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.
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Ōkuninushi had eighty other brothers, who all wanted to marry the princess Yakami. While the brothers were on their way to visit the princess, the flayed Hare of Inaba stopped them and asked them for help. They told the hare to wash in the sea and dry itself in the wind, which naturally caused great pain for it. Ōkuninushi then met the hare, and he told it to bathe in fresh water and then roll in the pollen of cattail. The hare immediately got better, and it revealed its true form as a god. In gratitude, the hare told Ōkuninushi that Yakami would be his.
His brothers, who were furious, heated a boulder to white-hot temperatures, and rolled it down a mountain toward him. He thought it was a boar and grabbed it, subsequently burning to death. His mother, Kami-Musubi, revived him. His brothers then crushed Ōkuninushi to death. Kami-Musubi then advised him to take refuge in the underworld instead.
In the underworld, he met the storm god Susa-no-Ō and his daughter Suseri-hime, with whom he shortly fell in love. Of course, Susa-no-Ō was aghast. In response, he sent Ōkuninushi to sleep in a room full of snakes. However, Suseri-hime had given him a scarf, which protected him. When Susa-no-Ō sent him to sleep in a room with centipedes and wasps the next night, he was still successfully protected. As a trial, Susa-no-Ō shot an arrow into the middle of an enormous meadow, and told him to look for it. Ōkuninushi searched and eventually reached the middle of the field, at which point Susa-no-Ō proceeded to light the field on fire. A mouse showed Ōkuninushi a hole that he could hide in, and also brought the arrow to him.
By now, after all his various attempts of murder, Susa-no-Ō was beginning to actually approve of Ōkuninushi. One night, after he told Ōkuninushi to wash his hair and go to sleep, Ōkuninushi tied Susa-no-Ō's hair to the rafters of his palace, and fled with Suseri-hime. He took Susa-no-Ō's bow and arrows and koto with him. When the couple made their escape, the koto brushed against a tree, awakening Susa-no-Ō. The god jumped up, and pulled down the palace with his hair. At the borders of the underworld, Susa-no-Ō almost caught up with the elopers and called out to them, advising Ōkuninushi to fight his brothers with Susa-no-Ō's weapons. Ōkuninushi asked him to make Suseri-hime his wife, and to build a palace at the foot of Mount Uka, which he agreed to. After the entire ordeal was over, Ōkuninushi became ruler of the province of Izumo.
The Grand Izumo Shrine is dedicated to his spirit and is one of the oldest and most important shrines in Japan.
He has a lot of other names. It is thought faith in him came from several virtuous gods and was combined from their image.
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