Kamu-Yamato-Iwarebiko (later Emperor Jimmu) set out east from Himuka in search of a place fit to rule the realm. When they fought the army of Tomibiko at Naniwa, his elder brother Itsuse was struck by an enemy arrow. Itsuse said, "We are children of the sun god, and it was wrong for us to fight facing the sun. Let us go around and strike with the sun at our backs." But he died of his wound.
The company went around to the south and reached the village of Kumano. There a great bear appeared and vanished, glimpsed for a moment. At once Iwarebiko and all his soldiers lost their senses and fell to the ground.
Then a man of Kumano named Takakuraji came and presented a great sword. Iwarebiko woke immediately and said, "I have slept a long time." When he took the sword, the wild gods of the Kumano mountains fell, cut down of their own accord, and the fallen soldiers all woke up.
Takakuraji explained that in a dream Amaterasu and Takagi had appeared and ordered Takemikazuchi: "The land below is in turmoil and our children are suffering. Go down." Takemikazuchi replied, "There is no need for me to go. It is enough to send down the sword with which I subdued the land." He made a hole in the roof of Takakuraji's storehouse and dropped the sword through it. When Takakuraji woke, the sword was really there, so he brought it. This sword is Futsu-no-Mitama.
Takagi also gave a warning: "Do not go further in from here; there are many wild gods. I will send the crow Yatagarasu from heaven. Follow where it leads." The company followed Yatagarasu and came out at the mouth of the Yoshino River in Yamato.