Kuni-yuzuri
[a][1] The Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki both relate that the Japanese archipelago were created by the primordial couple Izanagi and Izanami, who also brought forth many gods into existence,[2] three of which – Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi and Susanoo – were appointed to govern the sky (Takamagahara, the 'Plain of High Heaven'), the night, and the seas, respectively.
[3][4][5][6] Susanoo, expelled by Izanagi either because he refused to perform his allotted task of ruling the sea (Kojiki)[7] or his impetuous nature (Nihon Shoki),[8] went to Takamagahara to see his sister.
[11][12] Declaring himself winner of the trial, Susanoo then began to wreak havoc upon Takagamahara,[13][14] causing Amaterasu to hide herself in the Ama-no-Iwato, plunging heaven and earth into darkness.
[19][20][21][22] A son (Nihon Shoki) or descendant (Kojiki) of Susanoo, Ōnamuji,[23][24] married the goddess Yagami-hime of Inaba Province, earning the jealousy of his eighty brothers, who were seeking for her hand in marriage.
Taking his new wife Suseri-bime, as well as Susanoo's sword, koto, and bow and arrow back with him, Ōnamuji – now called Ōkuninushi (大国主 'Master of the Great Land') – defeats his wicked brothers, thereby becoming the lord of Ashihara-no-Nakatsukuni.
[29][30][31][32][33] In time, the amatsukami of Takagamahara, headed by Amaterasu or/and Takamimusubi, decided that Ashihara-no-Nakatsukuni, considered to be overpopulated by unruly and evil kami, must be turned over to them to be pacified.
After eight years of waiting, the heavenly deities sent a female pheasant to question Ame-no-wakahiko, but he shot it with his bow and arrow at the prodding of a goddess named Ame-no-sagume (天佐具売, 天探女).
[41][42] The Kojiki adds that a younger son of Ōkuninushi, Takeminakata, carrying a giant boulder on the fingertips of a single hand, challenged Takemikazuchi to a test of strength.
A third version of the story also found in the Nihon Shoki has Kagaseo – here given the alternative name Amatsu-mikaboshi (天津甕星) – being put to death in Takamagahara by Futsunushi and Takemikazuchi before they descend to Izumo.
"[47] The earth now under their possession, the amatsukami sent the "Heavenly Grandson" (天孫 tenson), Ame-no-oshihomimi's son Ninigi, to rule over Ashihara-no-Nakatsukuni,[48] bearing with him the three sacred treasures: the sword (Kusanagi no Tsurugi), the mirror (Yata no Kagami), and the jewel (Yasakani no Magatama).
[50] In addition to the Izumo myth cycle recorded in the official histories, other sources provide stories with a similar theme: the transfer of power from one god to another.
[55] It is believed that the two earliest official chronicles, the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki, which purport to contain the 'correct' early history of Japan, were compiled as propaganda designed to legitimize the rule and increase the prestige of the imperial dynasty, which claimed descent from Amaterasu via Ninigi.
[65][66][67] The second messenger meanwhile is identified in the Nihon Shoki as Futsunushi-no-kami (経津主神), the deity of Katori Shrine in Shimōsa Province (modern Chiba Prefecture) worshipped by the Mononobe clan.
[68] While in the Kojiki it is Takemikazuchi among the two messengers who takes center stage, the two versions of the myth found in Nihon Shoki and other sources imply that the central role was originally occupied by Futsunushi.
[68][73] Takeminakata's abrupt appearance in the Kojiki's version of the myth has long puzzled scholars, as the god is mentioned nowhere else in the work, including the genealogy of Ōkuninushi's progeny that precedes the kuni-yuzuri narrative proper.
[74] Aside from the Sendai Kuji Hongi (aka the Kujiki), which nearly-verbatim replicates the Kojiki's kuni-yuzuri narrative and adds the information that Takeminakata is a son of Nunakawa-hime,[75] he is altogether absent from the Nihon Shoki as well as from early sources dealing with Izumo such as the province's Fudoki.
