Choosing the visitor
Suseribime meets the fugitive Ōkuninushi when he arrives in Susanoo's realm. They exchange looks and form a union before her father has offered a welcome. Her relationship to the newcomer therefore does not begin as a prize assigned after a successful ordeal. It begins as a choice that makes her an ally when the host immediately turns the household into a dangerous place for him.
Source: Kojiki: Records of Ancient Matters, Chamberlain translation · Kojiki §23, arrival
Instructions change the outcome
She provides protective cloths for the rooms of snakes and biting creatures, explaining how they must be used. Later she gives berries and red earth so that Ōkuninushi can simulate chewing the centipedes in Susanoo's hair. These acts are specific interventions, not a vague statement that love gives strength. They alter what the visitor can safely do and what the father believes he is seeing.
Source: Kojiki: Records of Ancient Matters, Chamberlain translation · Kojiki §23, ordeals
Departure and an unequal household
Ōkuninushi carries her during the escape, and Susanoo calls after them that she should be his principal wife. The section also returns to Yakami, whose earlier agreement with him is affected by fear of Suseribime. Keeping that detail visible prevents the escape from becoming a simple ending in which every relationship is reconciled. The text gives Suseribime consequential agency while also locating her within a competitive and hierarchical arrangement of marriage.
Source: Kojiki: Records of Ancient Matters, Chamberlain translation · Kojiki §23, escape and Yakami’s departure
- 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