promiscuous antics that it put the other gods into a silly state of mind. With this merriment going on outside the cave, Amaterasu’s curiosity overcame her and she opened the door, thus allowing her divine light to be restored to the world.

Kagura is an invocation to the gods, a call to seat themselves among us. Classical kagura has its roots in this tale and is performed with a reverence befitting its sacred origins. But over time – starting in the early seventeenth century – the antics of Ame-no-uzume were reenacted by commoners, and the folk tradition of Iwami-kagura began, a tradition that reenacts the Shinto myths of the Kojiki. Today, there are 33 of these stories, which are performed by troupes in the Iwami region of Shimane and Hiroshima.