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77-700: The goddess is named 'Kushinadahime' (櫛名田比売) in the Kojiki , while the Nihon Shoki variously names her 'Kushiinadahime' (奇稲田姫), 'Inadahime' (稲田姫), and 'Makamifuru-Kushiinadahime' (真髪触奇稲田媛). 'Inadahime' may be translated either as "lady / princess ( hime ) of Inada", with "Inada" (稲田) here being understood as the name of a place in Izumo Province (part of what is now the town of Okuizumo (formerly Yokota ) in Nita District , Shimane Prefecture ), or "lady / princess of

154-604: A box, the Crown Prince's sword is worn by the Crown Prince with the traditional costume sokutai at an official ceremony of the Imperial Household. The Tsubokiri sword is the most important sword owned by the Crown Prince, given by the Emperor as proof of the official Crown Prince after the ceremony of his inauguration. Its origin is that it was given by Emperor Uda when Emperor Daigo became Crown Prince in 893, and

231-585: A copy of the Kan'ei printed edition in 1754. After meeting Mabuchi in 1763, Norinaga began to devote his efforts to an in-depth scholarly study of the text. A monumental 44-volume study of the Kojiki called Kojiki-den ( 古事記伝 , "Commentary on the Kojiki ") , composed over a 34-year period (1764–1798), was the fruit of his labor. With Norinaga, the Kojiki assumed an importance equal to the Nihon Shoki ; in fact, in his view

308-413: A fence with eight gates. The monster took the bait and put one of its heads through each gate. With this distraction, Susanoo attacked and slew the beast (with his sword Worochi no Ara-masa ), chopping off each head and then proceeded to do the same to the tails. In the fourth tail, he discovered a great sword inside the body of the serpent which he called Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi . He presented

385-551: A national epic like Beowulf is in the English-speaking world. During the 1920s and 30s, linguist Hashimoto Shinkichi studied the phonology of the Old Japanese language , and his conclusions were applied by scholars to the study of the text. The Kojiki continued to attract the attention of academics and other specialists in the post-war period, which saw the appearance of numerous editions, translations and commentaries on

462-411: A third wife, Nunakawahime ( 沼河比売 ) of Koshi . A tiny god riding on the waves of the sea in a bean-pod appears before Ōkuninushi. A god in the form of a scarecrow named Kuebiko ( 久延毘古 ) identifies the dwarf as Sukunabikona-no-Kami ( 少名毘古那神 ), a son of Kamimusubi-no-Kami ( 神産巣日神 ), one of the three primordial Kotoamatsukami . Sukunabikona assists Ōkuninushi in his task of creating and developing

539-478: Is Kushi-nada-hime. The reason of our weeping is that formerly we had eight children, daughters. But they have been devoured year after year by an eight-forked serpent, and now the time approaches for this girl to be devoured. There is no means of escape for her, and therefore do we grieve." Sosa no wo no Mikoto said:—"If that is so, wilt thou give me thy daughter?" He replied, and said:—"I will comply with thy behest and give her to thee." Therefore Sosa no wo no Mikoto on

616-465: Is a condensed summary of the contents of the text, including many of the names of gods, emperors, and locations as well as events which took place in association with them. The original Japanese is included in parentheses where appropriate. Ō no Yasumaro 's preface, in the form of a dedicatory address to Empress Genmei , begins with a poem summarizing the main contents of the work. He then relates how Emperor Tenmu commissioned Hieda no Are to memorize

693-509: Is a legendary Japanese sword and one of three Imperial Regalia of Japan . It was originally called Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi ( 天 叢 雲 剣 , "Heavenly Sword of Gathering Clouds") , but its name was later changed to the more popular Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi ("Grass-Cutting Sword"). In folklore, the sword represents the virtue of valor . The history of the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi extends into legend. According to Kojiki ,

770-620: Is always close to the emperor as an amulet, and is called Hi no Omashi no Gyoken ( 昼御座御剣 , meaning 'sword of the throne in the daytime') . Hi no Omashi no Gyoken has changed over time; at present, two tachi made by swordsmiths Nagamitsu and Yukihira in the Kamakura period play the role. Apart from these swords, the Imperial Family owns many swords, which are managed by the Imperial Household Agency. For example, one of

