'THE STORY OF PRINCE YAMATO TAKE' JAPNESE BED TIME STORY

THE STORY OF PRINCE YAMATO TAKE


The insignia of the great Japanese Empire is composed of three
treasures which have been considered sacred, and guarded with
jealous care from time immemorial. These are the Yatano-no-Kagami or
the Mirror of Yata, the Yasakami-no-Magatama or the Jewel of
Yasakami, and the Murakumo-no-Tsurugi or the Sword of Murakumo.

Of these three treasures of the Empire, the sword of Murakumo,
afterwards known as Kusanagi-no-Tsrugugi, or the grass-cleaving
sword, is considered the most precious and most highly to be
honored, for it is the symbol of strength to this nation of warriors
and the talisman of invincibility for the Emperor, while he holds it
sacred in the shrine of his ancestors.

Nearly two thousand years ago this sword was kept at the shrines of
Ite, the temples dedicated to the worship of Amaterasu, the great
and beautiful Sun Goddess from whom the Japanese Emperors are said
to be descended.

There is a story of knightly adventure and daring which explains why
the name of the sword was changed from that of Murakumo to Kasanagi,
which means grass clearing.

Once, many, many years ago, there was born a son to the Emperor
Keiko, the twelfth in descent from the great Jimmu, the founder of
the Japanese dynasty. This Prince was the second son of the Emperor
Keiko, and he was named Yamato. From his childhood he proved himself
to be of remarkable strength, wisdom and courage, and his father
noticed with pride that he gave promise of great things, and he
loved him even more than he did his elder son.

Now when Prince Yamato had grown to manhood (in the olden days of
Japanese history, a boy was considered to have reached man's estate
at the early age of sixteen) the realm was much troubled by a band
of outlaws whose chiefs were two brothers, Kumaso and Takeru. These
rebels seemed to delight in rebelling against the King, in breaking
the laws and defying all authority.

At last King Keiko ordered his younger son Prince Yamato to subdue
the brigands and, if possible, to rid the land of their evil lives.
Prince Yamato was only sixteen years of age, he had but reached his
manhood according to the law, yet though he was such a youth in
years he possessed the dauntless spirit of a warrior of fuller age
and knew not what fear was. Even then there was no man who could
rival him for courage and bold deeds, and he received his father's
command with great joy.

He at once made ready to start, and great was the stir in the
precincts of the Palace as he and his trusty followers gathered
together and prepared for the expedition, and polished up their
armor and donned it. Before he left his father's Court he went to
pray at the shrine of Ise and to take leave of his aunt the Princess
Yamato, for his heart was somewhat heavy at the thought of the
dangers he had to face, and he felt that he needed the protection of
his ancestress, Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess. The Princess his aunt
came out to give him glad welcome, and congratulated him on being
trusted with so great a mission by his father the King. She then
gave him one of her gorgeous robes as a keepsake to go with him and
to bring him good luck, saying that it would surely be of service to
him on this adventure. She then wished him all success in his
undertaking and bade him good speed.

The young Prince bowed low before his aunt, and received her
gracious gift with much pleasure and many respectful bows.

"I will now set out," said the Prince, and returning to the Palace
he put himself at the head of his troops. Thus cheered by his aunt's
blessing, he felt ready for all that might befall, and marching
through the land he went down to the Southern Island of Kiushiu, the
home of the brigands.

Before many days had passed he reached the Southern Island, and then
slowly but surely made his way to the head-quarters of the chiefs
Kumaso and Takeru. He now met with great difficulties, for he found
the country exceedingly wild and rough. The mountains were high and
steep, the valleys dark and deep, and huge trees and bowlders of
rock blocked up the road and stopped the progress of his army. It
was all but impossible to go on.

Though the Prince was but a youth he had the wisdom of years, and,
seeing that it was vain to try and lead his men further, he said to
himself:

"To attempt to fight a battle in this impassable country unknown to
my men only makes my task harder. We cannot clear the roads and
fight as well. It is wiser for me to resort to stratagem and come
upon my enemies unawares. In that way I may be able to kill them
without much exertion."

