{"id":1173,"date":"2026-08-14T10:16:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T10:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kamicrew.com\/blog\/?p=1173"},"modified":"2026-08-14T10:16:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T10:16:07","slug":"amaterasu-meaning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kamicrew.com\/blog\/amaterasu-meaning\/","title":{"rendered":"Amaterasu Meaning: The Kanji \u5929\u7167 and Every Name She Carries"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/kamicrew.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/amaterasu-meaning-img-1.jpg\" alt=\"Printed pages of the Kojiki showing the original kanji text beside a romaji transliteration\" \/><figcaption>Kojiki text set beside its romaji reading<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Amaterasu means shining in heaven. The name is written \u5929\u7167, where \u5929 (ama) is heaven or sky and \u7167 (terasu) is to shine or illuminate, so the two characters together describe light arriving from above. That reading is not a poetic gloss added later. It is simply what the characters say.<\/p>\n<p>Amaterasu carries several other names, and each one frames her differently. Her full ceremonial name, Amaterasu \u014cmikami, adds an honorific. An older name, \u014chirume no Muchi, calls her a woman of the sun rather than an action in the sky. Different classical texts reach for different forms, and a medieval reader would have said the same characters out loud in a completely different way, as Tensh\u014d Daijin. Her withdrawal into the rock cave is where the meaning turns literal, because the world loses its light the moment <a href=\"https:\/\/kamicrew.com\/blog\/amaterasu-sun-goddess\/\">the goddess who shines in heaven<\/a> hides herself away.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_86 ez-toc-wrap-center counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/kamicrew.com\/blog\/amaterasu-meaning\/#What_Amaterasu_means\" >What Amaterasu means<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/kamicrew.com\/blog\/amaterasu-meaning\/#The_kanji_%E5%A4%A9%E7%85%A7_and_how_the_name_is_written\" >The kanji \u5929\u7167, and how the name is written<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/kamicrew.com\/blog\/amaterasu-meaning\/#Why_Amaterasu_reads_as_a_verb_not_a_name\" >Why Amaterasu reads as a verb, not a name<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/kamicrew.com\/blog\/amaterasu-meaning\/#Amaterasu_Omikami_her_full_and_formal_name\" >Amaterasu \u014cmikami, her full and formal name<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/kamicrew.com\/blog\/amaterasu-meaning\/#Ohirume_Hi_no_Kami_and_her_other_names\" >\u014chirume, Hi no Kami, and her other names<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/kamicrew.com\/blog\/amaterasu-meaning\/#Why_the_Kojiki_and_the_Nihon_Shoki_name_her_differently\" >Why the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki name her differently<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/kamicrew.com\/blog\/amaterasu-meaning\/#What_the_name_does_not_tell_you\" >What the name does not tell you<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/kamicrew.com\/blog\/amaterasu-meaning\/#Wearing_the_name\" >Wearing the name<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/kamicrew.com\/blog\/amaterasu-meaning\/#FAQs\" >FAQs<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-10\" href=\"https:\/\/kamicrew.com\/blog\/amaterasu-meaning\/#What_does_the_name_Amaterasu_mean\" >What does the name Amaterasu mean?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-11\" href=\"https:\/\/kamicrew.com\/blog\/amaterasu-meaning\/#What_is_the_kanji_for_Amaterasu\" >What is the kanji for Amaterasu?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-12\" href=\"https:\/\/kamicrew.com\/blog\/amaterasu-meaning\/#What_is_Amaterasus_full_name\" >What is Amaterasu&#8217;s full name?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-13\" href=\"https:\/\/kamicrew.com\/blog\/amaterasu-meaning\/#Is_Amaterasu_male_or_female\" >Is Amaterasu male or female?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-14\" href=\"https:\/\/kamicrew.com\/blog\/amaterasu-meaning\/#Did_Amaterasu_marry_anyone\" >Did Amaterasu marry anyone?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_Amaterasu_means\"><\/span>What Amaterasu means<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Amaterasu means shining in heaven, and translations of \u5929\u7167 vary in wording while agreeing on sense. Common renderings include shining in heaven, shines from heaven, the one who illuminates heaven, and shining over heaven. All four describe the same thing: a source of light positioned above the world, not a light source among many.