Recovery is not yet a route
The expedition led by the figure later known as Jimmu collapses at Kumano after an encounter with a mysterious bear. A sword sent through a dream restores its capacity to proceed. Yet another divine instruction warns against advancing without guidance because the country contains dangerous powers. Recovery from one crisis has not provided all the knowledge required for the next stage of travel.
Source: Kojiki: Records of Ancient Matters, Chamberlain translation · Kojiki §§44–46
Following an animal’s direction
A great crow is sent from heaven, and the leader is instructed to follow it. Chamberlain renders its size through an eight-related measurement. The selected Kojiki passage does not describe three legs, so that familiar later visual feature is not silently inserted into its account. The bird's explicit function here is directional: it establishes a path through a landscape whose dangers the traveler cannot adequately judge alone.
Source: Kojiki: Records of Ancient Matters, Chamberlain translation · Kojiki §46, sending and following the crow
The road meets local people
Following the bird, the expedition reaches the Yoshino area and encounters figures identified as local deities and ancestors of service groups. The journey therefore joins divine guidance to the court compilation's organization of human relationships. It should not be treated as a verified itinerary of an archaeological campaign. The crow supplies authority and direction within the story, while the named encounters connect progress across the land with later claims about descent and office.
Source: Kojiki: Records of Ancient Matters, Chamberlain translation · Kojiki §46, Yoshino encounters
- Period / witness
- Kojiki presented in 712 CE; Chamberlain translation 1882. Narrative time is not a historical date.
- Recording context
- Kojiki, a Japanese court compilation attributed to Ō no Yasumaro from material recited by Hieda no Are; cited by Chamberlain’s numbered sections, not asserted as the origin of the tradition.
A recording location is not necessarily a story’s origin. Dates of texts, copies, and translations answer different questions.
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These references support the explanation above. Rights and edition notes are recorded individually.
Kojiki: Records of Ancient Matters, Chamberlain translation ↗
Ō no Yasumaro (compiler, as identified in the preface); translated by Basil Hall Chamberlain (1850–1935) · Court compilation presented 712 CE; translation published Yokohama, 1882
Edition & rights note