Susanoo-no-Mikoto


Susanoo is a kami in Japanese mythology. The younger brother of Amaterasu, goddess of the sun and mythical ancestress of the Japanese imperial line, he is a multifaceted deity with contradictory characteristics, being portrayed in various stories either as a wild, impetuous god associated with the sea and storms, as a heroic figure who killed a monstrous serpent, or as a local deity linked with the harvest and agriculture. Syncretic beliefs that arose after the introduction of Buddhism to Japan also saw Susanoo becoming conflated with deities of pestilence and disease.
Susanoo, alongside Amaterasu and the earthly kami Ōkuninushi - who, depending on the source, is depicted as being either Susanoo's son or descendant - is one of the central deities of the imperial Japanese mythological cycle recorded in the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki. One of the gazetteer reports commissioned by the imperial court during the same period these texts were written, that of Izumo Province in western Japan, also contains a number of short legends concerning Susanoo or his children, suggesting a connection between the god and this region. In addition, a few other myths also hint at a connection between Susanoo and the Korean Peninsula.

Name

Susanoo's name is variously given in the Kojiki as 'Takehaya-Susanoo-no-Mikoto', 'Haya-Susanoo-no-Mikoto', or simply as 'Susanoo-no-Mikoto'. He is meanwhile named in the Nihon Shoki as 'Susanoo-no-Mikoto', 'Kamu-Susanoo-no-Mikoto', 'Haya-Susanoo-no-Mikoto', and 'Take-Susanoo-no-Mikoto'. The Fudoki of Izumo Province renders his name both as 'Kamu-Susanoo-no-Mikoto' and 'Susanoo-no-Mikoto'. In these texts the following honorific prefixes are attached to his name: take-, haya-, and kamu-.
The susa in Susanoo's name has been variously explained as being derived from either of the following words:

Parentage

The Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki both agree in their description of Susanoo as the son of the god Izanagi and the younger brother of Amaterasu, the goddess of the sun, and of Tsukuyomi, the god of the moon. The circumstances surrounding the birth of these three deities, collectively known as the "Three Precious Children", however, vary between sources.
Before Susanoo leaves, he ascends to Takamagahara, wishing to say farewell to his sister Amaterasu. As he did so, the mountains and rivers shook and the land quaked. Amaterasu, suspicious of his motives, went out to meet him dressed in male clothing and clad in armor, but when Susanoo proposed a trial by pledge to prove his sincerity, she accepted. In the ritual, the two gods each chewed and spat out an object carried by the other.
Amaterasu declares that the male deities were hers because they were born of her necklace, and that the three goddesses were Susanoo's. Susanoo, announcing that he had won the trial as he had produced deities of the required gender, thus signifying the purity of his intentions, "raged with victory" and proceeded to wreak havoc by destroying his sister's rice fields, defecating in her palace and flaying the 'heavenly piebald horse', which he then hurled at Amaterasu's loom, killing one of her weaving maidens. A furious Amaterasu in response hid inside the Ama-no-Iwato, plunging heaven and earth into total darkness. The gods, led by Omoikane-no-Kami, 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:
depicting a warrior wearing the male mizura hairstyle, in which the hair is parted into two bunches or loops
The two then perform the ukehi ritual; Susanoo produces six male deities from the magatama beads on his hair knots. Declaring that his intentions were indeed pure, Susanoo gives the six gods to Amaterasu's care and departs.
KojikiNihon Shoki
Nihon Shoki
Nihon Shoki
Nihon Shoki
Nihon Shoki
Goddesses
1. Takiribime-no-Mikoto

2. Ichikishimahime-no-Mikoto

3. Tagitsuhime-no-Mikoto
1. Tagorihime

2. Tagitsuhime

3. Ichikishimahime
1. Okitsushimahime

2. Tagitsuhime
3. Tagorihime		1. Ichikishimahime-no-Mikoto
2. Tagorihime-no-Mikoto
3. Tagitsuhime-no-Mikoto		1. Okitsushimahime-no-Mikoto, a.k.a. Ichikishimahime-no-Mikoto
2. Tagitsuhime-no-Mikoto
3. Tagirihime-no-Mikoto
-
Born when AmaterasuBroke Susanoo's ten-span sword into three and chewed themBroke Susanoo's ten-span sword into three and chewed them1. Ate her ten-span sword
2. Ate her nine-span sword
3. Ate her eight-span sword		1. Bit off the upper part of Susanoo's magatama beads
2. Bit off the middle part of the beads
3. Bit off the lower part of the beads		1. Ate her ten-span sword
2. Ate her nine-span sword
4. Ate her eight-span sword		Ate her ten-span sword
Gods
1. Masakatsu-Akatsu-Kachihayahi-Ame-no-Oshihomimi-no-Mikoto

