Aranami

Once known as Nami-o, son and champion of Susanoo, it is believed Aranami was a low-level Celestial Kami at first, though as to what he became when Nami-o transformed into Aranami, scholars remain uncertain.

What is known is that when Nami-o was bested by Taiyouko, he insisted that he was the true victor, despite the Celestial Court's agreement to the contrary. Nami-o took his alleged injustice to Izanagi, then the Jade Dragon, and possibly even to the Onyx Dragon, and Izanami herself. When both Izanagi and the Jade Dragon denied him, then-Nami-o manipulated various powers within Kuniumi against now-Empress Taiyouko to aid him in reopening the paths to the dead, where he disappeared. Many of the people who assisted him became "dark clans," exiled from the empire to places unknown; some are even thought to have followed Nami-o to the Underworld before Izanagi sealed the way (again). What happened there is a matter of scholastic speculation. Did Aranami make a pact with Izanami? The Onyx Dragon? Did those clans become Oni? Youkai? Have they since returned? Again, no one knows for certain.

Then, during the Tenpenchii, Nami-o returned from the underworld in a spectacular fashion as an even darker reflection of his former self, and of equal or greater power than even Taiyouko. With him came a legion of Oni and Youkai, which he lead to smash and scatter the Great Clans of that era.

Aranami's final known moments are accounted for on the bridge to heaven during his duel with Taiyouko, where, unable to defeat her outright, he summoned a dark power, a dark shadow, to destroy the bridge and project him into Ame. For more information, see the Creation Myth.