What is the name of the floating bridge between heaven and earth in Shinto myth?

The floating bridge between heaven and earth in Shinto myth is called Ame no Ukihashi.

Ame no Ukihashi, written 天浮橋 or 天の浮橋, means “Floating Bridge of Heaven.” In the creation story recorded in the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, Izanagi and Izanami stand upon this bridge while looking down toward the formless waters below. From there, they use the jeweled spear Ame no Nuhoko to stir the ocean and begin forming the Japanese islands.

The bridge is therefore a meeting point between the heavenly realm and the emerging earthly world. Interpretations sometimes compare it with a rainbow or the Milky Way, but those are modern or symbolic readings rather than a single fixed identification in the myths.

Ame no Ukihashi also appears in a later tradition connected with Ninigi-no-Mikoto’s descent from heaven. In that account, the bridge is associated with the boundary between worlds and with the god Sarutahiko Ōkami, who guards the route. It is not the same object as Ame no Iwato, the cave associated with Amaterasu.