Many tales are told in the Kojiki (see Kojiki) and elsewhere of the hero Yamato-takeru, son of the Japanese Emperor Keikō. These tales often have supernatural aspects. Yamato is a knight in search of adventures that will identify him as a hero. In various wars he defeats the “barbarians.” He even defeats a god who confronts him as a white deer. But when he fights the white boar, in reality the god of the evil breath, he is overcome. After his death he becomes a white bird and flies off into the unknown (see Shinto Mythology).
