Japanese
In this story of the sun goddess we are provided with an explanation for the day-night phenomenon and for the male-female conflict on which it is said to be based.
From his contact with death and the defiled nether land, Izanagi proceeds to purify himself. This he does in a small river in Tsukushi (i. e., Kyushu). As he throws his clothing on the ground some twelve deities are born of the individual garments and jewelry. Avoiding the water of the upper river as being too fast and that of the lower river as being too slug - 5 gish, he bathes himself in the middle course, and from the maculations on his body are born other divinities—some fourteen in all. At last, from his left eye is born the sun goddess, Amaterasu, the “Heaven Shining,” and from his right eye, the moon god. From his nose is born Susanowo, the “Impetuous Male.” Of these three divinities, Amaterasu and Susanowo lo are to occupy henceforth the central place in the legend; the moon god fades rapidly from the account.
Amaterasu is resplendent and shining; Izanagi places under her domination the Plain of High Heaven and bestows upon her a necklace of jewels. Susanowo is impetuous and dark, and to him is given the rule of the Sea 15 Plain. But the Impetuous Male is disconsolate; he weeps and laments loudly without ceasing until the mountains wither and the seas dry up. All the gods are baffled and distracted. At last, Izanagi questions him on his clamorous despair, to which, indeed, he seems more devoted than to his duties as ruler of the Sea Plain. Susanowo answers that he is lamenting because he 20 wishes to visit his mother (Izanami) in the Land of Darkness, and that such is the cause of his distress. Izanagi is furious at such impertinence and as punishment banishes him from the land.
Susanowo resolves then to take leave of his sister the sun goddess and sets off for her realm in the heavens. But so boisterous is his approach that 25 the sun goddess is frightened lest his arrival mean a coming encroachment on her own domains. So she prepares herself for meeting him. She slings a thousand-arrow quiver on her back, and another holding five hundred, and, grasping her bow, she takes her stance with such vigor that her legs sink to the thighs in the ground, and her appearance is that of a mighty 30 warrior. Face to face with this formidable amazon, Susanowo assures her
He has come only to take his leave, that he arrives with “no strange intentions.” In order that she may know the sincerity of his motives, he suggests they take an oath together and produce children, which they do. She accepts the tengrasp sword he gives her and, breaking it into three pieces, puts them in her mouth and chews them. He does the same with the jewels she has presented to him. And as they spew out the bits, numerous divinities come into being.
In spite of all his assurances, the Impetuous Male does not give up his rude ways. In fact, in certain respects his behavior worsens. He breaks down the divisions in the rice fields, which had been laid out by Amaterasu, fills the irrigation ditches, defiles her dwelling place with excrement. Curiously enough, she at first excuses him, blaming his actions on drunkenness. But when he flays a piebald colt with a backward flaying and flings it into the weaving hall where she is working with her attendants so that they are fatally wounded in their private parts by the flying shuttles, she is profoundly annoyed. To underline her displeasure, she retires into a rock cave and makes the entrance fast.
With the retirement of the sun goddess, light leaves the world, and the alternation of day and night ceases. The myriads of divinities are deeply perturbed at this turn of events and gather in the river bed of heaven to consult among themselves as how best to entice the goddess from her hiding place. They place longsinging night birds (i. e., roosters?) near the entrance of the cave and cause them to crow; they suspend from a tree a string of curved jewels, a mirror, and offerings of white cloth, and they all recite official liturgies (norito). But what is to prove finally efficacious is a lascivious, madcap dance performed by the goddess Ama no uzume, who, stamping loudly on the ground, pulling the nipples of her breasts, and lowering her skirt, so delights the assembled gods that they break out in raucous and appreciative laughter. Piqued with understandable curiosity, the sun goddess peers out of the cave, whereupon the mirror is pushed to the door and the goddess, intrigued with her own image, gradually steps out. A rope is passed in back of her, beyond which she is forbidden to return. With the appearance of the sun, light returns once again to the world, and the alternation of night and day recommences.
(E. Dale Saunders, “Japanese Mythology,” in S. N. Kramer, Mythology of the Ancient World, pp. 420-422.)
World History
