 |
|
 |
|
Kyrose
Moderator
Joined: 02 Dec 2006
Posts: 233
Coolness: +7
Location: Kawasaki City, Japan
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
 Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2006 6:24 pm Post subject: • Amaterasu • International Boards |
 |
|
What is AMATERASU?
I rise and fall in balance and truth...
Amaterasu is the Japanese sun goddess and supreme deity of the Shinto faith. Through Her descendent Ninigi, who married Konohana, or Sengen, She is the ancestress of the Imperial family. Her name means "Great Shining Goddess of Heaven", and She is the daughter of Izanami and Izanagi, the divine couple who created the lands. Her double shrine at Ise is rebuilt every twenty years, using one of the two identical buildings as a model. Thus the form of Her temple has remained consistent for two thousand years.
Like other solar deities such as Apollo, Amaterasu is an archer, Her quiver holding one thousand arrows. She is also a weaver who makes the garments of the gods.
Amaterasu's impetuous, loud, and altogether boorish younger brother Susano-o made it a habit to undo all Her good deeds, and in frustration and fear, She shut herself inside a cave and refused to come out. The other Gods could not bear to be without Her light, and finally enticed Her out by holding a raucous party outside the cave entrance, the highlight of which was the goddess Uzume performing a divine striptease. Her curiosity piqued by the Gods' roaring laughter, Amaterasu looked out and saw Her own reflection in an octagonal mirror placed there. Fascinated by Her own nearly forgotten beauty, She came out of the cave a little, which was shut fast behind Her.
Amaterasu is associated with royal power, and returning life and joy after dark times, as the sun becomes stronger and warmer after winter.
Alternate names: Ama-terasu-o-mi-kami
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Naruto Preferrences~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Shinto Legend on the Creation of the World
At the beginning of the World, there is one Being by the name of Izanagi. After a visit to the Netherworlds, he used water to purify his eyes, and thus, from the left eye, created Amaterasu, while from his right eye, created Tsuki-Yomi. Amaterasu was the Sun Goddess and Tsuki-Yomi the Moon Goddess. Finally, Susanowo the Storm God, was born from Izanagi's nose.
Amaterasu and Susanowo argued and fought each other for supreme power. Susanowo finally went on a killing rampage to prove his strength and Amaterasu hid in a cave in heaven.
Similarities between the Legend and Uchiha Itachi
Susanowo - Itachi, like Susanowo, went on a rampage to prove his strength, although Susanowo did not went to the extent of wiping out his entire family.
Tsuki-Yomi - The Moon Goddess. Itachi's technique to brings the victim into a time warp zone where there is always a bloody red moon. Legends also has it that the Tsuki-Yomi killed Uke-Mochi, the Goddess of Food (Amaterasu's close friend) after she offended the Moon Goddess, making Amaterasu so angry she vowed to never see Tsuki-Yomi again (explaining why there are days and nights). Tsuki-Yomi's act of violence could also be the inspiration for the red moon in Itachi's technique.
Amaterasu - The Sun Goddess. Itachi's black fire technique to burn through barriers, also known as Great Shining Heaven.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Sub-Informations~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Shintoism was the primitive religion of Japan before the coming of Buddhism, which is currently the main religion of Japan. Shintoism is a very simple religion. It gives only one command, the necessity of being loyal to one's ancestors.
Its early aspects were naturalistic, which included spiritism, totemism, nature worship, and a crude sort of monotheism. Early Japanese worshipped the sun, thunder, earth, volcanoes, tigers, serpents, trees, shrubs, vines, etc. and even stones. A later stage is more intellectual and ethically oriented.
The only deity actually recognized in higher Shintoism is the spiritualized human mind.
For the masses, Shintoism has about 800,000 gods, mostly the deified heroes of the Japanese. The chief god is Amaterasu, the Sun God, from whom the Imperial Family of Japan traces its roots.
Shinto is the indigenous religious tradition of Japan. Unlike some religions, Shinto has no historical founder; its roots lie deep in the prehistoric religious practices of the Japanese people. Nor does Shinto have any canon of sacred scriptures, although important elements of its mythology and cosmology may be found in ancient Japanese chronicles (the Kojiki and the Nihonshoki), and ritual prayers called norito were compiled into written collections at an early date.