847-527: Is an early Japanese chronicle of myths , legends, hymns , genealogies, oral traditions , and semi-historical accounts down to 641 concerning the origin of the Japanese archipelago , the kami ( 神 ) , and the Japanese imperial line . It is claimed in its preface to have been composed by Ō no Yasumaro at the request of Empress Genmei in the early 8th century (711–712), and thus is usually considered to be

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924-512: Is given here as 'Makamifuru-Kushiinadahime' (真髪触奇稲田媛) - is not yet born when Susanoo slew the Yamata no Orochi. In one writing it is said:—"At this time Sosa no wo no Mikoto went down and came to the head-waters of the River Ye, in the province of Aki. There was there a God whose name was Ashi-nadzu-te-nadzu. His wife's name was Inada no Miya-nushi Susa no yatsu-mimi. This Deity was just then pregnant, and

1001-562: Is not considered a historical document. The first reliable historical mention of the sword is in the Nihon Shoki . Although the Nihon Shoki also contains mythological stories that are not considered reliable history, it records some events that were contemporary or nearly contemporary to its writing, and these sections of the book are considered historical. In the Nihon Shoki , the Kusanagi

1078-486: Is the oldest existing manuscript. While divided into the Ise branch, it is actually a mixture of the two branches. The monk Ken'yu based his copy on Ōnakatomi Sadayo's copy. In 1266, Sadayo copied volumes one and three but did not have access to the second volume. Finally, in 1282, he obtained access to the second volume through a Urabe-branch manuscript that he used to transcribe. The Kojiki contains various songs and poems. While

1155-500: The Tenka-Goken , Onimaru is owned by the Imperial Family. The Japanese crown prince has inherited two tachi , Tsubokiri no Gyoken or Tsubokiri no Mitsurugi ( 壺切御剣 , meaning "sword that cut a pot") , and Yukihira Gyoken ( 行平御剣 , meaning "sword made by Yukihira") . While the Kusanagi sword is forbidden to be seen because of its divinity and is always kept in

1232-483: The Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi to cut back the grass and remove fuel from the fire, but in doing so, he discovered that the sword enabled him to control the wind and cause it to move in the direction of his swing. Taking advantage of this magic, Yamato Takeru used his other gift, fire strikers, to enlarge the fire in the direction of the lord and his men, and he used the winds controlled by the sword to sweep

1309-552: The Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki , the god Susanoo , after his banishment from the heavenly realm Takamagahara , came down to earth, to the land of Izumo , where he encountered an elderly couple named Ashinazuchi and Tenazuchi , both children of the mountain god Ōyamatsumi . They told him of a monstrous creature from the nearby land of Koshi known as the Yamata no Orochi ("eight-forked serpent") that had devoured seven of their eight daughters. Upon hearing this, Susanoo agreed to kill

1386-546: The Battle of Dan-no-ura , a naval battle that ended in the defeat of the Heike clan forces and the child Emperor Antoku at the hands of Minamoto no Yoshitsune . In the tale, upon hearing of the Navy's defeat, the Emperor's grandmother, Taira no Tokiko , led the Emperor and his entourage to commit suicide by drowning in the waters of the strait, taking with her two of the three Imperial Regalia:

1463-501: The Edo period , while performing various repairs and upkeep at Atsuta Shrine, including replacement of the outer wooden box housing the sword, the Shinto priest Matsuoka Masanao claimed to have been one of several priests to have seen the sword. Per his account, "a stone box was inside a wooden box of length 150 cm (59 in), with red clay stuffed into the gap between them. Inside the stone box

1540-485: The Gōtō Kojiki ( 鼇頭古事記 , " Kojiki with Marginal Notes") was printed by Deguchi (Watarai) Nobuyoshi , a priest at Ise Shrine , in 1687 ( Jōkyō 4). The birth of nativist studies ( kokugaku ) and nationalist sentiment during the Edo period saw a reappraisal of the Kojiki . Kokugaku scholars saw Japan's earliest writings as the repository of a uniquely superior Japanese identity that could be revived by recovering

