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Orochi
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Yamata no Orochi (????? lit. "8-branched giant snake") or Orochi, translated as the Eight-Forked Serpent in English, is a legendary 8-headed and 8-tailed Japanese dragon that was slain by the Shinto sea-god Susanoo.
ta no Orochi legends are originally recorded in two ancient texts about Japanese mythology and history.
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Yamata no Orochi (????? lit. "8-branched giant snake") or Orochi, translated as the Eight-Forked Serpent in English, is a legendary 8-headed and 8-tailed Japanese dragon that was slain by the Shinto sea-god Susanoo.
Mythology
Yamata no Orochi legends are originally recorded in two ancient texts about Japanese mythology and history. The ca. 680 CE Kojiki transcribes this dragon name as ????? and ca. 720 CE Nihongi writes it as ????. In both versions of the Orochi myth, Susanoo or Susa-no-O is expelled from Heaven for tricking his sister Amaterasu the sun-goddess.
After expulsion from Heaven, Susanoo encounters two "Earthly Deities" near the head of the Hi River in Izumo Province. They are weeping because they were forced to give the Orochi one of their daughters every year for seven years, and now they must sacrifice their eighth, Kushi-inada-hime (????? "comb/wondrous rice-field princess", who Susanoo transforms into a kushi ? "comb" for safekeeping). The Kojiki tells the following version.
So, having been expelled, [His-Swift-impetuous-Male-Augustness] descended to a place [called] Tori-kami at the head-waters of the River Hi in the Land of Idzumo. At this time some chopsticks came floating down the stream. So His-Swift-Impetuous-Male-Augustness, thinking that there must be people at the head-waters of the river, went up it in quest of them, when he came upon an old man and an old woman, --two of them,--who had a young girl between them, and were weeping. Then he deigned to ask: "Who are ye?" So the old man replied, saying: "I am an Earthly Deity, child of the Deity Great-Mountain-Possessor. I am called by the name of Foot-Stroking-Elder, my wife is called by the name of Hand-Stroking Elder, and my daughter is called by the name of Wondrous-Inada-Princess." Again he asked: What is the cause of your crying?" [The old man answered] saying: "I had originally eight young girls as daughters. But the eight-forked serpent of Koshi has come every year and devoured [one], and it is now its time to come, wherefore we weep." Then he asked him: "What is its form like?" [The old man] answered, saying: "Its eyes are like akahagachi, it has one body with eight heads and eight tails. Moreover on its body grows moss, and also chamaecyparis and cryptomerias. Its length extends over eight valleys and eight hills, and if one look at its belly, it is all constantly bloody and inflamed." (What is called here akakagachi is the modern hohodzuki [winter-cherry]) Then His-Swift-Impetuous-Male-Augustness said to the old man: "If this be thy daughter, wilt thou offer her to me?" He replied, saying: "With reverence, but I know not thine august name." Then he replied, saying: "I am elder brother to the Heaven-Shining-Great-August-Deity. So I have now descended from Heaven." Then the Deities Foot-Stroker-Elder and Hand-Stroking-Elder said: "If that be so, with reverence will we offer [her to thee]." So His-Swift-Impetuous-Male-Augustness, at once taking and changing the young girl into a multitudinous and close-toothed comb which he stuck into his august hair-bunch, said to the Deities Foot-Stroking-Elder and Hand-Stroking-Elder: "Do you distill some eight-fold refined liquor. Also make a fence round about, in that fence make eight gates, at each gate tie [together] eight platforms, on each platform put a liquor-vat, and into each vat pour the eight-fold refined liquor, and wait." So as they waited after having thus prepared everything in accordance with his bidding, the eight-forked serpent came truly as [the old man] had said, and immediately dipped a head into each vat, and drank the liquor. Thereupon it was intoxicated with drinking, and all [the heads] lay down and slept. Then His-Swift-Impetuous-Male-Augustness drew the ten-grasp sabre, that was augustly girded on him, and cut the serpent in pieces, so that the River Hi flowed on changed into a river of blood. So when he cut the middle tail, the edge of his august sword broke. Then, thinking it strange, he thrust into and split [the flesh] with the point of his august sword and looked, and there was a great sword [within]. So he took this great sword, and, thinking it a strange thing, he respectfully informed the Heaven-Shining-Great-August-Deity. This is the Herb-Quelling Great Sword. (tr. Chamberlain 1919:71-3)
Compare the Nihongi description of the Yamata no Orochi (tr. Aston 1896:1:52-53). "It had an eight-forked head and an eight-forked tail; its eyes were red, like the winter-cherry; and on its back firs and cypresses were growing. As it crawled it extended over a space of eight hills and eight valleys." These botanical names used to describe this Orochi are akahagachi or hoozuki ("winter cherry or Japanese lantern, Physalis alkekengi"), hikage ("club moss, Lycopodiopsida), hinoki ("Japanese cypress, Chamaecyparis obtusa), and sugi ("Japanese cedar, Cryptomeria").
This legendary sword Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, along with the Yata no Kagami mirror and Yasakani no Magatama jewel or orb, are the three sacred Imperial Regalia of Japan.
Etymology
The Japanese name orochi ?? derives from Old Japanese woröti (with a regular o- from wo- shift, Miller 1971:25-7), but its etymology is enigmatic. Besides this ancient orochi reading, the kanji ?? are commonly pronounced daija "big snake; large serpent".
