Amaterasu and the cave Amaterasu's brother, the storm god
Susano'o, had vandalized her rice fields, threw a flayed horse at her loom, and brutally killed one of her maidens due to a quarrel between them. In turn,
Amaterasu became furious with him and retreated into the Heavenly Rock Cave,
Amano-Iwato. The world, without the illumination of the sun, became dark and the gods could not lure Amaterasu out of her hiding place. The clever Uzume overturned a tub near the cave entrance and began to dance on it, tearing off her clothing in front of the other deities. They considered this so comical that they laughed heartily at the sight. This dance is said to have founded the Japanese ritual dance,
Kagura. This is supported by other traditions claiming that the first kagura was danced by a shamaness who was a kami, Ame-no-Uzume, through luring (invoking the presence of) Amaterasu, thereby reenacting the intentions of the kagura as an act of communication to other deities. Moreover, in addition to inspiring the origins of the kagura, the myth of Ame-no-Uzume has also influenced the sources of three Shamanic elements later being incorporated into Shinto ritual and the kagura, being the Omoto Kagura, Hana Matsuri, and the Hayachine Kagura in presenting shamanic choreography as ritual communication, what the myth is most known for contributing. Uzume had hung a
bronze mirror and a beautiful jewel of polished jade. Amaterasu heard them, and peered out to see what the commotion was about. When she opened the cave, she saw the jewel and her glorious reflection in a mirror which Uzume had placed on a tree, and slowly came out from her clever hiding spot. At that moment, the god
Ame-no-Tajikarawo-no-mikoto dashed forth and closed the cave behind her, refusing to budge so that she could no longer retreat. Another god tied a magic
shimenawa (compare the
Nuristani myth of a chaff attaching itself to the thread around a house near heaven) across the entrance. The deities
Ame-no-Koyane-no-mikoto and
Ame-no-Futodama-no-mikoto then asked Amaterasu to rejoin the divine. She agreed, and light was restored to the earth.
Uzume and Sarutahiko Amaterasu orders Uzume to accompany her grandson
Ninigi on his journey to earth. They head to
Ame-no-ukihashi ("floating bridge of heaven") so they could head to earth but they are blocked by
Sarutahiko. Uzume comes and persuades Sarutahiko to let Ninigi pass, in other versions of the story Uzume flirts with Sarutahiko. During this journey, she cut the mouth of the sea cucumber with her dagger, causing it to fall permanently silent. Later, Uzume and Sarutahiko fall in love and got married. Together, they found the . == Worship ==