So he now bade his army halt by the way. His wife, the Princess
Ototachibana, had accompanied him, and he bade her bring him the
robe his aunt the priestess of Ise had given him, and to help him
attire himself as a woman. With her help he put on the robe, and let
his hair down till it flowed over his shoulders. Ototachibana then
brought him her comb, which he put in his black tresses, and then
adorned himself with strings of strange jewels just as you see in
the picture. When he had finished his unusual toilet, Ototachibana
brought him her mirror. He smiled as he gazed at himself--the
disguise was so perfect.

He hardly knew himself, so changed was he. All traces of the warrior
had disappeared, and in the shining surface only a beautiful lady
looked back at him.

Thus completely disguised, he set out for the enemy's camp alone. In
the folds of his silk gown, next his strong heart, was hidden a
sharp dagger.

The two chiefs Kumaso and Takeru wore sitting in their tent, resting
in the cool of the evening, when the Prince approached. They were
talking of the news which had recently been carried to them, that
the King's son had entered their country with a large army
determined to exterminate their band. They had both heard of the
young warrior's renown, and for the first time in their wicked lives
they felt afraid. In a pause in their talk they happened to look up,
and saw through the door of the tent a beautiful woman robed in
sumptuous garments coming towards them. Like an apparition of
loveliness she appeared in the soft twilight. Little did they dream
that it was their enemy whose coming they so dreaded who now stood
before them in this disguise.

"What a beautiful woman! Where has she come from?" said the
astonished Kumaso, forgetting war and council and everything as he
looked at the gentle intruder.

He beckoned to the disguised Prince and bade him sit down and serve
them with wine. Yamato Take felt his heart swell with a fierce glee
for he now knew that his plan would succeed. However, he dissembled
cleverly, and putting on a sweet air of shyness he approached the
rebel chief with slow steps and eyes glancing like a frightened
deer. Charmed to distraction by the girl's loveliness Kumaso drank
cup after cup of wine for the pleasure of seeing her pour it out for
him, till at last he was quite overcome with the quantity he had
drunk.

This was the moment for which the brave Prince had been waiting.
Flinging down the wine jar, he seized the tipsy and astonished
Kumaso and quickly stabbed him to death with the dagger which he had
secretly carried hidden in his breast.

Takeru, the brigand's brother, was terror-struck as soon as he saw
what was happening and tried to escape, but Prince Yamato was too
quick for him. Ere he could reach the tent door the Prince was at
his heel, his garments were clutched by a hand of iron, and a dagger
flashed before his eyes and he lay stabbed to the earth, dying but
not yet dead.

"Wait one moment!" gasped the brigand painfully, and he seized the
Prince's hand.

Yamato relaxed his hold somewhat and said.

"Why should I pause, thou villain?"

The brigand raised himself fearfully and said:

"Tell me from whence you come, and whom I have the honor of
addressing? Hitherto I believed that my dead brother and I were the
strongest men in the land, and that there was no one who could
overcome us. Alone you have ventured into our stronghold, alone you
have attacked and killed us! Surely you are more than mortal?"

Then the young Prince answered with a proud smile:--"I am the son of
the King and my name is Yamato, and I have been sent by my father as
the avenger of evil to bring death to all rebels! No longer shall
robbery and murder hold my people in terror!" and he held the dagger
dripping red above the rebel's head.

"Ah," gasped the dying man with a great effort, "I have often heard
of you. You are indeed a strong man to have so easily overcome us.
Allow me to give you a new name. From henceforth you shall be known
as Yamato Take. Our title I bequeath to you as the bravest man in
Yamato."

And with these noble words, Takeru fell back and died.

The Prince having thus successfully put an end to his father's
enemies in the world, was prepared to return to the capital. On the
way back he passed through the province of Idum. Here he met with
another outlaw named Idzumo Takeru who he knew had done much harm in
the land. He again resorted to stratagem, and feigned friendship
with the rebel under an assumed name. Having done this he made a
sword of wood and jammed it tightly in the shaft of his own strong
sword. This he purposedly buckled to his side and wore on every
occasion when he expected to meet the third robber Takeru,

He now invited Takeru to the bank of the River Hinokawa, and
persuaded him to try a swim with him in the cool refreshing waters
of the river.

