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stealstolestolenThis is the story of three men going by the name Takeru.
(spoiler warnings)
Izumo grew up in the desert, his family being a caravan of nomads without a country. Once upon a time, his people, the People of Iron, were driven out of their country by the hand of one sword; the sword of the forest God, Susanoh, and since then they have lived a life of travel. Most of the Iron men's descendants blame it on the sword, but Izumo thinks it's their own fault that they're still travelling around, without a spot to call home. He was curious about the sword, and when he grew up, that curiousity was still there, and he's on a quest to find it.
He calls himself a treasure hunter, but he's actually just a thief. When he meets Oguna and Kumaso, he's seeking to steal back something he was after; a box, half of a pair that will lead him to Susanoh. That's his reason for coming to Oyashima, a string of islands in the far east.
Meeting Oguna, he stops him from killing his crow, as Oguna thought it was dying. Izumo noticed that it just had a wedge bug stuck in its throat, and he removed it. He met Kumaso by the docks, where Kumaso was working with moving cargo for the kingdom of Amamikado. Kumaso went against orders and let a woman escape from them, and Izumo saved him from getting imprisoned by Amamikado by setting off a homemade baking pan bomb. Gunpowder is still relatively unknown, and neither the soldiers of Amamikado and Kumaso understood what was going on, which made the escape easy.
Kumaso and Izumo goes to Fudaru, one of Amamikado's higher ups, to get the box back. In his store room, Izumo promises Kumaso that he's not going to steal anything, as he's not a thief. He's only going to get what's his. Once they have found the box, they are discovered by Fudaru, who had been warned by the merchant who was supposed to sell the box to Izumo. The old man had sold him out since he wanted Izumo's spy eye, as it was a completely new things at Oyashima.
As they prepare to break out by force, a masked man shows up to save them, calling himself "the sworn enemy of Amamikado". He kills Fudaru and some of his men, and together, they escape. Izumo had figured out that Oguna was the one behind the mask, and revealing the prophesy as the two boxes were brought together, they decided to start travelling together.
The blade of a vengeful god
sleeps in Jagaramogara.
The unbroken sword awakens
by the power of the three spirits of light, water and earth.
This fell weapon
is the sword of Susanoh.
While in search of Jagara, a kingdom of female warriors, they stumble upon a battle between Jagara and Amamikado. The women of Jagara are losing, not battling humans, instead fighting earth soldiers, who are earth golems created by sucking the life from soil stained by the blood of the dead. The fight turns however, when Jagara unleashes its power through a rainbow of blood. Jagara warriors are at their strongest whiletheir blood is running, and they defeat the earth soldiers. A few of the earth soldiers find their way to the three Takerus, but they manage to defeat them, Izumo figuring out their weak point and running his sword right through one soldier's head. Kumaso finds the weak spot by chance when he simply starts to beat up the soldier attacking him.
In the forest, they follow Ada, one of Jagara's warriors. They think that she's found them out, but in truth she had noticed other enemies following her; Amamikado's secret police, "Hisomi". Oguna attacks them, and the other two follow suit. Once defeated, they approach the warriors of Jagara who has noticed them. Jagara leads them to their kingdom after they have given them all their weapons, and they are brought in as guest.
When three heroes gather before the holy tree
the snake will shed its skin, and turn its fangs to the heavens,
and a new nation will spring forth, forged on the unity of empresses and heroes.
They're not truly safe however, as they have to undergo the three trials in order to be seen as honored guests, worthy of keeping the prophesy a secret. Oguna easily wins his trial of might, and Kumaso wins the trial of wisdom only because of his stomach. At first it seems like Izumo has lost the trial of luck, but as he had thrown the white stone at the poisonous lodgerbug hidden in the vase full of otherwise black stones, it meant that he had gotten the right one, and therefore he passed. But in truth, he was cheating. The judge, Hatahatabiko, was an old friend of his, and when no one saw, he had handed Izumo the white stone, so he held it in his hand even before he put his hand in the vase.
As they pass the trials, the room around them disappears, and everything around them is black. A floating woman appears before them, and she tells them to leave before a great calamity befalls them all, and that the sword of Susanoh is not in Jagara.
Jagara is preparing for a feast to celebrate their victory in battle when Izumo is called to speak with Hatahatabiko. He brings his fellow Takerus with him, and they find out about the truth behind Izumo's trial. They also find out that there are multible sets of the boxes Izumo has, as Hatahatabiko has an identical set.
