Comparative Mythological Perspectives on Susanoo’S Dragon Fight
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九州大学学術情報リポジトリ Kyushu University Institutional Repository Slaying the Serpent : Comparative Mythological Perspectives on Susanoo’s Dragon Fight Weiss, David The University of Tübingen : Research Fellow, Department of Japanese Studies https://doi.org/10.5109/1916286 出版情報：Journal of Asian Humanities at Kyushu University. 3, pp.1-20, 2018-03. 九州大学文学 部大学院人文科学府大学院人文科学研究院 バージョン： 権利関係： Slaying the Serpent: Comparative Mythological Perspectives on Susanoo’s Dragon Fight DAVID WEISS “Japanese mythology, too, is a part of the world and means unique to the Japanese tradition. A traveler from should be examined as such; after all it remains true a distant land learns that a maiden is to be devoured by that Japan is an island nation only in a geographical, a giant reptilian monster that demands a sacrifce every 1 but not in a cultural sense.” year. He devises a clever plan, slays the monster, and marries the maiden. Te traveler is Susanoo (Kojiki: 須 佐之男; Nihon shoki: 素戔鳴), the shady little brother Introduction of the sun goddess Amaterasu 天照 who has just been banished from his sister’s heavenly realm. In Izumo AMATA no orochi taiji 八岐大蛇退治 or the (the eastern part of present-day Shimane Prefecture) he “Slaying of the Great Eight-Headed Serpent” chances upon an old couple who tearfully tell him how is without doubt one of the most iconographic an eight-headed serpent that spans eight mountains and Yscenes in the ancient Japanese myths related in the eight valleys had appeared each year to devour one of court chronicles Kojiki 古事記 (Record of Ancient their eight daughters. Now only one daughter is lef and Matters, 712) and Nihon shoki 日本書紀 (Chronicles of the time of the monster’s appearance is drawing near. Japan, 720).2 A brief summary of the narrative should Susanoo promises to rescue the maiden if in return he sufce to show that the subject of the tale is by no is promised her hand in marriage. When her parents agree, Susanoo transforms the maiden into a comb that he sticks in his hair. He manages to slay the serpent by getting it drunk and hacking it to pieces in its stupor. The author would like to thank the two anonymous readers for their thoughtful comments. In its tail, he fnds the precious sword Kusanagi (Kojiki: 1 Antoni, “Japanische Totentwelt,” p. 91. All translations by the 草那芸; Nihon shoki: 草薙), which he ofers up to his author, unless otherwise stated. sister. Ten he fnds a suitable place to build his palace 2 The characters for yamata no orochi provided in the text follow 3 the Nihon shoki. The Kojiki uses the following characters: 八 and at length consummates his marriage. 俣遠呂知. Due to the characters used to write yamata in both works, the term is often interpreted to mean “eight-forked,” but John Bentley argues that mata is an old word for “head,” being cognate with the Early Middle Korean “head” 麻帝 (*matay or 3 Kojiki, pp. 68–73; Nihon shoki, vol. 1, pp. 90–102. In addition to *matæ). Bentley, Sendai Kuji Hongi, p. 177, note 6. the main version, the Nihon shoki contains five variants of this 1 In this paper, I will subject the Japanese tale to a function as specifc representations of the universal narratological analysis by comparing it to a number character of the dragon-slayer in the tale under discus- of international dragon-slayer tales. In doing so, I will sion. place special emphasis on two aspects that the Japanese As Hayashi Michiyoshi points out, narrative has in common with other tales of this type, namely the dragon’s connection to water and to met- Myths are universal and particular at the same al.4 I will supplement this narratological analysis with time. While on the one hand motifs and structures an examination of historical sources and archaeologi- that are common to many peoples are found in cal artifacts in order to draw a connection between the mythology, signifcant diferences can be discov- yamata no orochi myth and the arrival of new metal- ered between diferent mythologies if one looks at lurgical techniques from the Asian mainland in Ko- how these common motifs are used.8 fun-period Japan (250 CE–600 CE). Such an approach, I believe, can fruitfully com- Bearing these caveats in mind, I will endeavor to point plement recent works by literary studies scholars like out both universal and particular aspects of the yamata Kōnoshi Takamitsu who regard the Kojiki, the Nihon no orochi myth. For example, I will demonstrate in the shoki, and other ancient sources as literary works, each following pages that the dragon or serpent’s connection of which has its own internal structure and coherence, to water is a universal theme that can be observed in and expresses a specifc worldview. Such studies tend