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Susanoo

The God of Sea & Storms

Domain: Storms & Seas
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Element: Thunder
Relics of Power: Sword Kusanagi no Tsurugi

Speak with Susanoo

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5 sections of this entry are open to everyone: the summary, the people, the symbols, the lineage and the sources. The other 9 (Name and epithets, In the ancient sources, The myths, Worship and archaeology, How the god was depicted, What scholars debate, After antiquity, Did you know?, Codex relic) are part of the full Codex: PRO opens the whole study of all 500 deities, and without a subscription you can read one full entry a day, just like in the app.

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The People

People

Japanese

Region

Japanese archipelago

Period

c. 500 BC – present

The kami of Shinto have been worshipped in Japan since time immemorial, in thousands of shrines across the archipelago. The imperial family claims direct descent from the sun goddess Amaterasu, and the cult coexists with Buddhism brought from the mainland. Festivals (matsuri) and purification rites keep these beliefs alive to this day.

Matsuri fill the streets with processions of portable shrines (mikoshi), drums, and dances. The great shrine of Ise, dedicated to Amaterasu, is rebuilt every twenty years, and at hatsumode millions visit the shrines at New Year to ask for blessings.

At a glance

In the Kojiki, Susanoo is born when Izanagi washes his nose after returning from Yomi. He is assigned the sea but weeps because he wants to go to the land of his dead mother. He ascends to heaven to take leave of Amaterasu; after an oath between the siblings, he destroys her rice fields and throws a flayed horse into the weaving hall. Expelled, he descends to Izumo, saves Kushinadahime from an eight-headed serpent, and finds a sword in its tail. The Nihon Shoki preserves different versions of his birth, descendants, and sword. His course through the chronicles cannot be reduced to the single label ‘storm god.’

10 min read · Reviewed on October 13, 2026 · How we research

Sacred symbols

Sword Kusanagi, the storm and the Orochi serpent

Family

Parents

Izanagi Izanami

Siblings

Amaterasu Tsukuyomi

Susanoo

Unions

Kushinadahime

Children

The three Munakata goddesses, born in the oath with AmaterasuYashimajinumi, with Kushinadahime in the KojikiSuserihime, his daughter in the Ōkuninushi cycle

Genealogy according to Kojiki I, seções X–XIX, XXIII; Nihon Shoki, livro I, narrativa principal e variantes

Sources and further reading

Primary sources

Compilation attributed to Ō no Yasumaro, Kojiki, livro I. translation: Basil Hall Chamberlain, 1882. read
Compilation by the Japanese court, Nihon Shoki, livro I. translation: W. G. Aston, 1896. read

Studies

Kadoya Atsushi, Susanoo, Encyclopedia of Shinto, Kokugakuin University. open
Emilia Gadeleva, Susanoo: One of the Central Gods in Japanese Mythology. open
Shūsaku Yoshida, Susanō, Ne-no-kuni, and Izumo: The Mythological Circle of Death and Rebirth in Kojiki and Nihon-shoki. open

Name and epithets

The Kojiki writes 須佐之男命, and Basil Hall Chamberlain’s translation gives the expanded form Take-haya-Susa-no-wo-no-mikoto.

In the ancient sources

Kojiki, compiled in 712 CE. Records his birth, expulsions, oath, the cave, the serpent, Suga, and the god’s later presence in Ne-no-kuni. Nihon Shoki, compiled in 720 CE.

The myths

Birth during purification and the weeping. After returning from Yomi, Izanagi purifies himself in a river. According to the Kojiki, Amaterasu is born when he washes his left eye, Tsukuyomi from his right eye, and Susano…

Worship and archaeology

The accounts of Suga and the Munakata goddesses connect mythic episodes to named places and a family of shrines, but they do not describe a complete liturgy for Susanoo.

How the god was depicted

The Kojiki shows Susanoo with a ten-span sword before he finds the blade inside the serpent’s tail; it also shows him placing Kushinadahime, transformed into a comb, in his hair.

What scholars debate

Birth and genealogy across chronicles. Birth from Izanagi’s nose belongs to the Kojiki. The Nihon Shoki’s main narrative makes Izanagi and Izanami the parents of the three deities.

After antiquity

The song of Suga has been received as an important text in the history of Japanese poetry. The chronicle itself places it after the founding of the house, not as a datable record of a historical composition by the god.

Did you know?

In the Kojiki, chopsticks carried by the river lead Susanoo to search the headwaters for people before he finds the family threatened by the serpent.

Codex relic

Sword Kusanagi no Tsurugi. A legendary wind-slicing katana pulled from the tail of the Orochi serpent.

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