Also pronounced as Takamagahara. It refers to the vast realm in the high heaven. It is the residence of kami presided over by Amaterasu. It constitutes one plain of a tripartite vertical "view of the cosmos" (sekaikan) in Shintō. Takamanohara is the upper world (uwatsukuni) in contrast to the "nether world" (yomi, ne no shitatsukuni) and the "Central Land of Reed Plains" (Ashihara no nakatsukuni), which is the human world. Takamanohara can simply be called ame, or amanohara. Its actual location has long been debated. Roughly divided, there are two views of Takamanohara: one considers it a utopia based on a religious belief; and the other sees it as historically representing an ancient capital of the realm.