A Shinto narrative in which the sun goddess Amaterasu sends her grandson Ninigi down from the heavenly plain to rule the earthly land of reed plains, equipping him with the mirror, sword and jewel of the imperial regalia and settling him on the peak of Takachiho, an event treated genealogically as the founding of the imperial line.
Facts
Scholarship and Forensics
Scholarly NoteHistorians of Shinto read the descent narrative as a genealogical charter myth, composed to root imperial legitimacy in an unbroken line from Amaterasu, rather than as an account meant to be read as literal history. 2 Sources
Primary SourceKojiki, translated by Donald Philippi and by Gustav Heldt, collated against the Nihon Shoki's version of the same descent. 1 Text
Source TextKojiki, Book One, and the parallel Nihon Shoki account of the heavenly descent 1 Controversy
Point in DisputeScholars dispute which real mountain the narrative's Takachiho refers to, since two peaks in modern Miyazaki and Kagoshima prefectures both carry the name and both host shrines claiming the descent. 2 Meaning
Central MotifThe heavenly grandchild's descent to found earthly rule, carrying the regalia that legitimize it 1 History
Historical NoteRecorded in the Kojiki (712 AD) and Nihon Shoki (720 AD), both compiled under imperial commission to fix the genealogy connecting the reigning line to the sun goddess. 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Belongs to Tradition
Source KojikiDonald L. Philippi (translator) Sources
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