As it was a hot summer's day, the rebel was nothing loath to take a
plunge in the river, while his enemy was still swimming down the
stream the Prince turned back and landed with all possible haste.
Unperceived, he managed to change swords, putting his wooden one in
place of the keen steel sword of Takeru.

Knowing nothing of this, the brigand came up to the bank shortly. As
soon as he had landed and donned his clothes, the Prince came
forward and asked him to cross swords with him to prove his skill,
saying:

"Let us two prove which is the better swordsman of the two!"

The robber agreed with delight, feeling certain of victory, for he
was famous as a fencer in his province and he did not know who his
adversary was. He seized quickly what he thought was his sword and
stood on guard to defend himself. Alas! for the rebel the sword was
the wooden one of the young Prince and in vain Takeru tried to
unsheathe it--it was jammed fast, not all his exerted strength could
move it. Even if his efforts had been successful the sword would
have been of no use to him for it was of wood. Yamato Take saw that
his enemy was in his power, and swinging high the sword he had taken
from Takeru he brought it down with great might and dexterity and
cut off the robber's head.

In this way, sometimes by using his wisdom and sometimes by using
his bodily strength, and at other times by resorting to craftiness,
which was as much esteemed in those days as it is despised in these,
he prevailed against all the King's foes one by one, and brought
peace and rest to the land and the people.

When he returned to the capital the King praised him for his brave
deeds, and held a feast in the Palace in honor of his safe coming
home and presented him with many rare gifts. From this time forth
the King loved him more than ever and would not let Yamato Take go
from his side, for he said that his son was now as precious to him
as one of his arms.

But the Prince was not allowed to live an idle life long. When he
was about thirty years old, news was brought that the Ainu race, the
aborigines of the islands of Japan, who had been conquered and
pushed northwards by the Japanese, had rebelled in the Eastern
provinces, and leaving the vicinity which had been allotted to them
were causing great trouble in the land. The King decided that it was
necessary to send an army to do battle with them and bring them to
reason. But who was to lead the men?

Prince Yamato Take at once offered to go and bring the newly arisen
rebels into subjection. Now as the King loved the Prince dearly, and
could not bear to have him go out of his sight even for the length
of one day, he was of course very loath to send him on his dangerous
expedition. But in the whole army there was no warrior so strong or
so brave as the Prince his son, so that His Majesty, unable to do
otherwise, reluctantly complied with Yamato's wish.

When the time came for the Prince to start, the King gave him a
spear called the Eight-Arms-Length-Spear of the Holly Tree (the
handle was probably made from the wood of the holly tree), and
ordered him to set out to subjugate the Eastern Barbarians as the
Ainu were then called.

The Eight-Arms-Length-Spear of the Holly Tree of those old days, was
prized by warriors just as much as the Standard or Banner is valued
by a regiment in these modern days, when given by the King to his
soldiers on the occasion of setting out for war.

The Prince respectfully and with great reverence received the King's
spear, and leaving the capital, marched with his army to the East.
On his way he visited first of all the temples of Ise for worship,
and his aunt the Princess of Yamato and High Priestess came out to
greet him. She it was who had given him her robe which had proved
such a boon to him before in helping him to overcome and slay the
brigands of the West.

He told her all that had happened to him, and of the great part her
keepsake had played in the success of his previous undertaking, and
thanked her very heartily. When she heard that he was starting out
once again to do battle with his father's enemies, she went into the
temple, and reappeared bearing a sword and a beautiful bag which she
had made herself, and which was full of flints, which in those times
people used instead of matches for making fire. These she presented
to him as a parting gift.

The sword was the sword of Murakumo, one of the three sacred
treasures which comprise the insignia of the Imperial House of
Japan. No more auspicious talisman of luck and success could she
have given her nephew, and she bade him use it in the hour of his
greatest need.