<\/p>\n<p>The name breaks into two root elements, ama and terasu, and those roots do all the work. There is no hidden third component, no place name buried in it, and no family element of the kind many Japanese names carry. Name references classify Amaterasu as feminine and file it under Japanese mythology rather than everyday personal names, which is a fair reflection of how it is actually used.<\/p>\n<p>The name also arrives with a story already attached to it, since she is born when <a href=\"https:\/\/kamicrew.com\/blog\/izanagi\/\">Izanagi<\/a> cleanses himself after returning from the underworld. Japan&#8217;s royal family traced its ancestry back to her, which is part of why her name kept accumulating honorifics over the centuries instead of settling into one fixed form.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_kanji_%E5%A4%A9%E7%85%A7_and_how_the_name_is_written\"><\/span>The kanji \u5929\u7167, and how the name is written<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Amaterasu is written with two kanji, \u5929\u7167. \u5929 carries the sense of heaven or sky, and in compounds of this kind it also carries an imperial connotation. \u7167 is the shining character, the verb sense of illuminating something. Two characters, two jobs, and nothing else buried between them.<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/kamicrew.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/amaterasu-meaning-img-2.jpg\" alt=\"Kawamura Kiyoo sketch of Amaterasu stepping out of the heavenly rock cave into golden light\" \/><figcaption>Kawamura Kiyoo sketches the cave door opening<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Written out across the scripts a Japanese reader would recognise, the name looks like this:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Kanji: \u5929\u7167<\/li>\n<li>Hiragana: \u3042\u307e\u3066\u3089\u3059<\/li>\n<li>Katakana: \u30a2\u30de\u30c6\u30e9\u30b9<\/li>\n<li>Romaji: Amaterasu, read as a smooth a-ma-te-ra-su with no stressed syllable<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>English speakers tend to hunt for a stress point and land on the third syllable. Japanese does not work that way, and the five syllables carry roughly equal weight.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Why_Amaterasu_reads_as_a_verb_not_a_name\"><\/span>Why Amaterasu reads as a verb, not a name<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Amaterasu is not grammatically a noun. It descends from the verb amateru, to shine or illuminate in the sky, combined with an honorific auxiliary, and it functions as an attributive verb form that modifies whatever follows it. That is the detail most name guides skip.<\/p>\n<p>The practical result is that the name is semantically transparent. A Japanese reader does not decode Amaterasu the way an English reader decodes Deborah or Helen, hitting a label first and looking up the etymology afterwards. The description arrives first. Spelled out in full, Amaterasu \u014cmikami reads as the great august goddess who shines in heaven, which is a sentence about her rather than a tag applied to her.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Amaterasu_Omikami_her_full_and_formal_name\"><\/span>Amaterasu \u014cmikami, her full and formal name<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Amaterasu \u014cmikami is the form used when the name is given in full, and it appears written as \u5929\u7167\u5927\u5fa1\u795e, \u5929\u7167\u5927\u795e, and \u5929\u7167\u7687\u5927\u795e. Glossed out, it means the great and glorious kami who illuminates from heaven. The added element is \u014dmikami, great august deity, where \u014d means great and kami marks divine status.<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/kamicrew.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/amaterasu-meaning-img-3.jpg\" alt=\"The great wooden torii on the approach to Naiku, the Inner Shrine of Ise Jingu\" \/><figcaption>The torii on the approach to Ise&#8217;s Inner Shrine<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>That honorific is the whole difference between the short and long forms, and it is doing social work rather than descriptive work. One variant, Amaterasu Sume(ra) \u014cmikami (\u5929\u7167\u7687\u5927\u795e), pushes the imperial element further forward.<\/p>\n<p>The formal name is not a museum artefact. It is the name in current ritual use: the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.isejingu.or.jp\/en\/about\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">official Ise Jingu<\/a> site names Amaterasu-Omikami as the enshrined deity of the Naiku, or Inner Shrine, describing her as the ancestral kami of the imperial family and a guardian of Japan. Reconstructed into Old Japanese pronunciation, the same full name comes out closer to Amaterasu Opomikami.