After escaping from the underworld, the creator god Izanagi cleansed himself in the water of the river Tachibana at Himuka. The goddess Amaterasu-o-mikami was born when he cleansed his left eye, god Tsukiyomi-no-mikoto was born from his right eye and the god Susano-wo was born from his nose.
Izanagi was very happy to see his children. He entrusted Amaterasu with the rule of the Takamagahara, or the high celestial plane of heaven; the night was given to Tsukiyomi-no-mikoto, and the rule of the ocean was given to Susano-wo.
From the beginning, Amaterasu was very responsible for her duties, and she brought prosperity to both earth and heaven. Tsukiyomi was also doing his duty properly. But Susano-wo, or the storm god, was negligent towards his work. He created chaos in his realm and even destroyed the irrigation works of his elder sister Amaterasu, which she did for a better harvest from the paddy field. He declared that he was longing for his mother and wished to be in the underworld. Hearing him, an enraged Izanagi exiled him to the underworld, or Yomi.
Before embarking on his journey to the underworld, Susano-wo decided to pay a visit to his sister in her home. As he approached, the mountains started to tremble. When Amaterasu learnt that Susano-wo was coming towards her palace, she had no doubt in her mind that her brother was coming to siege her realm. Hence, she began to prepare herself for a battle. She was clad in armour, tied her hair, took her bow and arrows, and then commenced a battle dance. Susano-wo was shocked by his sister's reaction. He made an attempt to assure his sister that he had only come to bid her good bye before his journey to the underworld.
As Amaterasu was not convinced, he proposed a trial by pledge (Ukehi) and presented her with his sword. Amaterasu cleansed the sword with holy water and broke it into three pieces. As she chewed the pieces and spat forcefully, three goddesses emerged from the sword. That proved the innocence of Susano-wo. In return, Amaterasu gave Susano-wo her strings of magatama beads from the right branch of her hair, jewels from the left brunch of her hair, her head band, and jewels from the right arm and the left arm. Susano-wo cleansed all of them with holy water and chewed them. When he spat, five gods were born. That proved the superiority of Amaterasu, as only three deities were born from the sword of Susano-wo, while five were born from the necklace of Amaterasu. Enraged, Susano-wo started to ravage the heaven; he devastated the paddy fields and defecated in the sacred hall of first offerings. Lastly, he flayed a pony and hurled it into the weaver's hall of Amaterasu through its window. One of the weavers was killed.
Amarerasu was afraid of her brother and decided to hide herself in a heavenly rock cave (Ama-no-Iwato). She closed the entrance to the cave with a large stone.
As the sun goddess was gone, the entire earth and heaven became dark, resulting in the rise of all the evils. Hence, eight million Kamis started to plan how to make the sun goddess reappear from her shelter. They entrusted the blacksmith of heaven, Amatsumara, with the task of making a metal mirror. They placed a sakaki tree in front of the cave and decorated the tree with the metal mirror and jewels. They brought a rooster too, which started cock-a-doodle-do. Then the goddess Amano-uzume started to dance, stripping her clothes one by one, on a flat-bottom tub which was kept upside down. All the Kamis started to laugh at the sight of this peculiar dance.
Amaterasu was intrigued to know what was happening outside. As she peeped out after slightly opening the entrance, she saw her own reflection in the mirror. She was confused, as she thought that there was a new goddess of light. As soon as she opened the entrance a little more, the strong god Amano-tachikara, who was hiding behind a stone, came out and pulled Amaterasu out of the cave. Immediately, another Kami, Ameno-futotama-no-mikoto, sealed the entrance with tape so that Amaterasu could never enter there again. As the sun goddess reappeared, the earth and world became enlightened once again.
Now the Kamis decided unanimously to punish Susano-wo for his crimes. They stripped off his beard, removed his nails, and forced him to offer a thousand tables of offerings, which were distributed among the Kamis. Susano-wo was expelled from heaven. Thus ended the conflict between the sun goddess and the thunder god.
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