The absent son must be consulted
When the heavenly envoys demand an answer, Ōkuninushi says that his son Kotoshironushi should speak. The son is away at Cape Miho, engaged in fishing and bird hunting, so the divine boat is sent to fetch him. The delay matters: the exchange is not simply a private decision made by one ruler. The narrative explicitly gives another member of his household a role in determining the response.
Source: Kojiki: Records of Ancient Matters, Chamberlain translation · Kojiki §32, consultation
Agreement does not mean continued visibility
Kotoshironushi advises that the land be presented to the heavenly descendant. He then performs an unusual withdrawal involving the overturning of his boat, a gesture of the hands, and an enclosure of green branches. The passage supplies a striking action but does not explain every detail in ordinary physical terms. An account should preserve that uncertainty rather than convert the scene into a fully documented suicide, escape route, or historical ritual.
Source: Kojiki: Records of Ancient Matters, Chamberlain translation · Kojiki §32, assent and disappearance
A contrast within one family
Takeminakata's later challenge offers a different response to the same demand. His defeat is followed by submission, while Kotoshironushi's assent precedes that struggle. Ōkuninushi eventually names Kotoshironushi as a leader who can keep the many other deities obedient within the new arrangement. His role therefore joins initial agreement to continuing mediation; withdrawal from the immediate confrontation does not make him irrelevant to the settlement it produces.
Source: Kojiki: Records of Ancient Matters, Chamberlain translation · Kojiki §32, challenge and final conditions
- Period / witness
- Kojiki presented in 712 CE; Chamberlain translation 1882. Narrative time is not a historical date.
- Recording context
- Kojiki, a Japanese court compilation attributed to Ō no Yasumaro from material recited by Hieda no Are; cited by Chamberlain’s numbered sections, not asserted as the origin of the tradition.
A recording location is not necessarily a story’s origin. Dates of texts, copies, and translations answer different questions.
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These references support the explanation above. Rights and edition notes are recorded individually.
Kojiki: Records of Ancient Matters, Chamberlain translation ↗
Ō no Yasumaro (compiler, as identified in the preface); translated by Basil Hall Chamberlain (1850–1935) · Court compilation presented 712 CE; translation published Yokohama, 1882
Edition & rights note