Pathway to Japanese Literature

The Aged Susanoo-no-Mikoto

I

After subduing the great serpent of Koshi and taking Kushinada-hime as his wife, Susanoo-no-Mikoto became chief of the tribe that Ashinazuchi had governed at the same time.

Ashinazuchi built the Yahiro Hall in Izumo no Suga for the couple.
The palace was so large that its chigi were hidden by the clouds of heaven.

He began to spend tranquil mornings and evenings with his new wife.
The voice of the wind, the spray of the waves, or even the starlight in the night sky could no longer lure him back to wander the vast primordial expanse of heaven and earth.
He who would soon become a father found within these four walls—adorned with hunting scenes in red and white beneath the palace’s massive ridgepole—the hearthside happiness that Takamagahara had never granted him.

They spent time together eating meals and discussing future plans. At times, they would walk to the linden grove surrounding the palace, treading upon small fallen flower clusters while listening to the dreamlike songs of small birds. He was kind to his wife. In his voice, his gestures, his eyes—never again did even a shadow of his former ferocity appear.

But occasionally in his dreams, monsters writhing in darkness and sword gleams swung by unseen hands would lead him back to savage combat. Yet whenever he awoke, he forgot those dreams so completely that he would immediately think of his wife and the tribe.

Soon they became parents.
He gave the newborn boy the name Yashimajinumi.
Yashimajinumi was a man of beautiful disposition, resembling his mother Kushinada-hime more than he did him.

Time flowed away like a river.

During that time, he took several wives and became the father of even more children.
When all those children became adults, they led soldiers at his command and went to subjugate the tribes of the various lands.

His name gradually spread far and wide as his descendants multiplied.
The tribes of the lands came one after another to him to present tributes.
The ships transporting these tributes carried not only silk, fur, leather, and jewels but also people from various lands coming to pay homage to Suga Palace.

One day, he discovered among such people three youths who had come from the land of Takamagahara.
They were all men as robust in physique as he had been in his prime.
He summoned them to the palace and had them drink wine with his own hands.
This was a treatment that none had ever received from this valiant tribal chief before.
The youths too, at first, seemed unable to gauge his intentions and harbored some trepidation.
However, once the sake began to flow, they struck the bottoms of the jars as he desired and sang the song of Takamagahara.

When they descended from the palace, he took a single sword,

“This is the sword that was inside the tail of the great serpent of Koshi when I slew it.”
“I’ll entrust this to you—deliver it to your homeland’s lady,” he declared.

The youths offered up the sword and, kneeling before him, made a vow that they would not disobey his commands even in death.

He then went alone to the seashore and watched the sail of the boat carrying them grow ever more distant beyond the rough waves.
The sail, catching the sunlight that pierced through the mist, flashed alone as though it were sailing through midair.

II

However, death did not spare Susanoo-no-Mikoto and his wife either.

When Yashimajinumi had grown into a quiet youth, Kushinada-hime suddenly fell ill and lost her life about a month later.
Though he had several wives, she alone remained whom he loved as deeply as himself.
Therefore, when the mourning hut was completed, he sat before his wife’s still-beautiful corpse for seven days and seven nights, silently shedding tears.

During that time, the palace was filled with voices of lamentation.
Especially the ceaselessly grieving voice of young Susewori-hime made even those passing by the palace unable to hold back their tears.
She—this Yashimajinumi’s one and only sister—was a daughter of manly bearing, resembling her father with his fierce passion, just as her brother resembled their mother.

Before long, Kushinada-hime’s lifeless body was buried in the hillside not far from Suga Palace, alongside the jewels, mirrors, and garments she had used in life.
But Susanoo did not forget to bury alive on top of that the eleven women who had served his wife until then, to comfort her on the Road to Yomi.
All the women adorned themselves elaborately and eagerly hastened to their deaths.
Then, upon seeing this, the tribal elders all furrowed their brows and criticized Susanoo's violent act to me among themselves.

