Reading Notes: Japanese Mythology, Part A - The Miraculous Mirror
The Miraculous Mirror:
This story took me a couple of reads to understand what the plot was. The prose of these stories are beautiful and poetic, but they are a little hard to follow sometimes. So, what I have gathered of the plot is this:
Amaterasu is in heaven, hanging out with her handmaidens, weaving "the dark web of Doom" which I assume is a kind of Fate tapestry. Her brother (and apparently her rival) Susanoo arrives in the Hall of the Gods, and Amaterasu flees, scared. She hides herself in a cave under the ocean, leaving the land above in darkness. People are grieving and begging her to come back, to bring the light back to their land, but Amaterasu doesn't come out. To try and coax the Sun-goddess out of her seclusion, an "auspicious" god (no name is given) crafts a mirror and hangs it outside the entrance of Amaterasu's cave. A goddess, Uzume, is brought to dance on the waves, and the welkin (which I looked up, and apparently means the sky or the heavens) "fills with cries." Amaterasu comes to the edge of her cave and asks what's going on, and Uzume tells her that they are looking at a princess who is more beautiful than the Sun (i.e. Amaterasu) itself. Amaterasu thinks she now has a rival, and looks outside the cave. She sees her own reflection, and not recognizing it as such, thinks she has spotted her rival, and exits the cave in "astonishment, wrath, and chagrin." Just as she leaves, someone covers up the entrance of her cave with a boulder so that she can't go back in, and the light returns to the land.
Even though I didn't immediately grasp the plot here, I really liked this story, especially the part at the beginning about the colors of the tapestry and what they meant, and the balance between good and evil elements in it. I also found it kind of funny that Amaterasu reacted to her reflection the same way my dog does, with immediate jealousy.
Story Source: Romance of Old Japan, Part I: Mythology and Legend by E. W. Champney and F. Champney (1917).
This story took me a couple of reads to understand what the plot was. The prose of these stories are beautiful and poetic, but they are a little hard to follow sometimes. So, what I have gathered of the plot is this:
Amaterasu is in heaven, hanging out with her handmaidens, weaving "the dark web of Doom" which I assume is a kind of Fate tapestry. Her brother (and apparently her rival) Susanoo arrives in the Hall of the Gods, and Amaterasu flees, scared. She hides herself in a cave under the ocean, leaving the land above in darkness. People are grieving and begging her to come back, to bring the light back to their land, but Amaterasu doesn't come out. To try and coax the Sun-goddess out of her seclusion, an "auspicious" god (no name is given) crafts a mirror and hangs it outside the entrance of Amaterasu's cave. A goddess, Uzume, is brought to dance on the waves, and the welkin (which I looked up, and apparently means the sky or the heavens) "fills with cries." Amaterasu comes to the edge of her cave and asks what's going on, and Uzume tells her that they are looking at a princess who is more beautiful than the Sun (i.e. Amaterasu) itself. Amaterasu thinks she now has a rival, and looks outside the cave. She sees her own reflection, and not recognizing it as such, thinks she has spotted her rival, and exits the cave in "astonishment, wrath, and chagrin." Just as she leaves, someone covers up the entrance of her cave with a boulder so that she can't go back in, and the light returns to the land.
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| Amaterasu sees herself in the mirror (Source: Thea's Blog) |
Even though I didn't immediately grasp the plot here, I really liked this story, especially the part at the beginning about the colors of the tapestry and what they meant, and the balance between good and evil elements in it. I also found it kind of funny that Amaterasu reacted to her reflection the same way my dog does, with immediate jealousy.
Story Source: Romance of Old Japan, Part I: Mythology and Legend by E. W. Champney and F. Champney (1917).
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