The brothers refuse their defeat
After Yakami chooses him, Ōkuninushi's brothers threaten him with a supposed boar hunt. They heat a stone, roll it toward him, and make him catch it; he dies from the burns. His mother seeks heavenly assistance, and two shell-associated goddesses restore him. The brothers then trap him inside a split tree and remove its wedge, killing him again. His mother finds and revives him, urging him to leave.
His flight eventually takes him to the realm of Susanoo. There Susanoo's daughter Suseribime sees him, and the two form a union. Her welcome does not make her father's household safe. Susanoo begins a new series of ordeals for the visitor.
Source: Kojiki: Records of Ancient Matters, Chamberlain translation · Kojiki §§22–23, attacks and arrival
The tests require borrowed knowledge
Susanoo first places him among snakes, then among centipedes and wasps. Suseribime supplies protective cloths and instructions that let him survive. Next Susanoo sends him to recover an arrow from grassland and sets the surrounding ground alight. A mouse reveals a hidden refuge and brings him the arrow after the fire passes.
A further task requires him to remove what appear to be lice from Susanoo's head, but the creatures are centipedes. Suseribime provides berries and red earth so he can imitate chewing them without doing so. Susanoo relaxes and falls asleep. The episode repeatedly makes survival depend on attention to helpers, not on the solitary invulnerability of a destined ruler.
Source: Kojiki: Records of Ancient Matters, Chamberlain translation · Kojiki §23, houses, burning moor, and head-grooming
Escape becomes recognition
Ōkuninushi ties the sleeper's hair to the rafters, takes Suseribime on his back, and carries away a sword, bow, arrows, and speaking instrument. The instrument catches against a tree and sounds, waking Susanoo. Entangled in his own house, the pursuer loses time. At the boundary he calls after the pair, instructing the fugitive to use the weapons against his brothers and establish himself as master of the land with Suseribime as his principal wife.
Ōkuninushi returns and scatters his enemies. His new authority grows out of maternal rescue, divine assistance, animal help, and his partner's repeated interventions. The father's hostile tests end in an acknowledgment delivered during escape, not a peaceful ceremony that retroactively makes every danger harmless.
Source: Kojiki: Records of Ancient Matters, Chamberlain translation · Kojiki §23, escape, injunction, and victory
- 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