1617-454: The Kojiki and Nihon Shoki achieved a sort of scriptural status under State Shintō , which viewed the stories contained therein as orthodox national history. Official ideology upheld as unquestionable fact the belief in the emperor's divinity and the idea of Japan as a racially superior "national body" ( kokutai ), with scholars who questioned their veracity facing the threat of censorship, forced resignation, or even trial in court. Until

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1694-583: The Kojiki is apparently based on sources handed down within the court. Whereas the Nihon Shoki , owing to its status as one of the six imperial histories, was widely read and studied during the Heian period (794–1185), the Kojiki was mostly treated as an ancillary text. Indeed, a work known as the Sendai Kuji Hongi (also known as the Kujiki ), claimed to have been authored by Prince Shōtoku and Soga no Umako,

1771-624: The Kojiki was a more trustworthy source for ancient Japanese traditions than was the Shoki precisely because it was free of "Chinese mentality". He viewed the Kojiki as a true account of actual events that when read correctly, could reveal Japan in its pristine, ideal state as a community where the kami , the emperor and the people lived in harmony. Norinaga's work was carried on in different directions by his disciple Hirata Atsutane and his rivals Fujitani Mitsue (1781–1849) and Tachibana Moribe (1768–1823), who each produced commentaries and treatises on

1848-607: The Meiji era , the text's sacred nature was not known to have been questioned. However, the Kojiki was still widely seen as inferior to the Nihon Shoki until Motoori Norinaga wrote the Kojiki-den . In 1913, Tsuda Sōkichi argued in a study that the Kojiki , particularly in its earlier sections, was neither history nor myth but a document created to legitimize the rule of the imperial line. While his conclusions led to considerable controversy, his influence remains in subsequent studies of

1925-477: The Shoki , is understood as a stock epithet or makurakotoba associated with the word "comb". The Fudoki of Izumo Province meanwhile gives the name of the goddess as 久志伊奈太美等与麻奴良比売命, commonly read as 'Kushiinada-Mitoyomanurahime-no-Mikoto'. One theory interprets the name to mean roughly "princess of the wondrous rice fields ( kushi-inada ) soaking wet ( manura ) [and] overflowing with water ( mitoyo , here understood as an epithet meaning "water-abundant")". In

2002-693: The "Record of the Emperors", the Kokki ( 国記 , also Kunitsufumi ) or the "National Record", and other "fundamental records" ( 本記 , hongi or mototsufumi ) pertaining to influential clans and free subjects. Out of these texts, only the Kokki survived the burning of Soga no Emishi 's estate (where these documents were kept) during the Isshi incident of 645, and was itself apparently lost soon after. The Kojiki 's preface indicates that leading families also kept their own historical and genealogical records; indeed, one of

2079-595: The 'Eight Princes' (八王子, Hachiōji ). The asteroid 10613 Kushinadahime , discovered in 1997, is named after Kushinadahime. Kushinadahime was portrayed by Misa Uehara in the 1959 film The Birth of Japan . In the Nintendo video game Golden Sun: The Lost Age , characters named Kushinada and Susa are roughly based on Kushinadahime and Susanoo. Kojiki The Kojiki ( 古事記 , "Records of Ancient Matters" or "An Account of Ancient Matters") , also sometimes read as Furukotofumi or Furukotobumi ,

2156-562: The Institute of Moralogy, a 12th-century replica preserved in the Imperial palace is the one used in coronation ceremonies, probably due to the fragility of the original sword. The Kusanagi sword is always hidden because of its divinity, and it is put in a box and put up by the chamberlain at the time of the enthronement ceremony . However, the Japanese sword held up by the emperor's chamberlain, which can be seen at various imperial ceremonies,

2233-477: The Shrine Maiden of Ise Shrine , to protect her nephew in times of peril. These gifts came in handy when Yamato Takeru was lured onto an open grassland during a hunting expedition by a treacherous warlord. The lord had fiery arrows loosed to ignite the grass and trap Yamato Takeru in the field so that he would burn to death. He also killed the warrior's horse to prevent his escape. Desperately, Yamato Takeru used

