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Izanagi no mikoto produced a large number of gods, but of all his children, he loved these two the most. Ama-terasu ô-mi-kami shone beautifully and illuminated the heavens and earth. He therefore resolved not to keep her on earth, and transferred her to heaven, to be its ruler. At this time the earth was close to heaven, and the goddess had no difficulty in climbing up the pillar on which heaven rested, and in reaching her realm. Susanoö no mikoto was made ruler over the blue sea, but he neglected to keep his kingdom in order. He wore a long beard which descended to his bosom, and cried constantly, until the land became a desert und the rivers and seas were dried up, so that human beings perished in great numbers. When his progenitor demanded the reason of his evil temper, he replied that he wished to go to his mother (Izanami no mikoto), who was in the region under the earth. Izanagi no mikoto therefore made him ruler over the kingdom of night. After this he committed various other offences, one of which was flaying a live piebald horse from the tail towards the head, and throwing the body into the room where his sister was seated at her loom. The goddess was so frightened that she hurt herself with the shuttle, and in her wrath retired into a cave which she closed with a rocky door. Heaven and earth were plunged in utter darkness, which endured for a considerable time. A rationalistic writer, the editor of the Kokushiriaku, explains this event to have been the first solar eclipse. The more turbulent among the gods profited by the darkness to make a noise like the buzzing of flies, and the general disaster was great.
Then all the gods assembled on the dry bed of the river called Ame-no-yasu-no-kawa, and held council as to the best means of appeasing the anger of the great goddess. By order of Taka-mi-musu-bi no kami, they entrusted the charge of thinking out a plan to Amé-no-koya-né no mikoto, the wisest of the gods. He suggested that an image of the goddess should be made, and artifice be employed to entice her forth. A large rock from near the source of the river having been taken to form an anvil,
