The Story of Prince Yamato Take

Ozaki’s telling begins with three sacred imperial treasures: the Mirror of Yata, the Jewel of Yasakami and the Sword of Murakumo. In this legend, the sword is kept at Ise in the shrine of Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess, and later receives the name Kusanagi, the Grass-Cleaving Sword. The following adventures explain that name within the story’s mythic account of the imperial house.

Many, many years ago, a second son was born to the Emperor Keiko, twelfth in line from the great Jimmu, founder of the royal house. The boy was named Yamato. From childhood he showed remarkable strength, wisdom and courage, and his proud father, seeing how much promise he had, loved him even more than his elder son.

When Prince Yamato reached manhood, which in those days came at sixteen, the kingdom was plagued by a band of outlaws led by two brothers, Kumaso and Takeru. They seemed to take pleasure in defying the King, breaking the laws and scorning every authority. At last the King ordered his younger son to subdue the bandits and, if he could, rid the land of them for good. Though Yamato was only sixteen, he had the fearless spirit of a seasoned warrior and did not know what fear was. Already no man could match him for courage, and he received his father’s command with delight.

He made ready at once, and the palace grounds were in a bustle as he and his loyal followers gathered, polished their armor and put it on. Before leaving the court he went to pray at the shrine of Ise and to say goodbye to his aunt, Princess Yamato, the High Priestess there. His heart was a little heavy at the thought of the dangers ahead, and he felt he needed the protection of his ancestress, the Sun Goddess. His aunt welcomed him gladly and congratulated him on being trusted with so great a task. She gave him one of her splendid robes to take with him for luck, saying it would surely be useful to him on this adventure, and wished him every success.

The young prince bowed low and accepted her gift with great pleasure. Then he went back to the palace, put himself at the head of his troops and, cheered by his aunt’s blessing, marched south across the land to the island of Kiushiu, where the bandits lived.

Within a few days he reached the island and began working his way, slowly but surely, toward the stronghold of Kumaso and Takeru. Now the going grew very hard. The country was wild and rough, with high, steep mountains and deep, dark valleys, and huge trees and boulders blocked the road so that his army could scarcely move forward.

Young as he was, the prince had an old man’s good sense. Seeing it was useless to drive his men on, he said to himself, “Fighting a battle in this country, which my men don’t know and can hardly cross, will only make things harder. We can’t clear the roads and fight at the same time. It will be wiser to use a trick and take my enemies by surprise.”

So he halted his army. His wife, Princess Ototachibana, had come with him, and he asked her to bring the robe his aunt had given him and help him dress as a woman. With her help he put on the robe and let his hair fall loose over his shoulders. Ototachibana gave him her comb to put in his black hair, and he decked himself with strings of curious jewels. When he was ready she brought him her mirror, and he smiled at what he saw. The disguise was perfect. Every sign of the warrior had vanished, and a beautiful lady looked back at him from the shining glass.

Disguised like this, he set off alone for the enemy camp, with a sharp dagger hidden in the folds of his silk gown, close to his heart.

The two chiefs were sitting in their tent in the cool of the evening when he drew near. They were talking about the news that the King’s son had entered their country with a great army, determined to wipe out their band. Both had heard of the young warrior’s fame, and for the first time in their wicked lives they were afraid. Glancing up during a pause in their talk, they saw through the tent door a beautiful woman in rich robes coming toward them, like a lovely vision in the soft twilight. They never dreamed that this was the very enemy they dreaded.

“What a beautiful woman! Where can she have come from?” cried Kumaso, forgetting war, plans and everything else as he gazed at her. He beckoned to the disguised prince to sit down and pour their wine. Yamato’s heart leaped with fierce joy, for now he knew his plan would work. But he hid his feelings well. Putting on a sweet, shy air, he came slowly toward the chief with eyes darting like a frightened deer’s. Kumaso was so enchanted by the girl’s beauty that he drank cup after cup just for the pleasure of watching her pour, until at last the wine overcame him.

This was the moment the brave prince had been waiting for. Flinging down the wine jar, he seized the drunken, astonished Kumaso and struck him dead with the dagger hidden in his robe.

