Amaterasu, The Sun Goddess and Sister of Susan-o Before She Hid in Her Cave

The myth of Amaterasu hiding in her cave—plunging the world into darkness until the assembled gods' laughter at an obscene dance enticed her out—is one of Japanese mythology's most cosmologically significant narratives, an origin story for both sunlight and the imperial dynasty. Gekko renders the moment of confrontation between the sun goddess and her stormy brother Susano-o before the cave episode, the two divine siblings in the charged atmosphere that precedes conflict.