Ame-no-Uzume vs Usha

Goddess of dawn, mirth, and revelry. Her wild, comedic dance lured Amaterasu from the Heavenly Rock Cave, restoring light to the world. Ancestral deity of performing arts.

When **Amaterasu** retreated into the Ama-no-Iwato cave and plunged the world into darkness, the eight million kami gathered in desperation. Ame-no-Uzume overturned a tub, stamped upon it, and performed an ecstatic, risque dance that provoked such uproarious laughter among the gods that Amaterasu's curiosity drew her forth.

**Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto** holds one of the most pivotal roles in Japanese mythology. When Amaterasu withdrew into the Heavenly Rock Cave and darkness engulfed the world, it was Ame-no-Uzume's bold, outrageous performance that ultimately saved creation by drawing the sun goddess back into the light.

The Vedic goddess of dawn, praised in some twenty hymns of the Rigveda as a radiant young woman who drives away darkness, wakes every living creature, and returns each morning ever young while the generations of mortals pass away.

Usha is called the daughter of Dyaus (Heaven) and the sister of Ratri (Night), with whom she shares an unending path, the two alternating across the sky.

Usha is among the most celebrated goddesses of the Rigveda, which addresses about twenty hymns to her. She is the daughter of Heaven, sister of Night, and the brilliant maiden who unbars the doors of the sky. Her light rouses people to their work and to sacrifice: she causes Agni's fire to be kindled at the morning rite.