Takeru, the chief’s brother, was terrified and tried to flee, but the prince was too quick. Before Takeru reached the door, Yamato was upon him, gripping his clothes with a hand of iron, and the dagger flashed. Takeru fell to the ground, wounded to death but still alive.

“Wait a moment!” he gasped, catching the prince’s hand.

Yamato loosened his grip a little. “Why should I wait, villain?”

The outlaw raised himself with difficulty. “Tell me where you come from and who you are. Until now my brother and I believed we were the strongest men in the land and that no one could defeat us. Yet you came alone into our stronghold, and alone you have overcome us both! Surely you are more than human.”

The young prince smiled proudly. “I am the King’s son, and my name is Yamato. My father sent me to punish evil and bring an end to every rebel. Robbery and murder will terrify my people no longer!”

“Ah,” gasped the dying man with a great effort, “I have often heard of you. You are a mighty man indeed to have beaten us so easily. Let me give you a new name. From now on you shall be called Yamato Take. I leave our title to you as the bravest man in Yamato.” And with these noble words Takeru fell back and died.

Having dealt with his father’s enemies, the prince set out for the capital. On the way he passed through the province of Idzumo, where he came upon another outlaw, Idzumo Takeru, who he knew had done great harm in the land. Once more he used a trick. Under a false name he pretended to be the outlaw’s friend. Then he made a sword of wood, jammed it tightly into the sheath of his own strong sword, and made a point of wearing it whenever he expected to see Takeru.

One hot summer day he invited Takeru down to the bank of the Hinokawa River and talked him into a swim in the cool water. The outlaw was glad of a dip. While he was still swimming downstream, the prince turned back, hurried ashore and, without being seen, swapped the swords, leaving his wooden one in place of Takeru’s keen steel blade.

Knowing nothing of this, the outlaw soon came ashore. As soon as he had dressed, the prince stepped forward and challenged him. “Let us see which of us is the better swordsman!”

The outlaw agreed with delight, sure of winning, for he was a famous fencer in his province and had no idea who his opponent really was. He snatched up what he thought was his own sword and stood ready. But it was the prince’s wooden sword, and try as he might, Takeru could not draw it; it was stuck fast, and even if he had pulled it free, a wooden blade would have been no use to him. Yamato Take saw that his enemy was helpless, and swinging high the sword he had taken from him, he struck the outlaw down with one mighty, skillful blow.

In this way, sometimes by wisdom, sometimes by strength and sometimes by cunning, he overcame the King’s enemies one after another and brought peace and quiet to the land and its people.

When he reached the capital, the King praised his brave deeds, held a feast in the palace to celebrate his safe homecoming and gave him many rare gifts. From then on the King loved him more than ever and would not let him leave his side, saying that his son was now as dear to him as one of his own arms.

But the prince was not left idle for long. When he was about thirty, word came of resistance to the emperor in the eastern provinces. Ozaki’s narrator identifies the people there as Ainu and calls them rebels; that is the perspective of her imperial adventure story, not a neutral history of the Ainu people. The King decided an army must be sent against them, but who would lead it?

Yamato Take offered at once to go. The King loved him so dearly that he could hardly bear to let him out of his sight for a single day, and he was very unwilling to send him on so dangerous a mission. But no one in the whole army was as strong or brave as his son, so in the end he gave his reluctant consent.

When the time came to leave, the King gave the prince a spear called the Eight-Arms-Length Spear of the Holly Tree and ordered him to go and subdue the eastern rebels. Warriors of those days prized such a spear, given by the King when they set out for war, as a sign of royal trust.

The prince accepted the spear with great reverence and marched east with his army. On the way he stopped first to worship at the temples of Ise, and his aunt, the High Priestess, came out to greet him. He told her how much her robe had helped him overcome the bandits of the west and thanked her warmly. When she heard that he was off to fight his father’s enemies a second time, she went into the temple and came back with a sword and a beautiful bag she had made herself, filled with flints, which people then used instead of matches to make fire. She gave them to him as a parting gift.

