Ura Taiji Legend

Ura Taiji is a Kibi demon-quelling tale in which Kibitsuhiko-no-Mikoto subdues Ura, who held Kinojo Castle. Ura is depicted as a demon-deity over four meters tall with burning eyes and red hair and beard, sometimes recorded as a prince of Paekche. He built a stronghold in the Kibi mountains and threatened the surrounding population. Sent in the reign of Emperor Sujin as one of the four shogun, Kibitsuhiko-no-Mikoto exchanged arrows with Ura; their arrows struck mid-air and fell, and at last Kibitsuhiko cut him down. Ura's severed head went on groaning for years; it was buried beneath the cauldron of the Okamaden of Kibitsu Shrine, and from then on the rite of the Naruru-kama (singing cauldron) read fortunes from the cauldron's sound. The Kojiki, middle scroll, Emperor Korei segment (712 CE) records Kibitsuhiko's dispatch as one of the four shogun; the named Ura figure is recorded in the medieval Kibitsugu Engi and Bicchu no Kuni Jinja-ko. Kibitsu Shrine in Kibitsu, Kita Ward, Okayama (Bicchu first shrine), Kibitsuhiko Shrine in Ichinomiya (Bizen first shrine), the ancient mountain castle of Kinojo (Soja City), and Yaguhi-no-miya (Kita Ward, Okayama) form the related sites.