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Ohirume_Hi_no_Kami_and_her_other_names\"><\/span>\u014chirume, Hi no Kami, and her other names<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Amaterasu carries more names than most kami, and the alternatives are not decorative. \u014chirume no Muchi (\u5927\u65e5\u5b41\u8cb4) is usually understood as great woman of the sun, or of the daytime, and one reference treats it as her chief title, glossing it as the great sun of the kami. Hi no Kami (\u65e5\u795e) states the same idea plainly, sun deity, and Tensh\u014d Daijin is the Sino-Japanese reading of the same characters as Amaterasu \u014cmikami.<\/p>\n<p>Kokugakuin University&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www2.kokugakuin.ac.jp\/ijcc\/wp\/bts\/bts_a.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Basic Terms of Shinto<\/a> records her as a goddess endowed with the virtue of the sun and lists \u014chirume no Muchi as her alternate name. The muchi ending is an appended honorific, not part of the description. It shows up in other deity names too.<\/p>\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>Name<\/th>\n<th>Kanji<\/th>\n<th>What it says<\/th>\n<th>Where it appears<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Amaterasu \u014cmikami<\/td>\n<td>\u5929\u7167\u5927\u5fa1\u795e<\/td>\n<td>Great august kami shining in heaven<\/td>\n<td>Kojiki<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\u014chirume no Muchi<\/td>\n<td>\u5927\u65e5\u5b41\u8cb4<\/td>\n<td>Great woman of the sun<\/td>\n<td>Nihon Shoki<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Amaterasu \u014chirume no Mikoto<\/td>\n<td>\u5929\u7167\u5927\u65e5\u5b41\u5c0a<\/td>\n<td>Both names joined together<\/td>\n<td>Nihon Shoki<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Hi no Kami<\/td>\n<td>\u65e5\u795e<\/td>\n<td>Sun deity, plainly stated<\/td>\n<td>Nihon Shoki<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Tensh\u014d Daijin<\/td>\n<td>\u5929\u7167\u5927\u795e<\/td>\n<td>Same characters, Chinese-style reading<\/td>\n<td>Medieval and early modern use<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Amaterasu Sume(ra) \u014cmikami<\/td>\n<td>\u5929\u7167\u7687\u5927\u795e<\/td>\n<td>Imperial element brought forward<\/td>\n<td>Variant form<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>Tensh\u014d Daijin deserves a note of its own. The characters are identical to \u5929\u7167\u5927\u795e, but they are read with their Sino-Japanese values instead of the native Japanese ones, and that reading was common through the medieval and early modern periods. Anyone reading older material will meet Tensh\u014d Daijin and Amaterasu \u014cmikami describing the same goddess on the same page.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Why_the_Kojiki_and_the_Nihon_Shoki_name_her_differently\"><\/span>Why the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki name her differently<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The Kojiki settles on one form, Amaterasu \u014cmikami, written \u5929\u7167\u5927\u5fa1\u795e or \u5929\u7167\u5927\u795e. The Nihon Shoki does not settle at all: it offers \u014chirume no Muchi, Amaterasu \u014c(mi)kami, and Hi no Kami as variants, sometimes for the same episode. So there is no single correct name to memorise, and a source is not wrong for using a form you have not seen before.<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/kamicrew.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/amaterasu-meaning-img-4.jpg\" alt=\"Opening scroll of Nihon Shoki volume one, the Age of Gods chapter, in brushed kanji\" \/><figcaption>Nihon Shoki volume one opens the Age of Gods<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The form usually tells you which text or which era you are reading. \u014chirume points toward the Nihon Shoki. Tensh\u014d Daijin points toward a medieval or early modern writer. Amaterasu \u014cmikami is the form that carried forward into shrine practice and into most modern writing.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_the_name_does_not_tell_you\"><\/span>What the name does not tell you<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Three things people expect to find in Amaterasu&#8217;s name are not in it: her gender, a marriage, and an animal. \u5929\u7167 is grammatically neutral, she does not marry in the traditional myths, and no creature is written into any of her names.