Figures
Ame-no-Uzume
Road Guardian Deities
Citation Formats
General Reference
APA Style
BibTeX
The Kojiki gives Ame-no-Uzume a second decisive scene beyond the dance that draws Amaterasu from her cave. When the imperial ancestor Ninigi descends from heaven, its way stands blocked by an enormous, radiant figure at the crossroads between heaven and earth, and every other deity in the procession is too frightened to approach him. It is Ame-no-Uzume, still bearing the boldness of her dance before the cave, who steps forward alone, bares her breasts and questions the stranger directly, learning that he is Sarutahiko, the earthly kami sent to guide the descent rather than to oppose it. Her fearlessness at the crossroads becomes the occasion of their marriage, and later tradition remembers the pairing of the two as dosojin, guardian deities enshrined together at roadsides and boundaries to protect travelers and mark safe passage.
Facts
Attestation
HistoricityNot a historical person: a divine or other-than-human being 1 Veneration TodayActively venerated in a living tradition 1 Origins
Era of CompositionFirst recorded in the early eighth century compilations Kojiki, completed in 712, and Nihon Shoki, completed in 720, among the oldest surviving textual sources for Shinto myth. 1 Origin of the NameSourced to the subject's own accountHer name element Uzu, meaning whorl or spinning, evokes the whirling motion of the dance that drew Amaterasu from the cave, and later readings connect Uzume itself to this same root of ecstatic, spinning movement. 2 Attributions
Mythic AssociationSourced to the subject's own accountCredited with founding Kagura, Shinto ritual dance; later wife of the earth-god Sarutahiko, with whom she is said to have founded the Sarume clan. 2 Life
Office HeldSourced to the subject's own accountGoddess of dawn, mirth, dance and revelry 2 Associated RelicThe Kojiki recounts that she danced an ecstatic dance atop an overturned tub before the cave in which Amaterasu had hidden, provoking the gathered gods to laughter loud enough to draw the sun goddess out to see what she was missing, a myth tradition credits as the origin of kagura sacred dance. 1 Practice
LineageKami of dawn, mirth and sacred dance; wife of Sarutahiko, whom she confronted and married at the crossroads between heaven and earth; regarded as ancestress of the Sarume clan of court dancers 1 History
Historical NoteSourced to the subject's own accountHer uninhibited dance on an overturned tub outside Ama-no-Iwato, tearing off her clothing before the assembled gods, provoked laughter that finally drew Amaterasu out of hiding and restored light to the world. When Ninigi later descended to earth, she faced down the imposing Sarutahiko blocking the heavenly crossroads, winning safe passage and, afterward, his hand. 2 Veneration
PatronageThe Kojiki credits her uninhibited dance before the cave Amano Iwato, performed to such comic and provocative effect that the assembled gods burst into laughter, with drawing Amaterasu's curiosity enough to reopen the cave, and tradition afterward honors her as a patron of dance and performance. 1 Learn More
The Dance That Brought Back the Sun: Ame-no-Uzume at the Rock Cave
Ame no Uzume is the kami of dawn, mirth and dance, and her single most famous act is credited with saving the world from permanent darkness. After Susanoo's destructive behavior drove Amaterasu the sun goddess to seal herself inside the heavenly rock cave, Ama no Iwato, the world was plunged into unending night, and the assembled kami tried and failed to lure her out through solemn means. Ame no Uzume's solution was neither solemn nor dignified: she overturned a washtub, stood on it, and performed a wild, comic dance that exposed her body, provoking such uproarious laughter from the watching kami that Amaterasu, curious what could possibly cause such delight in her absence, opened the cave door to look, allowing the other kami to pull her out and restore light to the world. Ame no Uzume later played a second important role, confronting and then marrying the fearsome earthly kami Sarutahiko when he blocked the path of Amaterasu's grandson Ninigi as he descended to rule the earth, using the same fearless directness that had worked at the cave to negotiate safe passage. The episode is preserved in both the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki with only minor variation, and later commentators have long read Ame no Uzume's dance as Japan's own foundational account of the ritual and theatrical power of performance itself, since laughter, not force or persuasion, is what ultimately restores the sun to the world.
Patroness of Every Stage: Ame-no-Uzume's Shrine and Living Legacy
Ame no Uzume and her husband Sarutahiko are jointly venerated today at Tsubaki Grand Shrine in Suzuka, Mie Prefecture, the site tradition identifies as the place where the couple settled after their meeting on the road to earth. Sarutahiko is the shrine's principal kami, and Ame no Uzume is enshrined in her own hall within the shrine precincts, honored there as his wife and as a kami in her own right rather than folded silently into his cult. Her association with dance and performance carried directly into later Japanese religious and theatrical life: Ame no Uzume is widely regarded by tradition as an ancestral figure behind kagura, the sacred dance performed at Shinto shrines, and she is venerated by many performers, dancers and entertainers as a patron of their craft, a living continuation of the role her own uninhibited dance played in the founding myth. Few kami connect as directly to an ongoing professional community the way Ame no Uzume does, her ancient act of dance still recognized as the root of a performance tradition still practiced today. Her presence at Tsubaki Grand Shrine, alongside her role as ancestral figure of kagura, means her cult has never separated the goddess from the art she is remembered for; visitors to the shrine encounter both the story of the rock cave dance and its living theatrical descendants in the same place.
Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
This source names Sarutahiko directly: "stranger directly, learning that he is Sarutahiko, the earthly kami sent to guide the descent rather than to oppose it."
Source KojikiDonald L. Philippi (translator) This source names Ame-no-Uzume directly: "In 2023, Tsubaki Grand Shrine of America, the first Shinto shrine built on the US mainland after the Second World War, relocated its enshrined kami, Sarutahiko no Okami, Ame no Uzume no Mikoto and..."
Belongs to Tradition
Source KojikiDonald L. Philippi (translator) Depicted In
The Met's own title for this bowl names the subject outright, "Bowl with Face of Uzume," a direct identification rather than a bare thematic tag.
Same Figure Other Register
Sources
Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
The atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.