Read, reflect, pray
Nihon Shoki: The eight-headed serpent and the sword in its tail
Nihon Shoki · Story 9 of 17
八岐大蛇と、尾の中の剣
Susanoo, Kushinadahime, and a story of Izumo.
English translation of this site’s published story summary and reading notes. This is a selected reading guide, not a complete translation of the ancient chronicle.
Main narrative
Book 1, section 8
Descending from heaven to Izumo, Susanoo meets an elderly couple weeping around their daughter. Each year the eight-forked serpent has eaten a daughter; now the last, Kushinadahime, is threatened. Susanoo changes her into a comb, places her in his hair, and has the couple prepare sake.
Drinking with its eight heads, the serpent falls asleep. Susanoo cuts it down and finds a sword in its tail. The main narrative calls it Kusanagi and says he presents it to the heavenly deity. Its earlier name, Ame no Murakumo, is recorded as an alternative tradition appended here.
Susanoo builds a palace at Suga and joins with Kushinadahime. This main narrative calls their child Ōnamuchi, showing that Ōkuninushi’s genealogy also differs among traditions.
Compare with the Kojiki
The Nihon Shoki’s main narrative makes Ōnamuchi the child of Susanoo and Kushinadahime. The Kojiki places Ōkuninushi later in a genealogy descending from Susanoo, not as their immediate child. Similar serpent-slaying plots lead into different genealogies.
The great serpent and the palace at Suga →Connected figures
Names and relationships in a chronicle may differ from later traditions. Each figure’s introduction identifies its sources.
Sources and edition (1)
English explanations on this page were prepared by Inori no Mori from the cited text and its Japanese explanations. They are not an official translation or a prescribed liturgy.