The sword was the Sword of Murakumo, one of the three sacred treasures of the Imperial House. She could have given her nephew no luckier charm, and she told him to use it when his need was greatest.

Yamato Take said goodbye to his aunt and led his men on into the far east, through the province of Owari and on to Suruga. There the governor welcomed him most warmly and entertained him with feast after feast. When the feasting was done, the governor told him that his province was famous for its fine deer and suggested a hunt for the prince’s enjoyment. The prince was completely taken in by his host’s friendliness, which was all pretense, and gladly agreed.

The governor led him out onto a vast, wild plain where the grass grew thick and tall. Never suspecting that a trap had been laid to kill him, the prince galloped off after the deer, when suddenly, to his amazement, flames and smoke burst out of the brush ahead. Seeing the danger, he wheeled his horse around, only to find the plain on fire behind him too. At the same moment the grass to his left and right burst into flame, and the fire came racing toward him from every side. He looked for a way out. There was none. He was ringed by fire.

“So this deer hunt was nothing but a trick of my enemy!” said the prince, as the crackling flames and rolling smoke closed in. “What a fool I was to walk into this trap like a wild animal!” And he ground his teeth in fury at the governor’s smiling treachery.

Desperate as things were, the prince kept his head. He thought of his aunt’s parting gifts, and it seemed to him she must have foreseen this very hour. Calmly he opened the flint bag and set fire to the grass close around him. Then he drew the Sword of Murakumo and began cutting down the grass on either side as fast as he could, resolved that if he must die, he would die fighting for his life and not standing still waiting for death.

Then, strangely, the wind changed and blew the other way. The fiercest part of the blaze, which had been bearing down on him, was swept away, and the prince came through without a scratch or a single singed hair. But the wind rose to a gale and caught the governor, who perished in the very flames he had lit to destroy Yamato Take.

The prince believed he owed his escape entirely to the power of the Sword of Murakumo and to the protection of Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess of Ise, who rules the wind and all the elements and keeps safe those who pray to her in danger. He raised the precious sword above his head again and again in reverence, and renamed it Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, the Grass-Cleaving Sword. The place where he had set the grass alight and escaped death he named Yaidzu, linking his adventure to the place called Yaidzu in Ozaki’s account.

So brave Yamato Take escaped his enemy’s snare. Resourceful and courageous, he outwitted and overcame all his foes. From Yaidzu he marched east to the coast at Idzu, meaning to cross the water to Kadzusa.

Through all these dangers and adventures his loyal, loving wife, Princess Ototachibana, had followed him. For his sake she thought nothing of the weary journeys and the perils of war, and she loved him so much that she felt rewarded for all her wandering if she could only hand him his sword as he rode out to battle, or look after him when he came back tired to camp.

But the prince’s heart was full of war and conquest, and he cared little for faithful Ototachibana. Long travel, worry and grief at his coldness had left her exhausted. One day he told her that her place was in the palace behind the screens at home, not with him on the warpath. Yet in spite of his unkindness she could not bring herself to leave him. Perhaps it would have been better if she had, for when they came to Owari on the way to Idzu, her heart was nearly broken.

In Owari, in a palace shaded by pines and entered through grand gates, lived Princess Miyadzu, as lovely as cherry blossom in the rosy dawn of a spring morning. Her clothes were dainty and bright, and she had not endured the hardships of the road. The prince judged his exhausted wife by her travel-stained appearance and told her to stay behind while he visited Princess Miyadzu. Day after day he spent hours in the gardens and halls of his new friend, thinking only of his own pleasure and caring nothing for his poor wife, who stayed in the tent weeping over the misery that had come into her life. Yet she was so faithful and patient that not one word of reproach passed her lips and not one frown spoiled the gentle sadness of her face. She always had a smile ready to welcome him home or see him off wherever he went.

At last the day came for the prince to leave for Idzu and cross the sea to Kadzusa. He ordered his wife to follow among his attendants while he went to take a formal farewell of Princess Miyadzu. The princess came out to meet him in magnificent robes, more beautiful than ever, and when Yamato Take saw her he forgot his wife, his duty and everything but the pleasure of the moment, and swore to come back to Owari and marry her when the war was over. As he spoke he looked up and met Ototachibana’s eyes, fixed on him in speechless sorrow and wonder. He knew he had done wrong, but he hardened his heart and rode on, caring little for the pain he had caused.

