#ame-no uzume

[eirikrjs]

I'm impressed with how well Doi's new Konohana Sakuya harmonizes with Kaneko's existing Nocturne JP goddesses despite not being part of their exact same template.

I dare say the demons revealed for Vengeance thus far are some of Doi's best yet and may mark a turning point for him as a demon designer!

[juxtaposedpunk]

Ame no Uzume

[kairunatic]

Despite being stuck in a Game that is heavily dominated by male characters. I am still amazed by how well they are portrayed either by Character or design so Kudos to these Queens!

[yuseirra]

If the twin's parents were both originally gods! I drew this idea out!

but really... what IS Tsukuyomi's role in this story? What are the gods and stars up to in it? If this is how it is, then she could actually be like the twin's aunt in a way. She seems to know a lot about Ai's fate, at least

[02kt]

[marreddream]

running late

[2figs]

ONE MORE GOD REJECTED

[p5x-theories]

You know, haven't posted these yet, so why not. Shadow battle icons (part one)!

[mahoushojo]

The Lovers Arcana 💟

I had an amazing time stopping by the Shin Megami Tensei photoshoot at Anime NYC last weekend. I was so excited to see someone cosplaying as Ame no Uzume! It was a pleasure meeting you, DiceKey, and I hope we run into each other at other events in the future!

[dorokora]

[tetsunabouquet]

POV trying to understand the diabolic lovers lore be like

I'm literally running off theories at this point

the world building is just inconsistent. Personally, I am actually quite familiar with the game developpers- Idea Factory. This blog started out as a Neptunia blog and currently I finally got to playing Fairy Fencer F: Refrain Chord. Both of these are developped by one of Idea Factory's subsidiaries Compile Heart. I've also played the first Mary Skelter game and I still want to get to the sequel actually. So let me tell you that this is a plague that haunts Idea Factory. Whilst I love their gaming titles, the world building can be quite confusing. I feel like why the Neptunia series became one of their most well-known titles amongst international gamers, is the fact they managed to make that work by introducing various dimensions and spin-offs that aren't official to the main timeline. Like the very first Neptunia game is utter trash, most of the fandom agrees upon that. Whilst it got a way better remake, it's still big enough of a stain that it's a serperate dimension and the first game in the main timeline is actually the second title MK2 which takes place in an entire new dimension were they worked out some of the worst writing flaws from the first game.

I do think some of the best writers of Idea Factory are at Compile Heart, I swear and it is why I am Compile Heart trash myself.

[kairunatic]

[yuseirra]

looking more into the lore of ame-no-uzume and sarutahiko.. Sarutahiko is said to have had a body that emits light. Ame-no-uzume were to guide Amaterasu's grandson into his territory and she met him all shining. She approached him and they fell in love at first sight. (I read off several different sources, and there are mentions of her having fallen for him first and some being the other way around. Either way, they found a liking for each other) She asked him for guidance, and he accepted.

Sarutahiko helps her into his land, allows the one ame-no-uzume has brought to settle, and later get wed, becoming ancestors of an aristocrat that goes by the title of sarume- さるめ猿女 which means "maiden whom are skilled with dances"

I find this lore rather cute.

And it's similar to how Ai and Hikaru first met? Ai's the one who approaches him, and she thought he shines like a jewel? Hikaru helps her study his field(acting) and they have children together. It's likely Ai did find a liking for him at first sight the way it's depicted. They sort of clicked the moment they met. Also, their daughter is a natural, great dancer.

Really...I think they are related to these gods indeed...

+oh and another interesting thing! There are "Okami"s in Japanese folklore, the great gods (大神) Most okamis like Amaterasu, Izanagi and Izanami are "Amatsukamis", 天津神(あまつかみ). They are from the skies.

Sarutahiko, however, is the only Kunitsukami within the okamis 国津神(くにつかみ) and belongs on the land.

Ame-no-uzume is not an okami, but she is one of the Amatsukamis and she originates from the skies as well.

This sort of...also goes with how the speaker in mephisto is desperate to reach the stars...jewels are from the land and they can only look up towards the stars in the sky.

