Kumaso leader - Kumaso Takeru

Japanese: 熊襲魁帥 - くまそたける

A local lord in the west who does not follow the royal status and appears in the section on Emperor Keikō in the Kojiki and Nihon shoki. In the Kojiki, he is written as Kumaso Takeru. In the Nihon shoki, there is the "Yasotakeru of Kumaso" and another "Kawakami Takeru", but in the Kojiki, he is called "the two Kumaso Takeru brothers". The latter is a typification of the former in a tale-like form. According to the Kojiki, Ousu no Mikoto, who was ordered by his father, Emperor Keikō, to defeat Kumaso Takeru, disguised himself as a young girl and approached the Takeru brothers at a banquet, killing them one after the other. When he stabbed the younger brother, he was praised for his bravery and given the name "Yamato Takeru", and from then on Ousu took that name (Yamato Takeru no Mikoto).

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

記紀の景行天皇条に出てくる王化にしたがわぬ西方の土豪。《古事記》では熊曾建と記す。《日本書紀》には〈熊襲の八十梟帥（やそたける）〉およびそれとは別の〈川上梟帥（かわかみたける）〉が見られるが，《古事記》は〈熊曾建兄弟二人〉とする。後者は前者を説話的に典型化したものである。《古事記》によれば父の景行天皇より熊曾建の討伐を命じられた小碓（おうす）命は童女に変装して宴の席の建兄弟に近づき，つぎつぎに2人を殺したが，弟を刺したときその勇猛さを讃えられて〈倭建（やまとたける）〉の名を献じられ，爾後小碓はその名を名乗るようになったという(日本武（やまとたける）尊)。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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