If a foreigner happens to know just one Japanese myth, it's usually the one about Amaterasu and the cave. Amaterasu had long been tormented by her brother, Susanoo. But Susanoo, who believed there was no such thing as too elaborate a brotherly prank, went too far when he flung a flayed piebald colt into her weaving hall. Amaterasu went off to sulk in a cave, thereby -- being the sun goddess -- plunging the world into darkness. And long it remained dark until Uzume, who was a game girl for a goddess, did a saucy little dance for all the other gods assembled outside the cave. When they whooped with delight at the dance, Amaterasu, wondering what all the racket could be, was lured out of her cave -- a cave that is located in present-day Takachiho.

This town in northern Miyazaki Prefecture is situated in one of the wilder, more rugged parts of Kyushu. The famous caldera of Mount Aso is not far away, and the bus from Kumamoto skirts past the volcano and across the lush green Kyushu landscape of small rice paddies contoured into steep hillsides.

As you might expect, the little mountain town of Takachiho is rather proud of its role in Japanese mythology. Along the length of the town's main street, small tableaux of figures have been set up in see-through cases, depicting the story of the cave and associated legends.