Shuten-dōji
Shuten-dōji is a mythical oni or demon leader of Japan, who according to legend was killed by the hero Minamoto Raikō. Although decapitated, the demon's detached head still took a bite at the hero, who avoided death by wearing multiple helmets stacked on his head.
Shuten-dōji had his lair at Mt. Ōe northwest of the city of Kyoto, or Mt. Ibuki, depending on the version. It has also been theorized that the original mountain was Mt. Ōe on the western edge of the city of Kyoto.
Texts
The oldest surviving text of the legend is recorded in the 14th century Ōeyama Ekotoba, a picture scroll held by the Itsuō Art Museum. It was later incorporated into the corpus of Otogi-zōshi, and became widely read in the woodblock-printed versions of them called the Otogi Bunko, especially Shibukawa Seiemon editions. There is also a set of texts which localizes the Shuten-dōji's fortress at Mt. Ibuki. The Mt. Ibuki group texts reveal the villain's honji as "the demon king of the Sixth Heaven", whereas the Mt. Ōe-localized group texts generally do not, with the exception of Ōeyama Ekotoba which is oldest.Localization
There are two different mountains named Mt. Ōe in Tanba Province. The Otogi Zōshi text of the later period is clearly referring to northwest of the Kyoto capital, since it specifically mentions Senjōdake which is part of this mountain chain.But recent scholarship assigns the original mountain to have been the Mt. Ōe further south. This other Mt. Ōe also has a piece of acclivity named Oi-no-Saka.
There are in fact some comparatively recent versions that actually place the demon lair at the southerly Mt. Ōe, or portray the Senjōdake as the main and Oi-no-Saka as the secondary fortification for the demons, according to religious scholar and folklorist.
Summary (oldest version)
The oldest text version the legend can be summarized as follows:During the reign of Emperor Ichijō, a large number of missing people were being reported in the capital city of Kyoto, most of the victims being young women. Abe no Seimei, the famous onmyōdō diviner of the imperial court, determines that the oni-king of Mt. Ōe was responsible for the abductions. The Emperor then commanded Minamoto no Raikō and Fujiwara no Hōshō to exterminate this demon. Raikō had his four lieutenants called the shitennō while Hōshō had only the junior secretary of Dazaifu to assist them. The party left Kyoto in the year 995.
The party encountered a group of four men who turned out to be transformations of four deities. At their recommendation, Raikō and his retinue disguised themselves as yamabushi priests. When they traveled through a cave-tunnel, they came to a river and found an old kidnapped woman doing the laundry. The old woman explained that the kidnapped young maidens were being forced to act as maidservants, but the ogres wantonly slaughtered the girls, ate their flesh and drank their blood.
The warriors, pretending to be priests, convinced the ogre-king to give them lodging. The ogre-king treated his guests with sake and began to tell the tale about himself, how he was called Shuten-dōji, the "sake-drinking lad" by his underlings for his love of drinking sake, and how the ogres had been displaced from their ancestral Hira Mountains when Enryaku-ji temple was built nearby. and have been at Mt. Ōe since the year 849.
Raikō then offered Shuten-dōji the sake given to him by one of the deities, which rendered him incapacitated. The warriors dressed up in armor and weapons which they concealed in their priestly back-pack chests called oi. Then they stormed Shuten-dōji's sleeping quarters, and while the four deities held down the ogre's limbs, Raikō cut off Shuten-dōji's head with a stroke of his sword. The severed head was still alive, and snapped its jaws, aiming at Raikō's head, but the warrior defended himself by wearing two of his men's helmets in addition to his own. The group returned triumphant to Kyoto with the head, which was laid to rest in the at Byōdō-in temple.
Physical description
According to the Ōeyama Ekotoba version, Shuten-dōji returned to his true form when he slept. He was 50 feet in height, had a red body and a five-horned head, with fifteen eyes; one leg was white and the other black, while his arms were yellow and blue.Otogi Bunko version
The version of the legend found in Shibukawa's Otogi Bunko has been printed in English translation by Haruo Shirane and Noriko T. Reider. Some of the textual similarities and differences are noted below.Divination and expedition
This version is vague about the time frame but in the capital city of Kyoto people are being abducted. A certain middle counselor seeks his daughter's whereabouts and summons a diviner named Muraoka no Masatoki. Masatoki names the demons of Mt. Ōe of Tanba Province as the culprits.The Mikado commands the formation of a punitive squad, consisting of the standard six warriors, Minamoto no Raikō and his "four guardian kings" including Watanabe no Tsuna and Hōshō.
