(Flickr photo set: Ama-no-iwato)

Wednesday, I visited Ama-no-Iwato, the Cave of Heaven.

From Wikipedia:

Susanoo neglected his duties in the realm of the sea, and caused every sort of disturbance on the land, which Amaterasu had previously ruled with benevolence and wisdom. Susanoo ignored his sister’s pleas and destroyed rice-fields, uprooted trees, and even leveled sacred buildings. As a final provocation, he broke a hole in the roof of the hall where Amaterasu was sitting and watching other deities weaving heavenly garments, and threw in the body of a dead horse. The goddesses who were weaving were so shocked that many were injured and some died. Amaterasu withdrew, either out of embarrassment or out of fear, into a deep cavern in the center of the earth, the Rock Cave (Ama-no-Iwato), and refused to come out, causing darkness to fall upon the world.

The other 800 gods begged her to come out, to no avail. Then they collected roosters, whose crowing precedes the dawn, and hung an eight-handed mirror (Yata no Kagami) and jewels on a sakaki tree in front of the cave. The goddess Ama-no-Uzume began to dance on an an upturned tub, partially disrobing herself, which so delighted the assembled gods that they roared with laughter. They laughed so loudly that Amaterasu became curious. As Amaterasu opened the door slowly and softly to peek outside, the cocks saw her light and began to crow. The Magatama jewels glittered, and the mirror hanging on the tree reflected her light. She saw her own reflection and thought to herself that there must be someone or something equal to herself illuminating the world. As she opened the door a little wider, the deity Ama no Tajikara-wo no Kami, who was waiting behind the door, pulled Amaterasu out of the cave and quickly threw a shimenawa, or sacred rope of rice straw, before the entrance to prevent her return to hiding.

Amaterasu agreed to remain in the visible world and never again to withdraw.

I’ve known this story for years. (Who says games don’t teach you anything?) But there was one important fact I was missing: this is an actual cave. A real cave at a very specific spot in Japan that you can go and visit. So I had to go and visit. I’m not religious, or even spiritual. But the idea of a mythology so geographically precise is rather touching.

No photographs are allowed of the cave itself, though you can, escorted, view it from a landing on the back of the shrine. (The cave is normally hidden from view by the shrine.) I joiend a group of Japanese tourists and can could see that the cave itself is flush in a cliff wall covered in trees and vegetation. You can see a shimenawa draped across the mouth of the cave, but even this is obscured by the leaves and vines covering the cliff wall.

Nearby is Ama-no-Yasukawara, the cave where the other gods met to discuss strategies to lure Amaterasu from the cave. This is considered to be a place of healing power, and people have been piling rocks in offering for hundreds of years. The path up to the cave is covered in small piles, but the cave itself is simply drowning in stones.

The view from inside the cave itself is beyond belief.