The eight-forked serpent八俣遠呂智

So, driven out, he came down to the land of Izumo (出雲國), to the place called Torikami (鳥髮) at the upper reaches of the Hi River (肥河). At that time a chopstick came floating down the river.

Susanoo no Mikoto thought that there must be people upstream, and went up to look for them. An old man and an old woman were sitting there with a young girl between them, weeping.

He asked them, "Who are you?"

The old man answered, "I am a god of this land, a son of Ohoyamatsumi no Kami. My name is Ashinazuchi (足名椎), my wife's name is Tenazuchi (手名椎), and my daughter's name is Kushinadahime (櫛名田比賣)."

He asked again, "Why are you weeping?"

He answered, "My daughters were eight at the first. But the Yamata no Orochi (八俣遠呂智) of Koshi (高志) comes every year and eats them, and now the time for it to come is near. That is why we weep."

He asked, "What does it look like?"

He answered, "Its eyes are like akakagachi. It has one body with eight heads and eight tails. Moss and hinoki and cedar grow on its body, and its length spans eight valleys and eight ridges. When you look at its belly, it is always raw and running with blood."

Hayasusanoo no Mikoto said to the old man, "Will you give me this daughter of yours?"

He answered, "With respect, I do not yet know your name."

He answered him, "I am the younger brother of Amaterasu Ohomikami. I have come down from heaven just now."

Ashinazuchi and Tenazuchi no Kami said, "If that is so, we are awed. We give her to you."

Hayasusanoo no Mikoto at once turned the girl into a sacred close-toothed comb and stuck it in his mizura, and said to Ashinazuchi and Tenazuchi no Kami, "Brew a thick wine strained eight times, and build a fence around. Make eight gates in that fence, and at each gate tie eight platforms, and on each platform set a wine tub, and fill each tub with that wine strained eight times, and wait."

They made ready as he said and waited, and the Yamata no Orochi came, just as they had said. It lowered one of its heads into each tub and drank the wine. Then it grew drunk and lay down there and slept.

Hayasusanoo no Mikoto drew the ten-hand sword (十拳劍) he wore and cut the serpent to pieces, and the Hi River turned to blood and flowed.

When he cut the middle tail, the blade of his sword was notched. He thought this strange, and split the tail open with the point of his sword and looked, and a great sword of Tsumuha (都牟羽) was inside. He took this great sword, and thinking it a wondrous thing, he told Amaterasu Ohomikami of it and offered it up. This is the great sword Kusanagi (草那藝之大刀).

So Hayasusanoo no Mikoto looked in the land of Izumo for a place to build his palace. When he came to the land of Suga (須賀) he said, "Coming to this land, my heart is 'sugasugashi' — fresh and clear." And he built his palace there and dwelt in it. That is why that place is now called Suga.

When this great god first built the palace at Suga, clouds rose up from that place. Then he made a song. The song says:

Yakumo tatsu Izumo yaegaki Tsumagomi ni yaegaki tsukuru Sono yaegaki o

— Clouds rise fold on fold, the eightfold fence of Izumo. To keep my wife within, I build an eightfold fence. That eightfold fence!

Then he called that Ashinazuchi no Kami and said, "I make you the head of my palace." And he gave him the name Inada no Miyanushi Suga no Yatsumimi no Kami (稻田宮主須賀之八耳神).