Jinmu's Eastern Expedition and the Yatagarasu — The Binding of the Story of Musuhi
Kamuyamato Iwarebiko no Mikoto, august child of Ugayafukiaezu no Mikoto, took counsel with his elder brother Itsuse no Mikoto: "In what place might we hear and order the governance of all beneath heaven in peace? Let us go east after all." The company set out from Takachiho in Himuka and, advancing by ship through Tsukushi, Aki and Kibi, made for the east over the course of many years.
But when they sought to enter Yamato from the crossing of Naniwa, their way was barred by the army of Nagasunebiko of Tomi, and Itsuse no Mikoto took an arrow and was gravely wounded. "We are children of the sun god, and yet we fought facing the sun — that was our error. Let us go around, and fight with the sun at our backs." The company turned aside to the south, but Itsuse no Mikoto breathed his last in the land of Ki. Iwarebiko sailed farther south along the coast and came ashore in the land of Kumano.
In Kumano, a great bear appeared and vanished again — and struck by the poisonous vapors of the raging gods, Iwarebiko and all his soldiers fell senseless to the ground. Then a man of Kumano called Takakuraji presented a single sword, and Iwarebiko awoke at once; and the raging gods of Kumano, it is said, were cut down of themselves.
Takakuraji had dreamed a dream. Amaterasu Ōmikami and Takagi no Kami — Takamimusuhi no Kami, one of the Three Deities of Creation — had summoned Takemikazuchi no Kami and commanded: "Ashihara-no-Nakatsukuni is in great uproar, and our august children are afflicted. You shall go down." Takemikazuchi answered, "I need not go down myself; I will send down the sword with which I pacified that land," and, opening a hole in the ridge of Takakuraji's storehouse, he dropped the sword within. Opening the storehouse as the dream had taught him, Takakuraji found the sword indeed. This sacred blade is Futsu-no-Mitama; it is identified with the divine sword of Kashima that served in the ceding of the land, and is said to have been enshrined in later days at Isonokami Jingū.
Takagi no Kami commanded further: "Go no deeper in from here. The raging gods throng there. I will now send the Yatagarasu, the great crow, from heaven; go on as it leads you." By one account, it was Amaterasu Ōmikami who sent the Yatagarasu. Led by the great crow, the company crossed the deep mountains of Kumano, passed along the riverside of Yoshino, and made their way into Yamato. Deep in Kumano, upon Mount Tamaki, stands Tamaki Jinja, said to have begun when Iwarebiko enshrined the gods there on his eastward march.
Entering Yamato, Iwarebiko subdued the gods and chieftains of the land, and at last struck down Nagasunebiko. Then, at the palace of Kashihara at Unebi, he ruled all beneath heaven: Emperor Jinmu, the first sovereign. The long journey of the sun's august child, who had set out from Himuka, was thus bound to its close in the land of Yamato.
Looking back, the Three Deities of Creation — who appeared at the beginning of heaven and earth and straightway hid themselves — had never vanished from the story. Kamimusuhi no Kami restored the twice-slain Ōkuninushi no Kami to life and upheld the making of the land; Takamimusuhi no Kami guided the ceding of the land and the heavenly descent, and in the crisis of the eastern expedition sent down the sacred sword and the Yatagarasu. From the beginning to the binding of the end, the gods of musuhi went on working behind the scenes of every story.
The three Kumano sanctuaries — Hongū, Hayatama and Nachi — are holy grounds of prayer joined to Kumano, the land where the expedition came ashore. Tamaki Jinja is said to have been founded when Emperor Jinmu worshipped the gods there on his eastward march. Takemikazuchi no Kami, who sent down Futsu-no-Mitama, is enshrined at Kashima Jingū, and Futsunushi no Kami, who bears the same name of futsu, at Katori Jingū.
WakayamaKumano Hongu Taisha
Sacred ground of rebirth — the heart of the three grand shrines of Kumano.
WakayamaKumano Hayatama Taisha
The vermilion grand shrine of Shingu, shaded by its sacred nagi tree.
WakayamaKumano Nachi Taisha
The grand shrine of the Musubi-no-Miya, praying beside Nachi Falls.
NaraTamaki Shrine
The inner sanctuary said to be reached only by those who are called.
IbarakiKashima Jingu
First shrine of old Hitachi Province, enshrining Takemikazuchi — the shrine of "kashima-dachi," the setting forth on a journey.
ChibaKatori Jingu
First shrine of old Shimosa Province, enshrining Futsunushi no Okami — one of the Three Shrines of the East.