Three gods and divine sake
Because demons are shape-shifters and formidable enemies, the group decides to pay homage to three shrines: Yawata Shrine, Sumiyoshi Shrine, and Kumano Shrine.Later, the group meet the gods of the three shrines disguised as old men. The gods give Raikō the "sake divine elixir, poisonous to demons" which will rob the ogres of their ability to fly and stupefy them.
Even though Raikō is already carrying his own vermilion helm in his back-pack chest, he receives from the gods another helmet which he is instructed to wear when he decapitates the enemy.
Infiltration
Just before reaching the lair, Raikō's group encounters the hostage working as laundress, who becomes their informant. Here, she is not an old woman as in the old text, but a 17 or 18-year-old daughter of a courtier. She reveals that the lair which is called Iron Palace lies inside the Demon's Cavern, and forewarns the group about the four ogres who are Shutendōji's lieutenants..As in the oldest text, Raikō's party pretending to be yamabushi ascetics gains entry at Shuten-dōji's dwelling-place. Raikō disarms the ogre's suspicion by explaining that they, as yamabushi, follow the ways of En no Gyōja, whom he says was compassionate and hospital towards demons. The warriors drink up the blood sake and heartily eat the human flesh in order to gain further confidence. At the height of the drunken revelry, Raikō offers Shuten-dōji the divine sake poisonous to demons. Shuten-dōji begins to tell his life story, and also recounts how his henchman Ibaraki-dōji lost an arm in an encounter with Tsuna, one of Raikō's men.
As in the older text, the warriors equip their hidden armor and swords and raid Shuten-dōji in his sleeping chamber. The three gods have arrived to help and chain the ogre's limbs to the pillars. As Raikō positions himself with his sword Chisui in hand, the ogre faults the warrior for his sneaky underhanded tactics, exclaiming: "How sad, you-priests! You said you do not lie. There is nothing false in the words of demons".
The warriors attack with their swords and sever Shuten-dōji's head, but as in the older text, the detached head attempts to get a bite at Raikō, and the hero is protected by two helmets stacked on his head: his Lion King helmet on top the hobnailed helmet given him by the gods. Subsequently, Ibaraki-dōji and Watanabe no Tsuna engage in a prolonged fight and while they grappled, Raikō decapitated Ibaraki-dōji. The female prisoners are liberated and the warriors return triumphant.
Subordinates
In this version, Ibaraki-dōji, who is famous in his own right, plays the role of one of Shuten-dōji's henchmen. There are also four other underlings dubbed Shuten-dōji's "Four Divine Kings": Hoshikuma-dōji, Kuma-dōji, Torakuma-dōji, and Kane-dōji.Shuten-dōji, after telling the story of his own life, recounts the famous episode where Ibaraki-dōji goes to the capital city and has his arm severed by Watanabe no Tsuna. Later on, Raikō decapitated Ibaraki-dōji who was wrestling with Tsuna.
Shuten-dōji's "Four Divine Kings" are described by the laundress-girl, so Raikō's group is aware of their existence in advance. Their names, together with their meanings were: Hoshikuma-dōji, Kuma-dōji, Torakuma-dōji, and Kane-dōji.
Named swords and arms
The warriors in their oi conceal their armors and swords, many of which have proper names.Raikō's chest contained the sword Chisui, vermilion armor called randen gusari, and a vermilion helmet called Shishiō Hōshō's contained a two-foot halberd called Iwakiri. Tsuna had a sword named and yellow-green set of armor and helmet.
A real existing sword named, which is one of the Five Best Swords under Heaven and designated national treasure of Japan, is associated with the tradition of being the sword that killed Shuten-dōji.
In the Otogi Bunko text discussed here however, since many swords attack Shuten-dōji and sever his head, it is not clear who or which sword is to be credited with the decapitation.
