Yamato Takeru is a legendary prince and Japanese folk hero, noted for his courage and ingenuity. His story appears in the semi-historical chronicles Kojiki and Nihon Shoki
The legendary son of the legendary 12th emperor Keikō, Yamato Takeru was supposedly responsible for expanding the territory of the Yamato court. Born Prince Ousu, he slew his elder brother Ōusu and his father, the emperor Keikō, feared his brutal temperament. The father plotted to have his son die in battle and sent him to Izumo Province then the land of Kumaso. He survived the Kumaso by cleverly disguising himself as a woman and, at a banquet in his honour, killing Kumaso warriors while they were drunk. The blue clothes he wears here are taken from prints of him in disguise taking down the Kumaso. He cut away the burning grass of a fire set by the Ainu tribesmen with the miraculous sword Kusanagi and escaped. His adventures ended on the plains of Tagi, where he was stricken with illness and, according to legend, changed into a white plover and disappeared from the world. His tomb at Ise is known as the Mausoleum of the White Plover.
The legendary son of the legendary 12th emperor Keikō, Yamato Takeru was supposedly responsible for expanding the territory of the Yamato court. Born Prince Ousu, he slew his elder brother Ōusu and his father, the emperor Keikō, feared his brutal temperament. The father plotted to have his son die in battle and sent him to Izumo Province then the land of Kumaso. He survived the Kumaso by cleverly disguising himself as a woman and, at a banquet in his honour, killing Kumaso warriors while they were drunk. The blue clothes he wears here are taken from prints of him in disguise taking down the Kumaso. He cut away the burning grass of a fire set by the Ainu tribesmen with the miraculous sword Kusanagi and escaped. His adventures ended on the plains of Tagi, where he was stricken with illness and, according to legend, changed into a white plover and disappeared from the world. His tomb at Ise is known as the Mausoleum of the White Plover.
