Kibitsuhiko no Mikoto

[Nonsuch Ned]

Has anyone run across mentions of this myth/folktale while discussing Tenchi before?

https://www.japanese-wiki-corpus.org/emperor/Kibitsuhiko%20no%20Mikoto.html

While doing my due diligence and writing up fandom wiki pages on Ai Tenchi Muyo I stumbled upon it while trying to figure out something about the section set in the past. During the bit when they meet the doppelgangers of the three student council members they use the names of two of the three, Inukai and Tamaomi. But they never mention the third. So I did a search and found them in that page.

I'm guessing it must be a well known tale in Japan, especially in Okayama.

Turns out it probably has relevance to the Tenchi mythos beyond just this little unexplained mention in Ai.

Inukai Takeru, Sasa Morihiko, and Tome Tamaomi are three retainers to the hero of the tale, the prince.

What did they do? Well, basically what they were setting out to do. They defeated a powerful demon in the land.

The kicker is that they then SEALED that demon in multiple shrines throughout the Okayama area... like in the real Masaki Shrine that the show's shrine is based on.

But I guess it's not such a legendary tale that manga and anime have recycled it dozens of times.

Ryoko's origin might be it.


it's similarity to Momotaro also has to be the reason Okayama claims that Momotarou came from there. A strong warrior with three companions (also themed after a dog, monkey, and bird) defeating a demon).

[WaitoKon]

I support this comparison but want to suggest that because Ai Tenchi backlore remains however distinct from the Kajishima Canon, we don't know if the Okayama historians read the material incorrectly (embodied in the battle between Ryoko and Yosho, the latter whom was lying to Tenchi and Ayeka during those earlier OVA episodes about that very encounter). Further, given how much time has elapsed since the Bubblegum Crisis Onsen episode was pitched, to when AIC comes back around throwing breadcrumbs with Ai Tenchi, means a lot of plot threads could be waiting in the wings.