The name Shinto is actually the Sino Japanese reading for the more purely Japanese kami no michi, which means the "way of the kami." The kami are innumerable Japanese deities that may be thought of as full fledged gods (such as the sun - goddess Amaterasu, from whom the imperial family is said to descend); the divinized souls of great persons (warriors, leaders, poets, scholars); the ancestral divinities of clans (uji); the spirits of specific places, often of natural beauty (woods, trees, springs, rocks, mountains); or, more abstractly, the forces of nature (fertility, growth, production).
Kami are generally worshiped at shrines (jinja), which are established in their honor and house the go - shintai (sacred objects) in which the kami are said to reside. Worshipers will pass under a sacred arch (torii), which helps demarcate the sacred area of the shrine. They will then purify themselves by washing their hands and rinsing their mouths, approach the shrine itself, make an offering, call on the deity, and utter a silent prayer.
Special times for worship include important moments in the life cycle of individuals (birth, youth, marriage, and, more recently, school entrance examinations) and festival dates (matsuris) that reflect the rhythm of the year: the New Year, the advent of spring, rice planting, midsummer, harvesting, and so on. In addition, each shrine will usually have its own special matsuri particular to its own history or foundation. On any of these occasions the shrine will be crowded with worshipers, many of whom may wish to have their fortunes told or to receive special blessings or purifications from the Shinto priests. Certain shrines have also taken on national importance. The Grand Shrine of Ise, for example, is sacred to Amaterasu. Because she is associated with the imperial family, her shrine is a national center of pilgrimage - the focal point for paying respect to the emperor and, through him, to Japan.
With the establishment of Buddhism in Japan during the Nara and Heian periods (710 - 1185 AD), Shinto quickly came under its influence as well as that of Confucianism and Chinese culture as a whole. On the one hand, it became more highly structured, following the Buddhist lead. On the other hand, certain kami came to be thought of as manifestations of particular Buddhas or bodhisattvas. (Amaterasu, for example, was identified with the cosmic Buddha Vairocana.) Thus the two religions both mixed and coexisted at the same time.
During the Tokugawa period (1603 - 1868), the Buddhist sects became tools of the feudal regime and neo Confucianism served as the guiding ideology. Shinto was overshadowed in the process. Gradually, however, certain nationalist scholars, reacting against what they considered foreign ideologies, turned more and more to Shinto as the source of a uniquely Japanese identity.
With the Meiji Restoration in 1868 - and the disestablishment of both the Tokugawa regime and the Buddhism that had accompanied it - Shinto naturally came to the fore. In the 1880s the government guaranteed freedom of religion to practitioners of all faiths but also drew a distinction between shrine Shinto (sometimes called state Shinto) and sect Shinto. The former was a nominally secular organization by means of which the state transformed shrines into centers of a patriotic and nationalistic "cult" applicable to followers of all faiths.
In the 1930s shrine Shinto was used by the ultranationalists and militarists as one of several vehicles for their views. Sect Shinto, on the other hand, was a separate category for various popular religious groups (a total of 13 Shinto "denominations" were distinguished), which were thereby separated from the state sponsored shrines and had, like the Buddhist sects and Christian denominations, to rely on private, nongovernmental support. These sect Shinto groups were, in many instances, the prototypes of various new religions that have emerged in Japan during the 20th century, especially since World War II.
With the end of World War II and the American occupation of Japan, the shrine Shinto system was dismantled and Shinto as a whole was disassociated from the state. Following that period, however, the shrines were revitalized and today remain one of the sacred focuses of Japanese religious sentiment.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amaterasu international forum offers vast communicative discussions with over 20 affiliated forums that suits our needs.
Mission: To bring out all nations into one room of discussion for a world of inner understanding, simply saying, this is an international forum that discusses EVERYTHING.
Vision: We see ourselves helping every people in different origins on every aspect of their lives by participating and sharing them of our knowledge and skills.
So what are you waiting for? be a member now and join in the fun!
Name:Amaterasu International Boards
URL: www.amaterasu.forumwise.com
Members: 500+ in our partnership-based forums in different hosts.
Whats it about?: EVERYTHING under the sun.
See you there!
_________________
| Amaterasu-X2 | Anime Imageboard | Filipino Tambayan Forum |
Last edited by Kyrose on Thu Sep 13, 2007 8:59 am; edited 1 time in total |
|
FAQ 
Log in to check your private messages 
