Susanoo’s expulsion in two Japanese chronicles

Traditions: Japanese Kojiki; Japanese Nihon Shoki Motif: A disruptive deity is expelled from heaven Connection verdict: Related early Japanese mythic cycle with variant sequencing Article status: Expanded Date: 2026-10-25

Summary

Kojiki and Nihon Shoki both know Susanoo’s disorderly behavior and removal from the heavenly realm.

Read the two scenes

A quick summary of Susanoo as simply a storm god behaving badly misses the political and ritual logic of the chronicles. His conduct disrupts the heavenly setting and affects Amaterasu’s withdrawal, but individual acts and their order are not identical across variants. The Nihon Shoki preserves alternatives rather than one uniform master sequence, while the Kojiki organizes events in a different literary arc. A comparison should mark exactly which act and response belongs to which witness. The later serpent episode is part of the broader career, but this entry concerns the expulsion itself, not a second version of the serpent fight.

What connects—and what does not

The chronicles distribute offenses, divine responses, and connections to Amaterasu and later earthbound episodes differently.

Shared named figures and expulsion establish related tradition, while the versions resist a single flattened timeline.

Why read them side by side?

The pair shows how a culture’s related mythic witnesses can disagree about accountability and restoration without ceasing to share a story-world.

Sources and reading notes

• Kojiki, historical English translation — Early Japanese chronicle; consult named episode
• Nihongi, historical English translation — Alternative early Japanese chronicle versions

Research limit

A named parallel can establish literary reuse or related tradition; a general resemblance alone cannot prove borrowing. Linked editions and translations vary. Where a source is identified as secondary orientation, the comparison does not claim direct close reading of that tradition’s primary text.