“Eleven!”
“Lord Susanoo shows complete disregard for our tribe’s ancient customs.”
“When the first consort has passed away, can there possibly be a law that allows only eleven attendants to accompany her to Yomi?”
“Only eleven in total!”

After the funeral had completely concluded, Susanoo suddenly decided to abdicate the throne to Yashimajinumi.
And he himself took up residence with Susewori-hime in Ne no Katasukuni, a land across the distant sea.

That place was an uninhabited island surrounded by sea on all sides, which he had loved during his wanderings for its most beautiful natural features.
He decided to have a thatched-roof palace built on a small hill in the southern part of this island and spend his remaining years in tranquility.

His hair had already turned the color of hemp.
Yet that even old age could not yet strip him of his power was made evident by the fierce light that sometimes flickered in his eyes.
Indeed, at times his face took on an even more savage brilliance than when he had been at Suga Palace.
He himself had not noticed, but ever since moving to this island, the wildness that had lain dormant within him had at some point awakened once more.

He kept and tamed bees and snakes together with his daughter Susewori-hime.
The bees were of course for taking honey, and the snakes were for obtaining the potent poison to coat the arrowheads of his war arrows.
Then, during his spare time from hunting and fishing, he taught Susewori-hime every one of the martial arts and magic he had learned.
Amidst such a life, Susewori-hime gradually grew into a woman as bold as any man.
However, in appearance alone, she still retained traces of Kushinada-hime and did not lose her noble beauty.

The linden grove surrounding the palace put forth buds time and again, and shed its leaves time and again.
Each time this happened, he added more wrinkles to his beard-covered face, while Susewori-hime’s ever-smiling eyes grew ever cooler.

III

One day, as Susanoo sat under the linden tree before the palace skinning a large stag, Susewori-hime—who had gone to bathe in the sea—returned with an unfamiliar youth.

“Father, I have just made this gentleman’s acquaintance, so I accompanied him here.”

Having said this, Susewori-hime presented the youth from a distant land to Susanoo, who had finally risen to his feet.

The youth was a broad-shouldered man with finely chiseled features.
Adorned with red and blue necklaces and bearing a thick Goryeo sword at his waist, he appeared before them like an incarnation of Susanoo’s own youthful self.

Susanoo received the respectful youth’s bow while,

“What is your name?” he demanded, bluntly throwing the question.

“My name is Ashihara Shiko.”

“Why did you come to this island?”

“Because I wanted food and water, I deliberately moored my boat here.”

The youth answered each question without showing any sign of unease.

“I see.
Then go over there and eat as you please.
Susewori-hime, I entrust his guidance to you.”

When the two entered the palace, Susanoo—once again beneath the linden tree—began skillfully wielding his knife to skin the stag.
But his heart had come to feel a strange unease.
It was a feeling akin to storm-heralding clouds beginning to stir in the sky of their hitherto tranquil life—a sky that resembled a clear, sunny sea.

Having finished skinning the deer, he returned to the palace at twilight.
He ascended the broad staircase and, as was his habit, casually lifted the white curtain hanging over the entrance to the great hall to peer inside.
Then Susewori-hime and Ashihara Shiko, like two affectionate little birds whose nest had been disturbed, rose hurriedly from the sedge mats.
He made a bitter face as he shuffled into the room, then shot a sharp glare of loathing at Ashihara Shiko’s face,

“You shall stay here tonight and rest from your sea journey,” he said in a tone that was half command.

Ashihara Shiko returned a bow that feigned delight to his words, yet still couldn’t fully hide an awkward demeanor.

“Then go over there at once and lie down without ceremony.
Susewori-hime—”

Susanoo turned to face his daughter and suddenly let out a mocking voice.

“Take this man to the Bee Room at once.”

For an instant, Susewori-hime seemed to lose all color.

“Hurry up!”

When her father saw her hesitate, he let out a growl like a wild bear.

“Yes. Then you—please come this way.”

Ashihara Shiko bowed once more courteously to Susanoo, then hurried after Susewori-hime and briskly exited the great hall.

