Editing Amaterasu (section)

==Name==
The goddess is referred to as ''Amaterasu Ōmikami'' ({{lang|ja|天照大御神}} / {{lang|ja|天照大神}}; [[Historical kana orthography|historical orthography]]: {{lang|ja|あまてらすおほみかみ}}, ''Amaterasu Ohomikami''; [[Old Japanese]]: ''Amaterasu Opomi<sub>[[Old Japanese#Syllables|1]]</sub>kami<sub>2</sub>'') in the {{Lang|ja-latn|[[Kojiki]]}}, while the {{Lang|ja-latn|[[Nihon Shoki]]}} gives the following variant names:

*Ōhirume-no-Muchi ({{lang|ja|大日孁貴}}; [[Man'yōgana]]: {{lang|ja|於保比屢咩能武智}}; hist. orthography: {{lang|ja|おほひるめのむち}}, ''Ohohirume-no-Muchi''; Old Japanese: ''Opopi<sub>1</sub>rume<sub>1</sub>-no<sub>2</sub>-Muti'')<ref name="Kuroita">{{cite book |last1=Kuroita |first1=Katsumi |title=Kundoku Nihon Shoki, vol. 1 (訓読日本書紀 上巻) |date=1943 |publisher=Iwanami Shoten |pages=27 |url=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1904260/151}}</ref><ref name="Aston18">{{cite wikisource |author-first= William George |author-last= Aston |chapter= Book I |wslink= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |plaintitle= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |year= 1896 |publisher= Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.|wspage=18}}</ref>
*Amaterasu Ō(mi)kami ({{Lang|ja|天照大神}}; hist. orthography: {{Lang|ja|あまてらすおほ(み)かみ}}, ''Amaterasu Oho(mi)kami'')<ref name="Kuroita"/><ref name="Aston18"/>
*Amaterasu Ōhirume no Mikoto ({{lang|ja|天照大日孁尊}})<ref name="Kuroita"/><ref name="Aston18"/>
*Hi-no-Kami ({{lang|ja|日神}}; OJ: ''Pi<sub>1</sub>-no-Kami<sub>2</sub>'')<ref name="Kuroita"/><ref name="Aston18"/>

''Amaterasu'' is thought to derive from the verb {{Lang|ja-latn|amateru}} {{Gloss|to illuminate / shine in the sky}} (''[[:wikt:天#Etymology 1|ama]]'' {{Gloss|sky, heaven}} + ''[[:wikt:照る#Japanese|teru]]'' {{Gloss|to shine}}) combined with the honorific [[Japanese grammar#Auxiliary verbs|auxiliary verb]] ''[[:wikt:す#Etymology 2|-su]]'',<ref>{{cite encyclopedia| editor=Akira Matsumura| encyclopedia=[[Daijirin]]| language=ja| edition= 2nd| script-title=ja:大辞林| year=1995| publisher=[[Sanseido]] Books| isbn=978-4385139005}}</ref> while ''Ōmikami'' means 'great august<!-- adjective meaning "noble", not the month of August --> deity' (''[[:wikt:大#Etymology 2|ō]]'' {{Gloss|great}} + honorific prefix ''[[:wikt:御#Etymology 4|mi-]]''{{Efn|Rendered as "august" by [[Basil Hall Chamberlain]] in his translation of the ''[[Kojiki]]''.|倭国}} + ''[[kami]]''). Notably, ''Amaterasu'' in ''Amaterasu Ōmikami'' is not technically a name the same way ''Susanoo'' in [[Susanoo-no-Mikoto|''Susa no O no Mikoto'']] or ''[[Ōkuninushi]]'' in ''Ōkuninushi no Kami'' is. {{Lang|ja-latn|Amaterasu}} is an [[Japanese verb conjugation#Verb bases|attributive verb form]] that modifies the noun after it, {{Lang|ja-latn|ōmikami}}. This epithet is therefore, much more semantically transparent than most names recorded in the ''Kojiki'' and ''Nihon Shoki'', in that it means exactly what it means, without allusion, inference or etymological opacity, literally 'The Great August<!-- adjective meaning "noble", not the month of August --> Goddess Who Shines in Heaven'. This usage is analogous to the use of [[relative clauses]] in English, only different in that Japanese clauses are placed in front of the noun they modify. This is further exemplified by (1) an alternative epithet, {{Lang|ja-latn|Amateru Kami}} ({{Lang|ja|天照神}},<ref>{{cite web |url= https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%A4%A9%E7%85%A7%E7%A5%9E-427082|title= 天照神 |website= kotobank.jp}}</ref> {{Gloss|The Goddess Who Shines in Heaven}}), which is a plain, non-honorific version of {{Lang|ja-latn|Amaterasu Ōmikami}}, (2) alternative forms of the verb {{Lang|ja-latn|amaterasu}} used elsewhere, for example its [[Japanese verb conjugation#Verb bases|continuative form]] {{Lang|ja-latn|amaterashi}} ({{lang|ja|天}}{{lang|ja|照}}{{lang|ja|之}}) in the ''[[Nihon Sandai Jitsuroku]]'',<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ja.wikisource.org/wiki/%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E4%B8%89%E4%BB%A3%E5%AF%A6%E9%8C%B2%E3%81%AE%E5%9C%B0%E9%9C%87%E5%8F%B2%E6%96%99|title=日本三代實録の地震史料|website=ja.wikisource.org}}</ref> and (3) similar uses of attributive verb forms in certain epithets, such as [[Emperor Jimmu]]'s {{Lang|ja-latn|Hatsu Kunishirasu Sumeramikoto}} ({{Lang|ja|始馭天下之天皇}},<ref>{{cite web |url= https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%A7%8B%E9%A6%AD%E5%A4%A9%E4%B8%8B%E4%B9%8B%E5%A4%A9%E7%9A%87%E3%83%BB%E5%BE%A1%E8%82%87%E5%9B%BD%E5%A4%A9%E7%9A%87-359483|title= 始馭天下之天皇・御肇国天皇 |website= kotobank.jp}}</ref> {{Gloss|His Majesty Who First Rules the Land}}). There are, still, certain verb forms that are treated as proper names, such as the [[Japanese verb conjugation#Verb bases|terminal]] negative {{Lang|ja-latn|fukiaezu}} in '[[Ugayafukiaezu|Ugayafukiaezu no Mikoto]]' ({{Lang|ja|鸕鷀草葺不合尊}}, {{Gloss|His Augustness, Incompletely-Thatched-with-Cormorant-Feathers}}).

