Editing Amaterasu (section)

==Worship==
[[File:Amanoiwato Nishihongu.jpg|thumb|220px|[[Amanoiwato Shrine]]  ({{lang|ja|天岩戸神社}})]]
{{Shinto}}
The [[Ise Grand Shrine]] ({{lang|ja|伊勢神宮}} {{Lang|ja-latn|Ise Jingū}}) located in [[Ise, Mie|Ise]], [[Mie Prefecture]], [[Japan]], houses the inner shrine, Naiku, dedicated to Amaterasu. Her sacred mirror, [[Yata no Kagami]], is said to be kept at this shrine as one of the [[Imperial Regalia of Japan|Imperial regalia objects]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=Ellwood|first=Robert S.|date=1968|title=Harvest and Renewal at the Grand Shrine of Ise|journal=Numen|volume=15|issue=3|pages=165–190|doi=10.2307/3269575|issn=0029-5973|jstor=3269575}}</ref> A ceremony known as {{ill|Jingū Shikinen Sengū|ja|神宮式年遷宮}} ({{Lang|ja|神宮式年遷宮}}) is held every twenty years at this shrine to honor the many deities enshrined, which is formed by 125 shrines altogether. New shrine buildings are built at a location adjacent to the site first. After the transfer of the object of worship, new clothing and treasure and offering food to the goddess the old buildings are taken apart.<ref name=":2" /> The building materials taken apart are given to many other shrines and buildings to renovate.<ref name=":2" /> This practice is a part of the Shinto faith and has been practiced since the year 690 CE, but is not only for Amaterasu but also for many other deities enshrined in Ise Grand Shrine.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MUBtPYKeQvEC&q=Shikinen+Sengu+690&pg=PA215|title=Demographic Change and Local Development Shrinkage, Regeneration and Social Dynamics: Shrinkage, Regeneration and Social Dynamics|last1=Cristina|first1=Martinez-Fernandez|last2=Naoko|first2=Kubo|last3=Antonella|first3=Noya|last4=Tamara|first4=Weyman|date=2012-11-28|publisher=OECD Publishing|isbn=9789264180468|language=en}}</ref> Additionally, from the late 7th century to the 14th century, an unmarried princess of the Imperial Family, called "[[Saiō]]" ({{lang|ja|斎王}}) or {{Lang|ja-latn|itsuki no miko}} ({{lang|ja|斎皇女}}), served as the sacred priestess of Amaterasu at the Ise Shrine upon every new dynasty.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Takeshi|first=Matsumae|date=1978|title=Origin and Growth of the Worship of Amaterasu|journal=Asian Folklore Studies|volume=37|issue=1|pages=1–11|doi=10.2307/1177580|jstor=1177580}}</ref>

The {{Nihongo|[[Amanoiwato Shrine]]|天岩戸神社}} in [[Takachiho, Miyazaki|Takachiho]], [[Miyazaki Prefecture]], [[Japan]] is also dedicated to Amaterasu and sits above the gorge containing [[Amano-Iwato|Ama-no-Iwato]].

The worship of Amaterasu to the exclusion of other {{Lang|ja-latn|kami}} has been described as "the cult of the sun."<ref name=Wheeler>{{cite book| last = Wheeler| first = Post| title = The Sacred Scriptures of the Japanese| location = New York| publisher = Henry Schuman| pages = 393–395| year = 1952| isbn = 978-1425487874}}</ref> This phrase may also refer to the early pre-archipelagoan worship of the sun.<ref name=Wheeler/>

According to the ''[[Engishiki]]'' ({{lang|ja|延喜式}}) and ''[[Sandai Jitsuroku]]'' ({{lang|ja|三代実録}}) of the [[Heian period]], the sun goddess had many shrines named "Amateru" or "Amateru-mitama", which were mostly located in the [[Kansai region|Kinki]] area. However, there have also been records of a shrine on [[Tsushima Island]], coined as either "Teruhi Gongen" or the "Shining Sun Deity" during medieval times. It was later found that such a shrine was meant for a male sun deity named Ameno-himitama.<ref name=":1" />

Amaterasu was also once worshiped at Hinokuma shrines. The Hinokuma shrines were used to worship the goddess by the Ama people in the [[Kii Province]]s. Because the Ama people were believed to have been fishermen, researchers have conjectured that the goddess was also worshiped for a possible connection to the sea.<ref name=":1" />

In [[Kurozumikyō]], a Shinto-derived new religion that was founded in 1814 by Munetada Kurozumi ([[:ja:黒住宗忠|黒住宗忠]]), Amaterasu is the supreme deity that is worshipped.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hardacre |first1=Helen |title=Kurozumikyo and the New Religions of Japan |date=1988 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=0691020485 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=veE9DwAAQBAJ}}</ref>

Amaterasu is also the main deity worshipped in the Shinto-derived new religion [[Tenshō Kōtai Jingūkyō]], founded by [[Kitamura Sayo]].<ref>{{cite web | title=Tenshō Kōtai Jingūkyō (Encyclopedia of Shinto) | website=國學院大學デジタルミュージアム | url=https://d-museum.kokugakuin.ac.jp/eos/detail/id=9131 | language=ja | access-date=2025-04-27}}</ref>

Amaterasu was thought by some in the early 20th century until after [[World War II]] to have "created the [[Japanese archipelago]] from the drops of water that fell from her spear"<ref>{{Cite web |last=Chira |first=Susan |author-link=Susan Chira |date=January 7, 1989 |title=Hirohito, 124th Emperor of Japan, Is Dead at 87 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/01/07/obituaries/hirohito-124th-emperor-of-japan-is-dead-at-87.html |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> and in historic times, the spear was an item compared to the sun and [[solar deities]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Takeshi |first=Matsumae |year=1978 |title=Origin and Growth of the Worship of Amaterasu |url=https://asianethnology.org/downloads/ae/pdf/a318.pdf |journal=[[Asian Ethnology]] |volume=37 |issue=1 |pages=3}}</ref>