Who Are the The Eighty Brothers (Yasogami) (Eighty Gods)?
Okuninushi's many cruel older brothers
Yasogami
The Eighty Brothers (Yasogami) are the many brothers of Okuninushi (Onamuji) in the Kojiki. "Eighty" does not mean exactly eighty; it means a very large number.
Setting out to propose to Princess Yagamihime of Inaba, they made their youngest brother Onamuji carry their bags. On the way, they met the skinned Hare of Inaba and falsely told it to bathe in seawater and lie in the wind, making its suffering worse. When Princess Yagamihime refused them, saying she would marry Onamuji instead, they were furious and tried to kill him. They rolled a red-hot boulder down a mountain, telling him it was a wild boar, and trapped him in the split of a great tree, taking his life twice. In the end, when Onamuji returned from the underworld, he drove them away with Susanoo's sword and bow and arrows.
The Kojiki says that all the brothers handed over the land to Okuninushi.
Episodes featuring this character2
Episode 6
The Hare Who Bragged One Shark Too SoonThe White Hare of Inaba
A hare crosses the sea by hopping along a line of wani (sharks), counting their backs as he goes. Then, one step from shore, he says one word too many and loses his whole coat. The Eighty Brothers give him a fake cure that leaves him in agony, and the one who saves him is their youngest brother, Onamuji, who walks at the very back carrying everyone's bags. When the princess spots yellow pollen and white fur on his sleeve, her choice is clear…
19 pages
NEWEpisode 7
Meet the Father-in-Law: He's the Storm GodOkuninushi in the Land of Roots
Onamuji, the youngest brother, is killed twice by his older brothers. His mother's tears bring him back to life, and he escapes to the land beneath the earth, where he meets Suseribime, the princess he's fated to marry. There's one problem: her father is Susanoo, god of storms. A room full of snakes, a burning field, and a scalp crawling with centipedes are just the start of Susanoo's deadly tests for his new son-in-law.
19 pages