Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi Legend

The Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi legend traces a single sword across three regional cycles. In the Kojiki (712 CE) upper scroll and the Nihon Shoki (720 CE) age-of-the-gods section, Susanoo-no-Mikoto, having been expelled from Takamagahara, slays the eight-headed serpent Yamata-no-Orochi on the upper Hi River (modern Hii River, Shimane) and finds a sword in its tail. He presents it to Amaterasu-Omikami, who names it Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi. The sword is later granted to Ninigi-no-Mikoto at the heavenly descent and entrusted at Ise by Yamatohime-no-Mikoto. In the Yamato-takeru cycle, the prince uses it to cut back burning grass during a Sagami ambush, after which it is called Kusanagi. After his death the sword remains with his consort Miyazu-hime in Owari and is enshrined at Atsuta Jingu (Nagoya). Later loss-of-the-sword narratives appear in the Heike Monogatari account of Dan-no-ura.