Shinto

Amaterasu and Susano-O

Izanagi comes back from the underworld and closing its rock door on his undead wife, and exchanging an important vow, he washes himself in a river estuary and as he washes his face, the water drips from each of his eyes and nose, and as it hits the water (upstream, downstream and in the middle of the estuary)three children are born: the sun/mirror goddess Amaterasu from Izanagi's left eye, the moon god Tsukiyomi from his right eye, and Susano-o-o the wild warrior god from his nose.

To each of them Izanagi assigns a realm for them to rule over. Amaterasu goes to rule over high heaven. Tsukiyomi the night, and Susano-o to the world of the sea (or perhaps this world, since later we find that the world of the sea has rivers and mountains)

The three children, rulers all, grow up, but Susano-o spends his whole time crying till his hair grew long. He cried so much that he dries up the rivers and the sea (eh?) and in the absence of a ruler in this world, bad spirits work all kinds of mischief, swarming like flies on a summer's day.

One day Izanagi comes to visit his son Susano-o asks, "Why do you cry?" Susano-o replies, "I cry because I want to see my mother in the world of the dead".

Hearing this Izanagi says "*If you want to do that*, then go from here!" and banishes him from the middle world, and retires to a shrine never to be seen again.

Rather than going to see his mother in the underworld, Susano-o instead decides to go and see his sister, Amaterasu in the plane of high heaven. Amaterasu hears her brother come from far away, and suspects that he may be coming to take her realm away from her. So she dresses like a male warrior, rolling up her long hair in the way of men, and stands beside Well of True Names, shouting like a male warrior, and stamping her feet so much that she sinks into the ground as if into scattering soft snow.

It is here that Susano-o meets her. The sun goddess speaks first asking him, "Why do you come to my kingdom, do you meant to rob me of it?" "Not at all sister" he replies and proceeds to explain what happened. My father came and finding me crying asked me why I cry. I said 'I cry because I want to see my mother in the world of the dead,' there upon he said 'go from here!' and banished me from my kingdom."

"How can I trust you?" asked the goddess Amaterasu. To this Susano-o replies, "How about if, to divine my intentions, we exchange oaths and make children" Amaterasu says "okay." First she takes a part of the sword of her brother, and washing it in the Well of True Names and chewing it chewily spits it out into the Well of True Names, whereupon children are formed as her breathe meets the water. The children are females. Then Susano-o takes some of the curved jewels hanging at his sister's neck and washing them in the pool, chewing them chewily, spits them out onto the surface of Well of True Names, whereupon male children are formed.

There upon, Susano-o exclaims that since the children formed from my possessions(his sword) are wan females, that proves that my heard is pure. And Amaterasu believed him.

But as soon as Susano-o entered the plain of high heaven he wrecked the rice fields, defecating on them, and destroying their walls and dikes. Amaterasu mused to herself "It is just that he has been drinking, and thinks that the rice paddies are better off as fields," but Susano-o's exploits escalated to the point where he climbed onto the roof of the Sun goddess's changing room, and threw down into it a reverse skinly-skinned dappled horse causing a weaving lady to go into a fright and insert her spindle into her vagina.

Shocked, Amaterasu retreated into the cave of rock closing the rock door behind her, and throwing the world into permanent night, at which all the bad sprits swarmed like flies on a summer's day.

The spirits of high heaven gathered together to discuss what should be done. Upon much deliberation they created a vast mirror. Then they had Ama-no-Uzume wear a headdress of jewels, and dance before the rock door, pulling at her breasts and pulling down her skirt to her privates, and perform a lewd dance that caused the assembled myriad spirits to laugh.

Sun goddess was surprised at all this merry-making outside, the and opened the rock door to ask what was going on. The spirits there assembled said, "look, there is someone as beautiful as you out here" and handed Amaterasu a giant mirror, looking into which, Amaterasu thought she was the mirror or that which was reflected, and came out of the cave.

Other gods closed the rock door behind her with sacred straw rope (such as is now displayed at the entrance to shrines) preventing her from returning into the cave.

All the spirits rejoiced at the return of the sun.

Finally they pulled out the hair and fingernails of Susano-o and banished him from the high plain of heaven.
Posted by timtak at March 4, 2011 12:49 PM