Susanoo gave the sword to his sister Amaterasu, who eventually entrusted it to her grandson, Ninigi. When Ninigi descended to earth, he brought down three sacred treasures -- a sword, a mirror, and a curved bead magatama. The following story has been passed down ever since.


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When the Imperial Family was trying to establish a nation around Nara, the Emperor ordered his son, Yamato Takeru, to subjugate those who did not obey.

Yamato made a stop along the way to visit his aunt. She gave him a sword that was enshrined at Ise Grand Shrine -- the same sword found within the body of Yamata-no-Orochi and was one of the three sacred treasures brought down with Ninigi.

Yamato Takeru continued eastward toward his destination with his newly acquired sword. On the way he met a beautiful girl named Miyazu-hime in Nagoya and they fell in love, though they couldn’t marry because of his imperial obligations. However, he vowed to return to take her hand in marriage.

In Shizuoka, Yamato’s enemies lured him onto an open grassland, ignited the grass, and trapped him in the field so he’d burn to death. He was hopeless with no way to escape. Desperate, Yamato started cutting the grass with the sacred sword he received from his aunt. The sword swept the blazing wind toward his enemies and miraculously he was able to escape. He named the sword “Kusanagi no Mitsurugi” which translates to “sacred grass-cutting sword,” to commemorate his narrow escape and victory.

After overcoming many hardships and subjugating the East, Yamato Takeru returned to Nagoya and married Miyazu-hime as he promised. Eventually, Yamato headed out again, this time to conquer the South. He entrusted the sacred sword to his wife as a good luck charm, but Yamato lost his life on his way and never returned.

Miyazu-hime decided to build a shrine as a place to keep the Kusanagi sword. As if a sign from above, she saw something miraculous occur -- a maple tree spontaneously caught fire, fell into a rice field, and continued to burn. She built the shrine there and called it “Atsuta,” meaning “hot rice field.”


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This is the legend that’s been passed down generation after generation of the Kusanagi no Mitsurugi, but no one knows if it’s true or not. How does the story make you feel? Hold onto that feeling as you proceed.