The origins of the Grand Shrine of Ise and the Cult of the Sun Goddess Amaterasu Ōmikami

概要

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Toyotama-hime who married Hoori no Mikoto was one of the oldest figures of Shintō mythology. She was the guarantor of fish fertility and the cycle of death and rebirth. In Ise Sarume was a similar goddess, but she was also the wife of the sun god Saruta-hiko who visited her nightly. Amaterasu Ōmikami emerged out of the image of this sea goddess, and significantly a mirror symbolyzing Amaterasu was placed in a coffin-like container named mifune-shiro or 'the boat-substitute', and reminiscent of the boat for Fudaraku Watari. On the other hand Amaterasu was originally the wife of Ōmono-nushi, the god of Mount Miwa on top of which lay Himuka (Facing the Sun) Shrine, who as god of both sun and serpent was represented by three sedge rings (miwa) used in the Nagoshi purificatory festival of Tsunakoshi Shrine of Miwa. When Yamato-hime went to Ise, she took the sun-half of Ōmono-nushi with her straight to the east from the Hashihaka tomb of Ōmono-nushi's wife via Hibara Shrine to establish the saigū palace. This led to the merger of the Yamato and Ise deities of the sun and their wives to create Amaterasu. Ninigi no Mikoto was originally a miracle child of the sea goddess, but was turned into a god who comes from Heaven. The ancient world-view that regarded the sky as primordial sea assisted this sea-heaven conversion.
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