Week 2 Story: Kushinada-hime

Susa-no-wo was a fierce, young deity of the waters. His rival Orochi was a thirty foot serpent with eight heads, eight tails, and the ability to breathe fire. Every few months, they would come into contact and fight in the Hi Forest. They fought for blood, both wanting to slay the other. However, there was never a victor, one always escaped the other before the last blow.

One day, Susa-no-wo met a beautiful girl named Kushinada-hime. She was the princess of a far away land. As they were walking together, Orochi appeared. Susa-no-wo immediately transformed Kushinada-hime into a comb and stuck her in his hair. Orochi and Susa-no-wo fought: fire everywhere, trees falling, animals fled the scene. After ten hours, Susa-no-wo had cut off seven of Orochi's heads, but he was growing tired, and Orochi was hurting him. His leg was badly burned, and he was hobbling around. Finally, Orochi pushed Susa-no-wo to the ground, but when this happened, Kushinada-hime was freed from Susa-no-wo's hair. She was in the air and angled herself towards Orochi's final head. With one quick brush, she sliced it off. Orochi had been defeated, and the victor was Kushinada-hime!

When Susa-no-wo realized that Kushinada-hime had rescued him, he fell in love with her immediately. He transformed her into the beautiful woman she was, and then he got down on one knee and proposed. Kushinada-hime was appalled, "You were foolish enough to turn me into a useless comb, and now you expect me to want to marry you?!" Kushinada-hime left him there on one knee and returned to her land. She eventually found a man worthy of her while Susa-no-wo pined away for the rest of his life. He learned to treat women with respect; he saw them as individuals with wisdom and power rather than objects of beauty.

THE END.

Image Information: Kushinada-hime as a comb; KissPat Handmade Comb on Flickr

Author's Note: The inspiration of this story came from The Eight-Forked Serpent of Koshi, the story of the heavenly beings, Susa-no-wo and Orochi. In the story, Kushinada-hime was destined to be killed by Orochi, but Susa-no-wo defeats the Serpent after he transforms Kushinada-hime into a comb. Afterwards, Susa-no-wo marries Kushinada-hime. I didn't like the "damsel in distress" theme of this, so I made Kushinada-hime the heroine. In the end, she saves Susa-no-wo, defeats Orochi, and then rejects Susa-no-wo's proposal.

Bibliography. "The Eight-Forked Serpent of Koshi" from Romance of Old Japan, Part I: Mythology and Legend by E. W. Champney and F. Champney. Web source.