Deity · Japanese · c. 712 CE
Yamata-no-Orochi
Also called Orochi, Yamata-no-Orochi (kaiju) (per Wikidata)
The eight-headed serpent given a daughter to eat each year, until Susanoo made it drunk and cut it apart. Japan's branch of the serpent-slaying pattern.
Narrow source base
Eight heads, eight tails, moss and trees growing on its back, and a body that covers eight valleys. It takes one daughter of a family a year until Susanoo turns up, hides the last of them, sets out eight vats of sake and cuts the serpent apart while it drinks. Inside the tail is a sword. That sword becomes one of the three imperial regalia of Japan, which is what lifts the episode out of the general run of dragon-slayings in this corpus: the monster's body supplies the legitimacy of a dynasty, so the thing killed is not merely an obstacle but the source of the authority that killed it.
Identity
Where does the name come from?
Where it was actually worshipped
None. The serpent is killed in the story and the sword taken out of its tail becomes one of the imperial regalia, which is the opposite of a cult.
A figure with temples and a figure that only ever existed on a page are different kinds of thing, and the difference is easy to lose once both are entries in a list.
At a glance
Vitals
Vitals
Also known as
- First attested
- Kojiki (Records of Ancient Matters) · 712 CE
- Rank
- Eight-Forked Serpent
- Pantheon
- Japanese
- Order
- Japanese pantheon
- Base of operations
- None. The serpent is killed in the story and the sword taken out of its tail becomes one of the imperial regalia, which is the opposite of a cult.
- Era
- c. 712 CE
- Traditions
- Shinto & Japanese
Traits
- Domain
- Devouring, the flooding river
- Traditional form
- Eight heads and eight tails, spanning eight valleys
3 attributed
What is it said to do?
Where these powers cluster
The 3 offices attributed to Yamata-no-Orochi, grouped by kind. Segment width is the share of powers falling in each category.
A bar dominated by one colour means a specialist; an even spread means a figure the sources credit with almost anything.
- malefic3
1 mark
Which marks is it attached to?
A mark a figure carries and a mark used against a figure are opposite claims, so each link says which it is.
2 texts
Which texts say so, and where do they disagree?
When these texts were written
Each dot is one of the 2 texts that names Yamata-no-Orochi, placed at that text's approximate date.
A wide spread means the figure was carried across many centuries and traditions; a tight cluster means a single period produced the whole record.
2 texts, all inside a single century
Where the texts differ
- Name: given as Yamata-no-Orochi, Yamata no Orochi
Devours seven daughters in as many years; killed by Susanoo with eight vats of strong sake.
Eight heads, eight tails, moss and trees growing on its back, killed with sake and a sword found in its body. The chronicle's variants differ in the details of the killing and agree on the sword, which then becomes one of the imperial regalia — a monster whose corpse supplies a dynasty's legitimacy.
Connections
What is it connected to?
Answered from the sources
Common questions
Which texts mention Yamata-no-Orochi?
Is Yamata-no-Orochi the same as Lotan?
What rank is Yamata-no-Orochi?
How else is Yamata-no-Orochi spelled?
What is Yamata-no-Orochi said to do?
How old is Yamata-no-Orochi?
Nearest in the corpus
If Yamata-no-Orochi is what you came for, these are next
Chosen by proximity rather than by popularity: the same pantheon first, then the same rank, then the same kind of figure.
Amaterasu
Sun Goddess · Japanese
Sun goddess who hides in a cave and must be lured out — and from whom the Japanese imperial house claimed descent until 1946.
Izanagi
He Who Invites · Japanese
The Japanese god who stirs the sea into land with a spear, goes into Yomi after his wife and looks at her against her word, and washes afterwards — producing Amaterasu and Susanoo from the washing.
Izanami
She Who Invites · Japanese
The Japanese goddess who makes the islands with her husband, dies giving birth to fire, and becomes the ruler of Yomi — where she promises to kill a thousand people a day for the insult of being seen.
Susanoo
Storm Kami · Japanese
Expelled from heaven for wrecking his sister's rice fields, and then immediately kills the eight-headed serpent and becomes a hero.
Tsukuyomi
The Moon Reckoner · Japanese
The Japanese moon god, born from Izanagi's washing beside Amaterasu — and the reason the sun and moon are never in the sky together, having killed the food goddess at dinner and been refused his sister's company ever since.
Artemis
Mistress of Animals · Greek
Huntress and protector of the young, whose Ephesian cult statue looks nothing like her and whose temple gave the ancient world one of its most durable protective formulas.
The books behind Yamata-no-Orochi
Every claim on this profile is attributed to one of these. They are public domain, listed oldest first, and each links to a full text where one is freely available.
Kojiki (Records of Ancient Matters)
Ō no Yasumaro · 712 CE · Old Japanese
Read Kojiki (Records of Ancient Matters) in full ↗Cover: Public domain · Wikimedia file page
Nihongi (Nihon Shoki)
Prince Toneri and others; tr. W. G. Aston · 720 CE · Classical Japanese
Read Nihongi (Nihon Shoki) in full ↗Cover: Public domain · Unknown author · Wikimedia file page
Corpus last revised 29 August 2026. A reference site’s credibility rests on being maintained, so this is the date the sourced records last changed — not the date the page was rebuilt.