Izanagi and Izanami

Izanagi and Izanami

According to the Shinto creation myth, Izanagi and Izanami were brother and sister and husband and wife. They were the eighth pair of primordial, or first, beings, existing before the world. When it came time for Izanagi and Izanami to create the earth, they stood on Ama-no-Uki-Hashi, the Floating Bridge of heaven. There they plunged a special spear into the ocean. When they drew it back, the water from the spear fell and formed into the first land, which was the island of Onokoro. They then stuck their spear into the land, forming the heavenly pillar. Later, the two gods realized that their bodies were not the same. Izanami thought that part of her had not been finished. Izanagi thought he had been given too much. They decided to bring these incomplete parts together. Izanagi suggested that when they did so,  Izanami would give birth to more islands. She agreed, and they circled the heavenly pillar. “A handsome man,” she remarked when they met. And they immediately made love. Izanami soon became pregnant.

Amaterasu, the shinto goddess of the sun

  

Amaterasu (Amaterasu- ō -Mikami, Heaven Shining Great Deity)

Amaterasu, the shinto goddess of the sun, is the most important divinity in the Shinto pantheon, or  collection of gods. She is held to be the ancestor of the emperor and is the most revered person of heaven. But she is not all-powerful, and, in fact, the stories that describe her make her seem very human—though, of course, on a godly scale.