Japanese PantheonHero
Yamato Takeru
Also known as Ousu, Yamato Takeru no Mikoto
Legendary prince of early Japan sent by his father, Emperor Keiko, to subdue rival clans in the west and east. Central figure of the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, and the hero associated with the sacred sword Kusanagi.
About Yamato Takeru
A Dangerous Son
Yamato Takeru was born Ousu, a son of the semi-legendary Emperor Keiko. The Kojiki (712 CE) opens his story with a disturbing act: his father, alarmed by Ousu's violence after he killed his own brother, sends him away on a string of near-suicidal military missions, first against the Kumaso people in the west, hoping the danger will remove him from court. The Nihon Shoki (720 CE), compiled only eight years later, tells the story quite differently: it omits the fratricide entirely and frames Ousu's western campaign as a loyal prince's service rather than a father's attempt to be rid of him. Which account is closer to an older tradition, if either, is debated by scholars of early Japanese literature.
The Sword Kusanagi
Disguised as a woman, Ousu infiltrated a feast held by the Kumaso chieftains and killed them, and it was the dying chieftain Kumaso Takeru who gave him the name Yamato Takeru, "the brave one of Yamato." On a later eastern campaign, his aunt Yamatohime, priestess of the Ise shrine, gave him a sword associated with the god Susanoo's slaying of the eight-headed serpent Yamata-no-Orochi. When enemies set fire to the grass around him in an ambush, Yamato Takeru used the sword to cut back the flames and escape, and the blade was renamed Kusanagi, "grass-cutter."
Death and the White Bird
On his way home from the eastern campaign, Yamato Takeru insulted the deity of Mount Ibuki by underestimating him, and the god struck him with a debilitating illness. He died shortly after at Nobono, still short of home. The Kojiki closes his story with an image rather than a burial: his grieving family builds him a tomb, but his spirit rises from it as a great white bird and flies off toward the sea, so that the tomb they built is said to have held only his clothing.
On parentage: The imperial line claims descent from the sun goddess Amaterasu many generations back, but no source gives Yamato Takeru a direct divine parent; his father Keiko is presented as fully human.
Key deeds
- Killed the Kumaso chieftains disguised as a woman, earning the name Yamato Takeru
- Received the sword later named Kusanagi from the priestess Yamatohime at the Ise shrine
- Used the sword to cut back a grass fire set as an ambush, giving the blade its name
- Campaigned against the Emishi peoples of eastern Japan
- Died near Nobono after offending the deity of Mount Ibuki, then rose as a white bird
Fate
Struck down by illness after insulting the mountain deity of Ibuki; the Kojiki records that his spirit left the tomb built for him in the form of a great white bird and flew away toward the sea.
Across traditions
Parallel figures
Heroes and gods who play a part like Yamato Takeru's in other traditions.
Greek PantheonAchillesIllustrationBoth are their people's greatest young warrior, carry a form of supernatural protection into battle, and die before old age in a death later tradition treats as a tragedy rather than a defeat.
Sources and further reading
Source notes
These references are recorded in the catalog. Their passage wording and translation have not been checked, so quotations are not displayed here.
- Kojiki, Book 2
- Nihon Shoki, Book 7
About this entry
By Elizabeth Stein for Mythos Atlas. About the author. Editorial notes are grounded in the site's cited sources and can be challenged through the contact page.
Hero legends were retold for centuries, and the sources often disagree on parentage, deeds and death. This entry follows the best-known versions and notes the main alternatives.
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