IV

When they exited the great hall, Susewori-hime took the scarf from her shoulder and, handing it into Ashihara Shiko’s hand, whispered:

“When you enter the Bee Room, wave this thrice. Then the bees won’t sting you.”

Ashihara Shiko could not comprehend what this meant; her words made no sense to him.
But before he could ask for clarification, Susewori-hime opened a small door and ushered him into the room.

The room was already pitch-dark.
Ashihara Shiko entered and fumbled through the darkness trying to catch her.
But his hand only grazed her hair, fingertips barely making contact.
Then in the next instant came the hurried sound of the door slamming shut.

He stood dazedly in the room, fumbling with the scarf. Then, perhaps because his eyes had adjusted, the surroundings gradually appeared dimmer than he had expected.

When he peered through that dim light, he saw countless barrel-sized beehives hanging from the ceiling of the room. Moreover, around those nests crawled many bees—each even larger than the Goryeo sword hanging at his waist—moving leisurely about.

He involuntarily spun around and lunged toward the door. But no matter how much he pushed or pulled, the door showed no sign of opening. Moreover, at that moment, a single bee descended diagonally onto the floor and, with a dull buzzing of wings, began crawling steadily toward him.

Overwhelmed by the extremity of the situation, he tried in panic to stomp it dead before the bee reached his feet. However, the bee—raising the buzz of its wings even higher—flew up to his head. At the same time, many bees—apparently enraged by the human presence—came scattering down upon him like fire arrows meeting the wind.…

When Susewori-hime returned to the great hall, she lit the torch embedded in the wall.
The firelight glowed crimson, illuminating the figure of Susanoo, who lay sprawled on the sedge mats.

“You did take him to the Bee Room, didn’t you?”

Susanoo, while fixing his eyes on his daughter’s face, let out a voice that seethed with loathing.

“I have never once disobeyed your commands, Father.”

Susewori-hime avoided her father's eyes and took a seat in the corner of the hall.

“Is that so? Then of course you won’t disobey my orders from now on either, will you?”

There was a sarcastic tone mixed into Susanoo’s words.
Susewori-hime, while fussing with her neck beads, did not answer whether she would disobey or not.

“Does your silence mean you intend to disobey?”

“No—Father, why would you say such—”

“If you do not intend to disobey, there is something I must tell you.
I will not allow you to become that young man’s wife.
Susanoo’s daughter must have a husband who meets Susanoo’s standards.
Do you understand?
Do not forget this.”

After night had deepened, Susanoo lay snoring while Susewori-hime, solitary and desolate, leaned against the hall's window and watched the crimson moon sink soundlessly into the sea.

V

The next morning, Susanoo went to swim in the rocky sea as usual.
Then Ashihara Shiko came there unexpectedly chasing after him, descending energetically from the palace's direction.

When he saw Susanoo, with a seemingly cheerful smile playing on his lips,

“Good morning,” he said with a courteous nod.

“Well then, did you sleep soundly last night?”

Susanoo remained standing on the rocky outcrop and looked at the man with a dazed expression.
How had this vigorous young man not been killed by the bees in the room?
That had entirely surpassed his own understanding.

“Yes, thanks to you, I slept soundly.”

Ashihara Shiko answered thus, and while doing so, picked up a piece of rock that had fallen at his feet and threw it with all his might over the sea.
The rock drew a long arc as it flew into the red-clouded sky.
Even if Susanoo had thrown it, it fell into waves so far offshore that one would think it couldn’t reach.

Susanoo bit his lip and stared fixedly in the direction the rock had gone.

When the two returned from the sea and sat down to the morning meal, Susanoo made a bitter face and, gnawing on a deer haunch, addressed Ashihara Shiko who sat across from him.

“If this palace suits your fancy, you may stay as many days as you like,” he said.

Susewori-hime, who was beside them, stealthily sent a meaningful blink toward Ashihara Shiko to prompt him to decline this suspicious kindness. However, perhaps because he was just then picking at the fish on the platter, he paid no heed to her signal.

“Thank you very much. Then perhaps I shall trouble you for two or three more days?” he replied with a seemingly cheerful tone.

