Yatagarasu

Three-legged crow

Yatagarasu is the great crow of Japanese mythology, sent from heaven to guide Jimmu, the legendary first emperor, through the mountains of Kumano. It has been a symbol of guidance ever since. It appears on the talismans of the Kumano shrines, and on the emblem of Japan’s national football team.

The characters: 八咫烏

八 (ya): eight.
咫 (ata): an old measure of length, the span of an open hand.
烏 (garasu): crow. Read karasu on its own, it softens to garasu inside a word.

Together, 八咫 reads yata. In old texts, eight often simply meant many or great, so the name reads as “the great crow.” The same word names Yata no Kagami, the sacred mirror that is one of Japan’s three imperial regalia.

The guide

The story is told in Japan’s two oldest chronicles, the Kojiki of 712 and the Nihon Shoki of 720. On his campaign east, Jimmu and his army were lost in the steep, forested mountains of Kumano, on the Kii Peninsula. A great crow was sent from heaven to lead them, and it guided them through the mountains to the land of Yamato.

That role has stayed with it. Yatagarasu is honoured as the messenger of the three great shrines of Kumano, and people still pray to it for guidance before a new undertaking.

Three legs

The early chronicles never say the crow had three legs. At Kumano Hongū Taisha, the shrine most closely tied to Yatagarasu, the three legs are said to stand for heaven, earth and humankind. The Kumano shrines still issue goō-hōin talismans written in a script made of small crows, the messengers of Kumano.

Explanations for the three legs vary. Some say heaven, earth and humanity; others, the three Kumano shrines. None of them come from the original story.

The crow on the football shirt

Since 1931, the Japan Football Association has used Yatagarasu as its emblem, drawn with a ball beneath its foot. The crow that guided Jimmu to Yamato now stands for guiding the team to the goal.