The Trials of Okuninushi (Including the White Hare of Inaba)

Long before Okuninushi became the great deity of the terrestrial realm, he was known as Onamuchi—a humble younger brother among the eighty deities, sons of Susanoo's lineage. His brothers were cruel and arrogant, and when they all set out to court the beautiful princess Yagamihime of Inaba, they made Okuninushi carry their baggage like a servant.

Along the road to Inaba, the party encountered a hare lying in agony on the beach, stripped of its fur. The eighty brothers, amused, had maliciously advised the creature to bathe in salt water and dry itself in the wind, which only intensified its suffering. When Okuninushi came last, carrying the heavy bags, the hare cried out to him. Learning the truth—that the hare had been skinned after trying to cross from an island to the mainland by tricking crocodiles (or sharks) into forming a bridge—Okuninushi showed compassion. He instructed the hare to wash in fresh water and roll in cattail pollen. The hare was healed and, in gratitude, prophesied that Yagamihime would choose Okuninushi over all his brothers.

The prophecy came true, enraging the eighty brothers. They conspired to kill Okuninushi, first luring him into a trap by heating a great boulder and rolling it down a mountain onto him. He was crushed and killed, but his mother appealed to the heavenly deities, and Kamimusubi sent goddesses who restored him to life. The brothers killed him again using a split tree as a trap, and again he was resurrected through divine intervention.

Fleeing his brothers' murderous persecution, Okuninushi descended to the netherworld (Ne-no-katasukuni) ruled by Susanoo. There he met Suseribime, Susanoo's daughter, and the two fell in love instantly. But Susanoo subjected Okuninushi to a series of deadly trials: he was placed in a room full of snakes, then centipedes and wasps, and finally sent into a field that Susanoo set ablaze. Each time, Suseribime provided the means of survival—scarves that repelled the creatures, and a mouse that showed him a hidden burrow in the burning field.

While Susanoo slept, Okuninushi seized the old god's great sword, bow and arrows, and the heavenly speaking-koto (zither), and fled with Suseribime on his back. The koto brushed against a tree and sounded a loud note, waking Susanoo. But by the time the storm god reached the border of the netherworld, the young couple was already escaping. From the boundary, Susanoo called out—not in anger, but in grudging acknowledgment: 'With that great sword and bow, subdue your brothers, build the land, and become Okuninushi—the Great Lord of the Land!'

Thus named and empowered by his divine father-in-law, Okuninushi returned to the surface world, defeated the eighty brothers, and established his rule over the terrestrial realm.