Hatahatabiko leaves Izumo by Kusanagi, the gigantic holy tree found in Jagara's center. Inside the tree is the grave of breasts, which is where the warriors bury their left breasts after they cut them off to prove their determination. Izumo is overcome by a feeling of being one step away from death. That is where Sagume, Jagara's prophet, finds him. Sagume claims that it is through Izumo that the people of Iron is searching for the sword of Susanoh, possibly to get revenge for driving them away from their own country.
At the feast, everyone are enjoying themselves, with food or dancing, when Amamikado appears, having found them with Hitenki; flying devices. Jagara and the three Takerus try to shoot them down, and soon, the battle is raging. Amamikado has found a way to stop Jagara from using their rainbow of blood. That is when Izumo finds out that Oguna is the son of Amamikado's ruler. But he doesn't care about that, as Oguna is Oguna, even if he's a prince. When Oguna questions him about it, Izumo tells him not to play games, and that Oguna is his friend no matter his blood or background.
Finding their battle leading to the grave of breasts, Queen Miyazu, one of Jagara's three queens, finds herself having no other choice than to release the sword of Susanoh. But when she finishes the spell to release the sword, queen Yamato's hand reveals that a sword was hidden inside it. But it wasn't Susanoh, but the demon sword Kusanagi. Sagume had tricked them all, and was in search of reviving his God, and by releasing the spell, the queen had revived him. The sword takes over Kumaso, making him turn on Izumo and Oguna. The sword takes over the minds of anyone it cuts. Izumo is cut, but the lady who appeared earlier appears again, cleansing his blood, thus making sure he doesn't fall under Kusanagi's control. However, Queen Yamato is also taken under the sword's control. Izumo, Oguna and Miyazu flee through a tunnel, but Izumo gets separated from them as the trees grow at an impossible speed. He assures them that he'll catch up, but when they're gone, he slumps down on the ground, cursing it all. Had it not been for Hatahatabiko, he would have died right there. Hatahatabiko had found his own escape route, and when Izumo spotted him, he rolled right into his boat. Exhausted from his wound, he fell asleep there.
When he woke up, he managed to find his way to Oguna and Miyazu. After seeing Hatahatabiko's nervousness, Izumo revealed that the reason why his friend had come to Jagara was to get the treasure. Miyazu, now knowing that Izumo was just a thief, threatened him to pull through and actually find the real sword, so that they can defeat the sword of Kusanagi. While they travel to search for the real sword of Susanoh, Izumo teases Oguna about being wide open, but the boy surprises him by revealing that he too thinks of Izumo as a friend, even if he didn't use those exact words. Miyazu revealed that there was more to the grave of breasts than just showing determination. It seemed like the seed of Kusanagi had been sealed in there, and the warriors sacrificed their breast to keep the blade dormant. The seed had hidden itself in the breast of the three queens' mother, that fused itself to Yamato's hand, for reasons unknown to them, but later revealed to be the actions of Sagume.
They pass through the forest of demons, Izumo finding himself ensnared by the illusions of the forest without him noticing. Before him, Kumaso appears, and he's normal again. But as Izumo gets closer, Kumaso attacks him, and reveals that he is in fact not normal. The sword is still in control. When Izumo asks him why he's there, Kumaso claims that it's because Izumo wanted him there. He says that Izumo is jealous that Kumaso got his hands on the sword before him, and that he was just pretending to be their friend when he was just planning to betray them later on. Izumo says that he's wrong, and that he's going to save him. Then, the sword appears in his hand, and being unable to drop it, it fuses itself with Izumo. The flaming dragon sleeping in Izumo's blood wraps around him, burning, and he transforms into what Sagume calls a warrior worthy of the people of Iron. Izumo kills many, feeling the thrill of blood running down the sword. But then he remembers his past, and what his reason for searching for the sowrd. It wasn't that he really wanted its power, he just wanted to find it. The cool part wasn't the actual sword, but the fact that somebody faced the entire Iron man army on their own. He wanted to feel the excitement of looking for it. Remembering this, he told Kumaso and Sagume that he had no need for the sword of Kusanagi, and finally he let go, and the illusions around him shattered, making him realize that what had just happened wasn't real.
