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Amaterasu

The Goddess of the Heavenly Sun

Domain: Sun & Royalty
Alignment: Lawful Good
Element: Light
Relics of Power: Yata no Kagami Mirror

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The full Codex

5 sections of this entry are open to everyone: the summary, the people, the symbols, the lineage and the sources. The other 9 (Name and epithets, In the ancient sources, The myths, Worship and archaeology, How the god was depicted, What scholars debate, After antiquity, Did you know?, Codex relic) are part of the full Codex: PRO opens the whole study of all 500 deities, and without a subscription you can read one full entry a day, just like in the app.

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The People

People

Japanese

Region

Japanese archipelago

Period

c. 500 BC – present

The kami of Shinto have been worshipped in Japan since time immemorial, in thousands of shrines across the archipelago. The imperial family claims direct descent from the sun goddess Amaterasu, and the cult coexists with Buddhism brought from the mainland. Festivals (matsuri) and purification rites keep these beliefs alive to this day.

Matsuri fill the streets with processions of portable shrines (mikoshi), drums, and dances. The great shrine of Ise, dedicated to Amaterasu, is rebuilt every twenty years, and at hatsumode millions visit the shrines at New Year to ask for blessings.

At a glance

Amaterasu Ōmikami is a solar deity and ruler of the Plain of High Heaven in the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki. The first text has her emerge from Izanagi's left eye during a purification; the main account of the second says that Izanagi and Izanami generated her together. Her retreat into a cave leaves heaven and earth in darkness. Later she takes part in the transfer of earthly rule to her descendant Ninigi. At Ise, the Naikū shrine venerates her and houses a mirror as her symbol. These scenes belong to traditions transmitted and edited in ancient texts, not to one biography without variants.

10 min read · Reviewed on October 13, 2026 · How we research

Sacred symbols

Sun, the mirror Yata no Kagami, the rooster and the sacred jewel

Family

Parents

IzanagiIzanami (mother in the main Nihon Shoki account)

Siblings

Tsukuyomi Susanoo

Amaterasu

Children

Oshihomimi (one of the five sons acknowledged by Amaterasu in the Kojiki)Ame no HohiAmatsuhikoneIkutsuhikoneKumano no Kusubi

Genealogy according to Kojiki, purificação de Izanagi e juramento com Susanoo; Nihon Shoki (Nihongi), livro I, relato principal e variantes

Sources and further reading

Primary sources

Anonymous; translation by Basil Hall Chamberlain, The Kojiki. translation: English, 1882. read
Anonymous; translation by Donald L. Philippi, Kojiki, excerpt from book I. translation: English, 1969. read
Imperial Japanese court commission; translation by William George Aston, Nihongi (Nihon Shoki), Book I. translation: English, 1896. read
Imperial Japanese court commission; translation by William George Aston, Nihongi (Nihon Shoki), Book II. translation: English, 1896. read

Studies

Mori Mizue, Amaterasu. Kokugakuin University, Encyclopedia of Shinto. open
Ise Jingu, About Ise Jingu. Ise Jingu. open
Ise Jingu, Rituals and Ceremonies. Ise Jingu. open

Name and epithets

The name Amaterasu, written 天照, identifies the deity who illuminates heaven; Ōmikami is a reverential title. Chamberlain renders her name in the Kojiki as the great deity shining in heaven, while Aston also records the…

In the ancient sources

Kojiki, compiled in 712 CE. A continuous account linking Amaterasu's birth to the mythical origin of the imperial line. Nihon Shoki (Nihongi), compiled in 720 CE.

The myths

From Izanagi's bath to rule over heaven. After leaving the land of the dead, Izanagi washes his body to purify himself.

Worship and archaeology

The Kojiki connects Amaterasu to the shrine at Ise and says that Yamato Takeru visits it before his eastern expedition.

How the god was depicted

Mirror, curved jewels, sakaki tree, rope, and cave are objects or places named in the Kojiki scene of the return of light.

What scholars debate

Birth and narrative variants. The Kojiki has Amaterasu born from Izanagi's eye. The main Nihon Shoki account presents her as the daughter of Izanagi and Izanami; an alternative version in the same book returns to birth…

After antiquity

Amaterasu's connection to the imperial house remains in the official account of the Ise shrine, which calls her an ancestral kami of the imperial family.

Did you know?

In the Kojiki, restoring light requires an assembly of deities and a sequence of tasks; the mirror is only one part of the plan.

Codex relic

Yata no Kagami Mirror. A sacred bronze mirror that reflects the pure truth of the soul.

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