There were more powerful gods in the heavens, but as his name "Ohkuni-nushi," or, "the lord of the land" suggests, he was the highest god of the land in ancient Japan.
When he was young, his brothers hated Ohkuni-nushi, and they planned to kill him.
The Brothers said, "We'll chase a big, red wild boar out of a mountain, and you catch it at the bottom." But instead of a wild boar, Ohkuninushi caught a big, burning stone and he was burned to death.
His mother felt an unbelievable amount of grief and asked the gods to take him back to heaven to bring Ohkuninushi back to life.
The Brothers, though, had another plan. They opened a crack in a tree, pushed him inside the tree trunk, then closed up the crack with Ohkuninushi left inside.
However, later with his mother's help, Ohkuninushi came back to life again.
He went underground to find a wife, then came back to the earth to become the lord.
He had been revived from death twice and came back from underground, but this is not a big surprise because he was the god of agriculture. For ancient people who were close to plants, death and revival would have been an annual event.
Ohkuninushi and Osiris
In Egypt, Osiris is a famous god who was revived from death. His brother, Seth, hated him so he killed Osiris. Later his sister and wife, Isis, helped bring him back to life. BACK
The God of Agriculture
In Greek myth, Adonis lived one third of a year underground, then moved to the land the following one third, and whenever he liked for the rest of the year. He was a god of agriculture also (and later a wild boar killed him, too!). Osiris was the god of death, and the god of agriculture as well. BACK
JAPANESE MYTH HOMEPAGE