Kushinadahime
, also known as or Inadahime among other names, is a goddess ("kami") in Japanese mythology. She is one of the wives of the god Susanoo, who rescued her from the monster Yamata no Orochi. Name. The goddess is named 'Kushinadahime' (櫛名田比売) in the "Kojiki", while the "Nihon Shoki" variously names her 'Kushiinadahime' (奇稲田姫), 'Inadahime' (稲田姫), and 'Makamifuru-Kushiinadahime' (真髪触奇稲田媛). 'Inadahime' may be translated either as "lady / princess ("hime") of Inada", with "Inada" (稲田) here being understood as the name of a place in Izumo Province (part of what is now the town of Okuizumo (formerly Yokota) in Nita District , Shimane Prefecture), or "lady / princess of the rice fields" ("inada" literally translated means "rice field" or "rice paddy"). The element "kushi" (Old Japanese: "kusi") meanwhile is usually interpreted as the adjective meaning "wondrous"; it is homophonous with the word for "comb" (櫛), which features in her story in both the "Kojiki" and the "Shoki". The epithet "makamifuru" (lit. "true-hair-touching"), found in a variant account cited in the "Shoki", is understood as a stock epithet or "makurakotoba" associated with the word "comb". The "Fudoki" of Izumo Province meanwhile gives the name of the goddess as 久志伊奈太美等与麻奴良比売命, commonly read as  'Kushiinada-Mitoyomanurahime-no-Mikoto'. One theory interprets the name to mean roughly "princess of the wondrous rice fields ("kushi-inada") soaking wet ("manura") [and] overflowing with water ("mitoyo", here understood as an epithet meaning "water-abundant")". Mythology. The slaying of the Yamata no Orochi. In the "Kojiki" and the "Nihon Shoki", the god Susanoo, after his banishment from the heavenly realm Takamagahara, came down to earth, to the land of Izumo, where he encountered an elderly couple named Tenazuchi and Ashinazuchi, both children of the mountain god Ōyamatsumi. They told him of a monstrous creature from the nearby land of  Koshi known as the Yamata no Orochi ("eight-forked serpent") that had devoured seven of their eight daughters. Upon hearing this, Susanoo agreed to kill the serpent on condition that they give him their sole surviving daughter, Kushinadahime, to be his wife. The version recounted in the "Nihon Shoki"'s main narrative is as follows (translation by William George Aston): After defeating the serpent, Susanoo built a palace or shrine for Kushinadahime in a place called Suga - so named because Susanoo felt refreshed ("sugasugashi") upon arriving there - and made her father Ashinazuchi its head ("obito"), giving him the title 'Inada -no-Miyanushi-Suga-no-Yatsumimi-no-Kami' (稲田宮主須賀之八耳神 "Master of the Palace of Inada, the Eight-Eared Deity of Suga"). On that occasion, he composed a song in "tanka" form later held to be the root of Japanese "waka" poetry: The child born to Susanoo and Kushinadahime is variously identified as Yashimajinumi in the "Kojiki" and Ōnamuchi (Ōkuninushi) in the "Shoki"'s main account. Variants. While most accounts identify the headwaters of the river Hi in Izumo (肥河 / 簸之川, "Hi-no-Kawa", identified with the Hii River in modern Shimane Prefecture) as the place where Susanoo descended, one variant in  the "Shoki" instead has Susanoo arriving at the upper reaches of the river E (可愛之川 "E-no-Kawa") in the province of Aki (identified with the Gōnokawa River in modern Hiroshima Prefecture). In this version, Inadahime - whose name is given here as 'Makamifuru-Kushiinadahime' (真髪触奇稲田媛) - is not yet born when Susanoo slew the Yamata no Orochi. A legend associated with in Matsue, Shimane Prefecture claims that Susanoo hid Kushinadahime in an "eightfold fence" ("yaegaki") in the forest within the shrine's precincts during his battle with the Yamata no Orochi. In the Izumo "Fudoki". A legend recorded in the Izumo  Fudoki concerning the township of Kumatani (熊谷郷) in Iishi District (part of the modern city of Unnan in Shimane) relates that Kushinadahime - as 'Kushiinada-Mitoyomanurahime' - passed through the area while she was about to give birth. The township's name is said to come from her exclamation: "How deep and well hidden ("kumakumashiki") this valley ("tani") is!" In the Hōki "Fudoki". An excerpt claimed to be from the now-lost "Fudoki" of Hōki Province (modern western Tottori Prefecture) relates that Inadahime fled to Hōki and hid in the mountains when the Yamata no Orochi was about to devour her. The  province's name (originally "Hahaki") is here said to be derived from her cry for help: "Mother, come!" ("haha kimase") Worship. As with other Shinto "kami", Kushinadahime is venerated at many shrines across Japan, usually together with her husband Susanoo but also sometimes by herself or with other (related or unrelated) deities. Some examples of Shinto shrines which enshrine her are as follows. Kushinadahime and Harisaijo. During the medieval and early modern periods, Susanoo was popularly conflated with the pestilence deity , the god originally worshiped in Yasaka Shrine in Kyoto, Hiromine Shrine in Hyōgo Prefecture, and in Tsushima, Aichi Prefecture . As Susanoo's consort, Kushinadahime was in turn identified with Gozu Tennō's wife, (頗梨采女 or 波利采女, also known as 'Harisainyo', 'Barisainyo', or 'Harisai Tennyo' (頗梨采天女)), the third daughter of the dragon ("nāga") king Sāgara. Indeed, while Yasaka Shrine in Kyoto currently enshrines Susanoo, his wives (Kushinadahime, Kamu-Ōichihime, and Samirahime), and his eight children (Yashimajinumi, I(so)takeru, Ōya(tsu)hime, Tsumatsuhime, Ōtoshi, Ukanomitama, Ōyabiko, and Suseribime), its original deities were Gozu Tennō, Harisaijo, and their eight sons, collectively known as the 'Eight Princes' (八王子, "Hachiōji"). Legacy. The asteroid 10613 Kushinadahime, discovered in 1997, is named after Kushinadahime.