Chapter One

The Banished God

Susanoo, the storm god, had been cast out from the heavenly realm. His sister, Amaterasu, the sun goddess, could no longer tolerate his wild and destructive behavior. With nowhere else to turn, he descended to the land of Izumo, where the mortal world met the divine.

As he wandered along the banks of the Hi River, he noticed something strange—chopsticks floating downstream. Where there were chopsticks, there must be people. Following the river upward, he heard the sound of weeping.

Chapter Two

The Grieving Family

Before him stood an elderly couple with their daughter, all three consumed by sorrow. The old man introduced himself as Ashinazuchi, and his wife as Tenazuchi. Their daughter, radiant even in her despair, was named Kushinada-hime.

Susanoo's heart, though wild, was not without compassion. "Describe this serpent to me," he commanded.

Chapter Three

The Beast Revealed

"The creature is called Yamata no Orochi," Ashinazuchi explained, his voice trembling. "It has eight heads and eight tails. Its eyes are as red as winter cherries. Upon its back grow cypress trees and moss. Its body stretches across eight valleys and eight hills. Its belly is always bloody and inflamed."

Susanoo considered this carefully. Even for a god of storms, this would be a formidable opponent. But he had a plan—and a condition.

"Give me your daughter's hand in marriage," he said, "and I will destroy this monster."

What choice did they have? They agreed immediately.

Chapter Four

The Trap

To protect Kushinada-hime during the battle, Susanoo transformed her into a comb and placed her in his hair. Then he instructed the old couple to brew eight barrels of strong sake, the finest they could make, and to build a fence with eight gates, placing one barrel behind each gate.

When the time came, the earth began to shake. The trees bent and swayed, though there was no wind. Then, from between the mountains, it came—Yamata no Orochi, its eight heads swaying like massive serpents rising from the ground, each one seeking, searching, hungry.

Chapter Five

The Battle

The serpent smelled the sake. Each of its eight heads found a gate, and each head plunged into a barrel, drinking deeply of the powerful brew. Soon, all eight heads were drunk, and the massive creature collapsed into a stupor, its eight tails twitching.

This was the moment Susanoo had waited for. Drawing his sword, he leaped onto the beast and began to hack away at its heads and tails. The Hi River ran red with the monster's blood. The god struck again and again until the creature was nothing but pieces.

Chapter Six

The Divine Sword

Curious, Susanoo cut open the tail. Inside, he found a magnificent sword, unlike any he had ever seen. Its blade seemed to gather clouds around it, shimmering with divine power. This was no ordinary weapon—it was a sacred treasure.

Recognizing its significance, Susanoo sent the sword to his sister Amaterasu as a peace offering, hoping to make amends for his past transgressions. The sword would become known as Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, the Grass-Cutting Sword, one of the three Imperial Regalia of Japan.

Epilogue

A New Beginning

With the monster defeated, Susanoo transformed Kushinada-hime back to her true form. They married and built a palace in Izumo, where Susanoo composed Japan's first poem:

The storm god had found peace at last, and the land of Izumo was safe. But the tale of the eight-headed serpent would echo through the ages, a reminder that even the fiercest monsters can fall, and even the wildest gods can find redemption.

Chapter One

The Final Straw

Even after defeating Yamata no Orochi, Susanoo's wild nature had not been fully tamed. Upon returning to the heavenly realm, he began causing chaos once more. He destroyed his sister's rice fields, filled in her irrigation ditches, and defiled her sacred weaving hall.

Amaterasu, the sun goddess, tried to make excuses for her brother's behavior, but when he threw a flayed horse through the roof of her weaving hall, causing the death of one of her attendants, it was too much to bear.

Chapter Two

The World Goes Dark

In her grief and rage, Amaterasu retreated into the Heavenly Rock Cave and sealed it shut with a massive boulder. The moment she disappeared, the world was plunged into eternal night.

The eight hundred myriads of gods gathered in the dry riverbed of heaven, desperately trying to devise a plan to lure Amaterasu from her cave. For without her light, all creation would perish.

Chapter Three

The Divine Plan

The wise god Omoikane devised a clever scheme. The gods gathered sacred objects: a mirror forged by the divine smith Ishikoridome, jewels strung by the jewel-making god Tamanooya, and sacred sakaki trees hung with offerings.

They placed these objects outside the cave entrance. Then they brought roosters whose crowing announced the dawn—though in the darkness, no true dawn would come.

But the most important part of the plan fell to Ame-no-Uzume, the goddess of dawn and revelry.

Chapter Four

The Sacred Dance

Ame-no-Uzume overturned a wooden tub and began to dance upon it with wild abandon. She danced with such energy and enthusiasm, with such uninhibited joy, that her movements became increasingly comedic and provocative. Her dance was so entertaining that the eight hundred myriads of gods burst into uproarious laughter.

Inside the cave, Amaterasu heard the laughter. She was confused. How could the gods be laughing and celebrating when the world was plunged into darkness? What could possibly be so amusing?

Chapter Five

The Return of Light

Unable to contain her curiosity any longer, Amaterasu cracked open the cave door just slightly to peek out. "Why are you all laughing?" she called. "The world is in darkness!"

Ame-no-Uzume called back, "We are celebrating because we have found a goddess even more radiant than you!"

At that moment, the gods angled the sacred mirror so that Amaterasu caught sight of her own reflection—though she did not realize it was herself she was seeing. Mesmerized by the brilliant light, she emerged further from the cave.

As soon as she did, the powerful god Ame-no-Tajikarao grabbed her hand and pulled her completely out. Another god immediately stretched a sacred rope across the cave entrance, preventing her from returning.

