Amaterasu Hides
Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess, Tsuki-yomi, god of the moon, and Susano, the god of storms, were born of Izanagi, the first male, after he escaped from the underworld. When they were old enough, Izanagi gave Amaterasu dominion over the heavens, Tsuki-yomi dominion over the night, and Susano dominion over the ocean. But Susano felt cheated and grew sulky, preferring to go to the dark land of Izanami, his mother, rather than rule the waters. He then challenged Amaterasu to a contest: whichever of them gave birth to the more powerful deities would have to yield power to the other. When Amaterasu won, Susano became so furious that he attacked the sacred weaving palace, where Amaterasu and her ladies wove the world. He frightened and offended her so greatly that she withdrew into the solitude of a cave, leaving heaven and earth in complete darkness. As the other gods were deeply troubled, they set about bringing Amaterasu back into the world. They deliberated for a very long time, and finally decided to attract her attention by causing a great commotion outside the cave, tricking her into believing they were welcoming a deity even more powerful than herself. In reality, the superior deity was Amaterasu herself, reflected in a mirror.
Susano, God of Storms
When Amaterasu returned to the world, the gods punished Susano by cutting off his beard and the nails of his hands and feet, and banished him from the world of humans. Upon seeing a pair of chopsticks floating in a river, he wished to know who owned them. When he found the owners, he discovered they were an elderly couple, devastated at having lost seven daughters devoured by an eight-headed dragon, which was about to eat their last daughter, Kusa-nada-hime, the Princess of the Rice Paddies. Susano decided to rescue her and transformed her into a “comb” which he placed in his hair. He then filled eight barrels of sake for the dragon, who upon drinking them fell asleep. Susano then cut off the dragon’s heads with a magic sword: aine no murakomo, which means “Clouds of the Heavens,” which he had found in its tail. He then sent the sword to Amaterasu as a token of submission. Together with Amaterasu’s mirror and jewels, it forms part of the Japanese imperial regalia. Afterwards, Susano restored the Princess of the Rice Paddies to human form and made her his wife.