Editing Susanoo-no-Mikoto (section)

== Analysis ==
[[File:The God Susanoo no Mikoto Defeats the Evil Spirits - 進雄尊悪神退治.jpg|thumb|left|300px|''Susanoo-no-Mikoto Defeats the Evil Spirits'' (1868)]]
The image of Susanoo that can be gleaned from various texts is rather complex and contradictory. In the ''Kojiki'' and the ''Shoki'' he is portrayed first as a petulant young man, then as an unpredictable, violent boor who causes chaos and destruction before turning into a monster-slaying [[culture hero]] after descending into the world of men, while in the Izumo ''Fudoki'', he is simply a local god apparently connected with rice fields, with almost none of the traits associated with him in the imperial mythologies being mentioned. Due to his multifaceted nature, various authors have had differing opinions regarding Susanoo's origins and original character.

The [[Edo period]] ''[[kokugaku]]'' scholar [[Motoori Norinaga]], in his ''[[Kojiki-den]]'' (''Commentary on the Kojiki''), characterized Susanoo as an evil god in contrast to his elder siblings Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi, as the unclean air of the land of the dead still adhered to Izanagi's nose from which he was born and was not purified completely during Izanagi's ritual ablutions.<ref name="philippi402">Philippi (2015). p. 402.</ref><ref name="Gadeleva166-7">Gadeleva (2000). pp. 166-167.</ref> The early 20th century historian [[:ja:津田左右吉|Tsuda Sōkichi]], who put forward the then-controversial theory that the ''Kojiki''<nowiki/>'s accounts were not based on history (as Edo period ''kokugaku'' and [[State Shinto]] ideology believed them to be) but rather propagandistic myths concocted to explain and legitimize the rule of the imperial dynasty, also saw Susanoo as a negative figure, arguing that he was created to serve as the rebellious opposite of the imperial ancestress Amaterasu.<ref name="Gadeleva166-7" /> Ethnologist [[:ja:大林太良|Ōbayashi Taryō]], speaking from the standpoint of [[comparative mythology]], opined that the stories concerning the three deities were ultimately derived from a continental ([[Southeast Asia]]n) myth in which the Sun, the Moon and the Dark Star are siblings and the Dark Star plays an antagonistic role (cf. [[Rahu]] and Ketu from [[Hindu religion]]);<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Bonnefoy |editor1-first=Yves |title=Asian Mythologies |year=1993 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |page=151 |isbn=978-0-226-06456-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r4I-FsZCzJEC&pg=PA151}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Taniguchi |first1=Masahiro |title=Origin of ceremonies of the Imperial court connected with the sun – Deciphering the myths of the Ama no Iwayato |url=https://www.kokugakuin.ac.jp/en/article/87667 |website=Kokugakuin Media |access-date=2020-05-09}}</ref> Ōbayashi thus also interprets Susanoo as a bad hero.<ref name="Gadeleva166-7" />

Other scholars, however, take the position that Susanoo was not originally conceived of as a negative deity. Mythologist [[:ja:松村武雄|Matsumura Takeo]] for instance believed the Izumo ''Fudoki'' to more accurately reflect Susanoo's original character: a peaceful, simple ''kami'' of the rice fields. In Matsumura's view, Susanoo's character was deliberately reversed when he was grafted into the imperial mythology by the compilers of the ''Kojiki''. [[:ja:松本信廣|Matsumoto Nobuhiro]], in a similar vein, interpreted Susanoo as a harvest deity.<ref>Gadeleva (2000). p. 167.</ref> While the Izumo ''Fudoki'' claims that the township of Susa in Izumo is named after its deity Susanoo, it has been proposed that the opposite might have actually been the case and Susanoo was named after the place, with his name being understood in this case as meaning "Man (''o'') of Susa."<ref>Gadeleva (2000). p. 182.</ref>