2310-403: The actual events, so it has questionable reliability as a historical document. Another story holds that the sword was reportedly stolen again in the sixth century by a monk from Silla . However, his ship allegedly sank at sea, allowing the sword to wash ashore at Ise, where it was recovered by Shinto priests. Because no one is allowed to see the sword due to its divinity and Shinto tradition,

2387-407: The ancient language they were written in; the Kojiki , by virtue of its antiquity, gained the status of a sacred text. The Kojiki came to be highly regarded that scholars such as Kada no Azumamaro and Kamo no Mabuchi – himself a student of Azumamaro – produced annotated versions of it. The Kojiki received its most serious study and exposition in the hands of Motoori Norinaga , who obtained

Kushinadahime - Misplaced Pages Continue

2464-450: The blaze toward them. In triumph, Yamato Takeru renamed the sword Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi ("Grass-Cutting Sword") to commemorate his narrow escape and victory. Eventually, Yamato Takeru married and later fell in battle against a monster, after ignoring his wife's advice to take the sword with him. Although the sword is mentioned in the Kojiki , this book is a collection of Japanese myths and

2541-561: The child who was born of Inada no Miya-nushi Susa no yatsu-mimi, namely Ina-gami ( sic ) Furu-kushi-nada-hime, was removed to the upper waters of the river Hi, in the province of ldzumo, and brought up there. After this Sosa no wo no Mikoto made her his consort, and had by her a child, whose descendant in the sixth generation was Oho-na-muchi no Mikoto ." A legend associated with Yaegaki Shrine in Matsue , Shimane Prefecture claims that Susanoo hid Kushinadahime in an "eightfold fence" ( yaegaki ) in

2618-494: The claims of noble families and to reorganize them into a new system of ranks and titles are also possible factors for its compilation. The Kojiki 's narrative establishes the Yamato line 's right to rule via myth and legend, portraying it as the progeny of heavenly deities and the rightful heir to the land of Japan. A good part of the latter portion of the text is spent recounting various genealogies which served not only to give

2695-492: The creature, and after an abortive encounter he returned with a plan to defeat it. In return, he asked for Kushinada-hime's hand in marriage, which was agreed. Transforming her temporarily into a comb (one interpreter reads this section as "using a comb he turns into [masquerades as] Kushinada-hime") to have her company during battle, he detailed his plan into steps. He instructed that eight vats of sake (rice wine) be prepared and put on individual platforms positioned behind

2772-558: The exact shape and condition of the sword has not been confirmed. The most recent appearance of the sword was in 2019 when Emperor Naruhito ascended the throne ; the sword (as well as the jewel Yasakani no Magatama , the Emperor's privy seal and the State Seal ) were shrouded in packages. Replicas of the sword were made as early as the 9th century, and the original is entrusted to Atsuta Shrine in Nagoya . According to Shinsuke Takenaka of

2849-442: The first of six histories commissioned by the imperial court, which was modeled on Chinese dynastic histories and was intended to be a national chronicle that could be shown with pride to foreign envoys, the Kojiki is inward looking, concerned mainly with the ruling family and prominent clans, and is apparently intended for internal consumption. Whereas the Nihon Shoki uses a variety of source documents (including Chinese texts),

2926-683: The forest within the shrine's precincts during his battle with the Yamata no Orochi. A legend recorded in the Izumo Fudoki concerning the township of Kumatani (熊谷郷) in Iishi District (part of the modern city of Unnan in Shimane) relates that Kushinadahime - as 'Kushiinada-Mitoyomanurahime' - passed through the area while she was about to give birth. The township's name is said to come from her exclamation: "How deep and well hidden ( kumakumashiki ) this valley ( tani ) is!" An excerpt claimed to be from

3003-460: The genealogies and records of the imperial house years earlier, and how Genmei in turn ordered Yasumaro to compile a written record of what Are had learned. He finally concludes the preface with a brief explanation of the Chinese characters used to transcribe native Japanese words in the text and the division of the work into three volumes. Izanagi divides the world among his three children: Amaterasu