When they reached the shore at Idzu, his men went looking for boats to cross the straits to Kadzusa, but there were hardly enough for all the soldiers. The prince stood on the beach and, proud of his strength, scoffed at them. “This isn’t the sea! It’s only a brook! Why do you need so many boats? I could jump across it if I wanted to.”

When at last they had all boarded and were well out in the straits, the sky suddenly darkened and a great storm broke. The waves rose as high as mountains, the wind howled, lightning flashed and thunder rolled, and the boat carrying Ototachibana, the prince and his men was tossed from one huge wave to the next until every moment seemed their last. For Rin Jin, the Dragon King of the Sea, had heard Yamato Take’s mockery and had raised the storm in anger, to show the scoffing prince how terrible the sea could be, though it might look like a brook.

The frightened sailors lowered the sails, struggled with the rudder and worked desperately to save their lives, but it was no use. The storm only grew wilder, and everyone gave up hope. Then faithful Ototachibana rose. Forgetting all the grief her husband had caused her, forgetting even that he had grown tired of her, she thought only of saving him, and she resolved to give her own life for his if she could.

As the waves broke over the boat and the wind raged around them, she stood up and said, “Surely all this has happened because the prince has angered Rin Jin, the god of the sea, with his jesting. If so, I, Ototachibana, will calm the anger of the sea god, who wants nothing less than my husband’s life!” Then she spoke to the sea itself. “I will take the place of His Augustness, Yamato Take. I will throw myself into your offended depths and give my life for his. So hear me, and carry him safely to the shore of Kadzusa.”

With these words she leaped into the raging sea, and the waves swept her away out of sight. Strange to say, the storm stopped at once, and the sea became as calm and smooth as the mats the astonished people in the boat were sitting on. The sea gods were satisfied, the sky cleared and the sun shone as on a summer’s day.

Yamato Take soon reached the far shore and landed safely, just as his wife had prayed. His skill in war was marvelous, and after a time he completed the eastern campaign as his father had ordered.

He knew that he owed his safe landing entirely to his faithful wife, who had given her life so willingly and lovingly when he was in the greatest danger. His heart softened at the memory of her, and he never let her slip from his thoughts even for a moment. Too late he had learned to value her goodness and the greatness of her love.

On his way home he came to the high pass of Usui Toge and stood gazing at the wonderful view below. From that great height the whole country lay spread out before him, mountains and plains and forests, with rivers winding through the land like silver ribbons, and far away the sea shimmered like a glowing mist where Ototachibana had given her life for him. Turning toward it, he stretched out his arms, and thinking of the love he had scorned and his unfaithfulness to her, he burst out in a bitter, grieving cry: “Azuma, Azuma, Ya!” which means “Oh, my wife, my wife!” Ozaki connects that cry with the name Azuma and with the remembered place of Ototachibana’s death. These are the tale’s commemorative associations, not a verified account of the origin of a place-name. The prince’s regret comes too late to restore her life.

Yamato Take had now carried out all his father’s orders. He had subdued every rebel and cleared the land of robbers and troublemakers, and his fame was great, for no one in the country could stand against him, so strong was he in battle and so wise in council.

He was about to go straight home by the road he had come when it occurred to him that another route would be more interesting. So he passed through the province of Owari and came to the province of Omi.

In Omi he found the people in great fear and distress. As he went along he saw signs of mourning in many houses and heard loud weeping. When he asked why, he was told that a terrible monster had appeared in the mountains and came down every day to raid the villages, devouring anyone it could catch. Many homes had been left empty, the men were afraid to go out to work in the fields, and the women dared not go down to the rivers to wash their rice.

When Yamato Take heard this, his anger flared. “From the western tip of Kiushiu to the eastern corner of Yezo I have subdued all the King’s enemies,” he said fiercely. “No one dares break the law or rebel against the King. It is a wonder indeed that here, so close to the capital, a wicked monster has dared to settle down and terrify the King’s subjects. It will not enjoy devouring innocent people much longer. I will go and kill it at once.”

