Amaterasu

**Amaterasu** (「天照」?; *lit. "heaven's illumination"*) is the main protagonist of *Ōkami*. She is also known by villagers of Kamiki Village in her past life as the dreaded **Shiranui**. She is nicknamed as **Ammako** by Ishaku and later Issun in the original Japanese version of *Ōkami*[1], or **Ammy** in the localized game[1]. Amaterasu is the Sun Goddess to all of Nippon and mother to Chibiterasu.

## Personality

Amaterasu is known for being quiet, mature, kind, and gentle always aiding those in need, but also unafraid to show her opinion. For example, when Mr. Orange talks to her after drinking his sake, Amaterasu looks away and breathes, implying he has bad breath. She is also very intelligent, as when she encounters Rao at Queen Himiko's throne room, she figures out she is the demon lord Ninetails. Amaterasu is apparently offended quite easily, shown when Mr. Orange says she doesn't look very smart, as well as Issun saying that "Ammy gets kinda sensitive about her flaws!". According to Mrs. Orange, Amaterasu is quite fond of her cherry cakes. She also has a low attention span, which results in her falling asleep if someone explains something for too long or if she already knows what is being explained.

Like Issun, she is not very keen on bathing, showing her dismay with the activity when offered free bathing at the Sasa Hot Springs.

## Appearance

In the game, Amaterasu takes the shape of a white wolf with crimson markings across her body, a tail shaped like a calligraphy brush (which is how the Celestial Brush is used) and a Divine Instrument floating above her back. Only particular beings, such as Issun, all other Gods and spirits, and presumably most animals and demons can see her true form. Also, humans with a strong belief in the gods can see her markings and instrument. When Amaterasu's ink pots are empty, she will temporarily revert to a plain white wolf. This is how most people see Amaterasu.
As Shiranui, her red markings were more pronounced and she had a long mane of white fur. These features are absent for the duration of the game due to Amaterasu's weakened state, but are restored for the final battle against Yami after Issun creates a swell of faith in the people of Nippon with his painting.

Strangely, whenever Amaterasu absorbs a new Celestial Brush Technique the mane of fur briefly appears around her. It also appears briefly when she gains new Divine Instruments (but only if they are gained after beating bosses) except with a gold-orange coloration. This could represent Amaterasu's powers returning to their former strength.

In *Ōkamiden*, Amaterasu is confirmed to be female, as multiple characters, such as Issun, refer to Amaterasu as Chibiterasu's "mother". In the multiple history scrolls located throughout the game, Issun, who primarily wrote them, also explicitly refers to Amaterasu as a female. It also confirms that she uses her tail to wield Celestial Brush powers (mentioned once by Issun in dialogue with Chibiterasu).

## Abilities

Amaterasu can swim but only for a short amount of time. This was most apparent when she tried to escape the Water Dragon's attack after exploring the Sunken Ship.

### Sunrise

Amaterasu's original ability, Sunrise brings out the sun when a circle is drawn in the sky, changing night into day. It is also used in the final battle with Yami, breaking his darkness and power.

### Attributes

Several statistics are commonly displayed on the game screen in different situations, such as Solar Energy, Astral Pouch, Ink Pots, Yen, and Godhood. Aside from Godhood, these attributes can be upgraded on a sub-menu of the Fan Menu. The number or capacity of these attributes can be increased by injecting them with Praise. If the appropriate amount of Praise is injected the attribute will move up a level, the amount of Praise required to level-up increases each time. Once all Amaterasu's attributes are at their highest level, Praise can no longer be injected and will instead be converted to Yen.

#### Solar Energy

Amaterasu's state of health. She can increase her potential amount of Solar Energy based on the amount of Praise she has received, or by finding Sun Fragments. After being injured, she will slowly heal by herself; this can be accelerated by consuming Holy Bones or by using the Wood Mat or walking into certain springs. If she completely runs out of Solar Energy, she will die, although a full Astral Pouch can bring her back to life.

#### Astral Pouch

Amaterasu's relative immortality. Each Astral Pouch, if full, can automatically return Amaterasu to life with her full complement of Solar Energy. She can obtain additional pouches if she has received sufficient Praise. Pouches can be gradually filled up by Amaterasu eating food, or instantly and completely filled by using a Golden Peach. However, unlike the Astral Pouch itself, the Golden Peach does not automatically activate and must be specifically selected and used from her inventory to refill the pouch. Otherwise, she can easily die with an empty Astral Pouch even if she has multiple Golden Peaches in her possession. 4 is the maximum number of Astral Pouches available.

