Orochi

Lore & Background

The earliest record of the Yamata no Orochi myth comes from the Kojiki, completed in 712 by Ō no Yasumaro. After being banished from Takamagahara, Susanoo descended to Torikami in Izumo and found a chopstick floating down the River Hi. He traveled upstream and met Ashinazuchi, Tenazuchi, and their daughter Kushinada-hime. The couple originally had eight daughters, but each year an eight-headed serpent from Koshi devoured one.

Ashinazuchi described the serpent: 'Its eyes are like red cherries and it has eight heads and eight tails. Covered in moss, cypress and cedar, it spans eight valleys and eight peaks, and when you look at its belly you see blood oozing out everywhere.' Susanoo agreed to slay the serpent in exchange for Kushinada-hime's hand in marriage. He transformed her into a comb, stuck it in his hair, and instructed the couple to brew 'eightfold-refined sake' and build a fence with eight gates, placing a vat of sake at each gate.

The serpent appeared, dipped a head in each cask, drank the sake, became drunk, and fell asleep. Susanoo unsheathed the sword ten hand spans long and hacked the serpent to pieces until the River Hi ran red with blood. When he sliced off the middle tail, the blade snapped off. He cut the tail open and found a keen-edged broadsword, which he presented to Amaterasu. This is the broadsword Grass Cutter, Kusanagi-no-Tachi.

Reader's Guide

The name Yamata no Orochi is variously translated as 'Eight-Forked Serpent,' 'Eight-Headed Serpent,' and 'Eight-Headed Dragon.' Orochi is derived from Old Japanese woröti; Japanese scholars argue it comes from oro ('tail'), ō ('big/great'), or dialectal oro ('peak/summit'), in addition to chi ('god/spirit'), possibly a cognate with mizuchi ('water spirit/dragon') and ikazuchi ('god of thunder'). Yamata may relate to other instances of 'eight' in Japanese literature used to mean 'many' or 'several,' such as yata ('long/large'), yae ('many-layered'), and yashima ('many islands,' i.e., Japan).

The Kojiki and Nihon Shoki record that the Kusanagi no Tsurugi, part of the Imperial Regalia of Japan, was found within the serpent's tail. The other two treasures are the Yata-no-Kagami and Yasakani-no-Magatama. In local tradition, Yamata no Orochi was believed to have survived the encounter with Susanoo and fled to Mount Ibuki, where it was venerated as Ibuki Daimyōjin. Figures such as Emperor Antoku and Longnü have been identified as incarnations of Yamata no Orochi.