Jimmu's Eastern Expedition participant Jimmu
Overview
According to the chronicles Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, Jimmu's brothers were born in Takachiho, the southern part of Kyūshū in modern-day Miyazaki Prefecture. They moved eastward to find a location more appropriate for administering the entire country. Jimmu's older brother, Itsuse no Mikoto, originally led the migration, and led the clan eastward through the Seto Inland Sea with the assistance of local chieftain Sao Netsuhiko (根津日子). As they reached Naniwa (modern-day Osaka), they encountered another local chieftain, Nagasunehiko (長髄彦, "the long-legged man"), and Itsuse was killed in the ensuing battle. Jimmu realized that they had been defeated because they battled eastward against the sun, so he decided to land on the east side of Kii Peninsula and to battle westward. They reached Kumano and, with the guidance of the three-legged crow Yatagarasu ("eight-span crow"), they moved to Yamato. There, they once again battled Nagasunehiko and were victorious. The record in the Nihon Shoki of Emperor Jimmu states that his armed forces defeated a group of Emishi (蝦夷) before his enthronement. The historically known Emishi were an ethnic group who lived in Honshu, particularly the Tōhoku region.
In Yamato, Nigihayahi (邇芸速日), who also claimed descent from the Takamagahara gods, was protected by Nagasunehiko. However, when Nigihayahi met Jimmu, he accepted Jimmu's legitimacy. At that point, Jimmu is said to have ascended the throne of Japan. Upon scaling a Nara mountain to survey the Seto Inland Sea he then controlled, Jimmu remarked that it was shaped like the "heart" rings made by mating dragonflies, archaically called akitsu 秋津. A mosquito then tried to steal Jimmu's royal blood but since Jimmu was a god incarnate Emperor, akitsumikami (現御神), a dragonfly killed the mosquito. Japan thus received its classical name the Dragonfly Islands, or Akitsushima (秋津島).