Atsuta Jingu- Japanese LocationLocation · Landmark"Atsuta Shrine"

The Sword's Resting Place

The sword came from the belly of a serpent. Susanoo cut it from the eight-headed Yamata no Orochi in Izumo and gave it to Amaterasu. It passed through divine hands until it reached Yamato Takeru, who received it from the priestess Yamato-hime no Mikoto at Ise before marching east to subdue the provinces.

In Suruga, enemies set the grasslands ablaze around him. Yamato Takeru drew the blade and swept it through the burning grass. The fire turned. The flames rushed back on his attackers. The sword earned its name that day: Kusanagi, the Grass-Cutter.

After the eastern campaign, Yamato Takeru left Kusanagi in the care of his wife Miyazu-hime before climbing Mount Ibuki to confront a deity. Without the sword he fell ill. He died at Nobono. Miyazu-hime took the blade and enshrined it in Owari Province, at the site that became Atsuta Shrine. The Kojiki and Nihon Shoki both record the founding. The sword has not left since.

Nobunaga at Atsuta

In 1560, Oda Nobunaga rode to Atsuta before the Battle of Okehazama. His army was vastly outnumbered by the forces of Imagawa Yoshimoto. He prayed at the shrine where the Grass-Cutting Sword rested, then led his men into a rainstorm and routed Imagawa's camp. It was the victory that launched his rise.

Nobunaga returned to Atsuta afterward and built a wall around the shrine precinct in gratitude. The Nobunaga-bei still stands. Atsuta sits today in the middle of Nagoya, its camphor forest enclosed by city blocks, but the sword remains inside, unseen, in a shrine that warriors prayed at before they fought and returned to when they survived.