Kumaso
The were a mythical people of ancient Japan mentioned in the Kojiki, believed to have lived in the south of Kyūshū until at least the Nara period. The last leader of the Kumaso, Torishi-Kaya was killed by Yamato Takeru in 397. The name of Kumamoto Prefecture originates from the Kumaso people. Origins. Scholars such as Kakubayashi Fumio, ""although information is extremely limited"", concluded that they were of Austronesian origin based on some linguistic and cultural evidence, theorising that the word "kaya", present in personal names or titles, such as Torishi-Kaya, has the same root as Tagalog ""kaya , meaning "ability; capability; competence; resources; wealth" and Malay and Indonesian ""kaya"", meaning "rich, wealthy, having wealth". The "So" present in Kumaso was also theorised to have the same origins as "tsuo, tsau, thau, sau, tau, tao" supposedly meaning "people" in Austronesian languages. Overview. William George Aston, in his translation of the "Nihongi", says "Kumaso" refers to two separate tribes, "Kuma" (meaning "bear") and "So" (written with the character for "attack" or "layer on"). In his translation of the "Kojiki", Basil Hall Chamberlain records that the region is also known simply as "So district", and elaborates on the Yamato-centric description  of a "bear-like" people, based on their violent interactions or physical distinctiveness. (The people called "tsuchigumo" by the Yamato people provide a better-known example of the transformation of other tribes into legendary monsters. "Tsuchigumo"—the monstrous "ground spider" of legend—is speculated to refer originally to the native pit dwellings of that people.) Geographically, Aston records that the Kumaso domain encompassed the historical provinces of Hyūga, Ōsumi, and Satsuma (contemporaneous with Aston's translation), or present-day Miyazaki and Kagoshima prefectures. The last leader of the Kumaso, Torishi-Kaya, aka Brave of Kahakami, was assassinated in the winter of  397 by Prince Yamato Takeru of Yamato, who was disguised for this as a woman at a banquet. Legacy. The word Kuma ('Bear') survives today as Kumamoto Prefecture ('source of the bear'), and Kuma District, Kumamoto. Kuma District is known for a distinct dialect, Kuma Dialect.