Yatagarasu Protects Kamuyamato
(Narikabura – Arrow which makes sound)
(Commercial Narikabura sold at Shrines)
Kamuyamato reached Uda region in Nara, where siblings named Eukashi and Otoukashi waited for Kamuyamato to kill him. The Heavenly Child sent Yatagarasu to them before he got there to see if those brothers would serve Kamuyamato. Yatagarasu flew there and gave them Kamuyamato’s message.
Eukashi chased the messenger bird away with Narikabura. That is why the place where the arrow with sound fell is called “Kaburasaki.” Fortunately Yatagarasu was not killed by Narikabura.
Those rebelious brothers tried to hire as many soldiers as possible so they would be able to kill the Heavenly Child. Their plan, nevertheless, didn’t work. So, they had to move on to “Plan B” instead. They pretended to surrender, but they built a big palace, where a fatal trick called “Oshi (Pushing Machine)” was equipped. This trick was to kill you when you stepped on the board by suffocating you!
Eukashi’s big mistake was that Otoukashi betrayed his brother and reported his brother’s vicious plan to Kamuyamato. Because of his last minute betrayal, Otoukashi would thrive later on unlike his brother Eukashi.
As soon as Michi-no Omi-no Mikoto (ancestor of Ootomo-no Muraji) and Ookume-no Mikoto (ancestor of Kume-no Atai) received Otoukashi’s information, they summoned Eukashi and tell him to get into the palace before Kamuyamato. They threatened Eukashi to do that with weapons. Eukashi, of course, got killed with the vicious trick made by himself.
Furious Michi-no Omi-no Mikoto and Ookume-no Mikoto dragged Eukashi’s body from the palace and chopped up into pieces. The place was covered with Eukashi’s blood. That is why the place was called “Chihara (Field of Blood).”
Later, Otoukashi held a big banquet to show his submission to Kamuyamato, and soldiers who worked for Michi-no Omi-no Mikoto and for Ookume-no Mikoto were treated very nicely in this big banquet. Kamuyamato recited a poem he made impromptu to record this incident.
“I made a trap to catch snipes in the castle of Uda.
No snipes were caught, but a beautiful whale (a big enemy) was.
If your old wife asks you for food, give her a scratch of nuts.
If your young concubine asks you for food, give her a tons of shredded nuts.”
(Snipe)
Eukashi, who betrayed his brother, became an ancestor of Uda-no Moitori (people who were in charge of water used in the Emperor’s palace).