Epilogue

Light Restored

The moment Amaterasu emerged fully from the cave, light returned to the world. The sun blazed in the heavens once more, and all of creation rejoiced. The evil spirits that had roamed freely in the darkness fled back to their hiding places.

As for Susanoo, he was banished permanently from the heavenly realm, forced to wander the earth. But Amaterasu remained in the sky, bringing light and warmth to the world, her radiance never again to be hidden away.

The sacred mirror that helped lure her out became one of the three Imperial Regalia, a reminder that even in our darkest moments, there are those who will work tirelessly to bring back the light.

Chapter One

In the Beginning

Before there was earth or sky as we know them, there was only a chaos of swirling elements—no form, no substance, no separation between heaven and earth. From this primordial chaos, the first gods came into being, and from them came Izanagi and Izanami, the divine couple tasked with bringing order to creation.

The elder gods gave them a jeweled spear, Ame-no-Nuhoko, and commanded them: "Complete and solidify this drifting land."

Chapter Two

The Floating Bridge

Standing on the Floating Bridge of Heaven, Izanagi and Izanami looked down at the chaos of swirling elements below. Together, they thrust the jeweled spear downward into the murky brine and stirred. When they lifted the spear, drops of brine fell from its tip and solidified, forming the first island: Onogoro, the "self-forming" island.

They built a palace and prepared to populate the world with land and life.

Chapter Three

The Birth of Islands

Izanagi and Izanami devised a marriage ritual. They would walk around the heavenly pillar in opposite directions, and when they met, they would speak words of greeting and union.

The first time they attempted this ritual, Izanami spoke first: "What a handsome man!" To which Izanagi replied, "What a beautiful woman!" But this first attempt produced only a malformed child, Hiruko, who was so weak that they placed him in a reed boat and set him adrift.

Realizing their error—that the male deity should have spoken first—they performed the ritual again, this time with Izanagi speaking first. From their proper union, the great islands of Japan were born, one after another: Awaji, Shikoku, Oki, Kyushu, Iki, Tsushima, Sado, and finally the largest, Honshu—the eight great islands of Japan.

Chapter Four

The Gods of Nature

Having created the land, Izanagi and Izanami continued their divine work, giving birth to the gods who would govern every aspect of the natural world. They created gods of the sea and wind, of mountains and rivers, of trees and grass, of fog and valleys.

Each deity brought a new dimension to the growing world, filling it with the forces that would shape and sustain life. The couple's creative power seemed boundless, and the world blossomed with divine presence.

Chapter Five

The Fire God's Birth

But tragedy struck when Izanami gave birth to Kagutsuchi, the god of fire. The flames from the infant deity burned his mother terribly, and despite Izanagi's desperate efforts to save her, Izanami died from her injuries.

In his grief and rage, Izanagi drew his sword and struck down Kagutsuchi. From the fire god's blood and body parts, eight more gods came into being—gods of mountains, of metals, and of war. But this brought no comfort to Izanagi, for his beloved wife was gone.

Chapter Six

The Descent to Yomi

Unable to accept his wife's death, Izanagi decided to journey to Yomi, the land of the dead, to bring her back. Following the dark path downward, he finally found Izanami in the shadowy realm.

"My beloved wife," he called out, "the lands we were creating are not yet finished. Please come back with me."

Izanami's voice came from the darkness: "You should have come sooner. I have already eaten the food of Yomi. I am now a resident of this land and cannot easily return. But let me discuss this with the gods of Yomi. Do not look at me while I am gone."

Chapter Seven

The Forbidden Sight

Izanagi waited in the darkness, but as time passed, his impatience grew. Finally, he broke off a tooth from his comb and lit it as a torch, defying his wife's warning.

What he saw filled him with horror. Izanami's once beautiful body was now rotting and corrupted, crawling with maggots. Eight thunder gods had grown from her decomposing flesh. She had become a thing of death and darkness.

Izanami awoke and shrieked in rage and shame. "You have humiliated me!" she cried, and sent the foul demons of Yomi to pursue him.

Chapter Eight

The Great Separation

Izanagi fled back toward the world of the living, pursued by his wife's wrath and her army of demons. He threw down his headdress, which turned into grapes, and the demons stopped to eat them. He threw down his comb, which turned into bamboo shoots, and again the demons stopped. But they kept coming.

Finally reaching the boundary between Yomi and the living world, Izanagi used all his strength to push a massive boulder across the entrance, sealing the land of the dead away from the land of the living.

From opposite sides of the boulder, the divine couple spoke their final words to each other. Izanami, now fully a goddess of death, declared: "Every day, I will take one thousand lives from your world."

Izanagi responded: "Then every day, I will create one thousand five hundred lives."

Chapter Nine

Purification

Defiled by his contact with death, Izanagi went to a river to purify himself. As he washed, more deities were born from his clothes and possessions. But the most important births came when he washed his face:

From his left eye was born Amaterasu, the sun goddess, who would light the world. From his right eye was born Tsukuyomi, the moon god, who would govern the night. And from his nose was born Susanoo, the storm god, whose wild nature would challenge the heavens.

Epilogue

The Foundation

Izanagi divided the world among his three noble children. To Amaterasu, he gave the High Plain of Heaven. To Tsukuyomi, the domain of night. And to Susanoo, he gave the oceans.

Having completed his tasks, Izanagi eventually withdrew from the world, retiring to live in solitude. But the islands he and Izanami created remained, the foundation of Japan. The gods they birthed continued to shape the world. And the cycle they established—of creation and destruction, life and death—continues to turn, eternal and unchanging.

This is how Japan came to be, born from the love and tragedy of two divine beings, shaped by their creative power, and forever marked by the separation of life from death, the living world from the realm of shadows.