But fortunately, when afternoon came, while Susanoo was taking his nap, the two lovers managed to sneak out of the palace and steal a hasty moment of happiness among the lonely seaside rocks where his dugout canoe was moored. Susewori-hime lay on the fragrant seaweed and for a while gazed up at Ashihara Shiko’s face as if in a dream, but then pulled away from his arm,

“If you stay here tonight as well, your life will be in danger. Do not concern yourself with me—please escape as quickly as possible,” she urged anxiously.

However, Ashihara Shiko laughed and shook his head like a child.

"As long as you remain here, even if I am killed, I have no intention of leaving this place."

"But even so, if something were to happen to your body—"

"Then will you flee this island with me at once?"

Susewori-hime hesitated.

“Otherwise, I have resolved to remain here forever.”

Ashihara Shiko tried once more to forcibly pull her close.
But she pushed him away and suddenly rose from the seaweed,

“Father is calling,” she said in a voice feigning concern. Then in an instant, she darted through the rocks with a nimbleness surpassing that of a young deer and made her way up toward the palace.

Ashihara Shiko, who had remained behind, still with a smile on his face, watched Susewori-hime’s figure depart. And there, where she had been lying, another scarf—just like the one he had received the previous evening—lay fallen.

VI

That night, without enlisting any help, Susanoo hurled Ashihara Shiko into another chamber facing the Bee Room.

The room's interior was as it had been the day before, with darkness already spread throughout. However, in one way alone it differed from yesterday—here and there within that darkness, something glimmered like countless jewels buried deep underground.

Ashihara Shiko wondered about the true nature of these luminous things while waiting for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. Then, before long, as his surroundings gradually grew dimmer, those starlike glimmers transformed into the eyes of monstrous giant serpents—creatures so vast they could swallow even a horse. Moreover, there were countless serpents—some coiled around beams, others slithering along rafters, still others coiled on the floor—all writhing repulsively as they filled every corner of the chamber.

He involuntarily placed his hand on the hilt of the sword hanging at his waist.
But even if he were to draw his sword, in the time it took him to slay one serpent, another would effortlessly coil around and crush him without fail.
In fact, one large serpent peered up at his face from below, while an even larger one—its tail coiled around a beam—slipped smoothly down to dangle in midair, extending its poised head directly over his shoulder.

The chamber door, of course, did not open.
Not only that, but behind it, the white-haired Susanoo seemed to be listening intently to what was happening beyond the door, an ironic smile playing on his lips.
Ashihara Shiko, while desperately gripping the sword hilt, for a time moved only his eyes.
Gradually, the giant serpent at his feet began to loosen its mountainous coils, then raised its poised head even higher, showing every sign of lunging ferociously at his throat at any moment.

At that moment, he felt as though a light suddenly shone within his heart. Last night, when the bees in the chamber swarmed around him, he had saved his endangered life by waving the scarf he received from Susewori-hime. If that was so, then perhaps the scarf Susewori-hime had left on the seaside rocks earlier also possessed the same sort of wondrous power. Having thought this, he instantly took out the scarf he had picked up and fluttered it three times...

The next morning, Susanoo once again met Ashihara Shiko—who appeared even more spirited than before—at the rocky seaside.

“Well? Did you sleep well last night?”

“Yes. Thanks to you, I was able to sleep well.”

Susanoo filled his entire face with an unpleasant hue and glared sharply at his opponent—but then, for some reason, he returned once more to his usual calm tone,

“I see.
“That’s good.”
“Then let us take a swim together now,” he said in a voice free of reserve.

The two of them immediately stripped naked and began swimming farther and farther out into the rough waves of the dawn sea.
Susanoo had been an unrivaled swimmer since his time in the land of Takamagahara.
But Ashihara Shiko could swim even more freely than he, with a skill scarcely inferior to that of a dolphin.
Thus their topknots—like two black and white gulls—rapidly receded from the shore with its rock-screen cliffs, growing distant in the blink of an eye.

