Jinmu Tosei

The Jinmu Tosei narrative, in the central scroll of the Kojiki (712 CE) and the pre-accession and first-year sections of the Nihon Shoki (720 CE), follows Kamuyamato-Iwarebiko (later Emperor Jimmu) from the palace at Takachiho in Hyuga to enthronement at Kashihara in Yamato. With his elder brother Itsuse-no-Mikoto he crosses Tsukushi (Fukuoka), Aki (Hiroshima) and Kibi (Okayama). At Shirakata-no-Tsu in Naniwa, Itsuse is wounded resisting Nagasunehiko and dies at Ono-no-Minato in Kii. From Kumano (Wakayama), Takakuraji presents a sword and the three-legged crow Yatagarasu, sent by Takagi-no-Kami, guides the army through the mountains to Yamato. Jimmu defeats Eukashi at Uda, the eighty earth-spider men of Osaka, and Nagasunehiko in turn, then enthrones at Kashihara. The narrative welds the mythic origins of the imperial line to the historical seat at Yamato. Departure is recalled at Miyazaki Jingu (Miyazaki); Kashihara Jingu (Nara) was founded in 1890 as the enthronement site. Major commentary appears in Motoori Norinaga's Kojiki-den and in modern scholarship from Tsuda Sokichi onward.