how the tale of yatagarasu, a symbol of divine intervention, is woven into haikyuu and the story and hinata and kageyama.

[thread / manga spoilers]

yatagarasu is a japanese tale about the appearance of a three-legged crow who guides emperor jimmu up mountains towards victory.

the appearance of the crow is seen as the will of heaven or as divine intervention.

the story of haikyuu, and thus the story of hinata and kageyama, is one that is wholly imbued by this tale of fate.

(an interesting editors note from the end of chapter 1)

a fateful encounter is what caused hinata to attend karasuno. he saw the little giant playing on TV and decided that was where he wanted to go. what would have been the outcome had hinata never seen him play that day?

kazuyo prophesizes to kageyama as a child that one day “someone even better will find him.”

the events that follow lead kageyama to karasuno, where hinata is the one to “find him” in that gym. this narrative of hinata following kageyama continues throughout the story.

hinata expresses his desire to see over that wall, but he cannot do it on his own.

yatagarasu guides jimmu and allows him to see over the mountain, and kageyamas skills allow hinata, for the first time, to see over that wall.

note the similar composition.

in ch. 8, hinata sees over the wall for the first time.

the chapter is opened by this page expressing how the two of them have “always been waiting” for the other...

kageyama being a representation of yatagarasu is somewhat expressed through hinata excitedly asking if he has “the hands of God.”

kageyama is the one to remind hinata he can ”fly” through the series. notably in ch 42 and ch 220 with the latter culminating in hinata achieving even greater heights in the karasuno v. nekoma match.

kageyama acts as a guide for hinata, like yatagarasu for jimmu, encouraging him to have more confidence in his role as the greatest decoy, rather than as an ace like the little giant or asahi.

the visage of kageyama is what guides hinata up a literal mountain, in pursuit of becoming stronger and being part of the first-year training camp.

it is also the image of kageyama in brazil that pushes hinata to continue working towards his goal of conquering the "mountain".

and when hinata makes that incredible receive in the inarizaki match, he looks upwards at kageyama, as if looking up a mountain.

in ch 37 hinata repeats his vow to beat kageyama to be the strongest. it is the words kageyama tells him after that hinata keeps as a reminder over his bed while training in brazil.

continuing the thread of fate at play, it is an AD vs BJ match that kageyama watches as a child when he decides he will be a setter. as adults, kageyama /happens/ to play for AD, and BJ /happened/ to be the strongest team running tryouts.

it is not once, but twice that hinata has found kageyama.

and soon enough hinata, like jimmu guided by yatagarasu, will see the peak of the highest mountain as he finally fulfills his promise to defeat kageyama.

small notes i will add (that didnt quite fit the narrative of the thread) include:

shoyou (翔陽) means "flying heaven," with the latter part connoting the yang principle and heaven.
kageyama (影山) means "shadow mountain" and tobio (飛雄) means "flying hero"...like yatagarasu +

so, hinatas first name invokes the will of heaven/fate that guides him to kageyama.

while kageyamas name has a duality to it, being both the mountain hinata must climb and the "flying hero" of yatagarasu that guides him along the way.