is a Shinto shrine located in

Takachiho file:TakachihokyoWithManaiFalls.JPG, 270px, Manai Falls file:Mt.Sobo.jpg, 270px, Mount Sobo file:Yokagura.jpg, 270px, Yokagura is a List of towns in Japan, town in Nishiusuki District, Miyazaki, Nishiusuki District, Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan. , t ...

Miyazaki Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Miyazaki Prefecture has a population of 1,028,215 as of 1 January 2025 and has a geographic area of 7,735 Square kilometre, km2 (2,986 sq mi). Miyazaki Prefectur ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. It is dedicated to the sun goddess

Amaterasu , 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 sits above the gorge containing

Ama-no-Iwato is a cave in Japanese mythology. According to the ''Kojiki'' (''Records of Ancient Matters'') and the ''Nihon Shoki'', the bad behavior of Susano'o, the Japanese god of storms, drove his sister Amaterasu into the Ama-no-Iwato cave. The land w ...

, the cave where, according to Japanese legend, the goddess hid after battle with her brother, plunging the world into darkness until lured out by the spirit of merriment

Ame-no-Uzume is the goddess of Dawn goddess, dawn, mirth, meditation, revelry and the arts in the Shinto religion of Japan, and the wife of fellow-god Sarutahiko Ōkami. (-no-Mikoto is a common honorific appended to the names of Japanese gods; it may be unde ...

. The

Amano-Iwato is a cave in Japanese mythology. According to the ''Kojiki'' (''Records of Ancient Matters'') and the ''Nihon Shoki'', the bad behavior of Susano'o, the Japanese god of storms, drove his sister Amaterasu into the Ama-no-Iwato cave. The land w ...

cave is an object of worship in festivals and is a rock cave on the other side of the Iwato River from nishihongū. You can see the cave from nishihongū after participating in a Shinto ritual for purification.

Gallery

File:Amanoiwato-west-shrine (28795304727).jpg, Amanoiwato-jinja nishihongū File:Amanoiwato-east-shrine.jpg, Amanoiwato-jinja higashihongū File:Gyoubogaiwaya-cave-outside.jpg, The Takamagahara pantheon is thought to have gathered and discussed how to get Amaterasu out of the Heavenly Rock Cave,

, at this riverside cave

References

External links

Ama-no-Iwato Jinja
Official website * {{Sun temples Beppyo shrines Shinto shrines in Miyazaki Prefecture Sun temples Son-sha