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Gender is not in the kanji. \u5929\u7167 is grammatically neutral, and nothing in shining in heaven marks a goddess rather than a god. Her femininity is carried by the other name, \u014chirume, where the sun element sits next to a woman element. She is consistently described as female, maternal and radiant, but that comes from the myths and from \u014chirume, not from \u5929\u7167.<\/li>\n<li>Marriage is not in it either. Amaterasu does not marry in the traditional myths. She sends her descendants down to rule the land in her name instead, which is why the imperial genealogy runs through a grandson rather than a spouse.<\/li>\n<li>No animal is in it. Modern culture has attached a white wolf to her fairly firmly, and one popular guide names the white wolf as the animal most commonly linked to her today, but that association belongs to contemporary media rather than to the classical naming.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The honorific muchi, by contrast, appears in <a href=\"https:\/\/kamicrew.com\/blog\/japanese-folklore\/\">other deity names<\/a> as well, a reminder that these titles are assembled from shared parts rather than invented one at a time.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Wearing_the_name\"><\/span>Wearing the name<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>\u5929\u7167 works as a graphic because it carries its own meaning. Two characters that mean shining in heaven read as a compact block, legible to anyone who can read the characters without needing a caption or a translation underneath.<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/kamicrew.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/amaterasu-meaning-img-5.jpg\" alt=\"Kunisada woodblock triptych of a radiant Amaterasu emerging from the rock cave\" \/><figcaption>Kunisada renders the goddess in full radiance<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The visual tradition around her leans the other way, toward the woodblock prints of the cave door opening, all radiating orange lines and a figure stepping out into the light. Both are usable: the characters for something quiet, the print for something loud. If you like your mythology worn rather than shelved, the <a href=\"https:\/\/kamicrew.com\/collections\/yokai-ukiyo-e-shirt\">yokai and ukiyo-e shirts<\/a> are where that print tradition lands at Kamicrew.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"FAQs\"><\/span>FAQs<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_does_the_name_Amaterasu_mean\"><\/span>What does the name Amaterasu mean?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>It means shining in heaven. The name is written with \u5929 (ama), heaven or sky, and \u7167 (terasu), to shine, so the whole name describes light coming from above. Translations differ in wording, from shines from heaven to the one who illuminates heaven, but they carry the same sense.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_is_the_kanji_for_Amaterasu\"><\/span>What is the kanji for Amaterasu?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The kanji is \u5929\u7167. In hiragana it is \u3042\u307e\u3066\u3089\u3059 and in katakana \u30a2\u30de\u30c6\u30e9\u30b9. Her fuller name adds more characters and appears as \u5929\u7167\u5927\u5fa1\u795e, \u5929\u7167\u5927\u795e, or \u5929\u7167\u7687\u5927\u795e.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_is_Amaterasus_full_name\"><\/span>What is Amaterasu&#8217;s full name?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Amaterasu \u014cmikami, meaning the great and glorious kami who illuminates from heaven. The \u014dmikami element means great august deity, and it is the name Ise Jingu uses for the deity enshrined at its Inner Shrine.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Is_Amaterasu_male_or_female\"><\/span>Is Amaterasu male or female?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Female. The kanji \u5929\u7167 is grammatically neutral and says nothing about gender, but her other name, \u014chirume, means great woman of the sun, and she is described throughout the myths as maternal, wise and radiant.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Did_Amaterasu_marry_anyone\"><\/span>Did Amaterasu marry anyone?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>She does not marry in the traditional myths. Rather than ruling the land herself or through a spouse, she sent her descendants down to rule it in her name, which is how the imperial line traces back to her.<\/p>\n<p><script type=\"application\/ld+json\">\n{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"headline\":\"Amaterasu Meaning: The Kanji \u5929\u7167 and Every Name She Carries\",\"description\":\"Amaterasu means shining in heaven, written \u5929\u7167 from ama (heaven) and terasu (shine). Her fuller names, Amaterasu Omikami and Ohirume no Muchi, each frame her differently.