Background
Mikoto no Yamato Takeru was born in 72. He was the son of Emperor Keiko, the twelfth sovereign according to traditional reckoning; his name was originally Ousu-no-mikoto.
It would appear that Yamato Takeru-no-mikoto was not a historical person, but rather a legendary figure symbolizing the brave exploits of the numerous military leaders who worked to extend the power of the Yamato court and bring the rest of the country under its rule. The tales associated with the figure of Yamato Takeru embody the ideals of vigor and bravery associated with the aristocratic warriors of ancient times and also contain a moving element of tragedy and pathos.
Career
From childhood he was noted for his bravery, and at the age of fourteen was ordered by the emperor to go to southern Kyushu to put down an uprising of the Kumaso people. Disguised as a woman, he made his way into a banquet held by the chief of the Kumaso, where he attacked and killed the chief. Before he died, the chief declared, “I have never met anyone as brave as you. From now on, you should be known as Yamato Takeru,”—the Brave Man of Yamato. The prince, after subjugating the region of southern Kyushu, proceeded to attack enemies in the region of western Honshu and then returned to Yamato in triumph.
When the prince was twenty-six, the Azuma Ebisu people of eastern Honshu rose up in rebellion, and the emperor accordingly dispatched him to attack them. On his way, he stopped to pray at the shrine at Ise dedicated to Amaterasu Omikami, the ancestress of the imperial family. There his aunt Yamato-hime-no-mikoto, who was priestess of the shrine, gave him a sacred sword called Ame-no-murakumo-no-tsurugi, which belonged to the shrine. When he reached the region of Suruga in present-day Shizuoka, he was attacked by enemies who attempted to kill him by setting fire to the grass of the plain. But he was able to escape by mowing down the grass with the sword, which accordingly became known as Kusanagi-no-tsurugi or the “Grass-mower Sword.”
Thereafter he proceeded to Sagami, Kazusa, and the region of northeastern Honshu known as Hidakami-no-kuni, subjugated the inhabitants and then, after visiting various other regions, returned to Owari in present-day Aichi. There he deposited the sword Kusanagi, where it is still worshipped at the Atsuta Shrine in Nagoya. He set off- to attack enemies at Mt. Ibuki, but was taken ill. He returned to Owari, and then set out once more, but died at a place called Nobono in the northern part of Ise Province. He was thirty at the time. He was buried there, but it is said that a white bird flew up from the grave mound and went off to the west. It alighted at two places, Kawaragi in Yamato and Furuichi in Kawachi, at both of which grave mounds were erected to the white bird.