While both Matsumura and Matsumoto preferred to connect Susanoo with rice fields and the harvest, [[:ja:松前健|Matsumae Takeshi]] put forward the theory that Susanoo was originally worshiped as a patron deity of sailors. Unlike other scholars who connect Susanoo with Izumo, Matsumae instead saw [[Kii Province]] (the modern prefectures of [[Wakayama Prefecture|Wakayama]] and [[Mie Prefecture|Mie]]) as the birthplace of Susanoo worship, pointing out that there was also a settlement in Kii named Susa (須佐). (In the ''Kojiki'', Ōnamuji enters Susanoo's realm, Ne-no-Kuni, through the fork of a tree in Kii.<ref>Chamberlain (1882). [https://sacred-texts.com/shi/kj/kj029.htm Section XXII.—Mount Tema.]</ref>) Matsumae proposed that the worship of Susanoo was brought to other places in Japan by seafaring peoples from Kii, a land rich in timber (the province's name is itself derived from the word ''ki'' meaning 'tree').<ref>Gadeleva (2000). pp. 167-168.</ref>

[[File:Susanoo Subduing Spirits of Disease (須佐之男命厄神退治之図).jpg|thumb|320px|Susanoo subduing and making a pact with various spirits of disease (dated 1860, copy of original work by [[Katsushika Hokusai]])]]
A few myths, such as that of Susanoo's descent in Soshimori in Silla, seem to suggest a connection between the god and the [[Korean Peninsula]]. Indeed, some scholars have hypothesized that the deities who were eventually conflated with Susanoo, Mutō Tenjin, and Gozu Tennō, may have had Korean origins as well, with the name 'Mutō' (武塔, [[Historical kana orthography|historical orthography]]: ''mutau'') being linked with the Korean word ''[[Korean shamanism|mudang]]'' "shamaness," and 'Gozu' being explained as a [[calque]] of 'Soshimori', here interpreted as being derived from a Korean toponym meaning 'Bull's (''[[wikt:소#Etymology 1|so]]'') Head (''[[wikt:마리#Middle Korean|mari]]'')'.<ref>McMullin (1988). pp. 266-267.</ref> The name 'Susanoo' itself has been interpreted as being related to the [[Middle Korean]] title ''[[wikt:스승|susung]]'' ([[Idu script|transliterated]] as 次次雄 or 慈充), meaning 'master' or 'shaman', notably applied to [[Namhae of Silla|Namhae]], the second king of Silla, in the ''[[Samguk Sagi]]''.<ref name="HistKor" /> Susanoo is thus supposed in this view to have originally been a foreign god (蕃神, ''banshin''), perhaps a deified shaman, whose origins may be traced back to Korea.<ref>Gadeleva (2000). p. 168.</ref>

Emilia Gadeleva (2000) sees Susanoo's original character as being that of a [[rain god]] – more precisely, a god associated with [[Rainmaking (ritual)|rainmaking]] – with his association with the harvest and a number of other elements from his myths ultimately springing from his connection with rainwater. He thus serves as a contrast and a parallel to Amaterasu, the goddess of the sun. Gadeleva also acknowledges the foreign elements in the god's character by supposing that rainmaking rituals and concepts were brought to Japan in ancient times from the continent, with the figure of the Korean shaman (''susung'') who magically controlled the abundance of rain eventually morphing into the Japanese Susanoo, but at the same time stresses that Susanoo is not completely a foreign import but must have had Japanese roots at his core. In Gadeleva's view, while the god certainly underwent drastic changes upon his introduction in the imperial myth cycle, Susanoo's character already bore positive and negative features since the beginning, with both elements stemming from his association with rain. As the right quantity of rainwater was vital for ensuring a rich harvest, calamities caused by too much or too little rainfall (i.e. floods, drought, or epidemics) would have been blamed on the rain god for not doing his job properly. This, according to Gadeleva, underlies the occasional portrayal of Susanoo in a negative light.<ref>Gadeleva (2000). p. 190-194.</ref>