\",\"image\":\"https:\/\/kamicrew.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/amaterasu-meaning-img-1.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"author\":{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"name\":\"Kamicrew\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/kamicrew.com\"},\"publisher\":{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"name\":\"Kamicrew\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/kamicrew.com\"},\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/kamicrew.com\/blog\/amaterasu-meaning\/\"},\"about\":[{\"@type\":\"Thing\",\"name\":\"Amaterasu\"},{\"@type\":\"Thing\",\"name\":\"Amaterasu Omikami\"},{\"@type\":\"Thing\",\"name\":\"Ohirume no Muchi\"},{\"@type\":\"Thing\",\"name\":\"Kojiki\"},{\"@type\":\"Thing\",\"name\":\"Nihon Shoki\"},{\"@type\":\"Thing\",\"name\":\"Shinto\"},{\"@type\":\"Thing\",\"name\":\"Japanese mythology\"},{\"@type\":\"Place\",\"name\":\"Ise Jingu\"}],\"citation\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"name\":\"Ise Jingu, About Jingu\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.isejingu.or.jp\/en\/about\/index.html\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"name\":\"Basic Terms of Shinto, Kokugakuin University\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www2.kokugakuin.ac.jp\/ijcc\/wp\/bts\/bts_a.html\"}]},{\"@type\":\"FAQPage\",\"mainEntity\":[{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What does the name Amaterasu mean?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"It means shining in heaven. The name is written with \u5929 (ama), heaven or sky, and \u7167 (terasu), to shine, so the whole name describes light coming from above. Translations differ in wording, from shines from heaven to the one who illuminates heaven, but they carry the same sense.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What is the kanji for Amaterasu?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"The kanji is \u5929\u7167. In hiragana it is \u3042\u307e\u3066\u3089\u3059 and in katakana \u30a2\u30de\u30c6\u30e9\u30b9. Her fuller name adds more characters and appears as \u5929\u7167\u5927\u5fa1\u795e, \u5929\u7167\u5927\u795e, or \u5929\u7167\u7687\u5927\u795e.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What is Amaterasu's full name?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Amaterasu \u014cmikami, meaning the great and glorious kami who illuminates from heaven. The \u014dmikami element means great august deity, and it is the name Ise Jingu uses for the deity enshrined at its Inner Shrine.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Is Amaterasu male or female?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Female. The kanji \u5929\u7167 is grammatically neutral and says nothing about gender, but her other name, \u014chirume, means great woman of the sun, and she is described throughout the myths as maternal, wise and radiant.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Did Amaterasu marry anyone?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"She does not marry in the traditional myths. Rather than ruling the land herself or through a spouse, she sent her descendants down to rule it in her name, which is how the imperial line traces back to her.\"}}]}]}\n<\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Amaterasu means shining in heaven, written \u5929\u7167 from ama (heaven) and terasu (shine). Her fuller names, Amaterasu Omikami and Ohirume no Muchi, each frame her differently.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1160,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mythology-gods"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":7}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kamicrew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kamicrew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kamicrew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kamicrew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kamicrew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1173"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kamicrew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1173\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1176,"href":"https:\/\/kamicrew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1173\/revisions\/1176"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kamicrew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kamicrew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kamicrew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kamicrew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}