The god Okuninushi had many brothers, called the Eighty Gods. All of them wanted to marry Yagami-hime of the land of Inaba, and they set off for Inaba together. Okuninushi was made to carry his brothers' great bag and followed at the rear like a servant.
When they came to Cape Keta, a hare lay there stripped of all its fur, red and raw. The brothers told it, "Bathe in the sea, then lie on a high ridge in the wind." The hare did as they said, and as the salt water dried its skin cracked; in unbearable pain, it lay weeping.
Okuninushi, coming along behind, asked, "Why are you crying?" The hare answered: "I lived on the island of Oki and wanted to cross over here, but had no way to cross. So I tricked the wani (sharks) of the sea. I said, 'Let's see whose tribe is bigger, yours or mine. Bring as many of your kin as you can and lie in a row from this island to Cape Keta. I'll walk across your backs and count you.' When they lined up, I crossed over on their backs, counting as I went. But just as I was about to step ashore, I blurted out, 'You've been tricked!' The last wani caught me and stripped off all my clothes. As I lay crying, the gods who passed before you told me to bathe in the sea, and when I did, I was covered with sores."
Okuninushi told it, "Go to the river mouth right away and wash yourself in fresh water. Then gather the cattail heads growing there, scatter them on the ground and roll in them. Your skin will surely be as it was." The hare did so, and its body was healed. This is the White Hare of Inaba, now called the Hare God.
The hare told Okuninushi, "Those Eighty Gods will never win Yagami-hime. You carry the bag, but it is you who will win her." And indeed Yagami-hime refused the Eighty Gods and said, "I will marry the god Okuninushi."
Off the Hakuto Coast in Tottori City lies Okinoshima, the islet the hare is said to have crossed from, and above the beach stands Hakuto Shrine, where the hare is worshipped.