Week 7 story: The Summoning of Yamato Takeru

Statue of Yamato Takeru.

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Another day, another summoning. Seriously, why are they having me do all these summoning’s? There are plenty of other students who can perform the ritual, so why me? I guess I can’t complain too much since I get to meet so many legendary figures. Well, whatever. Let’s get this summoning started.

I perform the summoning ritual as I always do and what appears before is-

“私はサーベルクラスのヤマトテケルです. 私の神聖な剣の草薙はあなたに勝利をもたらすでしょう.”

A Japanese samurai! I’ve always wanted to meet an actual samurai but why can’t I understand him? This has never been an issue with my previous servants? So, I ask my instructor, “Why is he speaking Japanese? All of my previous servants spoke English regardless of their country of origin.”

My instructor replies with, “An error seems to have occurred during the summoning. Normally, servants automatically speak the same dialect as their summoner as to reduce the chance of miscommunications. Anyways, he says his name is Yamato Takeru and he is of the Saber Class.”

I see, that makes sense…… wait!? “Instructor you speak Japanese!?”

To this my instructor replies with, “Yes, to some extent. It’s been awhile since I’ve spoken it though.”

I wasn’t expecting to learn that about my instructor. Anyways, so he is Yamato Takeru. A mythological hero that is said to be a descendant of Amaterasu. He accomplished many great feats in his legend such as defeating a demon boar and a dragon. Though, he wasn’t perfect since he fell prey to the enticement of Benten, a lovely goddess, which eventually resulted in the death of his loyal wife. Regardless, I finally get to meet a samurai!

I look towards Yamato and say, “It’s nice to meet you Yamato. I look forward to working with you.”

To this he replies, “同様に、マスター. 我々は多くの大きな勝利を達成することができます.”

My instructor interprets and says, “He said he’s also looking forwards to working with you.”

I get the feeling that this partnership is going to be rather unique, if not troublesome.


Author Notes:
So, I went with Yamato this week. I thought that he would make a perfect servant since he meets all the necessary marks: accomplish great feet’s, has a legendary weapon, and fits a class nicely. So, I didn’t change any of Yamato’s legend but I did make it so that he can only speak Japanese. I thought it would be interesting to touch on why the mythological heroes that are summoned are able to clearly communicate with the summoner. Finally, don’t take the Japanese I used in the story seriously since it’s from Google Translate and probably isn’t correct.

Bibliography. "Japanese Mythology" from Romance of Old Japan by E. W. Champney and F. Champney. Web Source.