Amaterasu Ōmikami
, often called Amaterasu () for short, also known as and , is the goddess of the sun in Japanese mythology. Often considered the chief deity (''kami'') of the Shinto pantheon, she is also portrayed in Japan's earliest literary texts, the () and the (720 CE), as the ruler (or one of the rulers) of the heavenly realm Takamagahara and as the mythical ancestress of the Imperial House of Japan via her grandson Ninigi. Along with two of her siblings (the moon deity Tsukuyomi and the impetuous storm-god Susanoo) she ranks as one of the "Three Precious Children" (, ), the three most important offspring of the creator god Izanagi. Amaterasu's chief place of worship, the Grand Shrine of Ise in Ise, Mie Prefecture, is one of Shinto's holiest sites and a major pilgrimage center and tourist spot. As with other Shinto ''kami'', she is also enshrined in a number of Shinto shrines throughout Japan. Name The goddess is referred to as ''Amaterasu Ōmikami'' ( / ; historical orthography: ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Universe
The universe is all of space and time and their contents. It comprises all of existence, any fundamental interaction, physical process and physical constant, and therefore all forms of matter and energy, and the structures they form, from sub-atomic particles to entire Galaxy filament, galactic filaments. Since the early 20th century, the field of cosmology establishes that space and time emerged together at the Big Bang ago and that the Expansion of the universe, universe has been expanding since then. The observable universe, portion of the universe that can be seen by humans is approximately 93 billion light-years in diameter at present, but the total size of the universe is not known. Some of the earliest Timeline of cosmological theories, cosmological models of the universe were developed by ancient Greek philosophy, ancient Greek and Indian philosophy, Indian philosophers and were geocentric model, geocentric, placing Earth at the center. Over the centuries, more prec ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sanseidō
is a Japanese publishing company known for publishing dictionaries and textbooks. The headquarters is situated in the area between Suidōbashi Station and Kanda River, at a location previously used as a warehouse for the company's own printing plant. History The company was founded in 1881 by , a member of the old ''Hatamoto'' family, as the secondhand bookshop . It entered the publishing business in 1884. From the outset, the company focused its business on academic fields, publishing dictionaries, encyclopedias, textbooks, and for a period, maps, as well as selling educational materials. While its rival in the field of dictionary publishing at the time, , focused on large, specialist-oriented dictionaries, Sanseidō concentrated on smaller but more practical dictionaries. For this purpose, the company opened its own printing plant in 1889. On October 18, 1912, two months after the publication of ''Nihon Hyakka Daijitens sixth edition, the company went bankrupt. This came a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Old Japanese
is the oldest attested stage of the Japanese language, recorded in documents from the Nara period (8th century). It became Early Middle Japanese in the succeeding Heian period, but the precise delimitation of the stages is controversial. Old Japanese was an early member of the Japonic language family. No genetic links to other language families have been proven. Old Japanese was written using man'yōgana, which is a writing system that employs Chinese characters as syllabograms or (occasionally) logograms. It featured a few phonemic differences from later forms, such as a simpler syllable structure and distinctions between several pairs of syllables that have been pronounced identically since Early Middle Japanese. The phonetic realization of these distinctions is uncertain. Internal reconstruction points to a pre-Old Japanese phase with fewer consonants and vowels. As is typical of Japonic languages, Old Japanese was primarily an agglutinative language with a subject–obj ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Historical Kana Orthography
The , or , refers to the in general use until orthographic reforms after World War II; the current orthography was adopted by Cabinet order in 1946. By that point the historical orthography was no longer in accord with Japanese pronunciation. It differs from modern usage ('' Gendai kana-zukai'') in the number of characters and the way those characters are used. There was considerable opposition to the official adoption of the current orthography, on the grounds that the historical orthography conveys meanings better, and some writers continued to use it for many years after. The historical orthography is found in almost all Japanese dictionaries, such as '' Kōjien.'' In the current edition of the ''Kōjien,'' if the historical orthography is different from the modern spelling, the old spelling is printed in tiny ''katakana'' between the modern ''kana'' and ''kanji'' transcriptions of the word. Ellipses are used to save space when the historical and modern spellings are id ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Shinto Shrine
A Stuart D. B. Picken, 1994. p. xxiii is a structure whose main purpose is to house ("enshrine") one or more kami, , the deities of the Shinto religion. The Also called the . is where a shrine's patron is or are enshrined.Iwanami Japanese dictionary The may be absent in cases where a shrine stands on or near a sacred mountain, tree, or other object which can be worshipped directly or in cases where a shrine possesses either an altar-like structure, called a himorogi, , or an object believed to be capable of attracting spirits, called a yorishiro, , which can also serve as direct bonds to a . There may be a and other structures as well. Although only one word ("shrine") is used in English, in Japanese, Shinto shrines may carry any one of many different, non-equivalent names like , , , , , , , , , or . Miniature shrines (hokora, ) can occasionally be found on roadsides. Large shrines sometimes have on their precincts miniature shrines, or . Because the and once had differe ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mie Prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Mie Prefecture has a population of 1,781,948 () and has a geographic area of . Mie Prefecture is bordered by Gifu Prefecture to the north, Shiga Prefecture and Kyoto Prefecture to the northwest, Nara Prefecture to the west, Wakayama Prefecture to the southwest, and Aichi Prefecture to the east. Tsu, Mie, Tsu is the capital and Yokkaichi is the largest city of Mie Prefecture, with other major cities including Suzuka, Mie, Suzuka, Matsusaka, Ise, Mie, Ise, and Kuwana, Mie, Kuwana. Mie Prefecture is located on the eastern coast of the Kii Peninsula, forming the western side of Ise Bay which features the Mouth (river), mouths of the Kiso Three Rivers. Mie Prefecture is a popular tourism destination home to Nagashima Spa Land, Suzuka International Racing Course, and some of the oldest and holiest sites in Shinto, the traditional religion of Japan, including the Ise Grand Shrine and the Tsubaki Grand ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ise, Mie