He finds himself in the land of Kizumi, and Miyazu and Oguna soon appear behind them. They, due to their blood and knowing that the air was poisonous, had been unaffected by the forest's demons. In Kizumi, they meet the chieftess, who turns out to look exactly like the spirit woman they had seen earlier. She turned out to be Emishi, the descendent of Mahoroba, the woman they had seen earlier, and she leads them to the holy tree of Murakumo. The tree however, had withered, probably due to the blood spilt across the land. Figuring that if he were to try and cut down the tree, its guardian would appear, and when he attempts it, he turned out to be right. The guardian is a giant white lion. To awaken the sword, Izumo figures that they can use the same riddle that was used to awaken the sword of Kusanagi. Izumo's answer to the riddle is to challenge the lion to a duel. To get to the sword, he had to kill the lion. While Oguna battled the lion, that fused with Emishi to become a hybrid of human and beast, Izumo realized just how to defeat the guardian. Taking the blade of the sword in the guardian's hand, he ran it through his own body. But instead of pain, he found the sword in his own hand, blade buried deep into the lion. With that, Izumo is allowed to take the sword of Murakumo; the true holy sword.
They track down Kusanagi, and Izumo, with holy sword in hand, starts to fight Kusanagi, who is still inside Kumaso's body. Izumo reveals that the sword controls the water flowing through the holy tree's veins. That wather can purify those corrupted by evil. But weilding the holy sword is difficult, and Izumo's palms are burnt and bleeding when the sword is knocked out of his hands. While Izumo is down, Oguna protects the sword from getting into Amamikado's hands, and he hands it back to Izumo. Kusanagi claims that Izumo is no better than him, that he too drowns himself in the sword's power, but Izumo proves him wrong. Every time the holy blade cuts fresh, it sheds the blood of his own heart, and because of that, he can't drown in its power. Gathering all his effort into one blow, Izumo cut Kusanagi with the holy sword, and with that, Kumaso is able to free himself of the sword's control.
But the battle isn't over. Izumo is set to destroy the doguma. While he defeats the doguma, Oguna manages to kill his father, the king of Amamikado. The doguma, fuelled by souls, starts to move again as Tanba, one of Amamikado's generals, insert the king's soul inside of it. Exhausted, Izumo is kneeling on the ground when Kumaso shows up, and together, they head for the doguma. But it's of no use, and Kumaso decides to knock Izumo down and cut the ground apart to at least save him. At that moment, Oguna saves Kumaso's life, and the three are reunited. The third meaning behind the prophesy and riddle is finally revealed, and together the three defeat the doguma, and the war finally ends. As friends, they part ways, the sword of Kusanagi gone forever, and the sword of Murakumo strapped to Kumaso's back.
Where white and red mix and the same word passes thrice, there the sword of the forest sleeps.
The white of Murakumo. The red of Kusanagi.
Izumo no Takeru. Kumaso no Takeru. Oguna no Takeru.
In the name of the three Takeru's, this is the end.
(spoiler warnings)
Izumo grew up in the desert, his family being a caravan of nomads without a country. Once upon a time, his people, the People of Iron, were driven out of their country by the hand of one sword; the sword of the forest God, Susanoh, and since then they have lived a life of travel. Most of the Iron men's descendants blame it on the sword, but Izumo thinks it's their own fault that they're still travelling around, without a spot to call home. He was curious about the sword, and when he grew up, that curiousity was still there, and he's on a quest to find it.
He calls himself a treasure hunter, but he's actually just a thief. When he meets Oguna and Kumaso, he's seeking to steal back something he was after; a box, half of a pair that will lead him to Susanoh. That's his reason for coming to Oyashima, a string of islands in the far east.
Meeting Oguna, he stops him from killing his crow, as Oguna thought it was dying. Izumo noticed that it just had a wedge bug stuck in its throat, and he removed it. He met Kumaso by the docks, where Kumaso was working with moving cargo for the kingdom of Amamikado. Kumaso went against orders and let a woman escape from them, and Izumo saved him from getting imprisoned by Amamikado by setting off a homemade baking pan bomb. Gunpowder is still relatively unknown, and neither the soldiers of Amamikado and Kumaso understood what was going on, which made the escape easy.
Kumaso and Izumo goes to Fudaru, one of Amamikado's higher ups, to get the box back. In his store room, Izumo promises Kumaso that he's not going to steal anything, as he's not a thief. He's only going to get what's his. Once they have found the box, they are discovered by Fudaru, who had been warned by the merchant who was supposed to sell the box to Izumo. The old man had sold him out since he wanted Izumo's spy eye, as it was a completely new things at Oyashima.
As they prepare to break out by force, a masked man shows up to save them, calling himself "the sworn enemy of Amamikado". He kills Fudaru and some of his men, and together, they escape. Izumo had figured out that Oguna was the one behind the mask, and revealing the prophesy as the two boxes were brought together, they decided to start travelling together.
sleeps in Jagaramogara.
The unbroken sword awakens
by the power of the three spirits of light, water and earth.
This fell weapon
is the sword of Susanoh.
