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Authors: Dorothy Hoobler
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That was the origin of the sacred jewel.
The kami decided that Susanoo must be punished for his actions, and banished him to Earth. They told him he must stay there until he atoned for the trouble he caused. He wandered through the world until he encountered an old couple and their daughter. Weeping, the couple explained that a dragon with eight tails had stolen seven of their daughters and would soon return for this one.
Susanoo tricked the dragon into drinking a barrel of wine so that it fell asleep. He then used his sword to cut off each of the dragon’s tails. Inside the last one he discovered another sword, one of great power. He returned to Heaven and presented it to his sister so that she would forgive him. That was the origin of the sacred sword.
At a later time, Amaterasu sent Ninigi, one of her sons, to descend to Earth and rule the land. As a sign of her authority, she gave him three gifts: the mirror that drew her from the cave, the jewel that the other kami gave her, and the sword found by Susanoo.
Ninigi’s son Jimmu became the first emperor and received the three gifts, passing them on to his son when he died. And so it was done until the time of the twelfth emperor, named Keiko. When Keiko realized that not all the people had accepted his authority, he called for his son Yamato. He gave the sacred sword to Yamato and told him to conquer all the lands he could find.
Yamato set out to obey his father’s command. Soon many more lands had been brought into the emperor’s domain. But the enemies of Yamato plotted to kill him. They waited until he was riding through a vast plain of dry grass. Then they surrounded him and set the grass on fire. Seeing the danger, Yamato drew his sword and cut down the burning grass. Afterward, he cut off the heads of as many enemies as there had been blades of grass. And so the sword became known as Kusanagi—“the sword that cut the burning grass.”
After Yamato completed his conquest of all the lands, he placed the sword in the Atsuta Shrine at Nagoya. Yamato feared that anyone who came into possession of the sword would gain its power. So he placed a spell on it to make sure that only a descendant of Amaterasu would have the ability to remove it from its resting place.
The other two gifts of Amaterasu, the mirror and the jewel, are kept in the imperial palace. They are used, along with a replica of the sword, in the ceremony for enthroning a new emperor.
At the end of the manuscript, in a form of calligraphy that was obviously done by a different person, was written:
No one but the high priest shall learn of this.
Seikei shivered and looked around him, surprised to have returned to the world he usually lived in. The sun had disappeared, but only because a storm was blowing up late in the afternoon. Cascades of autumn leaves were losing their last grip on the trees. As they fell, they surrounded Seikei on the gravel courtyard. Seikei thought of Amaterasu and her brother Susanoo, about the thousands of warriors who fell like blades of grass when Yamato wielded the mighty sword named Kusanagi.
Some parts of this story he had heard before. Seikei’s mother had told him about the creation of the world and that the emperor was descended from Amaterasu. Seikei himself had visited the shrine of Ise and asked for Amaterasu’s aid when he pursued the actor Tomomi along the Tokaido Road.
But he had never heard the story of the sword that cut the burning grass. Nor did he understand how it explained why the emperor—Risu, the Squirrel—believed he wasn’t really the emperor.
Of course, Risu had told Seikei that he wouldn’t understand. So had the Ministers of the Right and Left, or at least one of them had. The other one had said, “And even if you did understand . . .”
What? Had the minister finished the sentence? Seikei couldn’t be certain.
If he did understand, maybe he couldn’t do anything about it? Yabuta seemed to have understood the message in
The kami decided that Susanoo must be punished for his actions, and banished him to Earth. They told him he must stay there until he atoned for the trouble he caused. He wandered through the world until he encountered an old couple and their daughter. Weeping, the couple explained that a dragon with eight tails had stolen seven of their daughters and would soon return for this one.
Susanoo tricked the dragon into drinking a barrel of wine so that it fell asleep. He then used his sword to cut off each of the dragon’s tails. Inside the last one he discovered another sword, one of great power. He returned to Heaven and presented it to his sister so that she would forgive him. That was the origin of the sacred sword.
At a later time, Amaterasu sent Ninigi, one of her sons, to descend to Earth and rule the land. As a sign of her authority, she gave him three gifts: the mirror that drew her from the cave, the jewel that the other kami gave her, and the sword found by Susanoo.
Ninigi’s son Jimmu became the first emperor and received the three gifts, passing them on to his son when he died. And so it was done until the time of the twelfth emperor, named Keiko. When Keiko realized that not all the people had accepted his authority, he called for his son Yamato. He gave the sacred sword to Yamato and told him to conquer all the lands he could find.
Yamato set out to obey his father’s command. Soon many more lands had been brought into the emperor’s domain. But the enemies of Yamato plotted to kill him. They waited until he was riding through a vast plain of dry grass. Then they surrounded him and set the grass on fire. Seeing the danger, Yamato drew his sword and cut down the burning grass. Afterward, he cut off the heads of as many enemies as there had been blades of grass. And so the sword became known as Kusanagi—“the sword that cut the burning grass.”
After Yamato completed his conquest of all the lands, he placed the sword in the Atsuta Shrine at Nagoya. Yamato feared that anyone who came into possession of the sword would gain its power. So he placed a spell on it to make sure that only a descendant of Amaterasu would have the ability to remove it from its resting place.
The other two gifts of Amaterasu, the mirror and the jewel, are kept in the imperial palace. They are used, along with a replica of the sword, in the ceremony for enthroning a new emperor.
At the end of the manuscript, in a form of calligraphy that was obviously done by a different person, was written:
No one but the high priest shall learn of this.
Seikei shivered and looked around him, surprised to have returned to the world he usually lived in. The sun had disappeared, but only because a storm was blowing up late in the afternoon. Cascades of autumn leaves were losing their last grip on the trees. As they fell, they surrounded Seikei on the gravel courtyard. Seikei thought of Amaterasu and her brother Susanoo, about the thousands of warriors who fell like blades of grass when Yamato wielded the mighty sword named Kusanagi.
Some parts of this story he had heard before. Seikei’s mother had told him about the creation of the world and that the emperor was descended from Amaterasu. Seikei himself had visited the shrine of Ise and asked for Amaterasu’s aid when he pursued the actor Tomomi along the Tokaido Road.
But he had never heard the story of the sword that cut the burning grass. Nor did he understand how it explained why the emperor—Risu, the Squirrel—believed he wasn’t really the emperor.
Of course, Risu had told Seikei that he wouldn’t understand. So had the Ministers of the Right and Left, or at least one of them had. The other one had said, “And even if you did understand . . .”
What? Had the minister finished the sentence? Seikei couldn’t be certain.
If he did understand, maybe he couldn’t do anything about it? Yabuta seemed to have understood the message in
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