2. Ame-no-Hohi-no-Mikoto

3. Amatsuhikone-no-Mikoto

4. Ikutsuhikone-no-Mikoto

5. Kumano-no-Kusubi-no-Mikoto
1. Masaka-Akatsu-Kachihayahi-Ame-no-Oshihomimi-no-Mikoto

2. Ame-no-Hohi-no-Mikoto

3. Amatsuhikone-no-Mikoto

4. Ikutsuhikone-no-Mikoto

5. Kumano-no-Kusuhi-no-Mikoto
1. Masaka-Akatsu-Kachihayahi-Ame-no-Oshihone-no-Mikoto

2. Amatsuhikone-no-Mikoto
3. Ikutsuhikone-no-Mikoto
4. Ame-no-Hohi-no-Mikoto
5. Kumano-no-Oshihomi-no-Mikoto
1. Ame-no-Hohi-no-Mikoto
2. Masaka-Akatsu-Kachihayahi-Ame-no-Oshihone-no-Mikoto
3. Amatsuhikone-no-Mikoto
4. Ikutsuhikone-no-Mikoto
5. Kumano-no-Kusuhi-no-Mikoto		1. Kachihayahi-Ame-no-Oshihomimi-no-Mikoto

2. Ame-no-Hohi-no-Mikoto
3. Amatsuhikone-no-Mikoto
4. Ikutsuhikone-no-Mikoto
5. Hi-no-Hayahi-no-Mikoto

6. Kumano-no-Oshihomi-no-Mikoto, a.k.a. Kumano-no-Oshisumi-no-Mikoto
1. Masaka-Akatsu-Kachihayahi-Ame-no-Oshihone-no-Mikoto

2. Ame-no-Hohi-no-Mikoto
3. Amatsuhikone-no-Mikoto
4. Ikumetsuhikone-no-Mikoto

5. Hihayahi-no-Mikoto

6. Kumano-no-Ōsumi-no-Mikoto
Born when Susanoo1. Chewed the strings of magatama beads entwined in Amaterasu's left hair bunch
2. Chewed the beads entwined in Amaterasu's right hair bunch
3. Chewed the beads on the vine securing her hair
4. Chewed the beads wrapped around Amaterasu's left wrist
5. Chewed the beads wrapped around Amaterasu's right wrist		Chewed the strings of magatama beads entwined in Amaterasu's hair and wristsChewed his necklace of magatama beadsBit off the end of Amaterasu's sword1. Chewed the magatama beads entwined in his left hair bunch and spat them on the palm of his left hand
2. Chewed the beads entwined in his right hair bunch and spat them on the palm of his right hand
3. Chewed the beads of his necklace and laid them on his left forearm
4. Laid the beads on his right forearm
5. Laid the beads on his left foot
6. Laid the beads on his right foot		1. Chewed the magatama beads entwined in his right hair bunch and laid them on the palm of his left hand
2. Chewed the beads entwined in his right hair bunch and laid them on the palm of his right hand

Susanoo and Ōgetsuhime

The Kojiki relates that during his banishment, Susanoo asked the goddess of food, Ōgetsuhime-no-Kami, to give him something to eat. Upon finding out that the goddess produced foodstuffs from her mouth, nose, and rectum, a disgusted Susanoo killed her, at which various crops, plants and seeds spring from her dead body. This account is not found in the Nihon Shoki, where a similar story is told of Tsukuyomi and the goddess Ukemochi.

Slaying the Yamata no Orochi

After his banishment, Susanoo came down from heaven to Ashihara-no-Nakatsukuni, to the land of Izumo, where he met an elderly couple named Ashinazuchi and Tenazuchi, who told him that seven of their eight daughters had been devoured by a monstrous serpent known as the Yamata no Orochi and it was nearing time for their eighth, Kushinadahime. Sympathizing with their plight, Susanoo hid Kushinadahime by transforming her into a comb, 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 or the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, which he then presented to Amaterasu as a reconciliatory gift.
as seen from 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 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, with the Kojiki specifying the area to be a place called Torikami, one variant in the Shoki instead has Susanoo descend to the upper reaches of the river E in the province of Aki. Kushinadahime's parents are here given the names Ashinazu-Tenazu and Inada-no-Miyanushi-Susa-no-Yatsumimi ; here, Kushinadahime is not yet born when Susanoo slew the Yamata no Orochi.
The ten-span sword Susanoo used to slay the Yamata no Orochi, unnamed in the Kojiki and the Shoki's main text, is variously named in the Shoki's variants as Orochi-no-Aramasa, Orochi-no-Karasabi-no-Tsurugi, and Ame-no-Haekiri-no-Tsurugi. In the Kogo Shūi it is dubbed Ame-no-Habakiri. This sword is said to have been originally enshrined in :ja:石上布都魂神社|Isonokami Futsumitama Shrine in Bizen Province before it was transferred to Isonokami Shrine in Yamato Province.

