The Japanese
believe that all nations of the world owe the fact that the sun rises on earth
every day to mirror. According to an ancient myth, the sun goddess Amaterasu
was deeply offended by her brother Susanoo and locked herself in a deep stone
grotto. Without light and heat, all life on earth began to die. Then the gods,
anxious about the fate of the world, decided to lure the bright Amaterasu from
the cave. Knowing the curiosity of the goddess, they hung an elegant necklace
on the branches of a tree standing next to the grotto, put a mirror
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| Ancient Bronze Japanese Mirror |
next to it
and ordered the sacred rooster to be loudly sung. At the cry of a bird,
Amaterasu looked out of the grotto, and seeing the necklace, could not resist
the temptation to try it on. And she could not but look in the mirror in order
to evaluate the decoration on herself. As soon as the bright Amaterasu looked in
the mirror, the world was illuminated and remains so to this day. The mirror
has since been included in the mandatory set of gifts for a Japanese girl who
has reached the age of nine. It symbolizes honesty, frankness, chastity, and
the fact that all women are still as curious as Amaterasu.
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| Japanese Magic Mirrors |
Starting from
the 16th century, mirrors regained the glory of the most mysterious and most
magical objects ever created by man. People believed that it was possible to
learn and change the future, cause dark forces, multiply the harvest and
perform countless other rituals with the help of games with reflection.