Yamato Take now bade farewell to his aunt, and once more placing
himself at the head of his men he marched to the farthest East
through the province of Owari, and then he reached the province of
Suruga. Here the governor welcomed the Prince right heartily and
entertained him royally with many feasts. When these were over, the
governor told his guest that his country was famous for its fine
deer, and proposed a deer hunt for the Prince's amusement. The
Prince was utterly deceived by the cordiality of his host, which was
all feigned, and gladly consented to join in the hunt.

The governor then led the Prince to a wild and extensive plain where
the grass grew high and in great abundance. Quite ignorant that the
governor had laid a trap for him with the desire to compass his
death, the Prince began to ride hard and hunt down the deer, when
all of a sudden to his amazement he saw flames and smoke bursting
out from the bush in front of him. Realizing his danger he tried to
retreat, but no sooner did he turn his horse in the opposite
direction than he saw that even there the prairie was on fire. At
the same time the grass on his left and right burst into flames, and
these began to spread swiftly towards him on all sides. He looked
round for a chance of escape. There was none. He was surrounded by
fire.

"This deer hunt was then only a cunning trick of the enemy!" said
the Prince, looking round on the flames and the smoke that crackled
and rolled in towards him on every side. "What a fool I was to be
lured into this trap like a wild beast!" and he ground his teeth
with rage as he thought of the governor's smiling treachery.

Dangerous as was his situation now, the Prince was not in the least
confounded. In his dire extremity he remembered the gifts his aunt
had given him when they parted, and it seemed to him as if she must,
with prophetic foresight, have divined this hour of need. He coolly
opened the flint-bag that his aunt had given him and set fire to the
grass near him. Then drawing the sword of Murakumo from its sheath
he set to work to cut down the grass on either side of him with all
speed. He determined to die, if that were necessary, fighting for
his life and not standing still waiting for death to come to him.

Strange to say the wind began to change and to blow from the
opposite direction, and the fiercest portion of the burning bush
which had hitherto threatened to come upon him was now blown right
away from him, and the Prince, without even a scratch on his body or
a single hair burned, lived to tell the tale of his wonderful
escape, while the wind rising to a gale overtook the governor, and
he was burned to death in the flames he had set alight to kill
Yamato Take.

Now the Prince ascribed his escape entirely to the virtue of the
sword of Murakumo, and to the protection of Amaterasu, the Sun
Goddess of Ise, who controls the wind and all the elements and
insures the safety of all who pray to her in the hour of danger.
Lifting the precious sword he raised it above his head many times in
token of his great respect, and as he did this he re-named it
Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi or the Grass-Cleaving Sword, and the place where
he set fire to the grass round him and escaped from death in the
burning prairie, he called Yaidzu. To this day there is a spot along
the great Tokaido railway named Yaidzu, which is said to be the very
place where this thrilling event took place.

Thus did the brave Prince Yamato Take escape out of the snare laid
for him by his enemy. He was full of resource and courage, and
finally outwitted and subdued all his foes. Leaving Yaidzu he
marched eastward, and came to the shore at Idzu from whence he
wished to cross to Kadzusa.

In these dangers and adventures he had been followed by his faithful
loving wife the Princess Ototachibana. For his sake she counted the
weariness of the long journeys and the dangers of war as nothing,
and her love for her warrior husband was so great that she felt well
repaid for all her wanderings if she could but hand him his sword
when he sallied forth to battle, or minister to his wants when he
returned weary to the camp.

But the heart of the Prince was full of war and conquest and he
cared little for the faithful Ototachibana. From long exposure in
traveling, and from care and grief at her lord's coldness to her,
her beauty had faded, and her ivory skin was burnt brown by the sun,
and the Prince told her one day that her place was in the Palace
behind the screens at home and not with him upon the warpath. But in
spite of rebuffs and indifference on her husband's part,
Ototachibana could not find it in her heart to leave him. But
perhaps it would have been better for her if she had done so, for on
the way to Idzu, when they came to Owari, her heart was well-nigh
broken.

