Magatama in Japanese Mythology
The Kojiki and Nihon shoki, completed in the 8th century, have numerous references to magatama. They appear in the early in the first chapter of the Nihon shoki, which largely describes the mythology of Japan. Susanoo, god of the sea and storms, received five hundred magatama from Tamanoya no mikoto, or Ame-no-Futodama-no-mikoto, the jewel-making deity. Susanoo went to heaven and presented them to his sister, the sun goddess Amaterasu, who bit off successive parts of the magatama, and blew them away to create other deities. Tamanoya no mikoto remains the kami god of magatama, glasses, and cameras. In the legend Amaterasu later shuts herself in a cave. Ama-no-Koyane-no-mikoto hung magatama, among other objects, on a five hundred-branch sakaki tree, to successfully lure Amaterasu from the cave. In the year 58, in the reign of the Emperor Suinin, the Nihon shoki records that a dog kills and disembowels a mujina, a type of badger, and a magatama was discovered in its stomach. This magatama was presented to Suinin, who enshrined it at Isonokami Shrine, where it is said to presently reside. A similar practice is described again in the Nihon shoki during the reign of the Emperor Chūai. Chūai made an inspection trip to the Tsukushi, or Kyūshū, and was presented with an enormous sakaki tree hung with magatama as well as other sacred objects.
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