Okuninushi built the Central Land of Reed Plains into a rich country. Amaterasu, deciding her descendants should rule it, sent envoy after envoy—but each failed. At last she sent the warrior god Takemikazuchi.
He alighted on the Inasa shore, planted his sword point-up on the crest of a wave, and sat cross-legged upon its tip to demand the land. Okuninushi deferred to his sons: Kotoshironushi consented at once, but Takeminakata challenged the god to a trial of strength.
When Takeminakata seized his arm it turned to ice, then a blade; thrown down, he fled to Suwa and vowed to stay there. With all his sons yielding, Okuninushi ceded the land—asking only that a vast palace be built for him, the origin of Izumo Grand Shrine.
