Week 7 Story: The Golden Mirror

Today was gloomy and dreary which perfectly ruined Jane's plan for the day. She was supposed to spend the day outside in the sun and refresh her mind, but the weather had other ideas. Still wanting to get out of the house, Jane decided to go to the local museum as history had always caught her attention. 

Once she arrived at the museum, she wandered slowly through each exhibit. This was a worldly museum which walked through the various history and tales of different cultures. The variation of the displays covered America, Russia, India, and even all the way to Japan. Each display had fascinating tidbits about each country, but Jane found herself drawn to a mirror that was twice her height and as wide as her arm span. The golden frame that surrounded the mirror exposed the age of the piece as there were wear marks and scratches in the brassy frame. The mirror itself looked to be made out of greatly polished gold. In result, the reflection you saw was highlighted by a gold tinge. This massive mirror had a small placard beside it which explained the mirror's origin.

The placard read the following: 

"The Miraculous Mirror

After the frightening appearance of Susa-no-wo,

the Dragon of Hell, 

scared Amaterasu into hiding,

this mirror convinced Amaterasu, 

the Sun Goddess,

to reappear and bring her light, once again, to the land.

Without Amaterasu, we would all be cloaked in darkness.

The mirror tells the truth."

Jane thought this to be an odd description. The information about the mirror spoke as if everything that was described was true. In curiosity, she decided to gaze into the mirror to see if she could understand what the last cryptic sentence of the description meant. She spent some time pondering her reflection, but this was the same as every other time she had looked at her reflection in a mirror. Just as she had decided to move on to the next display, she saw a flicker of light on the edge of the mirror. Surprised, she looked behind herself for the source, but saw nothing that would have emitted that light. She looked back upon the mirror, and the light was still there but now the light was slowly rising behind what seemed to be several peaks. The shape of mountains were forming before her with the light acting in place of a sunrise bringing light to the landscape below it.

Once the Sun had reached her peak placement in the sky, there was a violent tremble, and a vicious-looking dragon broke free from the Earth. Susa-no-wo flew into the sky with fluid actions of a snake. His roar was grating and no one could be free from the sound of his screeching claim to the land. His claws were razors and his teeth rivaled the height of a full grown elephant. Once gazing upon such a sight, the beholder could only do their best to look away. Jane's heart was pounding as she looked upon this scene with trepidation as she saw the Sun quickly disappear again behind the mountains, and there was nothing but darkness. She heard the cries of the people as the fire dragon wreaked havoc across the land and took what he desired. The people quickly had to find a solution to bring the light back to their world.

Jane soon found herself looking upon a beautiful goddess weeping in a cave lit by her own light. She knew this to be the Sun Goddess, Amaterasu, which provided the light to the land. From outside, she could hear laughter. Jane watched as the weeping being of light stood up to go investigate what was outside. She wiped away her tears of fright and peered outside to the source. Outside stood numerous townspeople and the Goddess of Laughter, Uzume, who called to Amaterasu. They told Amaterasu that they had found a new goddess and brought out the golden mirror that Jane had looked into in the museum. The mirror shone with a golden brilliance that brought Amaterasu to stare into the shining surface herself. Within the mirror, she saw her own reflection whom she assumed to be the rival goddess the people told her about.

With jealousy and a wish to not be replaced, she raced out of the cave to meet her opponent. As soon as she did this, Taji-Karao, the Strong, closed the entrance to the cave with a massive boulder. Amaterasu could no longer retreat to where she had been hiding from Susa-no-wo. The townspeople cheered and welcomed back their sun-giving goddess of light.

Jane backed away from the mirror. The scene she had just witnessed felt like she had been drawn into the story herself. She had been within the tale of the Sun Goddess. Nothing like this had ever happened to her before, and when she looked around the room, no one else appeared to have noticed everything she had just seen. In bewilderment, she shook off the rare event that had just occurred. Jane decided that the next time the weather ruined her plans, she would just stay home.

Author's Note: This story was based off the tale of the Miraculous Mirror. I altered the story to be about the Miraculous Mirror that had found itself in a museum many years after the events of the original tale. In this way, I was able to bring a magical element of my telling of the story, as the mirror showed Jane how everything happened in the tale of Amaterasu. In the original story, Amaterasu is providing light to everyone, but Susa-no-wo comes out and scares Amaterasu into hiding. She stays there long enough that the townspeople have to strike up a deal with the Goddess of Laughter to convince Amaterasu to come out of her cave. The plan was to take a golden mirror and tell Amaterasu that they had found another goddess to take her place. When Amaterasu saw her reflection in the mirror, the trick had worked, and she came charging out of her cave. With a strong god in place to close off the cave with a boulder, they successfully worked together, humans and gods alike, to get Amaterasu back to provide light to their world.

Bibliography

The Miraculous Mirror, Romance of Old Japan, Part I: Mythology and Legend by E. W. Champney and F. Champney (1917).

Image Information: Golden Mirror, Flickr