation, 1896)T1
  3. 3Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 (Aston translation, 1896)T1
  4. 4Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 (Aston translation, 1896)T1
  5. 5Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 (Aston translation, 1896)T1

Amaterasu's Birth in Aston's Nihongi

In the main birth account in Aston's Nihongi, Izanagi and Izanami produce the Sun-Goddess. She is called Oho-hiru-me no muchi. The passage also records names from other writings: Ama-terasu no Oho kami and Ama-terasu-oho-hiru-me no Mikoto. Her light shines in every direction, across what the translation calls the six quarters.

Her parents rejoice. They have had many children, they say, but none has equalled this infant. They do not want to keep her in the land below for long. Instead, they decide to send her to Heaven and place its affairs in her care. Heaven and Earth are still close together, and a ladder joins them. They send the Sun-Goddess up that ladder at once.

Next they produce the Moon-god, whose light is second only to hers. In another writing he is called Tsuki-yumi no Mikoto or Tsuki-yomi no Mikoto. In this account he is to be the Sun-Goddess's consort and share her government. Izanagi and Izanami therefore send him to Heaven too. The two luminous children have both been entrusted with heavenly affairs, rather than remaining with their parents below.

Amaterasu's Birth in Aston's Nihongi, a MythSource painting of the scene

1 source· checked 2026-09-05

  1. 1Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 (Aston translation, 1896)T1

Tsukiyomi, Ukemochi, and the Separation of Day and Night

In an account marked as another writing, Amaterasu hears that Uke-mochi is in the central country of reed-plains and sends Tsukiyomi to wait upon her. Uke-mochi turns towards the land and produces boiled rice from her mouth. Facing the sea, she produces fish; facing the mountains, she produces game. She prepares these foods on a hundred tables for Tsukiyomi's entertainment.

Tsukiyomi becomes angry at the way the meal was produced. He calls it filthy and nasty, draws his sword, and kills Uke-mochi. He returns to Amaterasu and reports what happened. Amaterasu is exceedingly angry and says that she must not see him face to face. From then on, they are separated by one day and one night and dwell apart.

When Amaterasu sends a messenger again, Uke-mochi is already dead. Animals and crops have appeared from her body: ox and horse, millet, silkworm, panic, rice, wheat, and beans. The messenger carries these to Amaterasu, who says that visible people will eat and live from them. She makes the grains seeds for dry and water fields, appoints a heavenly field-chief, plants the rice, and begins silkworm rearing.

Tsukiyomi, Ukemochi, and the Separation of Day and Night, a MythSource painting of the scene

1 source· checked 2026-09-05

  1. 1Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 (Aston translation, 1896)T1

The wider mythology

Works that draw on more of the mythology than any single story: full retellings of the saga, and worlds built out of the material.

Chronicles of 2 Heroes: Amaterasu's Wrath - Collector's Edition (2023)

Game

Same game, same content as the standard edition - see that row.

Chronicles of 2 Heroes: Amaterasu's Wrath (2023)

Game

Amaterasu keeps her standing as Japan's supreme heavenly ruler, recast as a tyrant goddess who has conquered feudal Japan with an army of yokai; the heroes' quest to strip her of power by seizing "the three sacred treasures" echoes the imperial regalia (mirror, sword, jewel) tied to her line, without retelling any one classical story.

Ōkami

Game

Amaterasu's core identity as the sun goddess who restores light and life to a blighted world survives as the game's entire premise, reworked wholesale into a new, wolf-formed, brush-god adventure with no single classical myth as its source.

The Wicked + The Divine

Comics

Amaterasu keeps her core identity as sun goddess (her power is solar teleportation) inside the series' saga of gods cyclically reincarnating as modern pop idols; no single myth of hers is dramatised.

Also mentioned in

Stories elsewhere on MythSource that mention Amaterasu, each on that figure’s page.