Editing Susanoo-no-Mikoto (section)

=== Slaying the Yamata no Orochi ===
[[File:Susanoo rescues Kushinada Hime by Toyohara Chikanobu 1886.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Susanoo rescues Kushinada Hime ([[Toyohara Chikanobu]])]]
After his banishment, Susanoo came down from heaven to Ashihara-no-Nakatsukuni (葦原中国, the 'Central Land of Reed Plains', i.e. the earthly land of Japan), to the land of [[Izumo Province|Izumo]], where he met an elderly couple named Ashinazuchi (足名椎 / 脚摩乳) and Tenazuchi (手名椎 / 手摩乳), who told him that seven of their eight daughters had been devoured by a monstrous serpent known as the [[Yamata no Orochi]] (八俣遠呂智 / 八岐大蛇, "eight-forked serpent") and it was nearing time for their eighth, [[Kushinadahime]] (櫛名田比売; also called Kushiinadahime, Inadahime, or Makami-Furu-Kushiinadahime in the ''Shoki'').

Sympathizing with their plight, Susanoo hid Kushinadahime by transforming her into a [[comb]] (''kushi''), which he placed in his hair. He then made the serpent drunk on strong [[sake]] and then killed it as it lay in a drunken stupor. From within the serpent's tail Susanoo discovered the sword Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi (天叢雲剣, "Sword of the Gathering Clouds of Heaven"), also known as [[Kusanagi]]-no-Tsurugi (草薙剣, "Grass-Cutting Sword"), which he then presented to Amaterasu as a reconciliatory gift.<ref>Chamberlain (1882). [http://sacred-texts.com/shi/kj/kj025.htm Section XVIII.—The Eight-Forked Serpent.]</ref><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.|wspage=52}}</ref>

[[File:11.36845-Utagawa Kuniteru I-Museum of Fine Art Boston.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Susanoo kills the Yamata no Orochi ([[Kuniteru|Utagawa Kuniteru]])]]{{blockquote|[Susanoo-no-Mikoto] said to Ashinazuchi and Tenazuchi-no-Kami:<br />
"Distill thick wine of eight-fold brewings; build a fence, and make eight doors in the fence. At each door, tie together eight platforms, and on each of these platforms place a wine barrel. Fill each barrel with the thick wine of eight-fold brewings, and wait."<br />
They made the preparations as he had instructed, and as they waited, the eight-tailed dragon came indeed, as [the old man] had said.<br />
Putting one head into each of the barrels, he drank the wine; then, becoming drunk, he lay down and slept.<br />
Then Haya-Susanoo-no-Mikoto unsheathed the sword ten hands long which he was wearing at his side, and hacked the dragon to pieces, so that the Hi river ran with blood.<br />
When he cut [the dragon's] middle tail, the blade of his sword broke. Thinking this strange, he thrust deeper with the stub of his sword, until a great sharp sword appeared.<br />
He took this sword out and, thinking it an extraordinary thing, reported [the matter] and presented [the sword] to Amaterasu-Ōmikami.<br />
This is the sword ''Kusa-nagi''.<ref>Translation from {{cite book |last1=Philippi |first1=Donald L. |title=Kojiki |year=2015 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1-4008-7800-0 |pages=89–90}} Names (transcribed in [[Old Japanese]] in the original) have been changed into their modern equivalents.</ref>}}

[[File:Mt.Sentsuzan.jpg|thumb|[[Mount Sentsū]] as seen from [[Okuizumo, Shimane|Okuizumo]] with the Hii River in the foreground]]
Amaterasu later bequeathed the sword to [[Ninigi]], her grandson by Ame-no-Oshihomimi, along with the mirror [[Yata no Kagami]] and the jewel [[Magatama#Yasakani no Magatama|Yasakani no Magatama]]. This sacred sword, mirror, and jewel collectively became the three [[Imperial Regalia of Japan]].

While most accounts place Susanoo's descent in 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]]), with the ''Kojiki'' specifying the area to be a place called Torikami (鳥髮, identified with [[Mount Sentsū]] in eastern Shimane), one variant in the ''Shoki'' instead has Susanoo descend to the upper reaches of the river E (可愛之川, ''E-no-kawa'') in the province of [[Aki Province|Aki]] (identified with the [[Gōnokawa River]] in modern [[Hiroshima Prefecture]]). Kushinadahime's parents are here given the names Ashinazu-Tenazu (脚摩手摩) and Inada-no-Miyanushi-Susa-no-Yatsumimi (稲田宮主簀狭之八箇耳); here, Kushinadahime is not yet born when Susanoo slew the Yamata no Orochi.<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.|wspage=55}}</ref>

The ten-span sword Susanoo used to slay the Yamata no Orochi, unnamed in the ''Kojiki'' and the ''Shoki''<nowiki/>'s main text, is variously named in the ''Shoki''<nowiki/>'s variants as Orochi-no-Aramasa (蛇之麁正, 'Rough [and] True [Blade] of the Serpent'),<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.|wspage=56}}</ref> Orochi-no-Karasabi-no-Tsurugi (蛇韓鋤之剣, 'Korean (''Kara'') Sword of the Serpent' or 'Flashing Sword of the Serpent'),<ref name="Aston57">{{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.|wspage=57}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Sesko |first1=Markus |title=Legends and Stories around the Japanese Sword 2 |year=2012 |publisher=Lulu.com |page=23 |isbn=978-1-300-29383-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lSr1AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA23}}</ref> and Ame-no-Haekiri-no-Tsurugi (天蝿斫剣, 'Heavenly Fly Cutter', also Ame-no-Hahakiri 'Heavenly Serpent (''haha'') Cutter').<ref name="Aston57" /><ref name="KogoShui" /> In the ''[[Kogo Shūi]]'' it is dubbed Ame-no-Habakiri (天羽々斬, also Ame-no-Hahakiri).<ref name="KogoShui">{{cite book |last1=Inbe |first1=Hironari |last2=Katō |first2=Genchi |last3=Hoshino |first3=Hikoshiro |title=Kogoshui. Gleanings from Ancient Stories |year=1925 |publisher=Zaidan-Hojin-Meiji-Seitoku-Kinen-Gakkai (Meiji Japan Society) |page=24}}</ref> This sword is said to have been originally enshrined in [[:ja:石上布都魂神社|Isonokami Futsumitama Shrine]] in [[Bizen Province]] (modern [[Okayama Prefecture]]) before it was transferred to [[Isonokami Shrine]] in [[Yamato Province]] (modern [[Nara Prefecture]]).