=== Susanoo and Ne-no-Kuni ===
In the ''Kojiki'' and the ''Nihon Shoki'', Susanoo is repeatedly associated with [[Ne-no-kuni|Ne-no-Kuni]] ([[Japanese language|Japanese]]: 根の国; the "Land of Roots"). While sometimes seemingly considered to be more or less identical to Yomi, the Land of the Dead (the ''Kojiki'' speaks of Ne-no-Kuni as the land of Susanoo's deceased mother Izanami, who is stated earlier in the narrative to have become the ruler of Yomi, and calls the slope serving at its exit the Yomotsu Hirasaka, the 'Flat Slope of Yomi'), it would seem that the two were originally considered to be different locations.

While Matsumura Takeo suggested that Ne-no-Kuni originally referred to the dimly remembered original homeland of the Japanese people,<ref name="philippi402" /> Emilia Gadeleva instead proposes that the two locales, while similar in that both were subterranean realms associated with darkness, differed from each other in that Yomi was associated with death, while Ne-no-Kuni, as implied by the myth about Ōnamuji, was seemingly associated with rebirth. Ne-no-Kuni being a land of revival, as per Gadeleva's theory, is why Susanoo was connected to it: Susanoo, as the god that brought rain and with it, the harvest, was needed in Ne-no-Kuni to secure the rebirth of crops. In time, however, the two locations were confused with each other, so that by the time the ''Kojiki'' and the ''Shoki'' were written Ne-no-Kuni came to be seen like Yomi as an unclean realm of the dead. Gadeleva argues that this new image of Ne-no-Kuni as a place of evil and impurity contributed to Susanoo becoming more and more associated with calamity and violence.<ref>Gadeleva (2000). p. 194-196.</ref>

=== Susanoo's rampage ===
[[File:天の斑馬 - Ame no Fuchikoma.jpg|thumb|280px|Susanoo about to flay the Heavenly Horse (Natori Shunsen)]]

Susanoo's acts of violence after proving his sincerity in the ''ukehi'' ritual has been a source of puzzlement to many scholars. While Edo period authors such as Motoori Norinaga and [[Hirata Atsutane]] believed that the order of the events had become confused and suggested altering the narrative sequence so that Susanoo's ravages would come before, and not after, his victory in the ''ukehi'', [[Don Philippi|Donald Philippi]] criticized such solutions as "untenable from a textual standpoint."<ref>Philippi (2015). p. 403.</ref> (Note that as mentioned above, one of the variants in the ''Shoki'' does place Susanoo's ravages and banishment before the performance of the ''ukehi'' ritual.)

Tsuda Sōkichi saw a political significance in this story: he interpreted Amaterasu as an emperor-symbol, while Susanoo in his view symbolized the various rebels who (unsuccessfully) rose up against the imperial court.<ref>Philippi (2015). p. 80, footnote 5.</ref>

Emilia Gadeleva observes that Susanoo, at this point in the narrative, is portrayed similarly to the hero [[Yamato Takeru]] (Ousu-no-Mikoto), in that both were rough young men possessed with "valor and ferocity" (''takeku-araki kokoro''); their lack of control over their fierce temperament leads them to commit violent acts. It was therefore imperative to direct their energies elsewhere: Ousu-no-Mikoto was sent by his father, the [[Emperor Keikō]], to lead conquering expeditions, while Susanoo was expelled by the heavenly gods. This ultimately resulted in the two becoming famed as heroic figures.<ref>Gadeleva (2000). p. 173-174.</ref>

