Kojiki, Records of Ancient Matters Yamato-Takeru Slays the Kumaso Brothers

It happened one day that Emperor Keiko received news that the Kumaso tribe of Tsukushi had again risen in revolt. The Heavenly Sovereign, trusting the courage and ferocity of his son, called in the noble Oh-usu, a lad of sixteen, and commanded him thus: "In the West there are two Kumaso warriors. They are rebellious and insolent men. Take them!" With this command he sent him off. Then the boy, the noble Oh-usu, went to his aunt, the noble Yamato-hime, and she gave him her shirt and her skirt to wear. He then hid a saber in his bosom and went forth.

When he reached the house of the Kumaso braves he noticed that it was encircled by three rows of warriors. They had just outfitted a nearby cave as their headquarters, and were noisily getting food ready for a housewarming feast. So prince Oh-usu strolled through the neighborhood, waiting for the festivities to start. Then when the day of the feast arrived he combed down the hair gathered in a boyish knot at the top of his head, and put on his aunt's shirt and dress. Looking now a lot like a young girl he mixed with the concubines and went inside the cave.

When the two Kumaso braves, the elder brother and the younger brother, set eyes on him they were delighted. They invited him to sit between them and enjoyed him tremendously. When the drinking had reached its sweetest hour the noble Oh-usu drew the saber from his bosom, grabbed the elder Kumaso by the collar of his garment and thrust his saber through his chest and out the back. Terrified at this sight the younger brave ran for his life. Noble Oh-usu ran after him and, reaching him at the bottom of the steps to the cave attacked him from behind and thrust the saber up his rear end. Then the Kumaso brave spoke, saying: "Do not move the sword, I, your humble servant, have something to say." The noble Oh-usu, holding him down on the ground, gave him respite. The Kumaso brave spoke again, and asked, "Who are you, noble youth?" "I am the noble child of Oho-tarashi-hiko-Oshiro-wake, the Emperor of Heaven who, dwelling in the palace of Hishiro at Makimuku rules the land of the Eight Great Islands; and my name is King Yamato-oh-guna. Hearing that you two, the Kumaso braves, were insubordinate and disrespectful he sent me here with the command to take and slay you."

Then the Kumaso brave said, "That must be true. There are no persons in the West as brave and strong as we two. Yet in the Land of Great Yamato there is a man braver than we two, indeed so. Therefore I offer you a noble name. From this time forward it is right that you be honored as the noble child Yamato-takeru." As soon as he had finished saying this the prince ripped him up like a ripe musk melon, and slew him. From that time on he was honored by being called by the noble name of Yamato-takeru. When he was returning up to the capital after doing this, he subdued and pacified every single one of the Deities of the mountains and of the Deities of the rivers and likewise the Deities of the Strait of Shimonoseki, and then went up to the capital.