Yamata-no-Orochi-taiji

The Yamata-no-Orochi-taiji is the myth in which Susanoo-no-Mikoto, expelled from Takamagahara, descends to Izumo and slays an eight-headed, eight-tailed serpent. On the upper Hi River (modern Hii River), he meets the old couple Ashinazuchi-no-Mikoto and Tenazuchi-no-Mikoto and their daughter Kushinada-hime. The serpent has taken seven of their daughters in successive years; the last is to be taken next. Susanoo turns Kushinada-hime into a comb that he sticks in his hair, prepares eight vats of yashiori-no-sake, lures the serpent into drinking, and cuts it apart with his ten-handed sword. The sword found in its tail is the future Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi, Kusanagi. The structure has four parts: Susanoo's expulsion and descent to Izumo; the meeting with the old couple and the announcement of the disaster; the trap of sake and the slaying; and the emergence of the sword and its presentation to Amaterasu. This is the turning point at which the violent and exiled deity becomes a heroic deity, and it knots together the reconciliation with Amaterasu, the lineage of the Izumo no Kuni-no-Miyatsuko ancestor, and the origin of one of the three sacred regalia. The setting is the upper Hi River in Izumo, identified with the Hii River basin in Unnan and Okuizumo (Shimane). Related sites include Yaguchi Jinja in Kisuki, Unnan, Kishin Jinja in Okuizumo, and Suga Jinja in Daito, Unnan, 'Japan's first palace' said to have been founded after the slaying as Susanoo and Kushinada-hime made their home. The sword is enshrined at Atsuta Jingu in Atsuta-ku, Nagoya (Aichi); the geography of the cycle extends from Izumo to Owari. Sources include the Susanoo section in the upper scroll of the Kojiki (712 CE) and the age-of-the-gods eighth section, 'one writing,' of the Nihon Shoki (720 CE). The Nihon Shoki preserves details with variant readings, including the writing 'Hi-no-kawa' for the river. Related accounts appear in the Sendai Kuji Hongi and the Izumo no Kuni Fudoki, with detailed commentary in Motoori Norinaga's Kojiki-den.