Note 11 — Chapter XIX · Rival Deities of Life and Death, Sunshine and Storm

Chamberlain translates Susa-no-wo as “Impetuous-Male-Deity”, connecting his name with susama, “to be impetuous”. But, as Aston points out, the implied noun susa, “impetuosity”, does not exist. There is, however, a town named Susa in Idzumo,11 with which area the legends regarding the god are specially associated. Susa-no-wo may therefore have been simply “the god of Susa”. Aston, following Dr. Buckley, Chicago, regards him as a personification of the rain-storm. Japanese writers, on the other hand, have connected him with Godzu Tenno, an Indian Hades deity, and with the moon-god, or regarded him as a war-god, while some European scholars have referred to him as a “rotating-heavens god”. Having been born from the nose of Izanagi, we should expect Susa-no-wo to have a connection with wind and “the air of life”, as well as with rain and the sea. It is of special interest to note in this connection that, as Aston says,12 “Japan is annually visited by destructive typhoons, accompanied by great darkness and a terrific downpour of rain”. Susa-no-wo is “continually weeping, wailing, and fuming with rage”, and is “a lover of destruction”, and he is associated with Yomi, the habitation of the deities that work evil against mankind. Susa-no-wo may be the Japanese Indra, who brings rain. Japanese wind-gods were givers of rain, as well as wind.13 Like Indra, Susa-no-wo is a dragon-slayer. A festival “celebrated in his honour at Onomochi in Bingo” is described by a Japanese writer in these words:14