Susanoo in Soshimori

A variant account in the Shoki relates that Susanoo descended from heaven, accompanied by a son named Isotakeru-no-Mikoto, to a place called 'Soshimori' in the land of Shiragi before going to Izumo. Disliking the place, they crossed the sea in a boat made of clay until they arrived at Torikami Peak by the upper waters of the river Hi in Izumo.

The palace of Suga

After slaying the Yamata no Orochi, Susanoo looked for a suitable place in Izumo to live in. Upon arriving at a place called Suga, he declared, "Coming to this place, my heart is refreshed." He then erected a palace there and made a song:
Donald L. Philippi translates the song into English thus:
The Kojiki adds that Susanoo appointed Kushinadahime's father Ashinazuchi to be the headman of his new dwelling, bestowing upon him the name Inada-no-Miyanushi-Suga-no-Yatsumimi-no-Kami. With his new wife Kushinadahime, Susanoo had a child named Yashimajinumi-no-Kami. He then took another wife named Kamu-Ōichihime, the daughter of Ōyamatsumi, the god of mountains, and had two children by her: Ōtoshi-no-Kami, the god of the harvest, and Ukanomitama-no-Kami, the god of agriculture.
The Shoki's main narrative is roughly similar: Susanoo appoints Ashinazuchi and Tenazuchi to be the keepers of his palace and gives them the title Inada-no-Miyanushi. The child born to Susanoo and Kushiinadahime in this version is identified as Ōnamuchi-no-Kami.
After having thus lived for a time in Izumo, Susanoo at length finally found his way to Ne-no-Kuni.

Planting trees

One variant in the Shoki has Susanoo pulling out hairs from different parts of his body and turning them into different kinds of trees. Determining the use of each, he then gives them to his three children - Isotakeru-no-Mikoto, Oyatsuhime-no-Mikoto, and Tsumatsuhime-no-Mikoto - to spread in Japan. Susanoo then settled down in a place called Kumanari-no-Take before going to Ne-no-Kuni.
The myth of Susanoo's descent in Soshimori has Isotakeru bringing seeds with him from Takamagahara which he did not choose to plant in Korea but rather spread throughout Japan, beginning with Tsukushi Province. The narrative adds that it is for this reason Isotakeru is styled Isaoshi-no-Kami.

Susanoo and Ōnamuji

In the Kojiki, a sixth-generation descendant of Susanoo, Ōnamuji-no-Kami, ends up in Ne-no-Kuni to escape his wicked elder brothers who make repeated attempts on his life. There he meets and falls in love in Susanoo's daughter Suseribime. Upon learning of their affair, Susanoo imposes four trials on Ōnamuji:
  • Susanoo, upon inviting Ōnamuji to his dwelling, had him sleep in a chamber filled with snakes. Suseribime aided Ōnamuji by giving him a scarf that repelled the snakes.
  • The following night, Susanoo had Ōnamuji sleep in another room full of centipedes and bees. Once again, Suseribime gave Ōnamuji a scarf that kept the insects at bay.
  • Susanoo shot an arrow into a large plain and had Ōnamuji fetch it. As Ōnamuji was busy looking for the arrow, Susanoo set the field on fire. A field mouse showed Ōnamuji how to hide from the flames and gave him the arrow he was searching for.
  • Susanoo, upon discovering that Ōnamuji had survived, summoned him back to his palace and had him pick the lice and centipedes from his hair. Using a mixture of red clay and nuts given to him by Suseribime, Ōnamuji pretended to chew and spit out the insects he was picking.
After Susanoo was lulled to sleep, Ōnamuji tied Susanoo's hair to the hall's rafters and blocked the door with an enormous boulder. Taking his new wife Suseribime as well as Susanoo's sword, koto, and bow and arrows with him, Ōnamuji thus fled the palace. The koto brushed against a tree as the two were fleeing; the sound awakens Susanoo, who, rising with a start, knocks his palace down around him. Susanoo then pursued them as far as the slopes of Yomotsu Hirasaka. As the two departed, Susanoo grudgingly gave his blessing to Ōnamuji, advising him to change his name to Ōkuninushi-no-Kami. Using the weapons he obtained from Susanoo, Ōkuninushi defeats his brothers and becomes the undisputed ruler of Ashihara-no-Nakatsukuni.

