Kojiki Book II Summary
The Kojiki ("Record of Ancient Matters"), compiled in 712, is the oldest surviving book of history in Japan. It is divided into three books. Book II picks up after the Age of the Gods and tells the stories of the rulers from Emperor Jimmu, the first emperor, to around the time of Emperor Ojin, the fifteenth. Kings and princes descended from the gods fight, fall in love, suffer betrayal, and build a nation — a true Age of Heroes.
The story begins when Kamuyamato-Iwarebiko (later Emperor Jimmu) leaves Hyuga with his elder brother Itsuse and heads east toward the land of Yamato. He loses his brother in the battle at Shirakata Bay, is guided through the mountains of Kumano by Yatagarasu, the Great Crow, and at last comes to rule from Yamato. After his death, his half-brother Tagishimimi rebels and plots to kill his younger brothers.
Next come the reign of Emperor Sujin, when the god of Mount Miwa brings an end to a deadly plague, and the reign of Emperor Suinin, with the story of Sahobime, torn between her brother and her husband, and of Homuchiwake, a prince who could not speak.
Then Yamato Takeru, the greatest hero of Japanese mythology, takes the stage. Disguised as a young girl, he slays the Kumaso Takeru brothers; with the sword Kusanagi he escapes a blazing grass fire and brings the eastern lands under control. But he underestimates the god of Mount Ibuki, loses his strength, and flies away as a great white bird. The book closes with Empress Jingu, who crosses the sea at a god's command and then protects her newborn son (later Emperor Ojin) by crushing the rebellion of Prince Oshikuma.
Story summary
Episode 1Beaten by the Sun in Their Eyes — Emperor Jimmu's Eastern Expedition
In the mangaBrothers Iwarebiko and Itsuse set out east to find a land they can rule in peace. After a journey of many years, they lose their first great battle, and Itsuse is struck in the hand by an arrow. His final plan is simple: fight with the sun at your back. This is the story of how the younger brother carries it on.
In the original mythThe Kojiki (Records of Ancient Matters), compiled by Ō no Yasumaro and presented in 712, is Japan's oldest surviving book. Its first volume tells of the age of the gods. The second volume opens with the man later remembered as Emperor Jimmu, the legendary first emperor of Japan. At this point, though, he is not yet an emperor. He is Kamu-Yamato-Iwarebiko, a descendant of the sun goddess Amaterasu, living at the…
Episode 2Japan's Soccer Crow Once Led a Lost King — Yatagarasu, the Divine Crow
In the mangaAfter losing his brother Itsuse, Iwarebiko lands at Kumano, where a mysterious great bear appears and every last one of his warriors falls asleep. A sword sent down from heaven and Yatagarasu, the Great Crow, show him the way forward. Along the road he meets tailed earthly gods, and in Uda a man who set a deadly trap ends up caught in it himself.
In the original mythThis episode comes from the Kojiki ("Record of Ancient Matters"), Japan's oldest surviving chronicle, which O no Yasumaro presented to the court in 712. Its second book follows Iwarebiko, the leader of a campaign heading east, who is later remembered as Emperor Jimmu, traditionally counted as Japan's first emperor. His elder brother Itsuse has just died. Iwarebiko sails around the coast and lands at the village of…
Episode 3A Love Story That Began With “Why Those Eyes?” — The Kume Songs and Princess Isukeyori
In the mangaHaving lost his brother on the road to Yamato, Iwarebiko clears his way with song: a feast-song signal in a mountain cave, a dawn assault on the man who shot his brother, and a call that brings food to his starving soldiers. Now king of the land, the young man gets help from his comrade-in-arms Okume's answering verse and meets a maiden with an unflinching gaze.
In the original mythThis episode comes from the middle book of the Kojiki, Japan's oldest surviving chronicle, compiled by Ō no Yasumaro in 712. Its hero is Kamu-Yamato-Iwarebiko, the prince later remembered as Emperor Jimmu, Japan's legendary first emperor. He is marching east toward Yamato, the region around present-day Nara. His elder brother Itsuse has already died from an arrow wound received in a battle against a local chieftain…
Episode 4Mother's Song Was a Murder Warning — The Rebellion of Tagishimimi
In the mangaAfter Kamuyamato-Iwarebiko, the first king, dies, his eldest son Tagishimimi, a half brother born in a far southern land, plots to kill his three younger brothers. Their mother, Isukeyorihime, hides a warning in a song about the landscape. The youngest, Kamununakawamimi, decodes it. When his brother Kamuyaimimi freezes with the sword raised, Kamununakawamimi takes the blade from his hands.
