Three Sacred Treasures

This article is about the sacred artifacts. For the team formed by Kyo Kusanagi, Iori Yagami and Chizuru Kagura (and his variant which includes Shingo Yabuki), check Team Sacred Treasures.

The Three Sacred Treasures as they are described in KOF series: the Yata Mirror, the Kusanagi Sword and the Yasakani Jewel (from left to the right).

The Three Sacred Treasures (三種（さんしゅ）の神器（じんぎ）) are important and reoccurring objects in The King of Fighters (series).

Overview

The Three Sacred Treasures guardians in KOF universe (XV artwork)

The Three Sacred Treasures are mystical treasures that originated in Japan.

1800 years ago, when Orochi and the human race waged war, the Kusanagi, Yasakani and the Yata clans used the mystical treasures and sealed Orochi. Afterwards, the clans have kept a watchful eye over them.

660 years ago, the seal that was put on Orochi begins to weaken. The three clans decided to move its vessel into another location. Wanting to disrupt their unity, one of the Hakkesshu killed the leader of the Yasakani's wife. Under a disguise, the murderer then approached the Yasakani head and reported that the Kusanagi clan was responsible, saying that it was "atonement" for letting the seal weaken. To add more fuel to the fire, the corpse of his wife was found in the Kusanagi homeland.

Angered by the revelation, the Yasakani made a blood pact with Orochi to gain the necessary means for revenge. Gaining a forbidden technique called "Kin Sen Hyaku Juuichi Shiki: Ya Otome" (Forbidden Method 1211: Eight Maidens), the Yasakani would renamed themselves as the Yagami clan. As a side-effect of the Orochi's curse, the once crimson flames of the Yagami changed to a violet/bluish tint from Orochi's taint. The curse also causes each heir to die young and each mother to die in childbirth. Since then, the clans have waged a generation long grudge with casualties made from both sides, which continues on to this day in the present.

Artifacts

The real-life Three Sacred Treasures

Kusanagi Sword

The Kusanagi Sword (草薙（くさなぎ）の剣（つるぎ）) is the sacred artifact who belongs to the Kusanagi clan in KOF universe. According to the real-life legend, the god Susanoo encountered a grieving family of kunitsukami ("gods of the land") headed by Ashinazuchi (足名椎) in Izumo Province. When Susanoo inquired of Ashinazuchi, he told him that his family was being terrorized by the fearsome Yamata no Orochi, an eight-headed serpent of Koshi, who had consumed seven of the family's eight daughters and that the creature was coming for his final daughter, Kushinada-hime (奇稲田姫). Susanoo investigated the creature, and after an abortive encounter he returned with a plan to defeat it. In return, he asked for Kushinada-hime's hand in marriage, which was agreed. Transforming her temporarily into a comb (one interpreter reads this section as "using a comb he turns into [masquerades as] Kushinada-hime") to have her company during battle, he detailed his plan into steps.

He instructed that eight vats of sake (rice wine) be prepared and put on individual platforms positioned behind a fence with eight gates. The monster took the bait and put one of its heads through each gate. With this distraction, Susanoo attacked and slew the beast (with his sword Worochi no Ara-masa), chopping off each head and then proceeded to do the same to the tails. In the fourth tail, he discovered a great sword inside the body of the serpent which he called Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi. He presented the sword to the goddess Amaterasu to settle an old grievance.

Generations later, during the reign of the 12th Emperor Keikō, Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi was given to the great warrior, Yamato Takeru, as part of a pair of gifts given by his aunt, Yamatohime-no-mikoto, the Shrine Maiden of Ise Shrine, to protect her nephew in times of peril.

These gifts came in handy when Yamato Takeru was lured onto an open grassland during a hunting expedition by a treacherous warlord. The lord had fiery arrows loosed to ignite the grass and trap Yamato Takeru in the field so that he would burn to death. He also killed the warrior's horse to prevent his escape. Desperately, Yamato Takeru used the Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi to cut back the grass and remove fuel from the fire, but in doing so, he discovered that the sword enabled him to control the wind and cause it to move in the direction of his swing. Taking advantage of this magic, Yamato Takeru used his other gift, fire strikers, to enlarge the fire in the direction of the lord and his men, and he used the winds controlled by the sword to sweep the blaze toward them. In triumph, Yamato Takeru renamed the sword Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi ("Grass-Cutting Sword") to commemorate his narrow escape and victory. Eventually, Yamato Takeru married and later fell in battle against a monster, after ignoring his wife's advice to take the sword with him.

Yasakani Jewel

The Yasakani Jewel (八尺瓊曲玉（やさかにのまがたま）) is the sacred artifact who belongs to the Yasakani (A.K.A. Yagami) clan in KOF universe. According to the real-life legend, swords, mirrors, and jewels were common objects of status for regional rulers in Japan as early as the Yayoi period, and were further widespread in the Kofun period, as shown by their ubiquitous presence in kofun tumuli. The Yasakani no Magatama is stored at the Kashiko-dokoro (賢所), the central shrine of the Three Palace Sanctuaries at the Tokyo Imperial Palace, and is used in the enthronement ceremony of the Emperor of Japan.

Daniel Clarence Holtom stated in 1928 in Japanese enthronement ceremonies; with an account of the imperial regalia that the Yasakani no Magatama is the only one of the three regalia that exists in its original form; post-World War II scholarship supports the claim. Replicas of the sword and mirror were made as early as the 9th century, and the originals were entrusted to other shrines.

Yata Mirror

The Yata Mirror (八汰鏡（やた の かがみ）) is the is the sacred artifact who belongs to the Yata clan in KOF universe. According to the real-life legend, in Shinto, the mirror was forged by the deity Ishikoridome; both it and the Yasakani no magatama were hung from a tree to lure out Amaterasu from a cave. They were given to Amaterasu's grandson, Ninigi-no-Mikoto, when he went to pacify Japan along with the sword Kusanagi. From there, the treasures passed into the hands of the Imperial House of Japan.

In the year 1040 (Chōkyū 1, 9th month), the compartment which contained the Sacred Mirror was burned in a fire. Whether that mirror was irrevocably lost or not, it is said to be housed today in Ise Grand Shrine, while a replica is enshrined in Three Palace Sanctuaries of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo.

Trivia

• In real-life, the Three Sacred Treasures are the Imperial Regalia of Japan.
  • Due to the legendary status of these items, their locations are not confirmed, but it is commonly thought that the sword is located at the Atsuta Shrine in Nagoya, the jewel is located at the Three Palace Sanctuaries in Kōkyo (the Imperial Palace in Tokyo), and the mirror is located at the Ise Grand Shrine in Mie Prefecture.

• Many Japanese media use the legend of the Three Sacred Treasures. An example is the anime and manga Naruto series.

• The manga The King of Fighters Side Story: The Origin of Flame, starred by Shingo Yabuki, a student of the Kusagani clan, focuses on the events occured 660 years, when the Yasakani clan made a pact with Orochi.