A family at the river
After his expulsion from heaven, Susanoo descends to Izumo. Chopsticks floating downstream tell him that people must be living farther up the river. He follows that sign and finds an elderly couple weeping beside their daughter. They explain that a huge serpent has consumed seven of their eight daughters and is due to return for the last, Kushinadahime.
The creature has eight heads and eight tails; trees grow on it, and its body extends across hills and valleys. Susanoo asks for the daughter in marriage. Once he identifies his relationship to Amaterasu, the parents agree. He transforms the girl into a comb and places her in his hair, taking her out of the position of an exposed prospective victim.
Source: Kojiki: Records of Ancient Matters, Chamberlain translation · Kojiki §18, arrival and agreement
A planned encounter
Susanoo orders the parents to prepare strong liquor and a barrier with eight openings, each provided with a vessel. When the serpent arrives, its heads drink and fall asleep. Susanoo then cuts the body apart, filling the river with blood. His success depends on preparations adapted to the monster's multiple heads, rather than an unplanned contest of strength.
When his blade strikes a tail, its edge is damaged. He investigates and discovers another sword within the serpent. The text identifies this recovered weapon with the sword later called Kusanagi. Susanoo presents the discovery to Amaterasu, linking his earthly victory with the heavenly relationship from which he has been expelled.
Source: Kojiki: Records of Ancient Matters, Chamberlain translation · Kojiki §18, liquor, dismemberment, and sword
A dwelling after the rescue
Susanoo seeks a place to live and chooses Suga. Clouds rising there prompt a song about repeated fences and the space of marriage. He appoints the rescued girl's father to an office connected with the new dwelling. The episode thus moves from a household facing extinction to a newly established household and its attendants.
The transformation in Susanoo's role is real, but it does not erase his previous violence in heaven or make every action benevolent. The rescue is conditional on a marriage agreement, and Kushinadahime's own words are absent from the negotiation as presented here. The sword's later importance also should not be used to identify the story's imagined weapon with an independently verified archaeological object.
Source: Kojiki: Records of Ancient Matters, Chamberlain translation · Kojiki §§18–20
- 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