#### Ink Pots

Amaterasu's overall strength for using Celestial Brush techniques. Each technique uses a certain amount of ink; if she completely runs out of ink, not only does she lose her ability to use the Celestial Brush, but her normal weapon use is also compromised. She can increase her potential number of Ink Pots with sufficient Praise. A Golden Ink Pot speeds up her rate of ink regeneration. An Inkfinity Stone makes it impossible for her to run out of ink while its effects last.

#### Yen

Amaterasu's available money to pay for items or learning Dojo Techniques. While the yenthemselves are gradually accumulated from various sources, her money pouch has a limited capacity; once it is filled, any additional yen simply disappear. She can increase the capacity of the money pouch with sufficient Praise, up to ten digits in money stored.

#### Godhood

Amaterasu's defensive strength. Allows her to absorb a certain number of attacks without suffering real damage. It is gained or lost by her powers in battle and skill in avoiding accidents.

## TMNT X Pokemon

Amaterasu is one of the most powerful of the team. Only some are able to see her red markings such as Master Splinter and Leonardo.

## Trivia

* Amaterasu is based on the Shinto goddess of the same name.
* Amaterasu is the only character to have a 100-year-old form that comes to the present for combat purposes, and is the only past form to time travel at all (the only known past form to possess better fighting skills than the present character, as well).
* Early concepts for Amaterasu included her transforming into a dolphin when swimming, and a falcon when jumping off of high places, but were both scrapped before completion.
* Amaterasu (with Issun, who speaks for her) also appears in *Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds* as well as the remake *Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3*. She has a respectful rivalry with Thor, who is also the physical incarnation of a deity, in this case the Norse God of Thunder. Her ending depicts her venturing through Savage Land alongside Marvel characters Ka-Zar, Shanna and their pet Smilodon, Zabu.
* Amaterasu can understand human speech, this is shown when she growls at Mr. Orange when he insults her without knowing that she can understand him and when Susano mentioned that a cave was a good place to hide, Amaterasu made a sound that roughly translated to "Huh?!", he corrected himself when he noticed this.
* In *Ōkamiden*, Amaterasu has a son Chibiterasu who is also a white wolf and has the same crimson markings as her, but weaker in strength (as he's not at his full potential).
* In the first battle with Yami, one may notice that Amaterasu gains back all the Brush Techniques except her own.
* The Hyper Combo Veil of Mist in *Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds* is mistakenly labelled as Vale of Mist
* In the game Amaterasu is supposed to be genderless, like all of the other gods including Shiranui. But most people refer to Amaterasu as female, because she is based upon the Japanese goddess of the sun. Instances of the game where Amaterasu is considered **female**:
	+ Several of the Celestial Brush gods refer to Amaterasu as "**mother** of us all" or similar locutions.
	+ Waka addresses Amaterasu with the explicitly feminine French terms "*ma chérie*" (my dear) and "*mon amie*" (my friend). (The masculine/neutral equivalents would be *mon chéri* and *mon ami*.)
	+ Yatsu, the ghost that guards the entrance of the Gale Shrine, sees Amaterasu's inner being as a "beautiful maiden".
	+ After Rao abandons Amaterasu and Issun from the Water Dragon chase, Issun has some choice words with Rao. Rao states that Amaterasu is a slow swimmer and Issun quickly says that "Ammy gets kinda sensitive about **her** flaws."
	+ *Ōkamiden*'s scrolls explicitly refers to Amaterasu as female.
* If Amaterasu runs out of ink during combat she will use an alternate fighting style comprised of bites, charges, and kicks.
* Two grey wolf subspecies or endemic canidae species: the Honshū wolf (「日本狼」?; *Nihon Ōkami*) and the Hokkaidō wolf (「蝦夷狼」?; *Ezo Ōkami*) became extinct in 1905 and 1889 respectively, thus nowadays there are no native or wild wolves in Japan (with many reports of unofficial sightings in recent years[2]). There are opinions claiming that there had or have been more of unconfirmed subspecies of Japanese wolves with interdigital webbings on each leg (referred as the *O'ho'kami*), and unknown type of wild, endemic, non-wolf canine animals with lateral stripes on body exist. This unknown wild canidae is called the 山犬? (*Yamainu*; *mountain dog*). Philipp Franz Balthasar von Siebold might have kept a specimen along with a "wolf". However, nominal of *Yamainu* and Ōkami had been confounded for very long period and majority of publics and researchers once had considered these two nominal the same, like that of *mujina* and *tanuki* (there have been claims that this *mujina* is also a different animal from known raccoon dogs).
* In Kamui near Wali's house, in the snowy section between the frozen streams, there is a large pile of snow. Power Slash it three times and a statue of Amaterasu will appear, similar to the statue in Kamiki Village at the beginning of the game, except larger and made entirely of snow.
* She makes a cameo during the prologue of episode 11 of *Asura's Wrath*.