While in search of Jagara, a kingdom of female warriors, they stumble upon a battle between Jagara and Amamikado. The women of Jagara are losing, not battling humans, instead fighting earth soldiers, who are earth golems created by sucking the life from soil stained by the blood of the dead. The fight turns however, when Jagara unleashes its power through a rainbow of blood. Jagara warriors are at their strongest whiletheir blood is running, and they defeat the earth soldiers. A few of the earth soldiers find their way to the three Takerus, but they manage to defeat them, Izumo figuring out their weak point and running his sword right through one soldier's head. Kumaso finds the weak spot by chance when he simply starts to beat up the soldier attacking him.
In the forest, they follow Ada, one of Jagara's warriors. They think that she's found them out, but in truth she had noticed other enemies following her; Amamikado's secret police, "Hisomi". Oguna attacks them, and the other two follow suit. Once defeated, they approach the warriors of Jagara who has noticed them. Jagara leads them to their kingdom after they have given them all their weapons, and they are brought in as guest.
the snake will shed its skin, and turn its fangs to the heavens,
and a new nation will spring forth, forged on the unity of empresses and heroes.
They're not truly safe however, as they have to undergo the three trials in order to be seen as honored guests, worthy of keeping the prophesy a secret. Oguna easily wins his trial of might, and Kumaso wins the trial of wisdom only because of his stomach. At first it seems like Izumo has lost the trial of luck, but as he had thrown the white stone at the poisonous lodgerbug hidden in the vase full of otherwise black stones, it meant that he had gotten the right one, and therefore he passed. But in truth, he was cheating. The judge, Hatahatabiko, was an old friend of his, and when no one saw, he had handed Izumo the white stone, so he held it in his hand even before he put his hand in the vase.
As they pass the trials, the room around them disappears, and everything around them is black. A floating woman appears before them, and she tells them to leave before a great calamity befalls them all, and that the sword of Susanoh is not in Jagara.
Jagara is preparing for a feast to celebrate their victory in battle when Izumo is called to speak with Hatahatabiko. He brings his fellow Takerus with him, and they find out about the truth behind Izumo's trial. They also find out that there are multible sets of the boxes Izumo has, as Hatahatabiko has an identical set.
Hatahatabiko leaves Izumo by Kusanagi, the gigantic holy tree found in Jagara's center. Inside the tree is the grave of breasts, which is where the warriors bury their left breasts after they cut them off to prove their determination. Izumo is overcome by a feeling of being one step away from death. That is where Sagume, Jagara's prophet, finds him. Sagume claims that it is through Izumo that the people of Iron is searching for the sword of Susanoh, possibly to get revenge for driving them away from their own country.
At the feast, everyone are enjoying themselves, with food or dancing, when Amamikado appears, having found them with Hitenki; flying devices. Jagara and the three Takerus try to shoot them down, and soon, the battle is raging. Amamikado has found a way to stop Jagara from using their rainbow of blood. That is when Izumo finds out that Oguna is the son of Amamikado's ruler. But he doesn't care about that, as Oguna is Oguna, even if he's a prince. When Oguna questions him about it, Izumo tells him not to play games, and that Oguna is his friend no matter his blood or background.
Finding their battle leading to the grave of breasts, Queen Miyazu, one of Jagara's three queens, finds herself having no other choice than to release the sword of Susanoh. But when she finishes the spell to release the sword, queen Yamato's hand reveals that a sword was hidden inside it. But it wasn't Susanoh, but the demon sword Kusanagi. Sagume had tricked them all, and was in search of reviving his God, and by releasing the spell, the queen had revived him. The sword takes over Kumaso, making him turn on Izumo and Oguna. The sword takes over the minds of anyone it cuts. Izumo is cut, but the lady who appeared earlier appears again, cleansing his blood, thus making sure he doesn't fall under Kusanagi's control. However, Queen Yamato is also taken under the sword's control. Izumo, Oguna and Miyazu flee through a tunnel, but Izumo gets separated from them as the trees grow at an impossible speed. He assures them that he'll catch up, but when they're gone, he slumps down on the ground, cursing it all. Had it not been for Hatahatabiko, he would have died right there. Hatahatabiko had found his own escape route, and when Izumo spotted him, he rolled right into his boat. Exhausted from his wound, he fell asleep there.
