Amaterasu became curious how the gods could make merry while the world was plunged into darkness and was told that outside the cave there was a deity more illustrious than she. The goddess Amenouzume ( q.v.) began a dance on an upturned tub, partially disrobing herself, which so delighted the assembled gods that they roared with laughter. They collected cocks, whose crowing precedes the dawn, and hung a mirror and jewels on a sakaki tree in front of the cave. The other 800 myriads of gods conferred on how to lure the sun goddess out. Indignant, Amaterasu withdrew in protest into a cave, and darkness fell upon the world. Susanoo then began to behave very rudely-he broke down the divisions in the rice fields, defiled his sister’s dwelling place, and finally threw a flayed horse into her weaving hall. As an act of good faith, they produced children together, she by chewing and spitting out pieces of the sword he gave her, and he by doing the same with her jewels. Before going, Susanoo went to take leave of his sister. One of her brothers, the storm god Susanoo, was sent to rule the sea plain. She was born from the left eye of her father, Izanagi, who bestowed upon her a necklace of jewels and placed her in charge of Takamagahara (“High Celestial Plain”), the abode of all the kami.
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