Ōkuninushi

Ōkuninushi (大国主) is a divinity (kami) in Japanese Shinto. His name literally translates to "Great Land Master", and he is believed to be originally the ruler of Izumo Province, until he was replaced by Ninigi. In compensation, he was made ruler of the unseen world of spirits and magic. He is believed to be a god of nation-building, farming, business, and medicine.

This famous tale of the Hare of Inaba is recorded in the Kojiki but glaringly omitted in the Nihongi.

Ōkuninushi (at the time he was just Ōnamuji without the august nickname) and his brothers, eighty gods altogether, were all suitors seeking the hand of Princess Yakami/Yagami (八上比売^?) of Inaba in marriage. They were all travelling together from their home country of Izumo to the neighboring Inaba to court her.

Along the way, the brothers encounter a poor little rabbit or hare, flayed and raw-skinned, lying in agony upon a sea shore. The group asks what happened, and the hare explains that he came from the island of Oki across the sea. He thought of a marvelous way to accomplish this, and recruiting the crocodiles (wani (鰐,和邇^?), interpreted as an imagined creature based on a shark) into his service, unbeknownst to them. He beckoned one crocodile, and challenged him to a contest to decide which of them had the greater number of kin, the rabbit or the croc-fish. To settle the bet, he told the croc-fish to line up in a straight row across the strait, so he can hop on and count the numbers. But before the hare had completely gotten ashore to safety, he gloated about having tricked them, the last croc in line grabbed him and tore off the fur that clothed him.

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