AMENOUZUME

in full Amenouzume No Mikoto, in Japanese mythology, the celestial goddess who performed a spontaneous dance enticing the sun goddess Amaterasu out of the cave in which she had secluded herself and had thus deprived the world of light. Amenouzume decorated herself with club moss and leaves of the sakaki tree, lit bonfires, and made a platform of an upturned tub. Her inspired cries and divine dancing, in the course of which she exposed herself, so delighted the assembled gods that they roared in laughter, thus awakening the curiosity of the sun goddess. Amenouzume is the patron goddess of dancers. The classical music and dancing used in Shinto religious ceremonies, kagura, is said to have originated with her performance. In popular mythology, as the embodiment of the female principle, she is often associated with Sarudahiko (q.v.), who represents male sexuality and who offered himself as a guide to the divine grandchild Ninigi when he descended to earth. Amenouzume and Sarudahiko are sometimes pictured as husband and wife.