3080-463: The god Susanoo encountered a grieving family of kunitsukami ("gods of the land") headed by Ashinazuchi ( 足名椎 ) in Izumo Province . When Susanoo inquired of Ashinazuchi, he told him that his family was being terrorized by the fearsome Yamata no Orochi , an eight-headed serpent of Koshi , who had consumed seven of the family's eight daughters, and that the creature was coming for his final daughter, Kushinada-hime ( 奇稲田姫 ) . Susanoo investigated

3157-570: The headwaters of the river Hi in Izumo (肥河 / 簸之川, Hi-no-Kawa , identified with the Hii River in modern Shimane Prefecture ) as the place where Susanoo descended, one variant in the Shoki instead has Susanoo arriving at the upper reaches of the river E (可愛之川 E-no-Kawa ) in the province of Aki (identified with the Gōnokawa River in modern Hiroshima Prefecture ). In this version, Inadahime - whose name

Kushinadahime - Misplaced Pages Continue

3234-620: The historical records and myths are written in a form of the Chinese language , the songs are written in Old Japanese with the Man'yōgana writing system, which uses Chinese characters only phonetically. The Kojiki is divided into three parts: the Kamitsumaki ( 上巻 , "upper volume" ) , the Nakatsumaki ( 中巻 , "middle volume") and the Shimotsumaki ( 下巻 , "lower volume") . What follows

3311-485: The husband and wife sorrowed together. So they informed Sosa no wo no Mikoto, saying:—'Though we have had born to us many children, whenever one is born, an eight-forked serpent comes and devours it, and we have not been able to save one. We are now about to have another, and we fear that it also will be devoured. Therefore do we grieve.' Sosa no wo no Mikoto forthwith instructed them, saying:—'You must take fruit of all kinds, and brew from it eight jars of sake, and I will kill

3388-484: The imperial (Yamato) court and prominent clans began during the reigns of Emperors Keitai and Kinmei in the 6th century, with the first concerted effort at historical compilation of which we have record being the one made in 620 under the auspices of Prince Shotoku and Soga no Umako . According to the Nihon Shoki , the documents compiled under their initiative were the Tennōki ( 天皇記 , also Sumera-mikoto no fumi ) or

3465-413: The imperial family an air of antiquity (which may not necessarily reflect historical reality), but also served to tie, whether true or not, many existing clans' genealogies to their own. Regardless of the work's original intent, it finalized and possibly even formulated the framework by which Japanese history was examined in terms of the reign of emperors. In contrast to the Nihon Shoki (compiled 720),

3542-426: The jealousy of his brothers, who begin to make repeated attempts on his life. Seeking refuge in a subterranean realm ruled by Susanoo called Ne-no-Katasukuni ( 根之堅洲国 ), Ōnamuji meets and falls in love with Susanoo's daughter Suseribime-no-Mikoto ( 須勢理毘売 ). Upon learning of their affair, Susanoo imposes four trials on Ōnamuji, each of which he overcame with Suseribime's help. Ōnamuji manages to outwit Susanoo and leave

3619-514: The land ( kuni-zukuri ), but eventually crosses over to the "eternal land" ( 常世国 , tokoyo no kuni ), leaving Ōkuninushi without a partner. Another deity, Ōmononushi-no-Kami ( 大物主神 ), then appears and promises to aid Ōkuninushi if he will worship him. Ōkuninushi then enshrines Ōmononushi in Mount Mimoro in Yamato Province . Kusanagi Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi ( 草 薙 の 剣 )

3696-656: The medieval and early modern periods, Susanoo was popularly conflated with the pestilence deity Gozu Tennō , the god originally worshiped in Yasaka Shrine in Kyoto, Hiromine Shrine in Hyōgo Prefecture, and Tsushima Shrine in Tsushima, Aichi Prefecture . As Susanoo's consort, Kushinadahime was in turn identified with Gozu Tennō's wife, Harisaijo (頗梨采女 or 波利采女, also known as 'Harisainyo', 'Barisainyo', or 'Harisai Tennyo ' (頗梨采天女)),