Analysis
It has been said that Shuten-dōji was the strongest oni of Japan. Academic folklorist has counted Shuten-dōji among the three most feared yōkai in medieval Kyoto, alongside the vixen Tamamo-no-Mae and the demon.Local folklore
Shuten-dōji, according to one legend, was born at Ganbara, Echigo. However, there is also the idea that from the base of Mt. Ibuki, where in literature like the Nihon Shoki, in the legend of the defeat of the giant snake Yamata no Orochi to Susanoo in a battle, it fled from Izumo to Ōmi, had a child with a wealthy person’s daughter, with that child was Shuten-doji. Both father and son had a matchless thirst for sake, which is often cited as support.Niigata
According to the Otogi Bunko version as previously described, Shuten-dōji originally came from Echigo Province and, had lived since the Heian period when Dengyō Daishi and Kōbō-Daishi were active. Local legends elaborate that he was a page of the Kokojou-ji .One story is that he was the son of a blacksmith in Echigo, that he was in his mother’s womb for 16 months, and that he had teeth and hair when he was born, was immediately able to walk, was able to talk on the level of a 5–6 year old, had the wisdom and physical strength of a 16-year-old, and had a rough temperament, and due to this unusually ready wit, was shunned as an "oni child". According to Zentaiheiki, afterwards, when he was 6 years of age, he was abandoned by his mother, wandered from place to place, and then walked the path towards being an oni. There is also a legend that since he was scorned as an oni child, he was put into custody of a temple, but the chief priest of that temple was a user of unorthodox practices, and the child became an oni through learning those unorthodox practices, that he exhausted the limits of evil.
In the town of :ja:和納村|Wanou, it is said that when a pregnant woman eats a fish called "tochi", that child will become a robber if it is a boy, and a prostitute if it is a girl. It is also said that a woman who ate the fish, gave birth to a child after it stayed 16 months in her womb, and that child was Shuten-doji. In :ja:和納村|Wanou, there are place names like the Dōji estate and the Dōji field.
Mt. Ibuki, Shiga
Some versions of the legend localize Mt. Ibuki in Ōmi Province.He, who was born from the large snake Yamata no Orochi and a human girl, was a page at Mount Hiei from an early age, and underwent training, but he drank sake which was forbidden by Buddhism, and in fact was a big drinker, and was therefore hated by everyone. One day, after a religious festival where he dressed in an oni costume, he was about to take off the costume, but he wasn’t able to since it was stuck to his face, and reluctantly went into some mountain recesses where he started his life as an oni. He then met Ibaraki-dōji, and together aimed for Kyoto.
Nara Prefecture
He was a page for the :ja:白毫寺|Byakugō-ji in the Yamato Province, but found a corpse at a nearby mountain, and due to curiosity, brought that meat back to the temple, and made his priest teacher eat it without telling him that it was human meat. Afterwards, the page frequently brought back meat, not only from the flesh of corpses, but also by murdering live humans and returning with their flesh. The priest, who thought that it was suspicious, followed after the page, discovered the truth, harshly criticized the page, and abandoned him in a mountain. The page later became Shuten-dōji, and it has been said that the place where he was abandoned was thus called chigo-saka.According to another theory, he was a child of the chief priest of Byakugō-ji, but as he matured, he grew fangs and a horn, and later became a child as rough as a beast. The priest was embarrassed by this child, so the child was abandoned, but the child later came to Mt. Ōoe, and became Shuten-dōji.
Kyoto Prefecture
Mt. Ōe legend
From the Heian period to the Kamakura period, he was an oni who lawlessly ran amok in the capital, and he was based in Mt. in the Tanba Province, or the Ōe in Nishikyō-ku, Kyoto, also known as Oi no Saka as well as the neighboring Shinochōōji, Kameoka. For the legend of the Mt. Ōe in Tanba Province, there is a theory that it was a misrepresentation of the bandits within Ōe who harassed passing travelers.Oi-no-saka
According to local legend, Yorimitsu and the others returned with the head back to the capital, but at Oi-no-Saka by the Mt. Ōe on the south edge of Kyoto city, they were warned by a roadsize image of Jizō, "don't bring something unclean into the capital", and as the head was not able to move anymore, they all buried the head right there. Another theory is that when Dōji was dying, regretting his crimes until then, desired to help various people who had illnesses in their head, that he was deified as a great wisdom god. As this is the Kubitsuka Daimyōjin of the Oi no Saka slope, according to legends, it would perform miracles for illnesses in the head.Others
It has also been said that he was buried in Mt. Ōe in Fukuchiyama, Kyoto, which is the origin of the Onidake-inari-san jinja.Nariaiji temple in Kyoto Prefecture preserves the sake bottle and sake cup allegedly used to pour the Shinbenkidokushu.