When he woke up, he managed to find his way to Oguna and Miyazu. After seeing Hatahatabiko's nervousness, Izumo revealed that the reason why his friend had come to Jagara was to get the treasure. Miyazu, now knowing that Izumo was just a thief, threatened him to pull through and actually find the real sword, so that they can defeat the sword of Kusanagi. While they travel to search for the real sword of Susanoh, Izumo teases Oguna about being wide open, but the boy surprises him by revealing that he too thinks of Izumo as a friend, even if he didn't use those exact words. Miyazu revealed that there was more to the grave of breasts than just showing determination. It seemed like the seed of Kusanagi had been sealed in there, and the warriors sacrificed their breast to keep the blade dormant. The seed had hidden itself in the breast of the three queens' mother, that fused itself to Yamato's hand, for reasons unknown to them, but later revealed to be the actions of Sagume.
They pass through the forest of demons, Izumo finding himself ensnared by the illusions of the forest without him noticing. Before him, Kumaso appears, and he's normal again. But as Izumo gets closer, Kumaso attacks him, and reveals that he is in fact not normal. The sword is still in control. When Izumo asks him why he's there, Kumaso claims that it's because Izumo wanted him there. He says that Izumo is jealous that Kumaso got his hands on the sword before him, and that he was just pretending to be their friend when he was just planning to betray them later on. Izumo says that he's wrong, and that he's going to save him. Then, the sword appears in his hand, and being unable to drop it, it fuses itself with Izumo. The flaming dragon sleeping in Izumo's blood wraps around him, burning, and he transforms into what Sagume calls a warrior worthy of the people of Iron. Izumo kills many, feeling the thrill of blood running down the sword. But then he remembers his past, and what his reason for searching for the sowrd. It wasn't that he really wanted its power, he just wanted to find it. The cool part wasn't the actual sword, but the fact that somebody faced the entire Iron man army on their own. He wanted to feel the excitement of looking for it. Remembering this, he told Kumaso and Sagume that he had no need for the sword of Kusanagi, and finally he let go, and the illusions around him shattered, making him realize that what had just happened wasn't real.
He finds himself in the land of Kizumi, and Miyazu and Oguna soon appear behind them. They, due to their blood and knowing that the air was poisonous, had been unaffected by the forest's demons. In Kizumi, they meet the chieftess, who turns out to look exactly like the spirit woman they had seen earlier. She turned out to be Emishi, the descendent of Mahoroba, the woman they had seen earlier, and she leads them to the holy tree of Murakumo. The tree however, had withered, probably due to the blood spilt across the land. Figuring that if he were to try and cut down the tree, its guardian would appear, and when he attempts it, he turned out to be right. The guardian is a giant white lion. To awaken the sword, Izumo figures that they can use the same riddle that was used to awaken the sword of Kusanagi. Izumo's answer to the riddle is to challenge the lion to a duel. To get to the sword, he had to kill the lion. While Oguna battled the lion, that fused with Emishi to become a hybrid of human and beast, Izumo realized just how to defeat the guardian. Taking the blade of the sword in the guardian's hand, he ran it through his own body. But instead of pain, he found the sword in his own hand, blade buried deep into the lion. With that, Izumo is allowed to take the sword of Murakumo; the true holy sword.
They track down Kusanagi, and Izumo, with holy sword in hand, starts to fight Kusanagi, who is still inside Kumaso's body. Izumo reveals that the sword controls the water flowing through the holy tree's veins. That wather can purify those corrupted by evil. But weilding the holy sword is difficult, and Izumo's palms are burnt and bleeding when the sword is knocked out of his hands. While Izumo is down, Oguna protects the sword from getting into Amamikado's hands, and he hands it back to Izumo. Kusanagi claims that Izumo is no better than him, that he too drowns himself in the sword's power, but Izumo proves him wrong. Every time the holy blade cuts fresh, it sheds the blood of his own heart, and because of that, he can't drown in its power. Gathering all his effort into one blow, Izumo cut Kusanagi with the holy sword, and with that, Kumaso is able to free himself of the sword's control.
But the battle isn't over. Izumo is set to destroy the doguma. While he defeats the doguma, Oguna manages to kill his father, the king of Amamikado. The doguma, fuelled by souls, starts to move again as Tanba, one of Amamikado's generals, insert the king's soul inside of it. Exhausted, Izumo is kneeling on the ground when Kumaso shows up, and together, they head for the doguma. But it's of no use, and Kumaso decides to knock Izumo down and cut the ground apart to at least save him. At that moment, Oguna saves Kumaso's life, and the three are reunited. The third meaning behind the prophesy and riddle is finally revealed, and together the three defeat the doguma, and the war finally ends. As friends, they part ways, the sword of Kusanagi gone forever, and the sword of Murakumo strapped to Kumaso's back.
The white of Murakumo. The red of Kusanagi.
Izumo no Takeru. Kumaso no Takeru. Oguna no Takeru.
In the name of the three Takeru's, this is the end.
