The Japanese culture is very rich in myths, ghost stories, urban legends and supernatural
phenomena. In Japan, spirits and demons are popularly termed Yokai. The word yōkai means
"bewitching; attractive; calamity"; "spectre; apparition; mystery; and suspicious". Yōkai are
a class of supernatural monsters, spirits, and demons, they may be good, they may be
evil, they may be in between, or they may just be mischievous.
But there are three most dreaded monsters who, according to legend, posed the greatest
threats to Japan’s existence. They are the Ohni, the Kitsunay, and the Tengu. And they
still instill fear in the minds of the Japanese people even till today.
Now I'll tell you their stories and how they rose to become the most feared yokai in all
of Japan.
1). The Shuten dōji, popularly known as The Ohni.
Before he became a legendary monster, Shuten dōji was a troublesome orphan child. He was
very strong and very smart; so much so that people believed his father must have been
a demon or a dragon. At an early age he was apprenticed to the Mt. Hiei temple complex
and became a monk. However, monastic life did not suit him. He was disrespectful, he
got into fights with the other monks, and he was lazy in his studies. He spent most
of his time drinking sake, which is how he earned the nickname Shuten dōji, or “little
drunkard.”
One night during a festival, Shuten dōji got really drunk and decided to play pranks.
He put on an ohni mask and snuck around the festival, jumping out of the darkness and
scaring festival-goers. After the festival, he was unable to take the ohni mask off. It
had fused to his face, becoming a part of his body. When he sought help from the abbot,
he was scolded for his wickedness. He was mocked and teased by the other monks for his
ugliness. His heart became like an ohni too – wicked, and full of anger. Shuten dōji
left the monastery and fled into the mountains to live as a hermit.
In his solitude, Shuten dōji grew to hate the world. He embraced his wickedness and
began to study black magic. He used his power and wit to attack the merchants and travelers
moving through his area. He kidnapped young men and women to drink their blood and eat
their organs. With each passing year he grew more powerful, and more violent. His infamy
grew, and other wicked people began to flock to his cause. Like Shuten dōji, these people
transformed into ohni. Before long, Shuten dōji had become like a king to a small army
of demons.
Shuten dōji and his thugs built a castle on Mount Ōe. He set his sights on wreaking
vengeance upon the cruel world, and becoming ruler over all of Japan. Using the mountain
as a base of operations, Shuten dōji’s army began to attack the capital in greater
frequency. Their kidnappings and murders attracted the attention of Emperor Ichijō, who decided
that Shuten dōji needed to be stopped before he became any more powerful.
The emperor commanded his bravest warrior, Raikō, to climb Mount Ōe and bring back
the head of Shuten dōji. Raikō and his men ventured into the mountains and found the
army of ohni inside their castle, drinking sake. They poisoned the sake, and when the
ohni had all fallen into a poison-induced drunken slumber, Raikō and his men snuck
into the castle.
They slew the ohni one by one, and finally they reached Shuten dōji. Raikō swung his
sword and sliced off the ohni king’s head. Shuten dōji was so powerful that even after
he had been killed, his head continued to bite at the heroes. Eventually the head was
buried outside of the city limits, where it could cause no more trouble.
2). Tamamo no Mae, popularly called the Kitsunay.
Tamamo no Mae was a wicked, shape-changing, nine-tailed fox whose evil was only matched
by her ambition. She disguised herself as a human child and was found by an elderly
couple who were unable to have children of their own. They named her Mikuzume and raised
her as their daughter.
Mikuzume grew to be an exceptionally talented and beautiful young woman, and attracted the
attention of everyone around her. When she was 7 years old, she recited poetry in front
of Emperor Toba, who was so taken with her that he offered her a job as a servant of
the imperial court.
Mikuzume excelled at court, absorbing knowledge like a sponge. There was no question she could
not answer, whether it was about music, history, astronomy, religion, or Chinese classics.
Her clothes were always clean and unwrinkled. She always smelled pleasant. Mikuzume had
the most beautiful face in all of Japan, and everyone who saw her loved her.
One summer, during a poetry recital, a powerful rainstorm hit. The candles in the recital
room were snuffed out by the wind. Suddenly, a bright light emanated from Mikuzume’s
body, illuminating the room. Everybody at the recital was shocked, and it was declared
that she must have had an exceedingly good and holy past life. Mikuzume was given the
name Tamamo no Mae, and Emperor Toba, already exceedingly fond of her, made her into his
consort.
Shortly afterwards, Emperor Toba became gravely ill. The country’s best physicians could
not figure out what was wrong with him. The highest priests prayed for him to get better,
but he only grew worse. Sorcerers were called in to divine the cause of his illness. According
to the sorcerers, the emperor was being made sick by someone close to him. They suspected
that Tamamo no Mae was actually a fox in disguise, but the emperor refused to believe that his
beloved could be something wicked. In fact, she had been using her magic to shorten the
emperor’s life, and was responsible for his condition.