A prayer or ''[[norito]]'' originally recited by the priestly [[Nakatomi clan]] in the presence of the court during the Great Exorcism (大祓, ''Ōharae'') ritual of the last day of the [[Japanese calendar#Months|sixth month]], more commonly known today as the ''Ōharae no Kotoba'' ([[:ja:|大祓詞]], 'Words of the Great Exorcism'),<ref>{{cite web |last1=Namiki |first1=Kazuko |title=Ōharae |url=http://k-amc.kokugakuin.ac.jp/DM/dbSearchList.do;jsessionid=6F4AC7A4EBD4F179A40B4972DB043860?class_name=col_eos&search_condition_type=1&db_search_condition_type=4&View=2&startNo=1&focus_type=0&searchFreeword=%C5%8Charae&searchRangeType=0 |website=Encyclopedia of Shinto |publisher=Kokugakuin University |access-date=2020-05-10 }}{{Dead link|date=January 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Motosawa |first1=Masafumi |title=Norito |url=http://k-amc.kokugakuin.ac.jp/DM/detail.do?class_name=col_eos&data_id=23450 |website=Encyclopedia of Shinto |publisher=Kokugakuin University |access-date=2020-05-10 }}{{Dead link|date=January 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> lists eight "heavenly sins" ([[Japanese language|Japanese]]: 天つ罪, ''[[Tsumi|amatsu-tsumi]]''), most of which are agricultural in nature:

# Breaking down the ridges
# Covering up the ditches
# Releasing the irrigation sluices
# Double planting
# Setting up stakes
# Skinning alive
# Skinning backward
# Defecation

1, 2, 6, 7 and 8 are committed by Susanoo in the ''Kojiki'', while 3, 4, 5 are attributed to him in the ''Shoki''. In ancient Japanese society, offenses related to agriculture were regarded as being as abhorrent as those which caused ritual impurity.<ref>Philippi (2015). pp. 403-404.</ref>

One of the offensive acts Susanoo committed during his rampage was 'skinning backward' (逆剥, ''sakahagi'') the ''Ame-no-Fuchikoma'' ([[Japanese language|Japanese]]: 天の斑駒, "Heavenly-Piebald Horse"). Regarding this, [[William George Aston]] observed, "Indian myth has a piebald or spotted deer or cow among celestial objects. The idea is probably suggested by the appearance of the stars."<ref>{{cite wikisource |author-first= William George |author-last= Aston |chapter= Book I |wslink= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |plaintitle= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |year= 1896 |publisher= Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.|page=40, footnote 185}}</ref> [[Nelly Naumann]] (1982) meanwhile interpreted the spotted horse as a lunar symbol, with Susanoo's action being equivalent to the devouring or killing of the moon. To Naumann, the act of flaying itself, because it is performed in reverse, is intended to be a magical act that caused death.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Naumann |first1=Nelly |title='Sakahagi': The 'Reverse Flaying' of the Heavenly Piebald Horse |journal=Asian Folklore Studies |year=1982 |volume=41 |issue=1 |pages=14, 22–25 |doi=10.2307/1178306 |jstor=1178306 }}</ref> Indeed, in the ''Kojiki'' when Susanoo throws the flayed horse (or its hide) to Amaterasu's weaving hall, one of the weaving maidens injures herself and dies. (In the ''Shoki'', it is Amaterasu herself who is alarmed and injured.) Emilia Gadeleva meanwhile connects Susanoo's act of skinning and flinging the horse with ancient Korean rainmaking rituals, which involved [[animal sacrifice]].<ref>Gadeleva (2000). p. 190-191.</ref>

The gods punish Susanoo for his rampages by cutting off his beard, fingernails, and toenails. One textual tradition in which the relevant passage is read as "cutting off his beard and causing the nails of his hands and feet ''to be extracted''" (亦切鬚及手足爪令'''拔'''而) suggests that this was something along the lines of corporal punishment. Another tradition which reads the passage as "cutting off his beard and the nails of his hands and feet, ''had him exorcised''" (亦切鬚及手足爪令'''祓'''而) meanwhile suggests that this was an act of purification, in which the sins and pollution that adhered to Susanoo are removed, thus turning him from a destroyer of life into a giver of life.<ref>Naumann (1982). pp. 29-30.</ref><ref>Philippi (2015). p. 86, footnote 26-27.</ref>