Sukuna-bikona- Japanese GodDeity"The Small Deity"

Arrival at Cape Miho

Ōkuninushi was standing at Cape Miho in Izumo when a tiny figure came riding the waves. The Kojiki describes its vessel: a boat made from the pod of a kagami plant, and the figure inside wore a garment stitched from moth wings. It was small enough to sit in Ōkuninushi's palm.

No one among the assembled gods could name the newcomer. Kuebiko, the scarecrow deity who knows everything in the world but cannot walk, identified him as Sukuna-bikona, a son of the creator deity Kamimusubi. Kamimusubi confirmed it and ordered the tiny god to work beside Ōkuninushi in building the land.

The Work of Land-Building

The two gods traveled the islands together. The Nihon Shoki credits them with devising methods to ward off disease from both people and livestock. Sukuna-bikona's own body proved the point: at Dōgo Onsen in Iyo Province, he fell ill during the journey, and the hot waters there restored him. The onsen, one of Japan's oldest, claims him as its patron to this day, and brewers and pharmaceutical merchants worship him at Sukunahikona Shrine in Ōsaka.

The Millet Stalk

Then one day Sukuna-bikona's time in the world ended as abruptly as it had begun. He climbed a millet stalk, which bent under even his tiny weight and sprang back, catapulting him across the sea to Tokoyo no Kuni, the Eternal Realm, from which he never returned. Ōkuninushi was left to lament how difficult it would be to finish the work alone, a grief that would lead him to seek a new divine partner: the spirit of the sea who came shining across the waves.