This is a story of friendship
Amaterasu was the Goddess of the Sun. She was known to be a very beautiful and compassionate Goddess. One who ruled both the sun and the heavenly fields of rice that helped feed the Japanese people. She was responsible for illuminating the world, and her gentle beauty and warmth radiated life force, and hope throughout the blessed land of Japan, and far beyond.
Amaterasu was the one who showed the people their beauty and their potential.
She and her brothers: the storm God Susano'o, and the Moon God Tsukiyomi, shared their power of governing the sky together.
Amaterasu, along with her other many incredible talents, was also an accomplished weaver. And it was no surprise that she had many attendants who often joined her in weaving the stunning satins, as well as silks.
Susano'o, however, who out of sorrow from losing his mother, the great and powerful Goddess Izanami, to the underworld...became a drunkard.
One sibling, luckier than the other in their life, and as fate would surely have it, as it so often does in regards to such things...it eventually lead to their ultimate downfall.
For one night, due to an intense quarrel between the two of them over trivial issues, Susano'o vandalized Amaterasu's beloved rice fields, as well as slaughtered a beautiful young horse (An animal that was deeply sacred to the young Goddess) and heartlessly threw its bloody carcass into her weaving room. Wrecking the looms, ruining the precious fabrics, and worse of all-completely terrifying the helpless women who were working there during those hours.
There are some that say one of her attendants was actually killed in the onslaught of terrible violence, and then some that believe that Amaterasu, herself, was deeply wounded when her brother ruthlessly attacked her with a shuttle.
Amaterasu, however, deeply depressed, scared and grieving over this violation by her brother, ran away in tears from her home and from her family, and relocated herself to a darkened cave in the mountains. There, she mournfully sealed the entrance close with a large boulder and outright refused to return to the heavens. Too much betrayal had been worn into her heart from her brother and she simply found no desire, nor reason deep within herself to ever return.
Unaware, in her overwhelming sadness, that without her remarkable abilities, there would be no sun to rise in the morning light. And the rice fields would be forced to lie slowly dying in the endless night that blanketed the skies, while her once beloved people grew hungry from lack of substances.
Learning of what had come to pass, eight hundred myriad of Gods soon gathered together at the entrance of the cave begging tirelessly for Amaterasu to come out. But her grief and fear where so great that Amaterasu could not be moved by their pleas, no matter how much they tried.
It was then that the God of Wisdom attempted to make Amaterasu see reason, for his skills and abilities were great in such feats, yet he came to understand that wisdom alone cannot move a heart.
After his failure, then the God of Force attempted to move the boulder. Calling upon his great and powerful strength to cast it aside and bring Amaterasu into the light. But strength alone cannot make the sun shine.
Then, there was Ama-no-Uzume, who was known as the Lesser Goddess of Joy and Happiness. Her subjects often called her by many wonderful names, one of which was the Daughter of Heaven and Heaven's Forthright Female, but also The Goddess of Good Health. As she began to be called such after which people obtained perfect health from drinking the blessed water of her beautiful stream.
The clever Uzume, who was also clearly known as a very good friend of Amaterasu, came up with a wondrous plan and turned to the other Gods and said, "I cannot stand this anymore. I will dance a great dance to cheer you all."
She then ordered the God of Wisdom to place a simple mirror on a tree in front of the sealed off entrance to the cave while the God of Strength quickly followed suit by overturning a large tub nearby.
Only after which, Uzume then began to dance on the top of the overturned tub. Her dance was frenzied and ecstatic, her feet drumming on the tub in joyous rhythm as she tore off her clothing in front of the eyes of the shocked deities. They considered this to be such a comical feat that they erupted in delighted roars of laughter at the sheer sight of the Lesser Goddess.
The dance that she was currently partaking in was known to be the Kagura dance.
Even within the depths of the darkness, Amaterasu could hear the feverish laughter raging from, what she assumed, to be the other Gods and some sort of strange drumming noise that she could not at all place straight away from the outside of her cave. And despite it all, she became very curious about its origin.
When she managed to find enough courage, as well as strength, she raised from where she had sat upon the dirt of the cave and walked towards the stone in the entrance. After a moment, she meekly called out and asked what exactly was going on, and surprisingly, she received a joyful answer.
"A new Goddess of the Sun has come to meet you!"
When finally she opened up the cave, she saw herself, for the first time in a very long while, in the mirror's calming reflection, which Uzume had placed in front of her. And just for that one moment in time, Amaterasu managed to forget her pain, and her fears, and simply stood, utterly transfixed by a clear, crisp light.
When she carefully crept further away from her hiding place, still silently captivated by the image before her, Uzume then took her chance and dashed forth. Swiftly grabbing Amaterasu by her wrist and pulling her fully out from the darkness, as well as sealing up the entrance to the cave so that she could no longer return.
Satisfied with what she had finally accomplished, and with her grasp still tightly around her friend's hands, Uzume pulled Amaterasu into a greatly welcomed, and utterly joyous dance in celebration. And soon, the young Goodness found that her incredible grief had slowly, but surely, managed to dissipate by the sheer amounts of revelry and good humor that she found around her.
After the wonderful festivities, and when it was seen that Amaterasu was in a far greater mood than before, Uzume then took a risk and carefully asked her friend to rejoin the divine. And, at seeing all her friends gathered around her, smiling and happy to have her with them after so long, she, surprisingly—not only to the Gods, but also to herself—accepted her friend's offer, and light was finally restored, once again, to the Earth.
For you see, the Goddesses Amaterasu and Uzume help teach us about the remarkable healing powers of laughter and dance. And they help remind us that we can often find healing, strength and even wisdom, in friendship.
For it was neither body nor mind that finally helped moved the sun from the depths of darkness.
It was the heart.