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Japanese Deities
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As the Japanese face of Neptune, Susanoo embodies the storm, the sea, and turbulent depth. Susanoo is the Shinto god of storms, the sea, and wild, unruly forces, the impetuous brother of the sun goddess Amaterasu, born from the nose of the creator Izanagi. His violence and his rampages in heaven drove Amaterasu to hide in her cave and got him expelled from the heavenly plain. In his exile he redeemed himself: coming upon a weeping family whose daughters had been devoured, he slew the eight-headed serpent Yamata no Orochi to save the last of them, and in the monster's tail he found the great sword that became one of the imperial regalia. He embodies the storm, the sea, and the turbulent, redeemable depth.
Facts
Origins
Origin of the NameSusanoo's name is conventionally glossed by scholars working from the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki as meaning something like "brave, swift, impetuous male," an etymology consistent with his mythic characterization as a violent storm deity prone to destructive outbursts. 1 Cult
Principal Cult CentreYasaka Jinja in Kyoto, and the Izumo region 1 Attributes and IconographySusanoo is conventionally pictured as a wild, unkempt storm deity, his hair and beard disordered in keeping with the destructive rampage that gets him expelled from Takamagahara, and, after his exile, as an armed warrior wielding the sword he takes from the slain eight-headed serpent Yamata no Orochi, the sword later known as Kusanagi. 2 Worship and PracticeKyoto's Gion Festival grew out of a purification rite performed at Yasaka Shrine, whose enshrined deity was syncretized with Susanoo through his identification with the plague god Gozu Tenno, a merger Helen Hardacre traces as part of the broader premodern blending of Shinto kami with Buddhist and continental figures. 1 Attributions
Mythic AssociationThe Kojiki recounts how Susanoo slew the eight headed serpent Yamata no Orochi, drawing from its tail the sword later counted among the three imperial regalia of Japan. 2 Mythic AssociationThe Kojiki recounts Susanoo's slaying of the eight headed serpent Yamata no Orochi to save a maiden destined to be its next victim, discovering within the serpent's tail the sword later known as Kusanagi. 2 Belief
TheologyPolytheistic: many gods 1 Practice
LineageThe Kojiki names Susanoo born from Izanagi's washing of his nose during the primordial purification that also produced his siblings Amaterasu, from the eye, and Tsukuyomi, from the other eye, three among the most important deities born from that single ritual act. 2 Sources
Textual NoteThe Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki give differing accounts of Susanoo's banishment and his slaying of the serpent Yamata no Orochi, variations scholars read as evidence that eighth century compilers were drawing on more than one regional or oral tradition when assembling Japan's earliest written mythology. 1 Function
Domain / Function Domain / Function Domain / Function Attestation
Era of Attestation Veneration TodayActively venerated in a living tradition 1 HistoricityNot a historical person: a divine or other-than-human being 2 History
Historical NoteThe Kojiki recounts that after Susanoo was banished from heaven for his destructive behaviour toward Amaterasu, he descended to Izumo province, where he slew the eight headed, eight tailed serpent Yamata no Orochi by getting it drunk on sake, and discovered within its tail the sword Kusanagi, later one of the three sacred imperial regalia of Japan. 2 Position Profile
Key TextThe Kojiki recounts Susanoo slaying the eight headed serpent Yamata no Orochi by first getting it drunk on eight vats of sake, then discovering the sword Kusanagi no Tsurugi inside one of its tails, a blade he presents to his sister Amaterasu and which later becomes one of the three sacred imperial regalia. 2 Learn More
The Storm Let Loose
Susanoo is the Shinto god of storms, of the sea and of wild, unruly forces, the impetuous and turbulent brother of the sun goddess Amaterasu. He is born, in the Kojiki, from the nose of the creator Izanagi as the god purifies himself after his return from the land of the dead, while Amaterasu is born from his left eye and the moon god Tsukuyomi from his right. From the first Susanoo is a figure of ungoverned emotion and violence.
Assigned to rule the sea, he instead weeps and rages, longing for his dead mother, until his father in anger banishes him; and when he goes up to heaven to take leave of his sister, his behaviour there becomes catastrophic. He breaks down the divisions of her rice fields, defiles her halls, and flings a flayed horse into her weaving hall, killing one of her attendants, outrages so severe that Amaterasu, in fear and grief, hides herself in the rock cave and takes the light from the world.