Susanoo in the Izumo ''Fudoki''

The Fudoki of Izumo Province records the following etiological legends which feature Susanoo and his children:
  • The township of Yasuki in Ou District is named such after Susanoo visited the area and said, "My mind has been comforted."
  • The township of Ōkusa in Ou is said to have been named after a son of Susanoo named Aohata-Sakusahiko-no-Mikoto.
  • The township of Yamaguchi in Shimane District is named as such after another son of Susanoo, Tsurugihiko-no-Mikoto, declared these entrance to the hills to be his territory.
  • The township of Katae in Shimane received its name after Kunioshiwake-no-Mikoto, a son of Susanoo, said, "The land I govern is in good condition geographically."
  • The township of Etomo in Akika District is named such after Susanoo's son Iwasakahiko-no-Mikoto noted the area's resemblance to a painted arm guard.
  • The township of Tada in Akika District received its name after Susanoo's son Tsukihoko-Tooruhiko-no-Mikoto came there and said, "My heart has become bright and truthful."
  • The township of Yano in Kando District is named after Susanoo's daughter Yanowakahime-no-Mikoto, who lived in the area. Ōnamochi, also known as Ame-no-Shita-Tsukurashishi-Ōkami, who wished to marry her, had a house built at this place.
  • The township of Namesa in Kando District is named after a smooth stone Ame-no-Shita-Tsukurashishi-Ōkami spotted while visiting Susanoo's daughter Wakasuserihime-no-Mikoto, who is said to have lived there.
  • The township of Susa in Iishi District is said to be named after Susanoo, who enshrined his spirit in this place:
  • The township of Sase in Ōhara District is said to have gained its name when Susanoo danced there wearing leaves of a plant called sase on his head.
  • Mount Mimuro in the township of Hi in Ōhara District is said to have been the place where Susanoo built a temporary dwelling in which he stayed the night.

    Susanoo, Mutō Tenjin and Gozu Tennō

The syncretic deity Gozu Tennō, originally worshiped at Yasaka Shrine in Kyoto and at other shrines such as Tsushima Shrine in Aichi Prefecture, was historically conflated with Susanoo. Originally a deity of foreign import, Gozu Tennō was widely revered since the Heian period as a god of pestilence, who both caused disease and cured them.
Gozu Tennō became associated with another deity called Mutō-no-Kami or Mutō Tenjin, who appears in the legend of Somin Shōrai. This legend relates that Mutō Tenjin, a god from the northern sea, embarked on a long journey to court the daughter of the dragon king Sāgara, ruler of the southern seas. On his way he sought lodging from a wealthy man, but was turned down. He then went to the home of a poor man named Somin Shōrai, who gave him food and shelter. The god eventually married the dragon king's daughter and had eight sons by her. Returning to his kingdom, Mutō Tenjin killed the rich man and his family but spared Somin Shōrai's house. Some versions of the story have Mutō Tenjin repaying Somin Shōrai for his hospitality by giving the poor man's daughter a wreath of susuki reeds that she is to wear while declaring, " the descendant of Somin Shōrai". By doing so, she and her descendants would be spared from pestilence. The deity in this story, Mutō Tenjin, is often conflated with Gozu Tennō in later retellings, though one version identifies Gozu Tennō as Mutō Tenjin's son.
The earliest known version of this legend, found in the Fudoki of Bingo Province compiled during the Nara period, has Mutō Tenjin identify himself as Susanoo. This suggests that Susanoo and Mutō Tenjin were already conflated in the Nara period, if not earlier. It was not until the Kamakura period that Gozu Tennō was explicitly identified with Susanoo, although one theory supposes that these three gods and various other disease-related deities were already loosely coalesced around the 9th century, probably around the year 877 when a major epidemic swept through Japan.

Analysis

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, 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. The early 20th century historian :ja:津田左右吉|Tsuda Sōkichi, who put forward the then-controversial theory that the Kojiki's accounts were not based on history 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. 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 myth in which the Sun, the Moon and the Dark Star are siblings and the Dark Star plays an antagonistic role ; Ōbayashi thus also interprets Susanoo as a bad hero.
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. 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 of Susa."
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 as the birthplace of Susanoo worship, pointing out that there was also a settlement in Kii named Susa. Matsumae proposed that the worship of Susanoo was brought to other places in Japan by seafaring peoples from Kii, a land rich in timber.
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' being linked with the Korean word mudang "shamaness," and 'Gozu' being explained as a calque of 'Soshimori', here interpreted as being derived from a Korean toponym meaning 'Bull's Head '. The name 'Susanoo' itself has been interpreted as being related to the Middle Korean title :wikt:스승|susung, meaning 'master' or 'shaman', notably applied to Namhae, the second king of Silla, in the Samguk Sagi. Susanoo is thus supposed in this view to have originally been a foreign god, perhaps a deified shaman, whose origins may be traced back to Korea.
Emilia Gadeleva sees Susanoo's original character as being that of a rain god - more precisely, a god associated with 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 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 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.