++To dive in a little further, it seems that the Kunitsukamis are said to be gods that were believed by the locals/natives, and the settlers/colonizers believed in Amatsukamis. That's how the Amatsukamis are generally proposed to be the stonger gods but Sarutahiko seems like one of the few exceptions. He's actually wed one of the Amatsukamis, interesting! This story could have bedn created to justify Amaterasu's power and rule, but in modern shinto, there are said to be little distinctions between those two types of gods and what's left is a cute love story.

[dailydemonspotlight]

Ame-No-Uzume - Day 4

Race: Megami

Alignment: Light-Law

March 23rd, 2024

Today's demon of the day is the heavenly dancer, the great persuader, and Shinto kami of the arts, Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto. Famous for her sensuality and love, Ame-no-Uzume is a still-worshipped and beloved figure in Japan, as well as one with a very famous myth attached- one in which she may have saved the very world.

Ame-no-Uzume serves (haha get it) as the goddess of dawn, meditation, revelry, and the arts, particularly dance. Her signature dance is that of the Kagura, a dance ritually performed to bring a shaman closer to the gods. Once strictly ritual, this dance consists of two stages, one of slow elegance that slowly transforms as the dancer becomes possessed by the kami, changing into an energetic yet unconscious trance.

This dance actually comes into play in the most famous myth involving Ame-no-Uzume, the one in which she drew the sun out of hiding. Amaterasu, goddess of the sun, had gotten into a conflict with her brother, Susano'o, which soon reached a breaking point that led to a self-imposed exile. Susano'o, likely as a result of being the god of storms, destroyed her rice fields, killed one of her star maidens, and ended up throwing a flayed horse at her loom in a fit of rage, something which only inspired spite in Amaterasu in return.

Ashamed and angry, Amaterasu went into hiding, concealing herself within the Heavenly Rock Cave called Amano-Iwato. Without the light of the sun, the world went dark, crops began to die out, and many people lost their lives due to suffering elicited by the suddenly eternal night. Desperate for a solution, the other Shinto kami tried several plans to draw Amaterasu out, though none seemed to work... until the fledgling kami of dance made herself known.

Ame-no-Uzume devised a plan- she would draw Amaterasu out with, I kid you not, what was effectively a striptease. After kicking over a tub of water she began to break out into the Kagura dance, all the while beginning to strip. The scene caused the kami present to burst out in laughter, causing Amaterasu to finally peer out and see what the commotion was about. No, the fact that she came out of her cave to see another woman naked is not lost on me.

All this goes to say is that Ame-no-Uzume, in spite of being one of the less mentioned deities in Shinto folklore, is one of the most prominent- as the patron of the arts, she is frequently looked up to and worshipped by the people of Japan.

In Shin Megami Tensei, Ame-no-Uzume is a powerful support/magic focused demon with an immunity to and affinity towards wind attacks, likely representing the Kagura dance and its elegant movement like wind. Design wise, she appears mostly as a dancer, with the fans wielded by her typically used in Japanese theatre and dance and likely used to channel wind as well. I like to picture her using attacks in much the same way Kalluto Zoldyck from Hunter X Hunter uses them, channeling the wind through specific dances and movements of her fans.

All in all, Ame-no-Uzume is a fantastically designed demon originating from a fascinating bit of Japanese mythology, and one of my favorites in the series. The Goddess of Lesbians gets an A+ in my book.

[summocrap]

NEW CHARACTERS!!!

[shintoinenglish]

May I ask if you know of some shrines to Ame-No-Uzume? Or a way to find shrines to this Kami (English or Japanese are both fine!)

Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto is enshrined in many, many places! Here's an incomplete list on Wikipedia. Many shrines enshrine her in their grounds while not having her as their main kami.

Honestly, Wikipedia isn't the worst for finding shrines, but Yaokami is a good one for Japanese sites. They even have some pretty niche shrines and temples on there, but there often isn't any information beyond the name of the kamisama enshrined. I tend to use it as a starting point if I have a region I'm looking in.

Hotokami is probably the best one I've seen, as it has user-submitted photos and a lot of users post shrines' shrine history signs.