Amaterasu – imperial goddess of the sun

Summer is in full swing, bringing with it the promise of long, bright days under the shining sun. This all-powerful celestial body has long been linked with kingship: Louis XIV of France, for example, famously chose the sun as his emblem and became known as the ‘Sun King’. In the oldest surviving books written in Japan, too, the Kojiki (‘The Record of Ancient Matters’, compiled in AD 712) and the Nihonshoki (‘The Chronicles of Japan’, completed in 720), this connection between the sun and its deity, Amaterasu (‘Heaven-Shining’), and the imperial line was made clear, deliberately emphasising the divine authority of generations of rulers. It is from this goddess that the legend