3773-475: The middle (second) volume. It is due to this neglect that the Kojiki is available only in comparatively late manuscripts, the earliest of which dates to the late 14th century. It was with the advent of printing in the early modern period that the Kojiki first reached a wide audience. The earliest printed edition of the text was the Kan'ei Kojiki ( 寛永古事記 ), published in Kyoto in 1644 ( Kan'ei 21). A second edition,

3850-596: The now-lost Fudoki of Hōki Province (modern western Tottori Prefecture ) relates that Inadahime fled to Hōki and hid in the mountains when the Yamata no Orochi was about to devour her. The province's name (originally Hahaki ) is here said to be derived from her cry for help: "Mother, come!" ( haha kimase ) As with other Shinto kami , Kushinadahime is venerated at many shrines across Japan, usually together with her husband Susanoo but also sometimes by herself or with other (related or unrelated) deities. Some examples of Shinto shrines which enshrine her are as follows. During

3927-500: The oldest extant literary work in Japan . The myths contained in the Kojiki as well as the Nihon Shoki ( 日本書紀 ) are part of the inspiration behind many practices and unified "Shinto orthodoxy". Later, they were incorporated into Shinto practices such as the misogi purification ritual. It is believed that the compilation of various genealogical and anecdotal histories of

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4004-498: The present, the Tsubokiri sword is the second generation, made in the late Heian period . The Yukihira sword is a tachi made by Yukihira, a swordsmith in the Kamakura period , and the Crown Prince inherits it from the Emperor before his inauguration ceremony and wears it in various Imperial events except for the Niiname-sai festival. This Yukihira sword is different from

4081-452: The realm, taking his new wife Suseribime as well as Susanoo's sword, koto , and bow and arrows back with him, but not before being advised by Susanoo to change his name to Ōkuninushi-no-Kami ( 大国主神 , "Master of the Great Land"). Ōkuninushi defeats his wicked brothers and becomes the lord of Ashihara-no-Nakatsukuni. Under the name Yachihoko-no-Kami ( 八千矛神 , "Eight Thousand Spears"), he takes

4158-465: The reasons it gives for the compilation of the Kojiki is the correction of errors that had supposedly crept into these documents. According to the preface, Emperor Tenmu (reigned 673–686) ordered the review and emendation of clan documents and commissioned a certain court attendant ( toneri ) of exceptional memory named Hieda no Are to memorize records and oral traditions concerning the imperial lineage. Beyond this memorization, nothing occurred until

4235-412: The reign of Empress Genmei (reigned 707–715), who on the 18th of the 9th month of 711 ( Wadō 4) ordered the courtier Ō no Yasumaro to record what had been learned by Hieda no Are. He finished and presented his work to Empress Genmei on the 28th of the 1st month of 712 (Wadō 5). The Kojiki is a collation of different traditions woven into a single "official" mythology, made in an attempt to justify

4312-404: The rice fields" ( inada literally translated means "rice field" or "rice paddy"). The element kushi ( Old Japanese : kusi ) meanwhile is usually interpreted as the adjective meaning "wondrous"; it is homophonous with the word for " comb " (櫛), which features in her story in both the Kojiki and the Shoki . The epithet makamifuru (lit. "true-hair-touching"), found in a variant account cited in

4389-403: The river, and he therefore went in search of the sound. He found there an old man and an old woman. Between them was set a young girl, whom they were caressing and lamenting over. Sosa no wo no Mikoto asked them, saying:—"Who are ye, and why do ye lament thus?" The answer was:—"I am an Earthly Deity, and my name is Ashi-nadzuchi. My wife's name is Te-nadzuchi. This girl is our daughter, and her name

4466-399: The rule of the imperial Yamato polity and at the same time to subsume different interest groups under its wing by giving them a place and an interest in the national genealogy-mythology. Apart from furthering the imperial agenda, an increased interest in the nation's origins in reaction to the influx of foreign culture and the need for an authoritative genealogical account by which to consider

