ᴀᴍᴀᴛᴇʀᴀsᴜ

aersick

ammako

In her human form, Amaterasu takes on the appearance of a young woman (or, in the words of Yatsu, a “fair maiden”) with silver-white hair that reaches down around her waist and has red markings that cover various parts of her body (face, shoulders + back, as well as her legs). She stands only at 5’4” and has a rather lithe, yet slightly muscular, build. All her running around and fighting has helped her keep off the weight of having a bottomless pit for a stomach. Her clothing varies, depending on her mood.

As a wolf, there are red markings cover her body. These are a sign of her godhood and they can only be seen by people who have a strong belief in the gods (or a god in general), demons, other gods, and those spiritually inclined. To those who could care less about - or have a very weak belief in - religion, gods, or other such things they are not visible.

note: Despite her being from post-Okamiden, I don’t...draw her with her Shiranui markings. Mainly out of laziness.

First and foremost: Amaterasu is the goddess of the sun. She is known as the origin of good and called a mother to all. So she can display a bit over-protectiveness of others since the people of Nippon are, technically, her children and it is a mother’s job to protect her children! As well as reprimand them when they do thing. So, at times, this reprimanding comes in the form of tough love. If by tough love that means “there is a child acting like a cry baby, let’s give him (or her) a headbutt to make them stop.” Surprisingly? It works. Especially when Issun gives the kid a bit of a talking to.

Despite being a goddess, however, most people just take her for a simple dog due to the fact that they are unable to see her markings (and even then, those who can see them don't really make comments on them). So they treat her as such, usually making comments about things because they think that she doesn’t understand them. Mr. Orange had gone so far as to say that while Amaterasu resembled Shiranui, she didn’t look quite as smart. Those sorts of comments are enough to irritate her, even if people may just be stating facts.

That fact may be just a little true. As knowledgeable and smart as Amaterasu is when it comes to certain things, there are also others that she can be confused by or just be relatively ignorant to. After Orochi’s defeat, Kamiki village had a celebration and Kushi and Susano were no where to be seen; when Amaterasu went to find them, and spoke to both of them, Issun made the remark that she doesn’t quite get it and that the two of them wanted to be alone.

She’s also got a bit of a competitive and playful spirit and is always willing to challenge someone to a race. It means that she gets to have some fun while showing off her speed. When the race is finally won - or, really, whenever she does anything that could warrant a bit of an ego boost - she can get rather huffy and overly proud of herself. And if that winning gets her some sort of prize, may it be material or a headpat, then she has achieved what she set out to do. Especially the headpatting.

After all, Amaterasu loves receiving (and giving) affection. While some people may offer the affection without needing a motivator to do so, Amaterasu can use her Bloom technique on an unsuspecting person and cause them to come and shower her with either headpats, being petted, or a hug of some sort. She rather enjoys abusing said technique for those purposes alone.

However, as driven as Amaterasu is to defeat the evil that plagues Nippon and save the land, she has a tendency to be slightly aloof, stubborn, and would probably end up lazing around if Issun was not with her. (The latter bit is something that he makes mention of in Okamiden, when speaking to Chibi.) She’s easily made bored if a person is going on a rather long tirade or speech or explanation; she does this shortly after Sakuya calls upon her for help, when she first meets with Waka after 100 years, and while the Spider Queen takes to ranting a bit. She may also take to napping even when there are other pressing matters at hand.

It's her goal, through the course of the game, to collect the thirteen brush techniques that had been lost from her a hundred years prior to the start of the game. It goes hand in hand with her goal of protecting the land of Nippon and vanquishing the evil that has overcome it. The safety of the people of Nippon, the fact that their belief in the gods have waned so greatly over the years, and the plight of the land itself is what motivates Amaterasu to work past her initially lazy and slightly slap-dash behavior. The farther her adventure takes her, the more she sees of the land and people, the more determined she becomes.

She travels one hundred years into the past to save a lost child of the Oina tribe - working alongside Nagi to defeat the True Orochi of that time until Shiranui arrived on the scene to finish off the legend. Her determination only wanes once and that is during the final battle; after what appears to be Yami's defeat, the Emperor of Darkness removes her of her powers once again - weakening Amaterasu. To her, that moment appeared to be the end. Darkness would win and take over the land. However, due to Issun's help and him taking his job as Celestial Envoy seriously, he helps restore the faith of the gods in the people of Nippon through his paintings. With this new found strength - returning to her once former glory - Amaterasu takes the hopes of those people onto her shoulders and defeats Yami.

Peace would come to the land of Nippon as she returns to the Celestial Plain after the long battle, Waka at her side, as to restore it back to its former beauty. Nine months later, Amaterasu's son, Chibiterasu, takes up the call of playing the hero role because evil had appeared again. During that time, Amaterasu is still on the Celestial Plain doing the whole restoring it gig.

But when it comes to decision making and whether or not to just go head in with a battle against a boss? Amaterasu the type who would much rather leap into something before thinking about it, of which Issun has become quite used to and “Leap before you think!” has become their motto and way to live by.