Yata no Kagami
The Eight-Fold Mirror hung from a sacred sakaki tree outside the rock-cave in which the sun goddess Amaterasu had hidden, its brilliance luring her out to illuminate the world again, in the central myth of Japanese kingship. Revered at Ise Grand Shrine as the mirror of the Three Sacred Treasures, it is held to represent the sun goddess and, with the jewel and the sword, the imperial regalia; its polished face stands for truth and reflection in Shinto thought. The mirror, like the other treasures, is wrapped and kept from public view, so that all descriptions of it rest on the Kojiki and the Ni