to myths and folktales around the globe. However, the emphasize the diferences between particular sources idea of the dragon as giver or withholder of rain had rather than their similarities, let alone parallels outside to be adapted to the Japanese cultural context in order Japan.5 To give one concrete example, Kwŏn Tongu in to remain relevant. Tus, the myth became linked to a recent study describes the Susanoo of Kojiki and the the water-intensive business of wet-rice cultivation. Susanoo of Nihon shoki as “completely diferent deities Tis example also demonstrates another point that will (mattaku betsu no kami).”6 For him, the Nihon shoki’s be central to the following analysis: myths change over Susanoo is a purely evil deity, since the work’s internal time. Tey take on new meanings as they are adapted yin and yang structure calls for a negative counterpart to changing geographical, social, cultural, or economic to Amaterasu, whereas the Kojiki’s Susanoo is purifed circumstances. Te yamata no orochi myth as it is re- by Amaterasu and ultimately becomes a great heroic lated in the ancient court chronicles is thus the result deity.7 While it is not my intention to deny the difer- of a long evolution. I will argue that the Japanese tale ences between the two chronicles and their relevance is an articulation of the universal or nearly universal for an assessment of the respective sources and their dragon-slayer myth. However, since it accreted various agendas, this interpretation seems to exaggerate the dif- layers of meaning over time and space, being adapted ferences while passing over the similarities in silence. to the specifc living conditions of the groups who re- I would rather speak of two particular articulations of ceived and transmitted it, the tale difers quite substan- a common idea—in this case, a deity—both of which tially from other articulations of this mythical theme.9 8 Hayashi, Mikoto to miko, p. 6. episode, some of which leave out important components such as 9 Nakanishi Susumu has pointed out that the myth of Susanoo the slaying of the serpent (var. 1), Susanoo’s marriage (var. 4), or consists of various layers of meaning. Nakanishi, Ama tsu both (var. 5). kami, p. 205. In his dissertation completed in Vienna in 1935, 4 The term “dragon” is used broadly in the present study to denote the anthropologist Oka Masao linked certain mythical motifs a reptilian or serpentine monster. Often dragons are depicted with material artifacts, religious ideas, and modes of social as multiheaded and capable of flight. As will become apparent, organization and subsistence in order to reconstruct so-called these creatures share some characteristics such as their close cultural strata of ancient Japan. He connected these strata connection to water, thunder, and metal in myths and folktales with successive waves of immigration from different regions around the globe. like Indonesia or Korea that brought their own religious ideas, 5 See, for example, Kōnoshi, Kojiki to Nihon shoki. forms of social organization, and cultural technologies with 6 Kwŏn, Susanoo no henbō, p. 128. them to Japan. Oka, Kulturschichten in Alt-Japan. On Oka and 7 Ibid. Kwŏn limits himself to the Nihon shoki’s main version of the his connection to the Viennese School of Ethnology, see, for myth and, following Kōnoshi, Kojiki to Nihon shoki, pp. 110–12, example, Kreiner, Nihon minzokugaku. Although many of Oka’s chooses to ignore all the mythical variants contained in the same conclusions did not stand the test of time, his approach inspired source. the present analysis. 2 JOURNAL OF ASIAN HUMANITIES AT KYUSHU UNIVERSITY VOLUME 3 Any fundamental changes in the transmitting group’s type in Japanese folklore is the narrative of “Te Mon- life experience, such as the emergence of a new cultural key-God Slayer” (Ikeda 300) that is attested in ffy ver- technique like wet-rice cultivation or metallurgy, by sions by Ikeda Hiroko.15 Although the “Slaying of the necessity leads to an adaptation of the myth as well.10 Great Eight-Headed Serpent” lacks the motifs of the Otherwise the myth would lose its signifcance for dogs and the impostor, it is usually subsumed under the group and eventually be forgotten. I follow Alan the same type.16 Dundes’ defnition of myth as “a sacred narrative ex- As it is related in the Kojiki and the Nihon shoki, the plaining how the world and mankind came to be in narrative is not a folktale, however, but a true myth in- their present form.”11 In other words, myth “explains the sofar as it addresses fundamental questions of human why and how of the here and now.”12 Tis defnition im- existence.17 In this context, Nelly Naumann draws at- plies that a myth would lose its raison d’être as soon as tention to the eight-headedness of the monster.