Susanoo and Ne-no-Kuni

In the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki, Susanoo is repeatedly associated with Ne-no-Kuni, the "Land of Roots." While sometimes seemingly considered to be more or less identical to Yomi, the Land of the Dead, 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, 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.

Susanoo's rampage

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, Donald Philippi criticized such solutions as "untenable from a textual standpoint."
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 rose up against the Yamato court.
Emilia Gadeleva observes that Susanoo, at this point in the narrative, is portrayed similarly to the hero Yamato Takeru, in that both were rough young men possessed with "valor and ferocity" ; 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.
A prayer or norito originally recited by the priestly Nakatomi clan in the presence of the court during the Great Exorcism ritual of the last day of the sixth month, more commonly known today as the Ōharae no Kotoba, lists eight "heavenly sins", most of which are agricultural in nature:
  1. Breaking down the ridges
  2. Covering up the ditches
  3. Releasing the irrigation sluices
  4. Double planting
  5. Setting up stakes
  6. Skinning alive
  7. Skinning backward
  8. Defecation
1, 2, 6, 7, 8 and 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 abhorrent as those that caused ritual impurity.
One of the offensive acts Susanoo committed during his rampage was 'skinning backward' the ame-no-fuchikoma or 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." Nelly Naumann 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. Indeed, in the Kojiki when Susanoo throws the flayed horse to Amaterasu's weaving hall, one of the weaving maidens injures herself and dies. Emilia Gadeleva meanwhile connects Susanoo's act of skinning and flinging the horse with ancient Chinese and Korean rainmaking rituals, which involved animal sacrifice.
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" 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" 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.

Family

Consorts

Susanoo's consorts are:
  • Kushinadahime, daughter of Ashinazuchi and Tenazuchi, children of Ōyamatsumi, a son of Izanagi and elder brother of Susanoo
  • Kamu-Ōichihime, another daughter of Ōyamatsumi
  • Samirahime-no-Mikoto, a goddess worshiped in Yasaka Shrine reckoned as a consort of Susanoo

    Offspring

Susanoo's child by Kushinadahime is variously identified as Yashimajinumi-no-Kami in the Kojiki and as Ōnamuchi-no-Kami in the Nihon Shoki's main narrative.
Susanoo's children by Kamu-Ōichihime meanwhile are:
  • Ōtoshi-no-Kami
  • Ukanomitama-no-Kami
Susanoo's children who are either born without a female partner or whose mother is unidentified are:
Deities identified as Susanoo's children found only in the Izumo Fudoki are:
  • Kunioshiwake-no-Mikoto
  • Aohata-Sakusahiko-no-Mikoto
  • Iwasakahiko-no-Mikoto
  • Tsukihoko-Tooruhiko-no-Mikoto
  • Tsurugihiko-no-Mikoto
  • Yanowakahime-no-Mikoto
An Edo period text, the Wakan Sansai Zue, identifies a monstrous goddess known as Ama-no-Zako as an offspring of Susanoo.

Worship

In addition to his connections with the sea and tempests, due to his mythical role as the slayer of the Yamata no Orochi and his historical association with pestilence deities such as Gozu Tennō, Susanoo is also venerated as a god who wards off misfortune and calamity, being invoked especially against illness and disease. As his heroic act helped him win the hand of Kushinadahime, he is also considered to be a patron of love and marriage, such as in Hikawa Shrine in Saitama Prefecture.

Shrines

Susanoo is worshiped in a number of shrines throughout Japan, especially in Shimane Prefecture. A few notable examples are:
  • :ja:須佐神社 |Susa Shrine in Izumo, Shimane Prefecture
  • :ja:須我神社|Suga Shrine in Unnan, Shimane Prefecture
  • :ja:八重垣神社|Yaegaki Shrine, in Matsue, Shimane Prefecture
  • :ja:熊野大社|Kumano Taisha in Matsue, Shimane Prefecture
  • :ja:須佐神社 |Susa Shrine in Arida, Wakayama Prefecture
The following shrines were originally associated with Gozu Tennō:
The Hikawa Shrine network concentrated in Saitama and Tokyo also has Susanoo as its focus of worship, often alongside Kushinadahime.