Tamamo no Mae was ordered to participate in the divine rituals to save the emperor’s
life. The sorcerers reasoned that if she were an evil spirit, she would not be able to recite
the holy words or perform the ritual. She was reluctant to participate, for she was
afraid of what would happen when the sorcerers identified her as the cause of the emperor’s
illness. But due to court decorum, she had little choice. She recited the holy words
and played her part extremely well. But just as she was about to wave the ceremonial staff,
she vanished. The sorcerers’ suspicions were confirmed.
The emperor summoned his best warriors and ordered them to find Tamamo no Mae. An army
of 80,000 men was sent forth to hunt her down. News came that a nine-tailed fox had been
spotted in the east. The army chased her all the way to the plains of Nasuno.
The night before she was caught, Tamamo no Mae appeared to an archer named Miuranosuke
in a dream. She was crying. She told him that tomorrow he would find her, and she begged
him to spare her life. Her beauty was indescribable. She appeared so pitiable. But Miuranosuke’s
sense of duty was stronger than his sense of pity, and he rejected her plea.
The next day Miuranosuke spotted a nine-tailed fox on the plains. He fired two arrows at
it, piercing its side and neck. The swordsman Kazusanosuke swung his blade at its head.
The fox fell, and Tamamo no Mae’s life ended. The army returned to Kyoto with the fox’s
body as proof of her defeat.
However, Tamamo no Mae’s evil did not end with her death. One year after she died, Emperor
Konoe died, heirless. The following year, her lover — the former emperor Toba — died
as well. This paved the way for a succession crisis that spelled the end of imperial power
in Japan and allowed the rise of the first shoguns.
3). Emperor Sutoku, popularly known as Tengu.
Emperor Sutoku rose to the throne when he was just a child. Though official records
stated that Sutoku was the eldest son of Emperor Toba, it was an open secret that he was actually
sired by Toba’s father, the retired Emperor Shirakawa. Shirakawa wielded considerable
power behind the throne in his retirement, and he forced Toba to abdicate in favor of
the young Sutoku, whom Shirakawa could control much more easily than the older and more ambitious
Toba.
After Shirakawa died, Toba became the power behind the throne. Toba hated Sutoku, whom
he considered a bastard son. He enacted his revenge upon Sutoku by convincing the young
emperor to appoint Toba’s son as his successor and join him in retirement. Sutoku did so,
and Konoe, at only three years old, became the new emperor. Konoe was entirely the puppet
of his father Toba. He had all of Sutoku’s supporters transferred to distant provinces
and filled the capital with people loyal to Toba.
Emperor Konoe was sickly his whole life. He passed away, childless, at the age of 17.
This sparked a succession crisis between Toba’s next oldest son and Sutoku’s son, both of
whom had a claim on the throne. The imperial court, full of Toba’s supporters, decided
in favor of Toba’s son, Go-Shirakawa.
When Toba died the following year, Sutoku’s supporters attempted to overthrow the young
Emperor Go-Shirakawa. There was a brief and bloody fight, but the rebellion was quickly
put down. Go-Shirakawa’s revenge against the rebels was merciless. They and their families
were executed, and Sutoku was banished to Sanuki Province.
Sutoku lived out the remainder of his life in exile as a monk. He shaved his head and
devoted his efforts to hand-copying the holy sutras. After years of work, Sutoku sent his
prayer scrolls and manuscripts to Kyoto as an offering for the imperial temples. Go-Shirakawa
suspected that Sutoku may have cursed the work, and refused to accept them. Instead,
he had the manuscripts sent back to Sutoku.
This rejection proved to be the final straw for the exiled emperor. Sutoku bit off his
own tongue, and as he bled to death he wrote in his own blood a powerful curse against
Japan and the emperor. He poured all of his hatred and resentment from his entire life
into that curse. As he bled, he transformed into a great tengu. His nails and his hair
grew long, and he never cut them again for the rest of his life.
The Japanese culture is very rich in myths, ghost stories, urban legends and supernatural
phenomena. In Japan, spirits and demons are popularly termed Yokai. The word yōkai means
"bewitching; attractive; calamity"; "spectre; apparition; mystery; and suspicious". Yōkai are
a class of supernatural monsters, spirits, and demons, they may be good, they may be
evil, they may be in between, or they may just be mischievous.
But there are three most dreaded monsters who, according to legend, posed the greatest
threats to Japan’s existence. They are the Ohni, the Kitsunay, and the Tengu. And they
still instill fear in the minds of the Japanese people even till today.
Now I'll tell you their stories and how they rose to become the most feared yokai in all
of Japan.