Here dwelt in a Palace shaded by pine-trees and approached by
imposing gates, the Princess Miyadzu, beautiful as the cherry
blossom in the blushing dawn of a spring morning. Her garments were
dainty and bright, and her skin was white as snow, for she had never
known what it was to be weary along the path of duty or to walk in
the heat of a summer's sun. And the Prince was ashamed of his
sunburnt wife in her travel-stained garments, and bade her remain
behind while he went to visit the Princess Miyadzu. Day after day he
spent hours in the gardens and the Palace of his new friend,
thinking only of his pleasure, and caring little for his poor wife
who remained behind to weep in the tent at the misery which had come
into her life. Yet she was so faithful a wife, and her character so
patient, that she never allowed a reproach to escape her lips, or a
frown to mar the sweet sadness of her face, and she was ever ready
with a smile to welcome her husband back or usher him forth wherever
he went.

At last the day came when the Prince Yamato Take must depart for
Idzu and cross over the sea to Kadzusa, and he bade his wife follow
in his retinue as an attendant while he went to take a ceremonious
farewell of the Princess Miyadzu. She came out to greet him dressed
in gorgeous robes, and she seemed more beautiful than ever, and when
Yamato Take saw her he forgot his wife, his duty, and everything
except the joy of the idle present, and swore that he would return
to Owari and marry her when the war was over. And as he looked up
when he had said these words he met the large almond eyes of
Ototachibana fixed full upon him in unspeakable sadness and wonder,
and he knew that he had done wrong, hut he hardened his heart and
rode on, caring little for the pain he had caused her.

When they reached the seashore at Idzu his men sought for boats in
which to cross the straits to Kadzusa, but it was difficult to find
boats enough to allow all the soldiers to embark. Then the Prince
stood on the beach, and in the pride of his strength he scoffed and
said:

"This is not the sea! This is only a brook! Why do you men want so
many boats? I could jump this if I would."

When at last they had all embarked and were fairly on their way
across the straits, the sky suddenly clouded and a great storm
arose. The waves rose mountains high, the wind howled, the lightning
flashed and the thunder rolled, and the boat which held Ototachibana
and the Prince and his men was tossed from crest to crest of the
rolling waves, till it seemed that every moment must be their last
and that they must all be swallowed up in the angry sea. For Kin
Jin. the Dragon King of the Sea, had heard Yamato Take jeer, and had
raised this terrible storm in anger, to show the scoffing Prince how
awful the sea could be though it did but look like a brook.

The terrified crew lowered the sails and looked after the rudder,
and worked for their dear lives' sake, but all in vain--the storm
only seemed to increase in violence, and all gave themselves up for
lost. Then the faithful Ototachibana rose, and forgetting all the
grief that her husband had caused her, forgetting even that he had
wearied of her, in the one great desire of her love to save him, she
determined to sacrifice her life to rescue him from death if it were
possible.

While the waves dashed over the ship and the wind whirled round them
in fury she stood up and said:

"Surely all this has come because the Prince has angered Rin Jin,
the God of the Sea, by his jesting. If so, I, Ototachibana, will
appease the wrath of the Sea God who desires nothing less than my
husband's life!"

Then addressing the sea she said:

"I will take the place of His Augustness, Yamato Take. I will now
cast myself into your outraged depths, giving my life for his.
Therefore hear me and bring him safely to the shore of Kadzusa."

With these words she leaped quickly into the boisterous sea, and the
waves soon whirled her away and she was lost to sight. Strange to
say, the storm ceased at once, and the sea became as calm and smooth
as the matting on which the astonished onlookers were sitting. The
gods of the sea were now appeased, and the weather cleared and the
sun shone as on a summer's day.

Yamato Take soon reached the opposite shore and landed safely, even
as his wife Ototachibana had prayed. His prowess in war was
marvelous, and he succeeded after some time in conquering the
Eastern Barbarians, the Ainu.

He ascribed his safe landing wholly to the faithfulness of his wife,
who had so willingly and lovingly sacrificed herself in the hour of
his utmost peril. His heart was softened at the remembrance of her,
and he never allowed her to pass from his thoughts even for a
moment. Too late had he learned to esteem the goodness of her heart
and the greatness of her love for him.

