The Dance That Brought Back the Sun: Ame-no-Uzume at the Rock Cave

Ame no Uzume is the kami of dawn, mirth and dance, and her single most famous act is credited with saving the world from permanent darkness. After Susanoo's destructive behavior drove Amaterasu the sun goddess to seal herself inside the heavenly rock cave, Ama no Iwato, the world was plunged into unending night, and the assembled kami tried and failed to lure her out through solemn means. Ame no Uzume's solution was neither solemn nor dignified: she overturned a washtub, stood on it, and performed a wild, comic dance that exposed her body, provoking such uproarious laughter from the watching kami that Amaterasu, curious what could possibly cause such delight in her absence, opened the cave door to look, allowing the other kami to pull her out and restore light to the world. Ame no Uzume later played a second important role, confronting and then marrying the fearsome earthly kami Sarutahiko when he blocked the path of Amaterasu's grandson Ninigi as he descended to rule the earth, using the same fearless directness that had worked at the cave to negotiate safe passage. The episode is preserved in both the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki with only minor variation, and later commentators have long read Ame no Uzume's dance as Japan's own foundational account of the ritual and theatrical power of performance itself, since laughter, not force or persuasion, is what ultimately restores the sun to the world.