Who Is The Hare of Inaba (White Hare of Inaba)?
The rabbit who tricked the wani to cross the sea
Inaba-no-Shirousagi
The Hare of Inaba is the rabbit in the Kojiki tale known as "The White Hare of Inaba." Wanting to cross from the island of Oki to Cape Keta in Inaba, it tricked the wani, creatures that live in the sea.
The hare told the wani, "Let's count whose family is bigger," had them line up across the sea, and hopped across their backs. But while standing on the last one, it blurted out, "I tricked you!" and had its fur stripped off. As it lay crying, the Eighty Brothers (Yasogami) passed by and falsely told it to bathe in seawater and lie in the wind, which made its pain worse. Finally Onamuji (Okuninushi) came along and told it to wash in fresh water and roll in cattail pollen. Its body healed, and the hare told him, "Princess Yagamihime will choose you."
The Kojiki calls this hare a "rabbit god." The character used for "white" in its name may mean white, or it may describe its bare, furless body.