Her other name, {{Lang|ja-latn|Ōhirume}}, is usually understood as meaning {{Gloss|great woman of the sun / daytime}} (cf. ''[[:wikt:昼#Etymology 2|hiru]]'' {{Gloss|day(time), noon}}, from ''[[:wikt:日#Etymology 3 2|hi]]'' {{Gloss|sun, day}} + ''[[:wikt:女#Etymology 3|me]]'' {{Gloss|woman, lady}}),<ref name="tatsumi">{{cite web |last1=Tatsumi |first1=Masaaki |title=天照らす日女の命 (Amaterasuhirumenomikoto) |url=http://k-amc.kokugakuin.ac.jp/DM/detail.do?class_name=col_dsg&data_id=68210 |website=万葉神事語辞典 |publisher=Kokugakuin University |access-date=2020-10-11 |language=ja |archive-date=2020-10-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201011084255/http://k-amc.kokugakuin.ac.jp/DM/detail.do?class_name=col_dsg&data_id=68210 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Naumann |first1=Nelly |title='Sakahagi': The 'Reverse Flaying' of the Heavenly Piebald Horse |journal=Asian Folklore Studies |year=1982 |volume=41 |issue=1 |pages=26–27 |doi=10.2307/1178306 |jstor=1178306 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Akima |first1=Toshio |title=The Myth of the Goddess of the Undersea World and the tale of Empress Jingū's Subjugation of Silla |journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies |date=1993 |volume=20 |issue=2–3 |pages=120–121 |url=https://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2513 |publisher=Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture|doi=10.18874/jjrs.20.2-3.1993.95-185 |doi-access=free }}</ref> though alternative etymologies such as {{Gloss|great spirit woman}} (taking {{Lang|ja-latn|hi}} to mean {{Gloss|spirit}}) or {{Gloss|wife of the sun}} (suggested by [[Orikuchi Shinobu]], who put forward the theory that Amaterasu was originally conceived of as the consort or priestess of a male solar deity) had been proposed.<ref name="tatsumi"/><ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Eliade |editor1-first=Mircea |title=The Encyclopedia of Religion, vol. 1 |date=1987 |publisher=Macmillan |page=228 |chapter=Amaterasu}}</ref><ref>Akima (1993). p. 172.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Matsumura |first1=Kazuo |title=Mythical Thinkings: What Can We Learn from Comparative Mythology? |date=2014 |publisher=Countershock Press |page=118 |isbn=9781304772534 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=skh8BwAAQBAJ&pg=PA118}}</ref> A possible connection with the name [[Hiruko]] (the child rejected by the gods [[Izanagi]] and [[Izanami]] and one of Amaterasu's siblings) has also been suggested.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wachutka |first1=Michael |title=Historical Reality Or Metaphoric Expression?: Culturally Formed Contrasts in Karl Florenz' and Iida Takesato's Interpretations of Japanese Mythology |date=2001 |publisher=LIT Verlag Münster |pages=113–114}}</ref> To this name is appended the honorific {{Lang|ja-latn|muchi}},<ref>{{cite web |title=貴（むち） |url=https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/%E8%B2%B4_%28%E3%82%80%E3%81%A1%29/ |website=goo国語辞書 |access-date=2020-10-11 |language=ja}}</ref> which is also seen in a few other [[theonym]]s such as '[[Ōkuninushi|Ō(a)namuchi]]'<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tsugita |first1=Uruu |title=Shinpan Norito Shinkō (新版祝詞新講) |date=2008 |publisher=Ebisu Kōshō Shuppan |pages=506–507 |isbn=9784900901858 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b3aYegMdAPMC}}</ref> or 'Michinushi-no-Muchi' (an epithet of the [[Munakata Taisha|three Munakata goddesses]]<ref name="Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co">{{cite wikisource |author-first= William George |author-last= Aston |chapter= Book I |wslink= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |plaintitle= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |year= 1896 |publisher= Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.|wspage=40}}</ref>).

