Nagusatobe (名草戸畔)
Nagusatobe (year of birth unknown - the month attributed to June in old lunar calendar in 663 B.C.) was a person having fought against the Jinmu tosei (story in Japanese myth about the first generation of the Imperial family) who have appeared in Nihonshoki (Chronicles of Japan) and legends in Wakayama City. Nagusatobe was a woman according to legend.
While Nagusatobe was the name in Nihonshoki, she was also called Nagusahime locally.
According to one view, Nagusatobe is said not to have been the name of a specific person but the expression indicating a status of 'chief of Nagusa region.'
She was the ruler of Nagusa village (Later Nagusa County and the area around the present Mt. Nagusa in Wakayama City. She was, however, killed in battle against Kamuyamatoiwarebiko (Later Emperor Jimmu) who had been on the march in the Jinmu tosei.
After the death of Nagusatobe, the Ki clan instead ruled Ki Province. Ki clan insisted on their legitimacy by listing Nagusatobe as distantly-related in their own family tree.
Nihonshoki
In Nihonshoki, the beginning of 'The third volume, July in the Tsuchinoe Uma year before the accession of Emperor Jinmu to the throne according to the lunar calendar' was the only reference to Nagusatobe and Nagusa village.
The above had happened three years before the accession of Emperor Jinmu to the throne which is considered to have been in 660 B.C. It was a story about the expedition Emperor Jinmu again went on by sea from Kumano-shin village after crossing through Sano, following the death of Itsuse no mikoto, an elder brother of Emperor Jinmu.
Legend
The local legend describes the following story.
The area around Kumo-ike Pond off Kumanokodo Road a little into the present Kainan City turned into a battlefield. Nagusatobe was killed here and the body was cut off into head, torso and foot (or legs).
Nagusa villagers buried the head in Ukabe-jinja Shrine (another name, Okobesan), the torse in Sugio-jinja Shrine (another name, Oharasan) and the legs in Chigusa-jinja Shrine (Ashigamisan).
Some of the shrines in Wakayama City are dedicated to Nagusahime no mikoto (Nagusatobe) or Nagusahiko no mikoto and their main shrine is Nakagoto-jinja Shrine. The relationship between Nagusahime no mikoto and Nagusahiko no mikoto is not clear.