1). The Shuten dōji, popularly known as The Ohni.
Before he became a legendary monster, Shuten dōji was a troublesome orphan child. He was
very strong and very smart; so much so that people believed his father must have been
a demon or a dragon. At an early age he was apprenticed to the Mt. Hiei temple complex
and became a monk. However, monastic life did not suit him. He was disrespectful, he
got into fights with the other monks, and he was lazy in his studies. He spent most
of his time drinking sake, which is how he earned the nickname Shuten dōji, or “little
drunkard.”
One night during a festival, Shuten dōji got really drunk and decided to play pranks.
He put on an ohni mask and snuck around the festival, jumping out of the darkness and
scaring festival-goers. After the festival, he was unable to take the ohni mask off. It
had fused to his face, becoming a part of his body. When he sought help from the abbot,
he was scolded for his wickedness. He was mocked and teased by the other monks for his
ugliness. His heart became like an ohni too – wicked, and full of anger. Shuten dōji
left the monastery and fled into the mountains to live as a hermit.
In his solitude, Shuten dōji grew to hate the world. He embraced his wickedness and
began to study black magic. He used his power and wit to attack the merchants and travelers
moving through his area. He kidnapped young men and women to drink their blood and eat
their organs. With each passing year he grew more powerful, and more violent. His infamy
grew, and other wicked people began to flock to his cause. Like Shuten dōji, these people
transformed into ohni. Before long, Shuten dōji had become like a king to a small army
of demons.
Shuten dōji and his thugs built a castle on Mount Ōe. He set his sights on wreaking
vengeance upon the cruel world, and becoming ruler over all of Japan. Using the mountain
as a base of operations, Shuten dōji’s army began to attack the capital in greater
frequency. Their kidnappings and murders attracted the attention of Emperor Ichijō, who decided
that Shuten dōji needed to be stopped before he became any more powerful.
The emperor commanded his bravest warrior, Raikō, to climb Mount Ōe and bring back
the head of Shuten dōji. Raikō and his men ventured into the mountains and found the
army of ohni inside their castle, drinking sake. They poisoned the sake, and when the
ohni had all fallen into a poison-induced drunken slumber, Raikō and his men snuck
into the castle.
They slew the ohni one by one, and finally they reached Shuten dōji. Raikō swung his
sword and sliced off the ohni king’s head. Shuten dōji was so powerful that even after
he had been killed, his head continued to bite at the heroes. Eventually the head was
buried outside of the city limits, where it could cause no more trouble.
2). Tamamo no Mae, popularly called the Kitsunay.
Tamamo no Mae was a wicked, shape-changing, nine-tailed fox whose evil was only matched
by her ambition. She disguised herself as a human child and was found by an elderly
couple who were unable to have children of their own. They named her Mikuzume and raised
her as their daughter.
Mikuzume grew to be an exceptionally talented and beautiful young woman, and attracted the
attention of everyone around her. When she was 7 years old, she recited poetry in front
of Emperor Toba, who was so taken with her that he offered her a job as a servant of
the imperial court.
Mikuzume excelled at court, absorbing knowledge like a sponge. There was no question she could
not answer, whether it was about music, history, astronomy, religion, or Chinese classics.
Her clothes were always clean and unwrinkled. She always smelled pleasant. Mikuzume had
the most beautiful face in all of Japan, and everyone who saw her loved her.
One summer, during a poetry recital, a powerful rainstorm hit. The candles in the recital
room were snuffed out by the wind. Suddenly, a bright light emanated from Mikuzume’s
body, illuminating the room. Everybody at the recital was shocked, and it was declared
that she must have had an exceedingly good and holy past life. Mikuzume was given the
name Tamamo no Mae, and Emperor Toba, already exceedingly fond of her, made her into his
consort.
Shortly afterwards, Emperor Toba became gravely ill. The country’s best physicians could
not figure out what was wrong with him. The highest priests prayed for him to get better,
but he only grew worse. Sorcerers were called in to divine the cause of his illness. According
to the sorcerers, the emperor was being made sick by someone close to him. They suspected
that Tamamo no Mae was actually a fox in disguise, but the emperor refused to believe that his
beloved could be something wicked. In fact, she had been using her magic to shorten the
emperor’s life, and was responsible for his condition.
Tamamo no Mae was ordered to participate in the divine rituals to save the emperor’s
life. The sorcerers reasoned that if she were an evil spirit, she would not be able to recite
the holy words or perform the ritual. She was reluctant to participate, for she was
afraid of what would happen when the sorcerers identified her as the cause of the emperor’s
illness. But due to court decorum, she had little choice. She recited the holy words
and played her part extremely well. But just as she was about to wave the ceremonial staff,
she vanished. The sorcerers’ suspicions were confirmed.