Carr (1990:169) notes that Japanese scholars have proposed "more than a dozen" orochi < woröti etymologies, while Western linguists have suggested loanwords from Austronesian, Tungusic, and Indo-European languages. The most feasible native etymological proposals are Japanese o- from o ? "tail" (which is where Susanoo discovered the sacred sword), o ? "big; great", or oro ? "peak; summit"; and -chi meaning "god; spirit", cognate with the mizuchi river-dragon. Benedict (1985:167) originally proposed woröti "large snake" was suffixed from Proto-Austro-Japanese *(w)oröt-i acquired from Austronesian *[q]u??j "snake; worm"; which he later (1990:243) modified to *(u-)orot-i from *[q,?]o??j. Miller (1987:647) criticized Benedict for overlooking Old Japanese "worö 'tail' + suffix -ti — as well as an obvious Tungus etymology, [Proto-Tungus] *xürgü-ci 'the tailed one'", and notes "this apparently well-traveled orochi has now turned up in the speculation of the [Indo-European] folklorists (Littletoln 1981)." Littleton's hypothesis involves the 3-headed monster Trisiras or Visvarupa, which has a mythological parallel because Indra killed it after giving it soma, wine, and food, but lacks a phonological connection.
Orochi in popular culture
The Yamata no Orochi "an 8-headed dragon", or simply Orochi "a dragon", is a common motif in Japanese popular culture. Some examples include:
- Yamata-no-Orochi in The Birth of Japan (1959), Toho Studios's 1000th production starring Toshiro Mifune, directed by Hiroshi Inagaki, and Visual Effects by Eiji Tsuburaya.
- Yamata no Orochi no Gyakushu, a tokusatsu parody film
- Yamata-no-orochi, a Persona under the Moon Arcana in Persona 3 video game.
- Yamato no Orochi, a 8-headed dragon in the Blue Seed anime and manga
- "Yamato no Orochi" is a form of Tokagero, guardian ghost of Ryu in Shaman King
- Mitsuoka Orochi, a Japanese sports car
- Orochi, a Kagura dance from Iwami Province
- Orochi, a Noh play by Kanze Nobumitsu
- Orochi, a character in The King of Fighters video game
- Orochi, a character in Kamen Rider Hibiki series and Kamen Rider Hibiki & The Seven Fighting Demons movie
- Orochi, a character in the Kannazuki no Miko anime and manga
- Orochi, an 8-headed dragon in the Shinnosuke (Ranma ½) anime and manga
- OROCHI, a roller coaster at Expoland
- Orochi: Blood, a manga by Kazuo Umezu
- "Orochi, the Eight-Headed Dragon" is the English title of Yamato Takeru (film)
- Orochimaru, a character in the Japanese folktale Jiraiya Goketsu Monogatari
- Orochimaru, a character in Naruto media
- Orochimon, a monster in Digimon media
- Wanpaku Ouji no Orochi Taiji, an anime movie
- PlayStation 2 games Warriors Orochi and Warriors Orochi 2. It appeared as the main antagonist that want to test humanity might. In the sequel of the game, the stories revealed that it was captured by the mystics of ancient China but was freed by the Thousand-Year-Old Vixen Daji. After it's defeat in the first game, it was revived by Daji and Taira no Kiyomori in the sequel with a stronger form.
- Inuyasha Battles the orochi/hydra in the Inuyasha Movie 2: "The Castle Beyond the Looking Glass"
- Orochi, a monster in the Dragon Warrior series.
- "Orochi" from the Album "Kojiki" by Kitaro
- Orochi, the main antagonist from the PlayStation 2 and Wii video game Okami, released by Clover Studio. The plot of the game is loosely based on the story of Yamata no Orochi, as well.
- "Yamata Dragon", a Yu-Gi-Oh! card.
- Orochi, a yokai in Hell Teacher Nube.
- The Yamata no Orochi appears as a boss creature in the game "Otogi", developed by From Software
- Nobunaga Oda's fifth weapon in Samurai Warriors was called Orochi
Mythological parallels
Polycephalic or multi-headed animals are rare in biology but common in mythology and heraldry. Multi-headed dragons, like the 8-headed Orochi and 3-headed Trisiras above, are a common motif in comparative mythology. For instance, multi-headed dragons in Greek mythology include the wind-god Typhon who had several polycephalic offspring, including the 9-headed Lernaean Hydra and the Ladon.
Two other Japanese examples derive from Buddhist importations of Indian dragon myths. Benzaiten, the Japanese name of Saraswati, supposedly killed a 5-headed dragon at Enoshima in 552 CE. Kuzuryu ??? "9-headed dragon", deriving from the Nagaraja snake-kings Vasuki and Shesha, is worshipped at Togakushi Shrine in Nagano Prefecture. (Compare the Jiutouniao ??? "nine-headed bird" in Chinese mythology.)
Comparing folklore about polycephalic dragons and serpents, 8-headed creatures are less common than 7- or 9-headed ones. Among Japanese numerals, ya or hachi ? can mean "many; varied" (e.g., yaoya ??? [lit. "800 store"] "greengrocer; jack-of-all-trades"). De Visser (1913:150) says the number 8 is "stereotypical" in legends about kings or gods riding dragons or having their carriages drawn by them. Smith (1919:212), who quotes the orochi myth with "seven or eight heads" and compares a Celtic dragon, says, "The seven-headed dragon is found also in the Scottish dragon-myth, and the legends of Cambodia, India, Persia, Western Asia, East Africa, and the Mediterranean area." Smith (1919:215) identifies the mythic 7- or 8-headed dragons with the 7-spiked Pteria spider shell or 8-tentacled octopus.
The Japanese Yamata no orochi is further comparable with polycephalic dragons and serpents in diverse cultures, including,
External links
- , Encyclopedia of Shinto
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- , in "Golden Sun: The Lost Age"
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