In the original mythThis episode comes from the middle book of the Kojiki ("Record of Ancient Matters"), Japan's oldest surviving chronicle, compiled by Ō no Yasumaro and presented to the court in 712 CE. It closes the account of Kamuyamato-Iwarebiko, the figure later known as Emperor Jimmu, Japan's legendary first emperor, and leads straight into the reign of his successor.
Episode 5I Sewed a Thread to My Secret Lover — The Legend of Mount Miwa
In the mangaA plague has nearly emptied the land. Emperor Sujin is told in a dream to find a man named Otataneko, though nobody has ever heard of him. When he is found at last, Otataneko tells an old family story. Long ago, a young woman named Ikutamayoribime was visited every night by a handsome stranger who would not give his name. She stitched a single hemp thread into his robe. In the morning, it ran out through the keyhole of her locked door, and at its end waited the very god the emperor met in his dream.
In the original mythThe Kojiki, compiled in 712, is the oldest surviving book of Japanese history and myth. Its second volume moves from the age of the gods to the age of early rulers and heroes. In the chapter on Emperor Sujin, a legendary early ruler, the story opens with disaster: epidemics broke out everywhere, and the people were close to dying out entirely. The text gives no further detail about the sickness, just that one stark…
Episode 6She Raised a Blade Over Her Sleeping King — Sahobiko and Sahobime
In the manga"Who do you love more, your husband or your brother?" Sahobime's brother asks her this, and she is the Emperor's wife. Three times she raises a blade over her sleeping husband, and three times she can't strike. Inside a burning fortress of rice she gives birth to a son. She sends the child to her husband and stays at her brother's side, choosing an answer that abandons neither of them.
In the original mythThe story of Sahobiko and Sahobime comes from the Kojiki ("Record of Ancient Matters"), Japan's oldest surviving chronicle, compiled in 712. It appears in the middle volume, in the section on Emperor Suinin, whose full name in the text is Ikume-iribiko-isachi. This is no longer the age of the creator gods. It is a story about human rulers, and it reads like a tragedy: a woman caught between the two men she loves.
Episode 7Chase the Swan Until the Prince Speaks — Prince Homuchiwake
In the mangaBorn inside a burning fortress, Prince Homuchiwake still has not spoken a word, even with a beard down to his chest. His father, Emperor Suinin, sends a hunter to chase a white swan to the ends of the land. But what finally wakes the prince's voice is the wish of a forgotten god in Izumo. This episode follows his first words, a night with a serpent princess, the death of a loyal servant who brought back fruit from the Everlasting Land, and the prince's vow to speak the words his father never heard.
In the original mythThe story of Prince Homuchiwake appears in Book II of the Kojiki (712), Japan's oldest surviving chronicle, in the chapters about Emperor Suinin. It begins in tragedy. Princess Sahobime, Suinin's consort, gave birth to the boy inside a burning rice-stockade fortress during her brother's rebellion. Before she died, she said he should be named Homuchiwake, a name linked to his birth in the fire, and she told the…
Episode 8Japan's Greatest Hero, Disguised as a Girl — Yamato Takeru and the Kumaso Brothers
In the mangaKojiki Book II, Episode 8. Prince Ousu carries out his father's order to the letter—and the terrified Emperor Keiko sends him off to the far west. Disguised as a girl in his aunt's robe, the boy slips into the Kumaso Takeru brothers' feast. The name his dying enemy gives him: Yamato Takeru.
In the original mythThe story comes from the Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters), Japan's oldest surviving chronicle, finished in 712. It appears in Book II, the middle volume, in the chapter on Emperor Keiko. The emperor notices that his elder son, Prince Ōusu, has stopped coming to the morning and evening meals. He tells the younger son, Prince Ousu, to go and gently persuade his brother.
Episode 9The Sword I Gave My Friend Was Wood — Yamato Takeru and Izumo Takeru
In the mangaOn his way home from the west, Ousu (Yamato Takeru) befriends the hero of Izumo, then kills him with a hollow wooden sword. Back in the capital, his father sends him straight off to conquer the east. In front of his aunt, the boy cries for the first time, and she gives him a real sword and a tightly tied pouch.
In the original mythThis episode comes from the Kojiki ("Record of Ancient Matters"), Japan's oldest surviving chronicle, compiled by O no Yasumaro and completed in 712. It belongs to the middle book, in the chapter on Emperor Keiko, and follows the young prince Ousu, who has just defeated the Kumaso warriors in the far west and received a new name from them: Yamato Takeru, "the Brave of Yamato."
Episode 10Open It Only When You're Desperate — Kusanagi, the Grass-Cutting Sword
In the mangaBefore heading east, Yamato Takeru receives a sword from his aunt Yamatohime, along with a small pouch she tells him to open only when he's in real trouble. In Owari, he and Miyazuhime promise to marry when he comes back. Then, in the land of Sagamu, the Chieftain lures him into a field with a story about a violent god and sets it on fire. With flames closing in on every side, what saves him is the gift in his aunt's pouch.