As he was returning on his homeward way he came to the high pass of
the Usui Toge, and here he stood and gazed at the wonderful prospect
beneath him. The country, from this great elevation, all lay open to
his sight, a vast panorama of mountain and plain and forest, with
rivers winding like silver ribbons through the land; then far off he
saw the distant sea, which shimmered like a luminous mist in the
great distance, where Ototachibana had given her life for him, and
as he turned towards it he stretched out his arms, and thinking of
her love which he had scorned and his faithlessness to her, his
heart burst out into a sorrowful and bitter cry:

"Azuma, Azuma, Ya!" (Oh! my wife, my wife!) And to this day there is
a district in Tokio called Azuma, which commemorates the words of
Prince Yamato Take, and the place where his faithful wife leapt into
the sea to save him is still pointed out. So, though in life the
Princess Ototachibana was unhappy, history keeps her memory green,
and the story of her unselfishness and heroic death will never pass
away.

Yamato Take had now fulfilled all his father's orders, he had
subdued all rebels, and rid the land of all robbers and enemies to
the peace, and his renown was great, for in the whole land there was
no one who could stand up against him, he was so strong in battle
and wise in council.

He was about to return straight for home by the way he had come,
when the thought struck him that he would find it more interesting
to take another route, so he passed through the province of Owari
and came to the province of Omi.

When the Prince reached Omi he found the people in a state of great
excitement and fear. In many houses as he passed along he saw the
signs of mourning and heard loud lamentations. On inquiring the
cause of this he was told that a terrible monster had appeared in
the mountains, who daily came down from thence and made raids on the
villages, devouring whoever he could seize. Many homes had been made
desolate and the men were afraid to go out to their daily work in
the fields, or the women to go to the rivers to wash their rice.

When Yamato Take heard this his wrath was kindled, and he said
fiercely:

"From the western end of Kiushiu to the eastern corner of Yezo I
have subdued all the King's enemies--there is no one who dares to
break the laws or to rebel against the King. It. is indeed a matter
for wonder that here in this place, so near the capital, a wicked
monster has dared to take up his abode and be the terror of the
King's subjects. Not long shall it find pleasure in devouring
innocent folk. I will start out and kill it at once."

With these words he set out for the Ibuki Mountain, where the
monster was said to live. He climbed up a good distance, when all of
a sudden, at a winding in the path, a monster serpent appeared
before him and stopped the way.

"This must be the monster," said the Prince; "I do not need my sword
for a serpent. I can kill him with my hands."

He thereupon sprang upon the serpent and tried to strangle it to
death with his bare arms. It was not long before his prodigious
strength gained the mastery and the serpent lay dead at his feet.
Now a sudden darkness came over the mountain and rain began to fall,
so that for the gloom and the rain the Prince could hardly see which
way to take. In a short time, however, while he was groping his way
down the pass, the weather cleared, and our brave hero was able to
make his way quickly down the mountain.

When be got back he began to feel ill and to have burning pains in
his feet, so he knew that the serpent had poisoned him. So great was
his suffering that he could hardly move, much less walk, so he had
himself carried to a place in the mountains famous for its hot
mineral springs, which rose bubbling out of the earth, and almost
boiling from the volcanic fires beneath.

Yamato Take bathed daily in these waters, and gradually he felt his
strength come again, and the pains left him, till at last one day he
found with great joy that he was quite recovered. He now hastened to
the temples of Ise, where you will remember that he prayed before
undertaking this long expedition. His aunt, priestess of the shrine,
who had blessed him on his setting out, now came to welcome him
back. He told her of the many dangers he had encountered and of how
marvelously his life had been preserved through all--and she praised
his courage and his warrior's prowess, and then putting on her most
magnificent robes she returned thanks to their ancestress the Sun
Goddess Amaterasu, to whose protection they both ascribed the
Prince's wonderful preservation.

Here ends the story of Prince Yamato Take of Japan.