The Sun Goddess Amaterasu Ōmikami

Date:: February 1882
Medium:: Woodblock print (nishiki-e), ink and color on paper
Format:: Oban
Dimensions:: 35.2 × 24.1 cm
Source:: Minneapolis Institute of Art

Typical Price

Scarce or exceptional Yoshitoshi composition in fine condition: $1,500–$8,000
Good condition print: $400–$1,500
Later impression or common subject: $200–$600

Description

"The Sun Goddess Amaterasu Ōmikami" (February 1882) depicts Japan's supreme Shinto deity emerging from the Rock Cave of Heaven (Ama-no-Iwato), where she had hidden in grief and anger after her brother Susanoo's violent behavior plunged the world into darkness. The gods' elaborate ruse to lure her out—culminating in Ame-no-Uzume's comic dance and the general hilarity of the assembled deities—is one of the central myths of the Nihon Shoki. Yoshitoshi renders Amaterasu at the moment of emergence, her divine radiance flooding back into the world.

More Prints by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

Shunkan Watching Enviously from Kikai Island as Yasuyori Returns to the Capitol after Being Unexpectedly Pardoned (Shunkan sozu Kikaigashima ni oite tamatama Yasuyori no shamen senbo kito no zu)

Looking as if She Wants to Go for a Walk: The Fashion of a Married Woman of the Meiji Era (Yūho ga shitasō, Meiji nenkan saikun no fūzoku), from the series Thirty-two Appearances of Fashion (Fūzoku sanjūni sō)

Slovenly (Shidaranasaso), from the series "Thirty-two Aspects of Women (Fuzoku sanjuniso)"

1888

Color woodblock print; oban

Four PM, from the series "Twenty-Four Hours in Shinbashi and Yanagibashi"

n.d.

Color woodblock print

More Figures Prints

Shamyris, Shôwa period, dated 1965?

Woodblock print

Celebrating the Good Harvest: Felicitations for a Thousand Ages (Nôhônen, Chiyo no kotobuki)

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Midas, Shôwa period, dated 1965?

Woodblock print

Gundari Myôô, Shôwa period, dated 1962

Woodblock print

Featured in Collections

Curated cross-cuts that include this print.

Meisho-e: Famous-Place Prints Japanese Ghost and Yōkai Prints

Frequently Asked Questions

The Sun Goddess Amaterasu Ōmikami was created by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (月岡芳年) in February 1882.

The Sun Goddess Amaterasu Ōmikami depicts figures, temples & shrines, and religious.

The Sun Goddess Amaterasu Ōmikami measures 35.2 × 24.1 cm (Oban format).