Totoribe no Yorozu explained

Totoribe no Yorozu
Native Name:捕鳥部 万
Birth Date:Unknown
Birth Place:Kawachi Province, Japan
Death Date:July, 587
Death Place:Izumi Province, Japan
Nationality:Japanese

was a Japanese warrior of the Asuka period. He was a retainer of Mononobe no Moriya.

Biography

The Totoribe were a shinabe clan of bird-hunters. Yorozu was likely a member of the Kawachi branch of the Totoribe clan.[1]

During the Soga–Mononobe conflict, Yorozu was among the Shinto loyalists who fought against the pro-Buddhist faction led by Soga no Umako. When he learned that his lord Moriya had been defeated by Umako's forces, Yorozu escaped into the mountains near Arimakamura in Izumi Province.[2]

The Nihon Shoki describes the scene that played out once Yorozu was cornered in a bamboo grove by Imperial Guard (衛士) forces in league with Umako. Yorozu used a system of ropes to rattle bamboo in order to confuse his pursuers as to his location within the grove, and killed a number of men with his bow and arrow.[2] Surrounded, he said:Yorozu was then struck in the knee with an arrow, but he pulled it out and continued to defend himself, killing about 30 more. After his sword was broken and bowstring snapped, he threw away his weapons and stabbed himself in the neck with a dagger.[2]

Notes and References

  1. Book: 佐伯 Saeki . 有清 Arikiyo . 日本古代氏族事典 Nihon kodai shizoku jiten . 1994 . 雄山閣出版 Yūzankaku shuppan . Japan . 978-4639027614 . 1st.
  2. Book: Aston . William G. . Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 . 1989 . . 978-0804809849 . 1st.