In the original mythThe Kojiki ("Record of Ancient Matters," compiled in 712) is Japan's oldest surviving chronicle. Its second book follows legendary emperors and their heroic sons, and the best known of those sons is Yamato Takeru, a prince of Emperor Keikō. His father has just sent him to subdue the unruly lands of the east. On his way he stops at the Ise shrine, where his aunt Yamatohime gives him two things: a sword, and a small…
Episode 11The Wife Who Laid Her Mats on the Storm — Ototachibana-hime and the Sea of Hashirimizu
In the mangaTrapped by a storm on the Hashirimizu Sea, Ototachibanahime steps down onto the waves so her husband Yamato Takeru can finish his mission. Holding back his grief, the young prince subdues the East, and on a mountain pass on the way home, he cries out three times: "Azuma haya!"
In the original mythThis episode comes from the middle volume of the Kojiki (Records of Ancient Matters, compiled in 712), in the chapter on Emperor Keikō. His son Yamato Takeru, a fierce young prince, has been ordered to travel east and bring rebellious gods and people under the court's control. After surviving a trap in the land of Sagamu, he tries to cross the Hashirimizu Sea, a strait usually identified with the narrow mouth of…
Episode 12The Invincible Boy Who Angered a Mountain — Yamato Takeru and Mount Ibuki
In the mangaHis eastern campaign over, Yamato Takeru returns to Owari and, as promised, exchanges songs with Miyazuhime and marries her. Leaving his sword in her keeping, he heads for Mount Ibuki barehanded—but one careless boast to a white boar, "I'll kill you on my way back," brings the fury of the mountain itself down on him. Weakened and stumbling, he sets out for home.
In the original mythThis story comes from the middle volume of the Kojiki, Japan's oldest surviving chronicle (compiled in 712), in the chapter on Emperor Keikō. His son Yamato Takeru, the warrior prince, is on his way home after subduing the eastern lands. He brings the god of the Shinano pass to submission (the text gives this just one sentence) and returns to Owari, in present-day Aichi, where Miyazuhime is waiting. Before heading…
Episode 13Home Was Just Over the Mountains — The Death of Yamato Takeru
In the mangaGravely ill, Yamato Takeru reaches the plain of Nobono. There he sings a farewell song to his homeland, Yamato, and entrusts his father's cord to his son before he dies. He then becomes a great white bird and flies away, and his family chases it across paddies, bamboo stubble, sea and rocky shore, singing as they go. This is the final chapter of Book II.
In the original mythYamato Takeru, a warrior prince and son of Emperor Keikō, is the great hero of the middle book of the Kojiki, Japan's oldest surviving chronicle (compiled in 712). After years of campaigns for his father in the west and the east, he falls ill after confronting the god of Mount Ibuki, who appeared to him as a white boar. On the road home his strength gives out. At one point he complains that his legs feel as if they…
Episode 14The Music Stopped, and the King Was Dead — Empress Jingū's Expedition to Silla
In the mangaKojiki series, Episode 14. A king who doubted the gods' words dies in the middle of playing his koto. "That voice came out of my mouth." Carrying both her guilt and her unborn child, the empress asks the gods again herself. Then she sets out to sea, trusting the fish to carry her fleet across the rough waves. *Based on myths written down some 1,300 years ago, not on historical fact.
In the original mythThis story comes from the middle volume of the Kojiki (Records of Ancient Matters), compiled by Ō no Yasumaro in 712. Emperor Chūai (Tarashi-naka-tsu-hiko), son of the hero Yamato Takeru, is staying at the Kashii palace in Tsukushi, in northern Kyushu, and plans to attack the Kumaso, a people of southern Kyushu. To ask the gods for guidance, he plays the koto, a long zither, while his chief minister Takeuchi no…
Episode 15Wait—Everyone Thinks I'm Dead? — The Revolt of Prince Oshikuma
In the mangaA mother spreads the rumor that her son is dead, then sails for the capital with the prince and her soldiers hidden aboard a funeral ship. A battle with his scheming half-brothers, a stunning reversal thanks to a bowstring hidden in General Topknot's hair, a lord and his loyal retainer vanishing into a lake, and a strange gift from the god of the northern shore—until the child everyone thought dead returns to his mother, and one day becomes king.
In the original mythThis story comes from the middle volume of the Kojiki, Japan's oldest surviving chronicle, which Ō no Yasumaro compiled in 712. It follows the death of Emperor Chūai. His chief consort, Okinagatarashihime (later known by the title Empress Jingū), is going back to Yamato, the heartland, with her young son, the crown prince. She doesn't trust the people at home, so she has a funeral ship made, puts the prince on it…