VII

The sea swelled ceaselessly, sending snow-like spray surging around them both.
Amidst that spray, Susanoo occasionally cast a spiteful gaze toward Ashihara Shiko.
Yet no matter how high the waves rose, his opponent advanced with ease, climbing over each one.

As this continued for some time, Ashihara Shiko gradually began to pull ahead of Susanoo.
Susanoo gnashed his fangs and strained not to fall behind even by a foot.
But his opponent effortlessly overtook him in the time it took for a few large waves to scatter their foam.
Then beyond the heaving swells, he vanished without a trace.

“This time I truly meant to sink that man into the sea and be rid of the nuisance, but――”

The more he thought this, the more Susanoo felt that until he killed him, his fury would not abate.

“Damn you! That cunning vagabond should be fed to the crocodiles!”

However, before long, Ashihara Shiko returned with ease, he himself like a crocodile.

“Would you care to swim more?”

As the waves rocked him, he called out to Susanoo in the distance with his usual smile.
No matter how stubbornly Susanoo persisted, he could not bring himself to swim any further…

That afternoon, Susanoo took Ashihara Shiko to hunt foxes and rabbits in the wilderness that spread open in the western part of the island.

The two of them climbed onto a small, elevated boulder at the edge of the wilderness.
The wilderness stretched as far as the eye could see, its waves of withered grass bending under the wind that blew down from behind them.
Susanoo watched this scene in silence for a short while, then nocked an arrow to his bow and looked back at Ashihara Shiko.

"The wind makes conditions unfavorable, but regardless—let us see whose arrow flies farther by comparing our bow strength."

“Yes, let us compare.”

Ashihara Shiko appeared confident even when taking up the bow and arrow.

“Are you ready? We’ll shoot at the same time.”

The two of them stood shoulder to shoulder, drew their bows with all their strength, and simultaneously released the strings.
The arrows flew straight and far over the wind-whipped wilderness.
Yet with neither taking the lead, their fletchings glinted once in the sunlight before vanishing together into the downwind sky.

“Was there a victor?”

“No—shall we try again?”

Susanoo frowned and shook his head impatiently.

“No matter how many times we do it, it’ll be the same. Rather than that, even if it’s a bother, make a run and go search for my arrow. That is my precious vermilion-painted arrow from the land of Takamagahara.”

Ashihara Shiko did as he was told and plunged into the windswept wilderness.
Then, as soon as Ashihara’s retreating figure was hidden by the tall withered grass, he swiftly took out a flint and stone from the pouch at his waist and set fire to the withered brambles beneath the rock.

VIII

The colorless flame began to emit billowing black smoke in the blink of an eye.
At the same moment, from beneath that smoke, the earsplitting crackle of burning brambles and dwarf bamboo erupted.
"This time I've taken care of that man."

Susanoo stood motionless on the high rock, leaning on his bow as a ferocious smile played across his face.

The fire burned ever more fiercely.
Birds cried as if in agony while fluttering up into the reddish-black sky in numbers.
But they were immediately engulfed by smoke once more and tumbled down into the flames.
From afar, it appeared as if countless seeds scattered by a storm were ceaselessly spilling and flying about.

“This time I’ve taken care of that man.”

Susanoo let out a satisfied sigh within his heart, and then—he felt an indescribable loneliness faintly welling up within him……

That evening at dusk, triumphant, he stood with arms crossed at the palace gate, gazing at the wilderness sky where smoke still drifted. Then Susewori-hime arrived and reported with apparent indifference that the evening meal was ready. As if mourning a close relative’s death, she had been dragging a pure white robe through the twilight unnoticed. When Susanoo saw her appearance, he suddenly felt an urge to trample upon her sorrow.

“Look at that sky. Ashihara Shiko must be by now—”

“I am aware.”

Susewori-hime kept her eyes lowered yet unexpectedly cut through her father’s words with clarity.

“Is that so? Then you must be sorely grieved.”

“It grieves me deeply. Were you yourself to perish, I would not know such sorrow.”