4543-440: The sacred jewel and the sword Kusanagi. The sacred mirror was recovered in extremis when one of the ladies-in-waiting was about to jump with it into the sea. Although the sacred jewel is said to have been found in its casket floating on the waves, Kusanagi was lost forever. Although written about historical events, The Tale of the Heike is a collection of epic poetry passed down orally and written down nearly 200 years after

4620-510: The serpent for you.' The two Gods, in accordance with his instructions, prepared sake. When the time came for the child to be born, the serpent came indeed to the door, and was about to devour the child. But Sosa no wo no Mikoto addressed the serpent, and said:—'Thou art an Awful Deity. Can I dare to neglect to feast thee?' So he took the eight jars of sake, and poured one into each of its mouths. The serpent drank it up and fell asleep. Sosa no wo no Mikoto drew his sword and slew it. [...] Afterwards

4697-463: The serpent on condition that they give him their sole surviving daughter, Kushinadahime, to be his wife. The version recounted in the Nihon Shoki 's main narrative is as follows (translation by William George Aston ): Then Sosa no wo no Mikoto descended from Heaven and proceeded to the head-waters of the River Hi, in the province of Idzumo. At this time he heard a sound of weeping at the head-waters of

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4774-410: The spot changed Kushi-nada-hime into a many-toothed close-comb, which he stuck in the august knot of his hair. Then he made Ashi-nadzuchi and Te-nadzuchi to brew eight-fold sake , to make eight cupboards, in each of them to set a tub filled with sake, and so to await its coming. When the time came, the serpent actually appeared. It had an eight-forked head and an eight-forked tail; its eyes were red, like

4851-448: The sword to the goddess Amaterasu to settle an old grievance. The Nihon Shoki adds more to the story. It says Susanoo had Ame-no-Fuyukinu deliver the sword. A rite at Hinomisaki Shrine honors this delivery to this day. Generations later, during the reign of the 12th Emperor Keikō , Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi was given to the great warrior, Yamato Takeru , as part of a pair of gifts given by his aunt, Yamatohime-no-mikoto ,

4928-494: The text (particularly in post- World War II scholarship), which amounts largely to development and correction of the line of thought originally proposed by him. In reaction to Tsuda, Watsuji Tetsurō (1920) argued for a literary appreciation of the Kojiki, claiming that this gave it inner coherence. Kurano Kenji (1927) took it a step further, proposing that the Kojiki may best be compared with Western epic literature and regarded as

5005-599: The text by authors such as Kurano Kenji, Takeda Yūkichi , Saigō Nobutsuna , and Kōnoshi Takamitsu . There are two major branches of Kojiki manuscripts: Ise and Urabe. The extant Urabe branch consists of 36 existing manuscripts all based on the 1522 copies by Urabe Kanenaga. The Ise branch may be subdivided into the Shinpukuji-bon ( 真福寺本 ) manuscript of 1371–1372 and the Dōka-bon ( 道果本 ) manuscripts. The Dōka sub-branch consists of: The Shinpukuji-bon manuscript (1371–1372)

5082-417: The text. The Kojiki became once more the object of scholarly focus and discussion in the Meiji period with the introduction of Western academic disciplines such as philology and comparative mythology . The importance of the text as a work of literary value was recognized, and scholars realized that its accounts were comparable in many ways to ancient Greek and Roman myths . At the same time, however,

5159-413: The third daughter of the dragon ( nāga ) king Sāgara . Indeed, while Yasaka Shrine in Kyoto currently enshrines Susanoo, his wives (Kushinadahime, Kamu-Ōichihime, and Samirahime), and his eight children (Yashimajinumi, I(so)takeru , Ōya(tsu)hime, Tsumatsuhime, Ōtoshi , Ukanomitama , Ōyabiko , and Suseribime ), its original deities were Gozu Tennō, Harisaijo, and their eight sons, collectively known as

