Cast out of Heaven, Susanoo came down to the upper reaches of the Hi River in Izumo, where he found an old couple weeping over their daughter, Kushinada-hime. Each year a monstrous eight-headed, eight-tailed serpent devoured one of their daughters, and now only she remained.
Susanoo turned the maiden into a comb and set it in his hair, then had eight vats of strong, many-times-brewed sake prepared behind eight gates. The serpent drank until it slumped drunk, and he hewed it to pieces with his great sword.
In its tail he found a magnificent blade—Kusanagi, the ‘Grass-Cutting Sword,’ later one of the Three Imperial Regalia—which he offered up to Amaterasu. He then wed Kushinada-hime and built a palace in Izumo.
