Yokota, at the foot of Mount Sen- tsuzan in the Izumo region of Shimane Prefecture, is home to one of Japan's best-known mythological tales.
As described in the eighth century "Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters)" and "Nihon Shoki (Chronicle of Japan)," the story goes something like this: "Once upon a time, an eight-headed and eight-tailed monster called Yamata-no-Orochi haunted villages and terrorized residents. The serpent, with bright red eyes and its body inflamed and bleeding, was the size of eight valleys."
According to these ancient tomes, when Susanoo-no-Mikoto, younger brother of the sun goddess Amaterasu Omikami, the mythical progenitor of the Imperial Family, happened to pass through Izumo, he met an elderly farming couple whose daughter was to be offered to the monster as a human sacrifice.