Myths & Sacred Narratives

Susanoo and the Slaying of the Eight-Headed Serpent

Hero Cycle Myths

Citation Formats

General Reference

Divinity Atlas. "Susanoo and the Slaying of the Eight-Headed Serpent." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://dev-divinity.interactiveatlas.org/myths-sacred-narratives/susanoo-and-the-slaying-of-the-eight-headed-serpent.

APA Style

Divinity Atlas. (n.d.). Susanoo and the Slaying of the Eight-Headed Serpent. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://dev-divinity.interactiveatlas.org/myths-sacred-narratives/susanoo-and-the-slaying-of-the-eight-headed-serpent

BibTeX

@misc{divinityatlas-susanoo-and-the-slaying-of-the-eight-hea,
  author = {Divinity Atlas},
  title = {Susanoo and the Slaying of the Eight-Headed Serpent},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://dev-divinity.interactiveatlas.org/myths-sacred-narratives/susanoo-and-the-slaying-of-the-eight-headed-serpent},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

A Shinto narrative from the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki in which the storm god Susanoo, exiled from heaven, meets an earthly couple whose daughters have been devoured yearly by the eight headed, eight tailed serpent Yamata no Orochi, gets the serpent drunk on eightfold brewed sake, kills it, and recovers from its tail the sword later known as Kusanagi, part of the imperial regalia.

Facts

History

Historical Note

The Kojiki, the earliest surviving written version, was compiled in 712 AD from oral tradition under imperial commission, with the Nihon Shoki following in 720 AD. 1

Historical Note

The sword Susanoo recovers here, later called Kusanagi no Tsurugi, joins the mirror and the jewel Amaterasu gives Ninigi in the separate heavenly descent narrative to complete the three imperial regalia, so the two myths, narrated apart, are read together as jointly accounting for the full set. 2

Scholarship and Forensics

Scholarly Note

Scholars of Japanese religion read the tale's ending, the sword's transfer to Amaterasu and its place among the imperial regalia, as tying a local dragon slaying story directly to the legitimacy of the imperial line. 2

Sources

Primary Source

Kojiki, translated by Donald Philippi and by Gustav Heldt, collated against the Nihon Shoki's parallel narrative. 1

Meaning

Central Motif

A storm god's defeat of a multi headed serpent by trickery, yielding a sacred sword 1

Text

Source Text

Kojiki, Book One, and the parallel account in Nihon Shoki 1

Controversy

Point in Dispute

Scholars are divided on whether Yamata no Orochi's eight heads originally symbolized a flood prone river system in the serpent's home region or should be read on purely narrative terms. 2

Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

Susanoo

Yamata no Orochi

Belongs to Tradition

Shinto

Source KojikiDonald L. Philippi (translator)

Sources

1. Kojiki

Donald L. Philippi (translator), University of Tokyo Press, 1968View the Source

2. Shinto: A History

Helen Hardacre, Oxford University Press, 2017View the Source

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