Amaterasu emerging from the cave, Ama-no-Iwato, to which she once retreated (detail of woodblock print by Utagawa Kunisada)
Amaterasu Ōmikami (天照大（御）神;), often called Amaterasu for short, also known as Amateru Kami (天照神) and Ōhirume no Muchi (大日孁貴), is the goddess of the sun in Japanese mythology. Often considered the chief deity (kami) of the Shinto pantheon, she is also portrayed in Japan's earliest literary texts, the Kojiki (c. 712 CE) and the Nihon Shoki (720 CE), as the ruler (or one of the rulers) of the heavenly realm Takamagahara and as the mythical ancestress of the Imperial House of Japan via her grandson Ninigi. Along with two of her siblings (the moon deity Tsukuyomi and the impetuous storm-god Susanoo) she ranks as one of the "Three Precious Children" (三貴子, mihashira no uzu no miko / sankishi), the three most important offspring of the creator god Izanagi.
Amaterasu's chief place of worship, the Grand Shrine of Ise in Ise, Mie Prefecture, is one of Shinto's holiest sites and a major pilgrimage center and tourist spot. As with other Shinto kami, she is also enshrined in a number of Shinto shrines throughout Japan.
Attributes
Amaterasu is the Queen of Heaven, the kami, and creation itself. Though she did not create the universe, she is the goddess of creation, a role she inherited from her father, Izanagi, who now defends the world from the land of the dead. Goddess of the Rising Sun
Amaterasu’s primary role is that of the sun goddess. In this position, she not only serves as the literal rising sun that illuminates all things, but also provides nourishment to all living creatures and marks the orderly movement of day into night.
The sun represents order and purity, two of Shinto’s most important concepts. All things in creation are ordered, from Amaterasu down to the denizens of Jigoku and other hells.
Shrines
The Ise Grand Shrine (known commonly as Jingū) is not only Japan’s most historically important shrine, but also the official shrine of the Imperial Family. Dedicated to Amaterasu, this shrine houses the Imperial Regalia and was an important site of pilgrimage throughout the Edo Period (1600–1868). There are several sections of the shrine where only priestesses and members of the Imperial Family may pass. As such, the shrine’s chief priest and priestess must be of the Imperial Family line.
Another shrine, Amanoiwato Shrine in Takachiho, Miyazaki Prefecture, is said to be near the gorge where Ama-no-Iwato, the cave where Amaterasu hid herself from the world, can be found.
The Birth of Amaterasu
From the mists of time emerged two deities, Izanagi-no-Mikoto and Izanami-no-Mikoto, the divine male and female gods of creation. Seeking to fill the misty void, they devised the marriage ritual and engaged in sex, but had to repeat the ritual due to a mistake on Izanami’s part. This second, successful attempt yielded a multitude of kami, spiritual beings representing the natural world and the islands of Japan. The last of these beings—fire—subsequently killed Izanami.
Wrought with grief, Izanagi journeyed to Yomi, or “the shadowy land of the dead.” Searching far and wide, he eventually found his wife and was shocked to find her rotting flesh full of oni and other demons. Seeing his rejection of her, Izanami flew into a rage and attempted to chase him past the gates of death; however, he managed to block the gates with a boulder. Izanami swore that if he left her there, she would kill one thousand people every day. He replied that, each day, he would create five hundred more lives than she could destroy, thereby ensuring the survival of earth’s population.
Disgusted by the taint of death that lay upon him, Izanagi found a pool of pure water nearby and bathed himself in it. As he washed his left eye, Amaterasu emerged, fully-grown and glowing with the light of the sun. He washed his right eye next, and from it emerged the shining Tsukuyomi, the moon who reflected his sister’s light. As he cleaned his nose, a storm emerged and took the shape of Susanoo, the storm god and ruler of the seas. These three Izanagi tasked with ruling the heavens, with Amaterasu as their leader. Day and Night
As was the natural order of things, Amaterasu married her brother Tsukuyomi and together they ruled the day and night. The marriage produced children, but Tsukuyomi lacked Amaterasu’s naturally glowing disposition. Whatever goodness he had was merely a reflection of her light. Ultimately, Tsukuyomi revealed his true colors at a banquet when the goddess Uke Mochi created a bounty from which food could be grown. After she spat fish into the sea and game into the forests, she proceeded to pull crops from her rectum. Disgusted by her actions, Tsukuyomi killed her on the spot.
Amaterasu rejected her husband’s disgust and banished him for his evil actions. Thus, day and night became separated for all eternity. Amaterasu and the Cave
Though Izanagi tasked all three of his children with ruling the heavens, Amaterasu’s claim was strongest - as Izanagi’s first born, she held the divine right to rule. The youngest of the three, Susanoo, resented his elder sister’s right to rule and questioned it openly. Eventually, Susanoo’s arrogance led his father Izanagi to banish him.
Before his departure, Susanoo went to bid his sister goodbye. When his actions were met with suspicion by Amaterasu, Susanoo issued a challenge to prove his sincerity. As the challenge began, Susanoo took Amaterasu’s necklace as she took his sword. Using these vessels, they each birthed goddesses: Amaterasu produced three goddesses from the Heavenly Blade while Susanoo produced five gods from the Grand Jewel. Since she owned the Grand Jewel and more gods were birthed from it, Amaterasu claimed she had won the challenge.