Susanoo’s countenance darkened as he fixed his daughter with a glare. Yet for reasons beyond his own understanding, he found himself unable to punish her further.

“If you are sad, you may cry as you please.”

He turned his back on Susewori-hime and roughly entered through the gate. Then, while ascending the palace steps, he clicked his tongue in vexation.

“If it were the usual me, I would have beaten you down without a word, but……”

Susewori-hime, even after he had left, continued for a while to lift her tear-filled eyes toward the dark, blazing sky, but eventually hung her head and returned dejectedly to the palace.

That night, Susanoo could not fall asleep no matter how late it grew.
It was because killing Ashihara Shiko had somehow felt like pouring poison into his heart.

"I can't count how many times I've thought of killing that man before."
"But never until tonight had I felt this strange sensation..."

He lay thinking such thoughts, tossing over and over upon the rush-woven tatami mats that carried a blue-tinged fragrance.
Even so, sleep did not easily descend upon him.

Meanwhile, the lonely dawn began to spread a pale, chilly hue over the dark sea.

IX

The next morning, when the light of the rising sun had already spread across the entire sea,
Susanoo—still not having slept enough—squinted as if dazzled and lumbered out to the palace entrance.
There upon the stairs, to his astonishment, Ashihara Shiko sat with Susewori-hime, conversing cheerfully about something.

When the two of them caught sight of Susanoo, they appeared startled. But immediately, Ashihara Shiko stood up as cheerfully as ever and, holding out a vermilion-painted arrow, “Fortunately, the arrow was also found,” he said.

Susanoo’s astonishment had still not ceased.
However, even amidst that turmoil, he found himself feeling an unexpected sense of pleasure at seeing the young man’s unscathed face.

“You didn’t suffer any injuries?”

“No.
“I survived entirely by chance.
“The flames came surging just as I picked up this vermilion-painted arrow.
“Though I plunged through smoke and desperately fled toward unburned areas, no matter how frantically I ran, I couldn’t outpace flames whipped by western winds......”

Ashihara Shiko paused his words for a moment and sent a smile toward the faces of the parent and child who were listening intently to his story.

“It was just when I had resolved myself that this time I would surely be burned to death.”
“As I ran—through some strange chance—the ground beneath my feet suddenly crumbled, and I fell into a great hole.”
“The hole was pitch dark at first, but when the dry grass around its edge caught fire, it instantly became bright all the way to the bottom.”
“When I looked about me, hundreds upon hundreds of field mice were swarming so thickly that the earth’s color vanished from sight…….”

“Well, it was fortunate they were field mice.”
“If they had been mamushi vipers…”

In Susewori-hime’s eyes, tears and a smile seemed to stir simultaneously for an instant.

“Well, field mice they may be—but they’re no fools. The reason this vermilion-painted arrow has no feathers is that they were all eaten at that time. But fortunately, the fire passed without incident, burning through outside the hole.”

As Susanoo listened to this tale, gradually a hatred for this fortunate young man began to stir within him.
Not only that, but once he had resolved to kill, unless he achieved that purpose without fail, the pride of his willpower—which had never known defeat since ancient times—could not be satisfied.

“I see.”
“That was fortunate indeed.”
“But luck is something whose winds may shift at any moment.”
“……But such things don’t matter.”
“In any case, if your life has been spared, come here with me and pick the lice from my head.”

Ashihara Shiko and Susewori-hime reluctantly followed behind him and passed through the white curtain of the great hall where morning sunlight streamed in.

Susanoo sat sullenly cross-legged at the center of the great hall, then undid his topknot and carelessly let his hair spill across the floor.
His hair, the color of withered reeds, stretched nearly as long as a river.

"My lice are a bit tough."

While letting these words flow past him, Ashihara Shiko parted those white strands and tried to crush whatever vermin he found.
But what squirmed at the hair's roots were not tiny lice—instead writhed venomous, coppery centipedes, large and countless.

