須佐之男

Japanese
Kanji in this term
須 佐 之 男
す
Grade: S		 さ
Grade: S		 の
Jinmeiyō		 お
Grade: 1
goon kun’yomi
須佐之男 (Susanoo): a scene from a 神楽 (kagura) play where Susanoo slays Orochi, the eight-headed serpent.

Alternative forms

Etymology

Uncertain, with many possible derivations. One of the more compelling explanations is that this is a compound of すさ (susa, “roughness, wildness”, root word unattested in isolation, but found in terms such as 凄まじい (susamajii, “terrible, dreadful”) or 荒む (susamu, “to be wild, to be savage”)) +‎ の (no, possessive particle) +‎ 男 (o, “man”).[1] In this case, 須佐 (Susa) would be ateji (当て字).

Another theory is that this may be a compound of 須佐 (Susa, name of a place in Japan, where the god is supposed to have first touched earth) +‎ の (no, possessive particle) +‎ 男 (o, “man”).[2]

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): [sɨ̥ᵝsa̠no̞o̞]

Proper noun

須佐之男 (hiragana すさのお, katakana スサノオ, rōmaji Susanoo, historical hiragana すさのを)

  1. (Japanese mythology, Shinto) Susanoo, the Japanese god of storms
  2. (poetic) a storm

References
  1. p. 123日本文化の古層 (Nihon Bunka no Kosō, “The Substrata of Japanese Culture”, in Japanese) by A. Slavic, Mirai-sha, Tōkyō, 1984; →ISBN: http://books.google.com/books?id=crirHAAACAAJ
  2. 神道の本：八百万の神々がつどう秘教的祭祀の世界 (Shintō no Hon: Happyaku-man no Kamigami ga Tsudou Hikyōteki Saishi no Sekai, “The Shintō Book: The World of Esoteric Rituals, Crowded with 8 Million Gods”, in Japanese), Gakken, Tōkyō, 1992; →ISBN: http://books.google.com/books?id=mWxrmgEACAAJ
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