The Founder of Aikido, Morihei Ueshiba O-Sensei was a deep practitioner of Omoto-kyo, a form of Japanese Shinto.

In Creating Aikido (The Way of Unifying Energy), he mentions the story of Amaterasu – The Sun Goddess.

Training is a Way to Unite People for the purpose of Joy and Fulfillment. The Founder of Aikido, Morihei Ueshiba O-Sensei, made Aikido his life’s work in order to help bring Joy, Peace, Light and Abundance back into the world.

When we come together, this is Union. We are all a reflection of divine consciousness, our mirrors that reflect this divine light may be a little clouded and may need some polishing, but within each of our hearts is the divine light of God, in its perfection. Training together in unity is a way for us to help each other polish off the cloudiness of our physical lives — the negative thought patterns, the materialistic tendencies — we train to polish each other off and to reflect our inner lights so that we may see that we are already perfect.

In my Martial Art Training I try to follow the same principles as the founder of Aikido. I Train to Bring Light, Peace and Joy to People and train to bring together people from various backgrounds, disciplines and ideologies, in a spirit of harmony and peace.

Story of Amaterasu (from Wikipedia)

Amaterasu is described in the Kojiki as the sun goddess who was born from Izanagi, who was also accompanied by her siblings Susanoo, the storm deity, and Tsukuyomi, the moon deity. In the Kojiki, Amaterasu is described as the goddess from which all light emanates and is often referred to as the sun goddess because of her warmth and compassion for the people who worshipped her. Some of the other myths include that Amaterasu was born from water.

Most of her myths revolves around an incident where the goddess traps herself in a cave because of her brother’s actions. For a while, everything amongst the three revered gods was peaceful and all of the world ran smoothly. One day, Susanoo, in a drunken rampage, trampled Amaterasu’s rice fields, filled all of her irrigation ditches, and threw excrement into her palace and her shrines. The Omikami asked her brother to stop but he ignored her and even went so far as to throw the corpse of a skinned horse at her hand-maidens who were weaving at the time. The women were killed by the wood breaking apart and piercing their bodies (most sources say it was their reproductive organs that were pierced).

Amaterasu was greatly angered and in protest she shut herself in the Heavenly Cave and sealed it shut with a giant rock. As a result, the world was consumed with darkness. Without her, everything began to wither and die. Eight million Kami gathered in front of her cave and devised a way to lure her out. They all sat around the cave and set up a mirror across from the entrance. Ame-no-Uzume, the voluptuous goddess of merriment turned over a wash-tub and began a sensual dance, tapping the beat on the tub. She exposed her breasts and lifted her skirts as she danced. All of the gods made a great noise of yelling and cheering and laughing. Amaterasu peeked out to see what the noise was about. She asked the nearest god what was going on and he replied that there was a new goddess. When Amaterasu asked where she was, he pointed to the mirror.

The Omikami had never seen her self and when she caught her reflection, she stared at the radiance of her own form. She was so surprised she said omo-shiroi which means both “white face,” which the Omikami had, and “fascinating”. When she was out of the way, Tajikara-O shut the rock behind her. Having lured her out of the cave, the gods convinced her to go back into the Celestial Plain and all life began to grow again and become strong in her light. Once back in the Celestial Plain, she made sure that she was ready for her brother’s harsh actions again by having a bow and quiver at her side.