As the ancestress of the imperial line, the epithet {{Lang|ja-latn|Sume(ra)-Ō(mi)kami}} ({{Lang|ja|皇大神}}, {{Lit|great imperial deity}}; [[Kanji#On'yomi (Sino-Japanese reading)|also read as]] {{Lang|ja-latn|Kōtaijin}}<ref>{{cite web |title=皇大神 |url=https://kotobank.jp/word/%E7%9A%87%E5%A4%A7%E7%A5%9E-496430 |website=Kotobank|script-website=ja:コトバンク |publisher=The Asahi Shimbun Company |access-date=2020-10-11}}</ref>) is also applied to Amaterasu in names such as Amaterasu Sume(ra) Ō(mi)kami ({{Lang|ja|天照皇大神}}, also read as 'Tenshō Kōtaijin')<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tobe |first1=Tamio |title="Nihon no kami-sama" ga yoku wakaru hon: yaoyorozu no kami no kigen / seikaku kara go-riyaku made o kanzen gaido (「日本の神様」がよくわかる本: 八百万神の起源・性格からご利益までを完全ガイド) |date=2004 |publisher=PHP Kenkyūsho |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CK27BQAAQBAJ&pg=PR5}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Nagasawa |first1=Rintarō |title=Kōso kōsō no seiseki (皇祖皇宗之聖蹟) |date=1917 |publisher=Shinreikaku |page=1 |url=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/913588/9}}</ref> and 'Amaterashimasu-Sume(ra)-Ōmikami' ({{Lang|ja|天照坐皇大御神}}).<ref>{{cite web |title=天照大御神(アマテラスオオミカミ) |url=https://www.kyototuu.jp/Jinjya/MikotoAmaterasu.html |website=京都通百科事典 (Encyclopedia of Kyoto) |access-date=2020-10-11}}</ref>

During the medieval and early modern periods, the deity was also referred to as 'Tenshō Daijin' (the ''[[Kanji#On'yomi (Sino-Japanese reading)|on'yomi]]'' of {{Lang|ja|天照大神}}) or 'Amateru Ongami' (an alternate reading of the same).<ref>{{cite book |author1=Teeuwen, Mark |editor1-last=Scheid |editor1-first=Bernhard |editor2-last=Teeuwen |editor2-first=Mark |title=The Culture of Secrecy in Japanese Religion |date=2015 |publisher=Routledge |page=1999 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3Lk7lt70qDcC&pg=PA199 |chapter=Knowing vs. owning a secret: Secrecy in medieval Japan, as seen through the ''sokui kanjō'' enthronement unction|isbn=9781134168743 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Kaempfer |first1=Engelbert |title=Kaempfer's Japan: Tokugawa Culture Observed |date=1999 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |page=52 |isbn=9780824820664 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H2xdLbvCR6sC&pg=PA52|translator-last=Bodart-Bailey |translator-first=Beatrice M.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Hardacre |first1=Helen |title=Kurozumikyo and the New Religions of Japan |date=1988 |publisher=Princeton University Press |page=53 |isbn=0691020485 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=veE9DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA53}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Bocking |first1=Brian |title=The Oracles of the Three Shrines: Windows on Japanese Religion |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781136845451 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sUldAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA49}}</ref>

The name ''Amaterasu Ōmikami'' has been translated into English in different ways. While a number of authors such as [[Don Philippi|Donald Philippi]] rendered it as {{Gloss|heaven-illuminating great deity}},<ref>{{cite book |last1=Philippi |first1=Donald L. |title=Kojiki. Translated with an Introduction and Notes |date=1968 |publisher=University of Tokyo Press |page=454}}</ref> [[Basil Hall Chamberlain]] argued (citing the authority of [[Motoori Norinaga]]) that it is more accurately understood to mean {{Gloss|shining in heaven}} (because the auxiliary {{Lang|ja-latn|su}} is merely honorific, not causative, such interpretation as {{Gloss|to make heaven shine}} would miss the mark), and accordingly translated it as {{Gloss|Heaven-Shining-Great-August-Deity}}.<ref>Chamberlain (1882). [https://www.sacred-texts.com/shi/kj/kj017.htm Section XI.—Investiture of the Three Deities; The Illustrious August Children.]</ref> Gustav Heldt's 2014 translation of the ''Kojiki'', meanwhile, renders it as "the great and mighty spirit Heaven Shining."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Heldt |first1=Gustav |title=The Kojiki: An Account of Ancient Matters |date=2014 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-2311-6388-0 |pages=xiv, 18}}</ref>