The Eighth Daughter

Susanoo and Yamata-no-Orochi retold from the Kojiki.

In the Kojiki, Susanoo comes to Izumo and finds an old couple weeping beside their last daughter. Yamata-no-Orochi has taken one daughter each year; Kushinada-hime is the eighth.

The Eighth Daughter stays close to that family’s waiting—and to the strange procedure by which a pattern that has repeated for seven years is finally interrupted.

“What kind of serpent is it?”

At this the old man lifted his eyes.

“It has eight heads,” he said, “and eight tails.”

The stranger said nothing.

“Its eyes are red. Its body reaches across hills and valleys. Moss grows upon it. Trees grow upon it. Its belly is stained with blood.”

The river moved beside them.

The old man looked back at his daughter.

“When it comes, the earth knows before we do.”

The stranger turned again towards the mountains.

“What is the girl’s name?”

“Kushinada-hime.”

“And yours?”

“Ashinazuchi.”

He indicated the woman.

“My wife is Tenazuchi.”

The stranger nodded.

Then he said, “Give me your daughter.”

Tenazuchi’s hand stopped.

Ashinazuchi stared at him.

The request had been spoken without ornament, as though it were another question about the river.

“Who are you?”

“I am Susanoo.”

The name altered the silence.

“I am brother to Amaterasu, who shines in heaven. I have come down from above.”

Ashinazuchi bent forward until his hands touched the earth.

Tenazuchi bowed beside him.

Kushinada-hime remained where she was.

Susanoo said, “Will you give her to me?”

Ashinazuchi answered for the household.

“Yes.”

Susanoo turned to the girl.

He did not promise that she would live.

He did not tell her not to be afraid.

He changed her into a comb.

Where the eighth daughter had been, there was something small enough to hold in one hand.

Tenazuchi made a sound, but did not reach for it.

Susanoo lifted the comb and placed it in his hair.

Then he looked at the parents.

“Now we work.”

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