The Slaying of the Eight-Headed Serpent
Expelled from heaven for his violence, Susanoo undergoes a striking transformation, and his descent to earth turns him from a destroyer into a hero. Arriving in the land of Izumo, he comes upon an old couple weeping beside their last daughter, Kushinada-hime: a monstrous eight-headed and eight-tailed serpent, the Yamata-no-Orochi, has devoured their other seven daughters one by one, year after year, and has come now for the last. Susanoo offers to kill the serpent in return for the girl's hand. He has the couple brew strong sake and set it out in eight vats; the serpent lowers its eight heads to drink, grows drunk, and falls asleep, and Susanoo hacks it to pieces.
In one of its tails he finds a great sword, which he presents to Amaterasu as a gift of reconciliation, the sword Kusanagi, which becomes one of the three sacred regalia of the imperial line. Susanoo then settles in Izumo, marries Kushinada-hime, and becomes an ancestor of its gods. His myth is a remarkable study in a single divine character's two faces: the chaotic, destructive storm that darkens the world, and the courageous champion who slays the monster and wins the sacred sword. He remains one of the most vivid and important deities of Shinto, worshipped especially in the Izumo region.
In the Texts
Kojiki, Section X: The Purification of the August PersonThe Kojiki: Records of Ancient Matterspurification
The name of the Deity that was born as he thereupon washed his left august eye was the Heaven-Shining-Great-August-Deity. The name of the Deity that was next born as he washed his right august eye was His Augustness, Moon-Night Possessor. The name of the Deity that was next born as he washed his august nose was His Brave-Swift-impetuous-Male-Augustness.
The birth of Susanoo.
The Kojiki: Records of Ancient Matters. translated by Basil Hall Chamberlain.
About This Passage
Correspondences & Relations
Archetypes
Pantheons
Planetary Faces
Susanoo was given rule of the sea by Izanagi but abandoned it to rage in his sister's realm, and is better known as a storm kami and dragon slayer. The Neptune pairing takes the sea assignment at face value and is modern.
Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
This source names Susanoo directly: "When her brother Susanoo, given free rein in heaven, tore up her rice paddies, defiled her hall, and flung a flayed horse through the roof of her weaving house, killing a maiden, Amaterasu fled in..."
Source KojikiDonald L. Philippi (translator) This source names Susanoo directly: "with hand-painted details showing Susanoo-no-mikoto."
This source names Susanoo directly: "century, dyed and hand-painted with a Susanoo-no-mikoto deity scene."
This source names Susanoo directly: "General reference article on Susanoo, consulted 2026-08-11."
This source names Susanoo directly: "Tsukioka Yoshitoshi's 1887 triptych "Susanoo no Mikoto Slays Yamata-no-Orochi in Izumo," from Nippon Ryakushi, published by Izawa Genjiro, a physically distinct comparable print read here to..."
Susanoo's destructive visit to Takamagahara and expulsion from it is the myth's central episode
This source names Susanoo directly: "plate sits among plates for Amaterasu, Susanoo and the deity's fellow primordial kami, reflecting Tsukuyomi's place as the second of the three noble children born to Izanagi."
This source names Susanoo directly: "on Yamata no Orochi, recounting Susanoo's defeat of the eight headed serpent by intoxicating it with sake set in eight vats before cutting it apart, discovering the sword Kusanagi no Tsurugi in its..."
Child Of
Susanoo is born from the nose of the creator Izanagi during Izanagi's purification after returning from the land of the dead.
Source KojikiDonald L. Philippi (translator) Depicted In
Opposes
In exile, Susanoo slew the eight headed serpent Yamata no Orochi to save the last of a weeping family's daughters, finding in its tail the sword that became imperial regalia.
Source KojikiDonald L. Philippi (translator) Passages on This
Same Figure, Narrative Entry
Sibling Of
Susanoo is the impetuous brother of the sun goddess Amaterasu, born from the nose of the creator Izanagi as she was born from his eye.
Source KojikiDonald L. Philippi (translator) Worshipped In
Sources
1. Shinto: A History
Helen Hardacre, Oxford University Press, 2017On Susanoo, Izumo, and the sword KusanagiView the Source 2. Kojiki
Donald L. Philippi (translator), University of Tokyo Press, 1968The Kojiki: the birth of Susanoo, his exile, and the slaying of the OrochiView the Source Encyclopedia of Religion
Mircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.), Macmillan Reference, 2005s.v. SusanooView the Source Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
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