, also known as or Inadahime (稲ç°姫ãÂÂãÂÂãªã ã²ãÂÂ) among other names, is a goddess (kami) in Japanese mythology and the Shinto faith. According to these traditions, she is one of the wives of the god Susanoo, who rescued her from the monster Yamata no Orochi. As Susanoo's wife, she is a central deity of the Gion cult and worshipped at Yasaka Shrine.
The goddess is named 'Kushinadahime' (æ«ÂÃ¥ÂÂç°æ¯Â売) in the Kojiki, while the Nihon Shoki variously names her 'Kushiinadahime' (å¥Â稲ç°姫), 'Inadahime' (稲ç°姫), and 'Makamifuru-Kushiinadahime' (çÂÂ髪触å¥Â稲ç°åªÂ).
'Inadahime' may be translated either as "lady / princess (') of Inada", with "Inada" (稲ç°) 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" (æ«Â), 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 ä¹ å¿Âä¼Âå¥Â太ç¾ÂçÂÂä¸Â麻奴è¯æ¯Â売å½, 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")".
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 Ashinazuchi and Tenazuchi, both children of the mountain god à Âyamatsumi. 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<nowiki/>'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ç°宮主é Âè³Âä¹Âå «è³祠"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 à Ânamuchi (à Âkuninushi) in the Shokis main account.
While most accounts identify the headwaters of the river Hi in Izumo (è¥河 / ç°¸ä¹Âå·Â, 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 (å¯æÂÂä¹Âå· E-no-Kawa) in the province of Aki (identified with the Gà Ânokawa River in modern Hiroshima Prefecture). In this version, Inadahime - whose name is given here as 'Makamifuru-Kushiinadahime' (çÂÂ髪触å¥Â稲ç°åªÂ) - 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.
A legend recorded in the Izumo Fudoki concerning the township of Kumatani (çÂÂè°·é·) 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!"
An excerpt claimed to be from the now-lost Fudoki of HÃ Âki Province (modern western Tottori Prefecture) relates that Inadahime fled to HÃ Âki 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)
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.
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 Hyà Âgo Prefecture, and in Tsushima, Aichi Prefecture. As Susanoo's consort, Kushinadahime was in turn identified with Gozu Tennà Â's wife, (é Â梨éÂÂ女 or æ³¢å©éÂÂ女, also known as 'Harisainyo', 'Barisainyo', or 'Harisai Tennyo' (é Â梨éÂÂ天女)), the third daughter of the dragon (nÃÂga) king SÃÂgara. Indeed, while Yasaka Shrine in Kyoto currently enshrines Susanoo, his wives (Kushinadahime, Kamu-à Âichihime, and Samirahime), and his eight children (Yashimajinumi, I(so)takeru, à Âya(tsu)hime, Tsumatsuhime, à Âtoshi, Ukanomitama, à Âyabiko, and Suseribime), its original deities were Gozu Tennà Â, Harisaijo, and their eight sons, collectively known as the 'Eight Princes' (å «çÂÂÃ¥ÂÂ, Hachià Âji).
The asteroid 10613 Kushinadahime, discovered in 1997, is named after Kushinadahime.
Kushinadahime was portrayed by Misa Uehara in the 1959 film The Birth of Japan.
In the Nintendo video game , characters named Kushinada and Susa are roughly based on Kushinadahime and Susanoo.