5236-549: The title 'Inada-no-Miyanushi-Suga-no-Yatsumimi-no-Kami' (稲田宮主須賀之八耳神 "Master of the Palace of Inada, the Eight-Eared Deity of Suga"). On that occasion, he composed a song in tanka form later held to be the root of Japanese waka poetry: The child born to Susanoo and Kushinadahime is variously identified as Yashimajinumi in the Kojiki and Ōnamuchi ( Ōkuninushi ) in the Shoki' s main account. While most accounts identify

5313-492: The two gods each chewed and spat out an object carried by the other (Amaterasu Susanoo's sword, Susanoo Amaterasu's magatama beads) during the rite of oath-taking. Susanoo, declaring himself the winner of the contest, "raged with victory" and proceeds to wreak havoc upon Takamagahara, causing Amaterasu to hide in the Ama-no-Iwato ( 天岩戸 , the "Heavenly Rock Cave"), plunging heaven and earth into total darkness. The gods, led by

5390-402: The winter-cherry; and on its back firs and cypresses were growing. As it crawled it extended over a space of eight hills and eight valleys. Now when it came and found the sake, each head drank up one tub, and it became drunken and fell asleep. Then Sosa no wo no Mikoto drew the ten-span sword which he wore, and chopped the serpent into small pieces. When he came to the tail, the edge of his sword

5467-451: The wise Omoikane-no-Kami ( 思金神 ), eventually persuade her to come out of the cave, restoring light to the world. As punishment for his misdeeds, Susanoo is thrown out of Takamagahara. A descendant of Susanoo, Ōnamuji-no-Kami ( 大穴牟遅神 ), helps a hapless hare that had been mistreated by his eighty brothers ( 八十神 , yasogami ); the hare, in turn, helps Ōnamuji win the hand of the goddess Yagamihime ( 八上比売 ) of Inaba . This earns Ōnamuji

5544-420: Was a hollowed log of a camphor tree, acting as another box, with an interior lined with gold. Above that was placed a sword. Red clay was also stuffed between the stone box and the camphor tree box. The sword was about 82 cm (32 in) long. Its blade resembled a calamus leaf. The middle of the sword had a thickness from the grip about 18 cm (7.1 in) with an appearance like a fish spine. The sword

5621-559: Was allotted Takamagahara ( 高天原 , the "Plain of High Heaven"), Tsukuyomi the night, and Susanoo the seas. Susanoo, who missed his mother and kept weeping and howling incessantly, rejects his appointed task, leading Izanagi to expel him. Susanoo then goes up to Takamagahara, claiming to wish to see his sister. When a suspicious Amaterasu went out to meet him clad in armor, Susanoo protested his innocence and proposed that they exchange oaths . Five male kami (Amaterasu's sons) and three female kami (Susanoo's daughters) come into existence when

5698-468: Was considered to be earlier and more reliable than the Kojiki . (Modern scholarly consensus holds the Kuji Hongi to be a Heian period forgery based on both the Kojiki and the Shoki , although certain portions may indeed preserve genuine early traditions and sources.) By the Kamakura period (1185–1333), the work languished in obscurity such that very few people had access to the text, particularly that of

5775-450: Was fashioned in a white metallic color, and well maintained." After witnessing the sword, the grand priest was banished and the other priests, except for Matsuoka, died from strange diseases. The above account therefore comes from the only survivor, Matsuoka. In The Tale of the Heike , a collection of oral stories transcribed in 1371, the sword is lost at sea after the defeat of the Heike in

5852-429: Was removed from the Imperial palace in 688, and moved to Atsuta Shrine after the sword was blamed for causing Emperor Tenmu to fall ill. Along with the jewel ( Yasakani no Magatama ) and the mirror ( Yata no Kagami ), it is one of the three Imperial Regalia of Japan , the sword representing the virtue of valor. Kusanagi is allegedly kept at Atsuta Shrine but is not available for public display. During

5929-413: Was slightly notched, and he therefore split open the tail and examined it. In the inside there was a sword. This is the sword which is called Kusa-nagi no tsurugi . After defeating the serpent, Susanoo built a palace or shrine for Kushinadahime in a place called Suga - so named because Susanoo felt refreshed ( sugasugashi ) upon arriving there - and made her father Ashinazuchi its head ( obito ), giving him

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