, formerly called Ujiyamada (宇治山田), is a Cities of Japan, city in central Mie Prefecture, on the island of Honshū, Japan. Ise is home to Ise Grand Shrine, the most sacred Shinto shrine, Shintō shrine in Japan. The city has a long-standing title – Shinto (神都) – that roughly means "the Holy City", and literally means "the Capital of the ''Kami''". , the city had an estimated population of 123,533 in 55,911 households and a population density of 590 people per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Ise is located on the northern half of Ise-Shima, Shima Peninsula in far eastern Mie Prefecture. The northern part of the city is flat land and faces Ise Bay on the Pacific Ocean. In the south, the land rises to form hills and mountains with an elevation of 100 to 500 meters. Most of the city is within the geographic limits of Ise-Shima National Park. Climate Ise has a Humid subtropical climate (Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cool winters ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ise Grand Shrine
The , located in Ise, Mie Prefecture of Japan, is a Shinto shrine dedicated to the solar goddess Amaterasu Ōmikami and the grain goddess Toyouke-hime (Toyouke Omikami). Also known simply as , Ise Shrine is a shrine complex composed of many Shinto shrines centered on two main shrines, and . The Inner Shrine, Naikū (also officially known as "Kōtai Jingū"), is dedicated to the worship of Amaterasu and is located in the town of Uji-tachi, south of central Ise, where she is believed to dwell. The shrine buildings are made of solid cypress wood and use no nails but instead joined wood. The Outer Shrine, ''Gekū'' (also officially known as "Toyouke Daijingū"), is located about six kilometers from Naikū and dedicated to Toyouke-Ōmikami, the god of agriculture, rice harvest and industry. Besides Naikū and Gekū, there are an additional 123 Shinto shrines in Ise City and the surrounding areas, 91 of them connected to Naikū and 32 to Gekū. Purportedly the home of the Sacred M ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ninigi-no-Mikoto
is a deity in Japanese mythology. (-no-Mikoto here is an honorific title applied to the names of Japanese gods; Ninigi is the specific god's name.) Grandson of the sun goddess Amaterasu, Ninigi is regarded according to Japanese mythology as the great-grandfather of Japan’s first emperor, Emperor Jimmu. The Imperial Regalia of Japan, three sacred treasures brought with Ninigi from Heaven and divine ancestry established the Imperial House of Japan, Japanese Imperial Family. The three generations of ''kami'' starting with Ninigi are sometimes referred to as the three generations of Hyūga, they are said to represent a transitional period between the heavenly ''kami'' and the first emperor. Name and etymology Ninigi-no-Mikoto (瓊瓊杵尊), means "The Great God Ninigi." Another name of his is Ame-nigishi-kuni-nigishi-amatsuhiko-hiko-ho-no-ninigi-no-Mikoto (天邇岐志国邇岐志天津日高日子番能邇邇芸命) or "The Great God Ninigi, of the Imperial State, The Child o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Takamagahara
In Japanese mythology, , also read as Takaamanohara, Takamanohara, Takaamagahara, or Takaamahara, is the abode of the heavenly gods (''amatsukami''). Often depicted as located up in the sky, it is believed to be connected to the Earth by the bridge ''Ame-no-ukihashi'' (the "Floating Bridge of Heaven"). Overview In Shinto, ''ame'' (heaven) is a lofty, sacred world, the home of the ''Kotoamatsukami''. Some scholars have attempted to explain the myth of descent of the gods from the Takamagahara as an allegory of the migration of peoples. However, it is likely to have referred from the beginning to a higher world in a religious sense. A Shinto myth explains that at the time of creation myth, creation, light, pure elements branched off to become heaven (''天, ame''). Heavy, turbid elements branched off to become earth (''地, tsuchi''). ''Ame'' became the home of the ''amatsukami'' or gods of heaven, while ''tsuchi'' became the home of ''kunitsukami'' or gods of the land. The ''amatsu ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pantheon (religion)
A pantheon is the particular set of all gods of any individual polytheistic religion, mythology, or tradition. Etymology The word, ''pantheon'', derives from Greek πάνθεον ''pantheon'', literally "(a temple) of all gods", "of or common to all gods" from πᾶν ''pan-'' "all" and θεός ''theos'' "god". Examples Some well-known historical polytheistic pantheons include the Sumerian gods and the Egyptian gods, and the classical-attested pantheon which includes the ancient Greek religion and Roman religion. Post-classical polytheistic religions include Norse Æsir and Vanir, the Yoruba Orisha, the Aztec gods, and many others. Interpretations A pantheon of gods is a common element of polytheistic societies. A society's pantheon can be considered an aspiring self-reflection of that society: In the modern vernacular, most historical polytheistic religions are referred to as "mythology". Evolution of pantheons Scholars such as Jaan Puhvel, J. P. Mallory, and ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Shinto
, also called Shintoism, is a religion originating in Japan. Classified as an East Asian religions, East Asian religion by Religious studies, scholars of religion, it is often regarded by its practitioners as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintoists'', although adherents rarely use that term themselves. With no central authority in control of Shinto, there is much diversity of belief and practice evident among practitioners. A polytheism, polytheistic and animism, animistic religion, Shinto revolves around supernatural entities called the (神). The are believed to inhabit all things, including forces of nature and prominent landscape locations. The are worshipped at household shrines, family shrines, and Shinto shrine, ''jinja'' public shrines. The latter are staffed by priests, known as , who oversee offerings of food and drink to the specific enshrined at that location. This is done to cultivate harmony ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |