Fine Art Fables: Amaterasu and the Cave

The story of Amaterasu and the Cave can be traced all the way to the oldest known records of Japan’s history, in the Kojiki (680 AD), which is an early Japanese chronicle of myths, legends, hymns, genealogies, oral traditions. 

Amaterasu and her brother, Susano, were both divine beings in Japanese mythology. When Susano accidentally kills a weaver with a practical joke, as he was a miscievious god, Amaterasu hides because of her guilt. Using magic, she sealed herself into a cave with a Heavenly Rock. Now, Amaterasu was the goddess of the sun, and without the sun goddess the world fell into darkness. The rest of the gods called a meeting, and tried to find ways to draw her out of the cave. Their solution: a party, and gifts. They crafted a beautiful mirror and a string of beads for her. Next, they uprooted an evergreen tree and decorated it with the beads and hung the mirror in its center. Ameno-uzume, goddess of the arts, danced on a stage. When Amaterasu got curious, she opened the cave door, and another god pulled her out of the cave by her wrist, and shut the Heavenly Rock behind her with a magical boundary so she could not hide again. The sun returned with her now out into the world once more. 

My illustration focuses on the evergreen tree decorated with the beads, with a reflection of the Goddess Amaterasu inside the mirror hanging from the center of the tree.

Here is the link to the story I referenced while creating the art piece and written material of this post: https://naokoyogitakiguchi.medium.com/when-the-sun-goddess-hid-in-the-cave-of-heaven-a-medicine-story-from-japanese-creation-myths-30b166125c32