Outraged by her claim, Susanoo went into a rampage, destroying much of Heaven and earth. He annihilated Amaterasu’s personal rice fields and threw animal carcasses about, even going so far as to throw a pony at her loom. One of Amaterasu’s personal attendants died during the rampage, causing an already angry Amaterasu to mourn as well. Ashamed that her actions had led to such chaos, she fled to a cave now known as Ama-no-Iwato, the Heavenly Rock Cave. With Amaterasu in hiding, the world plunged into darkness and chaos. Thus began the first winter, a hard time for a world used to basking in the sun.
The kami looked down upon the world and, seeing the chaos left in Amaterasu’s absence, decided they must bring her back. Though they asked her to return and described the chaos caused by her absence, Amaterasu refused to listen and blocked the cave entrance with a rock. After almost a year, wise Omoikane determined that if she would not come out of her own volition, they would have to lure her out with curiosity. To this end, a grand party was thrown.
The plan worked, as the music, dancing, and joyous cries of the gods did indeed peak Amaterasu’s attention. The noise intensified when the dawn goddess Ame-no-Uzume performed a particularly revealing dance. Curious, Amaterasu drew closer to the cave entrance and there discovered an Eight-Fold Mirror. Fascinated by the light of her own reflection, Amaterasu at last came to the mouth of the cave. It was at that moment Omoikane drew back the stone that blocked the entrance.
As he did so, Amaterasu’s light reentered the world, illuminating the chaos that had been left in her wake. Winter ended at last, and spring and summer brought life back to Japan. Ashamed, she begged forgiveness for her actions. It was given freely, for Susanoo’s behavior had been nothing less than abhorrent. His banishment was henceforth carried out, and Amaterasu returned to heaven. She later reconciled with her brother, who gave her the Heavenly Blade as a gift.
In time, Amaterasu sent her grandson Ninigi to rule the earthly realm after her son refused. She gave him the Imperial Regalia, which helped Ninigi to establish a kingdom of justice and harmony. His great-grandson Jimmu became the First Emperor of Japan, and ruled with the Imperial Regalia as a sign of his divine right and lineage.
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monkey paw, the PRC invaded the USSR to assist it's transition to a capitalist economy at the behest of the U.S regime
im not that heavy of a prc booster but a prc-style liberalization wouldve been notably less destructive than what happened lmao
money paw finger two, nothing actually changes from todays world line besides the interesting footnote that it was the PLA that lead the spearhead in putting down the august coup and hunting down all the Soviet loyalists that tried to preserve the union instead.
you hurt me so doctor ball. i genuinely dont think that would be the case because the PRC could engineer a more cooperative admin in Russia were that the case. i lowkey think it would still involve medevedev and putin anyway tho
Remember the PRC was on the wrong side of basically every issue involving the USSR until the end of the cold war. They even teamed uo with Taiwan to screw the USSR in central America. Their foreign policy ran on pure spite and self interest.
i dont subscribe to quite as harsh a read but those mfs really shouldve gotten into "critical support" instead of arming people directly fighting USSR picks
Basically anything except sending guns to fascists every time they could find a way to own the USSR would have been understandable. Even had they fully cut off the USSR, that would have been less egregious.
Ehh, given how things have gone I am more inclined to trust their read of the situation
Really, you're convinced that they were right to support the contras?
As they are the world superpower that seems poised to usher in global comunism and do the thing. I am pretty sure my life experience has not prepared me to make better choices than them.
I am asking you a very simple question here dude. Is the communist thing to do helping the contras murder communists? I just feel like you can't speak of their commitment to global communism as a justification when the context is the end of the cold war, and their staunch efforts against global communist efforts.
I can't begin to care about fifty year old conflicts neither of us really understand. Especially when it lines up with with fed shit.
I think saying that the Nicaraguan revolution is too complex for us to understand and there's a lot of nuances to the contras is the actual fed thing to say dudemeister.
In general I feel like it's extra silly to pull the "Fed" thing on someone for not supporting US foreign policy.
Anti-china is us foreign policy enough that I am not going to spend time learning anti-china talking points. Of course they have made mistakes. I don't think we can at this remove say if those were risks worth taking.
The expectation that the revolution will never make mistakes or it is no true revolution is specifically a fed idea we got incepted into our discourse.
I feel like I can say pretty definitively that there is nothing that justifies what the contras did, and I think teaming up with the CIA to support rabid anticommunists is bad before we get into the slaughtering of villages and arranging the victims to taunt the Sandinistas. And I feel like trying to justify the side of the CIA while talking about "Feds" is not a serious position.
The issue is not that I expect China to be perfect, the issue here is that I am pointing out such a mistake they made (I.e. their reasoning being clouded by the sino-soviet split to the extent that they supported anticommunists) and you are acting as if it not a mistake.
If it leads to the eventual overthrow of American then working with them to gain resources advantage it would be justified. If it was a mistake in trying to do that, then they maybe or maybe not have been justified in trying it but it is hard to know what they knew at the time.