Ame-no-Uzume

The Goddess of Dance and Mirth

Domain: Dance, Mirth & Dawn
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Element: Light
Relics of Power: Mirror and Sacred Leaves

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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

Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto (天宇受売命 / 天鈿女命) is the Shinto kami of ecstatic dance, regenerative laughter, theatrical arts, and primordial joy in Japan. Her mythological action constitutes the dramatic centerpiece of the famous Heavenly Rock Cave (Ama-no-Iwato) narrative recorded in the 'Kojiki' (712 CE) and 'Nihon Shoki' (720 CE): when the sun goddess Amaterasu retreated into the cave in outrage over Susanoo's violent transgressions, plunging the cosmos into unrelenting darkness and chaos, Uzume overturned a wooden sounding tub, bound her sleeves with heavenly club-moss, adorned her hair with spindle-tree vines, bared her breasts, and stomped rhythmically with such intense frenzy that eight hundred myriads of gods burst into uproarious laughter; provoked by intense curiosity, Amaterasu opened the cave entrance and sunlight was gloriously restored to the world. During the subsequent Descent of the Heavenly Grandchild (Tenson Korin), she was the only deity fearless enough to confront the imposing guardian Sarutahiko at the celestial crossroads, disarming his hostility through cheerful grace and marrying him to establish the hereditary court priestess guild of the Sarume-no-kimi, responsible for sacred kagura performances and the royal Chinkon-sai soul-pacifying rituals in imperial Japan.

8 min read · Reviewed on September 30, 2026 · How we research

Sacred symbols

The bamboo leaves, the mirror, the dance and the laughter

Family

Ame-no-Uzume

Unions

Sarutahiko

Children

Founding ancestors of the hereditary Sarume-no-kimi priestess clan

Genealogy according to Kojiki 1.16-17, 1.34-36; Nihon Shoki 1.25, 2.15-18; Kogoshui; Engishiki 3 e 9

Sources and further reading

Primary sources

O no Yasumaro (太安万侶), Kojiki (古事記 / Records of Ancient Matters), Book 1 (sections 16-17 and 34-36). translation: Donald L. Philippi, Kojiki: Translated with an Introduction and Notes, Princeton University Press / University of Tokyo Press, 1968. read
Prince Toneri (舎人親王) et al., Nihon Shoki (日本書紀 / Chronicles of Japan), Books 1 and 2 (Jindai Jo and Ge). translation: W. G. Aston, Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697, Tuttle Publishing, 1972 (orig. 1896). read
Inbe no Hironari (斎部広成), Kogoshui (古語拾遺 / Gleanings from Ancient Stories). translation: Genchi Kato & Hikoshiro Hoshino, Kogoshui: Gleanings from Ancient Stories, Meiji Japan Society, Tóquio, 1926. read
Fujiwara no Tadahira (藤原忠平) et al., Engishiki (延喜式), Books 3 and 9-10 (Jingishiki and Jinmyocho). translation: Felicia G. Bock, Engi-shiki: Procedures of the Engi Era (Books I-V and VI-X), Sophia University, Tóquio, 1970–1972. read

Studies

Carmen Blacker, . George Allen & Unwin / Routledge, 1975. open
Benito Ortolani, . Princeton University Press, 1995. open
Jane Marie Law, . Princeton University Press, 1997. open
Allan G. Grapard, . University of California Press, 1992. open
Nelly Naumann, . Asian Folklore Studies, 1974. open

Name and epithets

The archaic sacred teonym Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto (天宇受売命 / 天鈿女命) is composed of classical elements of deep liturgical significance: 'Ame-no' (天) signifies 'heavenly' or 'of heaven', 'uzu' (宇受/鈿) refers to the ceremonial…

In the ancient sources

Kojiki (Records of Ancient Matters), 712 CE. Presents the canonical account of the ecstatic dance upon the inverted wooden tub, the disarming encounter at the crossroads, and the sea cucumber etiology.

The myths

The Ecstatic Dance before the Heavenly Rock Cave and the Rebirth of Light. As recorded in detail in chapter 17 of the 'Kojiki', following Susanoo's outrageous rampages within the celestial halls, the sun goddess Amatera…

Worship and archaeology

Veneration of Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto is foundational to Japanese performing arts, ritual theater, and spiritual mediation.

How the god was depicted

In shrine art, painted scrolls, and folk sculpture, Ame-no-Uzume is portrayed in two distinct iconographical modes.

What scholars debate

The Iwato Dance as the Archetypal Origin of Japanese Theatrical Arts. Eminent theater historians such as Benito Ortolani and Carmen Blacker identify Ame-no-Uzume's performance before the cave as the archetypal founding…

After antiquity

Ame-no-Uzume remains universally revered as the supreme patroness of the performing arts and joyous celebration in modern Japan.

Did you know?

Uzume's rhythmic stamping on the inverted sounding tub is regarded by musicologists as Japan's earliest documented form of percussion dancing, serving as the historical precursor to the resonance boards installed beneat…

Codex relic

Mirror and Sacred Leaves. The props of her ritual dance that returned the sunlight to a world plunged in darkness.

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