What is the Yatagarasu?
The Yatagarasu is a great crow from Japanese mythology. Ata was a unit of length, and yata (“eight ata”) expresses great size. In the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki, it appears as the crow that guided Emperor Jimmu, said to be Japan’s first emperor.
Guiding Emperor Jimmu
According to myth, on his eastern expedition from Kyushu toward Yamato (present-day Nara Prefecture), Emperor Jimmu became lost in the steep mountains of Kumano. Then the Yatagarasu, sent from heaven, appeared and guided his party to Yamato. Because of this, the Yatagarasu came to be revered as a god of guidance and a divine messenger who leads to victory.
The three-legged crow and Kumano
The Yatagarasu is usually depicted with three legs and is associated with the three-legged crow that lives in the sun in Chinese mythology. At the three grand shrines of Kumano, including Kumano Hongu Taisha in Wakayama Prefecture, it is cherished as a messenger of the gods. It is also used in the emblem of the Japan Football Association, familiar from the national team’s uniforms.
