Ōnamuchi-no-Kami (大己貴神) Ōnamuchi-no-Mikoto (大己貴命, 大汝命) Ōanamochi-no-Mikoto (大穴持命) Ōnamochi-no-Kami (大名持神) Kunitsukuri Ōnamuchi-no-Mikoto (国作大己貴命) Ame-no-Shita-Tsukurashishi-Ōkami (所造天下大神) Ashihara-no-Shikoo (葦原色許男, 葦原醜男) Yachihoko-no-Kami (八千矛神, 八千戈神) Ōmononushi-no-Kami (大物主神) Ōkunitama-no-Kami (大国玉神) Utsushikunitama-no-Kami (宇都志国玉神, 顕国玉神) Kakuriyo-no-Ōkami (幽世大神) Ōkuninushi (historical orthography: Ohokuninushi), also known as Ō(a)namuchi (Oho(a)namuchi) or Ō(a)namochi (Oho(a)namochi) among other variants, is a kami in Japanese mythology.

In these texts, Ōkuninushi (Ōnamuchi) is portrayed as the head of the kunitsukami, the gods of the earth, and the original ruler of the terrestrial world, named Ashihara no Nakatsukuni (葦原中国, the "Central Land of Reed Plains").

Aside from the Kojiki and the Shoki, the imperially-commissioned gazetteer report (Fudoki) of this province dating from the early 7th century contain many myths concerning Ōkuninushi (there named 'Ōanamochi') and related deities.

Myths which feature Ōkuninushi (or deities equated with him) are also found in the Fudoki of other provinces such as those of Harima (modern southwestern Hyōgo Prefecture).

The sectarian group Izumo Taishakyō based in this shrine considers Ōkuninushi as its central deity and main focus of worship.

He was also syncretized with the deity Daikokuten (Mahākāla, the Buddhist version of the god Shiva) under the synthesis of Buddhism and Shinto prevalent before the Meiji period.

The Fudoki of Izumo Province, for instance, refers to the god both as Ōanamochi-no-Mikoto (大穴持命) and as Ame-no-Shita-Tsukurashishi-Ōkami (所造天下大神, "Great Deity, Maker of All Under Heaven").

[11][12][13][14] The Fudoki of Harima Province meanwhile uses Ōnamuchi-no-Mikoto (大汝命); a god found in this text known as Iwa-no-Ōkami (伊和大神, "Great Deity of Iwa") is also identified with Ōkuninushi.

[15] As the first two characters of 'Ōkuninushi', 大国, can also be read as 'Daikoku', the god was conflated with the Buddhist divinity Daikokuten (Mahākāla) and came to be popularly referred to as Daikoku-sama (大黒様, だいこくさま).

Ōnamuji's elder brothers, collectively known as the yasokami (八十神 'eighty deities', 'eighty' probably being an expression meaning 'many'), were all suitors seeking the hand of Yagamihime (八上比売) of the land of Inaba in marriage.

Upon being asked what happened, the hare explains that it came from the island of Oki across the sea and tricked a number of wani (和邇, the term may mean either 'shark' or 'crocodile') into forming a bridge for it to cross.

They first bring Ōnamuji to the foot of Mount Tema in the land of Hōki and compelled him, on pain of death, to catch a red boar (in reality a boulder heated red-hot and rolled down the mountain by them).

Ōnamuji was burned to death upon grabbing the rock, but his mother, Sashikuniwakahime [ja], went up to heaven and petitioned the primordial deity Kamimusubi for aid.

Kamimusubi dispatched two clam goddesses, Kisagaihime (𧏛貝比売) and Umugihime (蛤貝比売), who then restored Ōnamuji to life as a handsome young man.

The brothers next tricked Ōnamuji into walking onto a fresh tree log split open and held apart by a wedge, and snapped it shut, killing him a second time.

[66][67] In Ki, Ōnamuji was told to seek out Susanoo, who dwelt in the subterranean realm of Ne-no-Katasu-Kuni (根堅洲国), the "Land of Roots", to obtain wise counsel.

Using Susanoo's weapons, Ōkuninushi defeats his wicked brothers and becomes the undisputed ruler of the terrestrial realm, Ashihara no Nakatsukuni (葦原中国, the "Central Land of Reed Plains").

In accordance with their previous betrothal, he marries Yagamihime and brings her to his palace, but she, fearing Suseribime (who had become Ōkuninushi's chief wife), eventually went back to Inaba, leaving her newborn child wedged in the fork of a tree.

Making a final request that a magnificent palace – rooted in the earth and reaching up to heaven – be built in his honor, he withdrew himself into the "less-than-one-hundred eighty-road-bendings" (百不足八十坰手 momotarazu yasokumade, i.e. the unseen world of the spirit) and disappeared from the physical realm.

Prince Homuchiwake (本牟智和気命), Suinin's son with his first chief wife Sahohime (狭穂姫命, also Sawajihime), was born mute, unable to speak "[even when his] beard eight hands long extended down over his chest" until he heard the cry of a swan (or a crane), at which he babbled his first words.

In a dream, Suinin heard a god demanding that his shrine "be built like the emperor's palace," at which the prince will gain the power of speech.

The emperor then performed divination (futomani), which revealed Homuchiwake's condition to have been due to a curse (tatari) laid by the "great deity of Izumo" (出雲大神 Izumo-no-Ōkami, i.e. Ōkuninushi).