X

Ashihara Shiko hesitated.
Then Susewori-hime, who had been at his side, stealthily passed into his hand a handful of linden nuts and red clay that she had somehow managed to bring without anyone noticing.
There, clicking his teeth, he crushed the linden nuts in his mouth, mixed in the red clay, and began spitting them out onto the floor as if he were catching centipedes.

Before long, Susanoo, fatigued from not having slept the previous night, unwittingly dozed off into sleep.

…Susanoo-no-Mikoto, who had been expelled from the land of Takamagahara, was climbing a perilous mountain path, stepping on rocks with feet from which his nails had been torn.
Ferns among the rocks, the cawing of crows, and then the cold steel-colored sky—everything that met his eyes was desolation itself.

What crime have I committed?
I was stronger than them.
But being strong is no crime.
The sin lies rather with them.
The sin lies with those deeply jealous, insidious, unmanly ones.

While thus indignant, he continued his arduous walk for a time.

And there, upon a tortoise-shell-like boulder blocking the path, lay a white bronze mirror adorned with six bells.
He came to a halt before the rock and casually lowered his eyes to the mirror.
The mirror, upon its crystal-clear surface, vividly reflected a youthful face.
But it was not his face—it was the face of Ashihara Shiko, whom he had tried to kill so many times.……The moment this thought struck him, the dream suddenly ended.

He opened his large eyes and looked around the great hall.
In the great hall, only the morning sunlight streamed brightly, and for some reason, neither Ashihara Shiko nor Susewori-hime were anywhere to be seen.
Moreover, when he suddenly noticed, his long hair had been divided into three parts and tied to the ceiling rafters.

“A clumsy trick!”

In that instant, he comprehended everything. Letting out a mighty roar of divine wrath, he shook his head with all his might.
Then suddenly, at the palace roof arose a sound more terrible than an earthquake.
That was the sound of the three rafters to which his hair had been tied—all three of them—being crushed and sent flying at once.
However, Susanoo paid no heed and first stretched out his right hand to take the thick heavenly deer-horn bow.
Then he stretched out his left hand and took the quiver of heavenly feathered arrows.
Finally, putting strength into both legs, he heaved himself up in one breath and, dragging the three rafters behind him like the collapse of a mountain of clouds, strode haughtily out of the palace.

The linden grove surrounding the palace roared with his footsteps.
It was such that even the squirrels nesting in the treetops fell scattering to the ground.
He passed through the linden trees like a storm.

Beyond the grove was the top of the cliff; below the cliff lay the sea.
He took his stand there and, while raising his hand to his brow, surveyed the vast sea.
The sea, beyond the high waves, had tinged even the sun with a faint blue.
Amidst those overlapping waves, a single familiar dugout canoe was heading further and further out to sea.

Susanoo, leaning on his bow, fixed his eyes intently on the boat.
The boat, as if mocking him, its small mat sail glistening, lightly overcame the waves and went on.
Not only could he see Ashihara Shiko at the bow, but also the figure of Susewori-hime at the stern, as clearly as if held in the palm of his hand.

Susanoo methodically nocked a heavenly feathered arrow to his heavenly deer-horn bow.
The bow was drawn taut in an instant, its arrowhead aimed at the dugout canoe beneath his gaze.
Yet the arrow remained fixed straight along the string, refusing to leave its perch.
Before long, something akin to a smile surfaced in his eyes.
Something akin to a smile—yet there too lingered something not unlike tears.
He gave a shrug of his shoulders, then cast aside the bow and arrows without ceremony.
And then—as though he could contain it no longer—he loosed a laugh mightier than any waterfall’s roar.

“I shall bless you all!”

From atop the high cliff, Susanoo beckoned to the two far below.

“Cultivate strength greater than mine!”
“Hone wisdom greater than mine!”
“Become more than me…”

Susanoo hesitated slightly, then continued his blessing in a resonant voice.

“Be happier than I was!”

His words resounded across the expanse of the sea together with the wind.
At this moment, our Susanoo was filled with a majestic dignity closer to the heavenly gods than when he had clashed with Ōhirume, been exiled from Takamagahara, or slain the great serpent of Koshi.

(Taishō 9)