He set out for Mount Ibuki, where the monster was said to live. He had climbed a good way when suddenly, at a bend in the path, a monstrous serpent rose up in front of him and blocked the way.

“This must be the monster,” said the prince. “I don’t need my sword for a snake. I can kill it with my bare hands.”

He leaped on the serpent and wrestled with it, and before long his tremendous strength won, and the serpent lay dead at his feet. Then a sudden darkness fell over the mountain and rain began to pour down, so that in the gloom the prince could hardly tell which way to go. But soon, as he felt his way down the pass, the weather cleared, and the brave hero made his way quickly down the mountain.

When he reached the bottom he began to feel ill, with burning pains in his feet, and he knew the serpent had poisoned him. He suffered so much that he could hardly move, let alone walk, so he had himself carried to a place in the mountains famous for its hot mineral springs, which bubbled up out of the earth almost boiling from the volcanic fires below.

Yamato Take bathed in these waters every day, and little by little his strength came back and the pains left him, until one day he found to his great joy that he was completely well. Then he hurried to the temples of Ise, where he had prayed at the start of this long campaign.

His aunt, the priestess of the shrine, who had blessed him when he set out, came out to welcome him. He told her of all the dangers he had faced and how wonderfully his life had been saved through them all. She praised his courage and his skill as a warrior, and then, putting on her most magnificent robes, she gave thanks to their ancestress, the Sun Goddess Amaterasu, whose protection they both believed had kept the prince safe.

Where this story comes from

“The Story of Prince Yamato Take” is the eighteenth tale in Yei Theodora Ozaki’s Japanese Fairy Tales. Ozaki begins with the three sacred treasures of the Imperial House, the Mirror of Yata, the Jewel of Yasakami and the Sword of Murakumo, and tells the story to explain how the sword came to be called Kusanagi, the Grass-Cleaving Sword.

She links places in the tale to her own day: Yaidzu, a spot on the Tokaido railway, and Azuma, a district of Tokio named after the prince’s cry for his lost wife. This retelling retains the battles, deaths and Ototachibana’s drowning, while reducing some graphic detail. Ozaki’s narrator celebrates imperial conquest and identifies the eastern adversaries as Ainu. That framing should not be mistaken for an account of Ainu history. The National Ainu Museum presents the Ainu as an Indigenous people with their own language, culture and history; it offers a better starting point for learning about that living culture.

Read the original: Japanese Fairy Tales (Project Gutenberg)

Reading guidance: older readers. This version includes assassination, war, marital cruelty and a wife’s deliberate death by drowning to save her husband. Her act should not be presented to children as a duty or an ideal of love.

Heroic skill and failures of care

The prince succeeds when he sees how others can be deceived: the robe, the exchanged sword and the burning plain each turn on disguise or a trap. Yet the narration praises his tricks while condemning an enemy’s deception. Reading the paired scenes together lets us ask how much the judgment depends on who is telling the story.

His aunt’s gifts and his wife’s help repeatedly sustain him. He recognizes the sword’s power quickly, but values Ototachibana’s loyalty only after her death. That contrast unsettles the heroic praise. A successful campaign does not repair his mistreatment of her, and her loss is not evidence that a partner ought to endure neglect or die to redeem another person.

Choose one victory and one scene with Ototachibana. List what the prince does, what another person contributes, and whose suffering the narrator emphasizes. Rewrite a paragraph from that other person’s viewpoint without changing the events. How does the description of a hero change?

Think about it

• How did the prince use cleverness instead of strength to defeat the bandits?
• How did his aunt’s gifts save him on the burning plain?
• What did Princess Ototachibana do for her husband, and how did he feel about it afterward?

More stories like this

• The Adventures of Kintaro, the Golden Boy — another strong young Japanese hero
• The Ogre of Rashomon — a brave warrior faces a monster near the capital
• My Lord Bag of Rice — a Japanese hero who slays a giant creature on a mountain