Amaterasu and the Cave of Heaven

Amaterasu, goddess of the sun, had a brother — the storm god Susanoo, wild and destructive. His rampages grew so cruel that he flung a flayed horse through the roof of her sacred weaving hall, and a maiden died of fright.

Grieved and enraged, Amaterasu withdrew into a cave and rolled a great stone across its mouth. With her went all light. The world fell into endless night; crops withered, and evil spirits swarmed in the dark.

The eight million gods gathered before the cave, desperate. They hung a mirror and jewels on a sakaki tree. Then the goddess Ame-no-Uzume overturned a tub, climbed atop it, and began a wild, comic dance, until the assembled gods roared with laughter.

Inside the cave, Amaterasu heard the impossible sound — joy, in a world she had left in darkness. Curious, she edged the stone aside. 'How can you laugh,' she asked, 'when the world has lost its light?'

They showed her the mirror. Seeing her own radiance reflected, she leaned closer — and a waiting god pulled the stone away and drew her out. Light returned to the world, and a sacred rope was strung across the cave so she might never retreat again.