leader of a powerful tribe
Archaic term for a chieftain or tribal leader in ancient Japan; found in historical texts such as the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki.
In the Kojiki, there is a scene where a local tribal leader appears.
Alternate archaic kanji spelling; may be confused with other readings of 建.
The reading たける is associated with the ancient honorific title 尊 (also read たける), used for deities and noble figures. The kanji 梟帥 literally means 'owl commander,' but the exact derivation is uncertain; it may be a phonetic or semantic borrowing from Chinese historical terms.