The emperor summoned his best warriors and ordered them to find Tamamo no Mae. An army
of 80,000 men was sent forth to hunt her down. News came that a nine-tailed fox had been
spotted in the east. The army chased her all the way to the plains of Nasuno.
The night before she was caught, Tamamo no Mae appeared to an archer named Miuranosuke
in a dream. She was crying. She told him that tomorrow he would find her, and she begged
him to spare her life. Her beauty was indescribable. She appeared so pitiable. But Miuranosuke’s
sense of duty was stronger than his sense of pity, and he rejected her plea.
The next day Miuranosuke spotted a nine-tailed fox on the plains. He fired two arrows at
it, piercing its side and neck. The swordsman Kazusanosuke swung his blade at its head.
The fox fell, and Tamamo no Mae’s life ended. The army returned to Kyoto with the fox’s
body as proof of her defeat.
However, Tamamo no Mae’s evil did not end with her death. One year after she died, Emperor
Konoe died, heirless. The following year, her lover — the former emperor Toba — died
as well. This paved the way for a succession crisis that spelled the end of imperial power
in Japan and allowed the rise of the first shoguns.
3). Emperor Sutoku, popularly known as Tengu.
Emperor Sutoku rose to the throne when he was just a child. Though official records
stated that Sutoku was the eldest son of Emperor Toba, it was an open secret that he was actually
sired by Toba’s father, the retired Emperor Shirakawa. Shirakawa wielded considerable
power behind the throne in his retirement, and he forced Toba to abdicate in favor of
the young Sutoku, whom Shirakawa could control much more easily than the older and more ambitious
Toba.
After Shirakawa died, Toba became the power behind the throne. Toba hated Sutoku, whom
he considered a bastard son. He enacted his revenge upon Sutoku by convincing the young
emperor to appoint Toba’s son as his successor and join him in retirement. Sutoku did so,
and Konoe, at only three years old, became the new emperor. Konoe was entirely the puppet
of his father Toba. He had all of Sutoku’s supporters transferred to distant provinces
and filled the capital with people loyal to Toba.
Emperor Konoe was sickly his whole life. He passed away, childless, at the age of 17.
This sparked a succession crisis between Toba’s next oldest son and Sutoku’s son, both of
whom had a claim on the throne. The imperial court, full of Toba’s supporters, decided
in favor of Toba’s son, Go-Shirakawa.
When Toba died the following year, Sutoku’s supporters attempted to overthrow the young
Emperor Go-Shirakawa. There was a brief and bloody fight, but the rebellion was quickly
put down. Go-Shirakawa’s revenge against the rebels was merciless. They and their families
were executed, and Sutoku was banished to Sanuki Province.
Sutoku lived out the remainder of his life in exile as a monk. He shaved his head and
devoted his efforts to hand-copying the holy sutras. After years of work, Sutoku sent his
prayer scrolls and manuscripts to Kyoto as an offering for the imperial temples. Go-Shirakawa
suspected that Sutoku may have cursed the work, and refused to accept them. Instead,
he had the manuscripts sent back to Sutoku.
This rejection proved to be the final straw for the exiled emperor. Sutoku bit off his
own tongue, and as he bled to death he wrote in his own blood a powerful curse against
Japan and the emperor. He poured all of his hatred and resentment from his entire life
into that curse. As he bled, he transformed into a great tengu. His nails and his hair
grew long, and he never cut them again for the rest of his life.
The Japanese culture is very rich in myths, ghost stories, urban legends and supernatural
phenomena. In Japan, spirits and demons are popularly termed Yokai. The word yōkai means
"bewitching; attractive; calamity"; "spectre; apparition; mystery; and suspicious". Yōkai are
a class of supernatural monsters, spirits, and demons, they may be good, they may be
evil, they may be in between, or they may just be mischievous.
But there are three most dreaded monsters who, according to legend, posed the greatest
threats to Japan’s existence. They are the Ohni, the Kitsunay, and the Tengu. And they
still instill fear in the minds of the Japanese people even till today.
Now I'll tell you their stories and how they rose to become the most feared yokai in all
of Japan.
1). The Shuten dōji, popularly known as The Ohni.
Before he became a legendary monster, Shuten dōji was a troublesome orphan child. He was
very strong and very smart; so much so that people believed his father must have been
a demon or a dragon. At an early age he was apprenticed to the Mt. Hiei temple complex
and became a monk. However, monastic life did not suit him. He was disrespectful, he
got into fights with the other monks, and he was lazy in his studies. He spent most
of his time drinking sake, which is how he earned the nickname Shuten dōji, or “little
drunkard.”
One night during a festival, Shuten dōji got really drunk and decided to play pranks.
He put on an ohni mask and snuck around the festival, jumping out of the darkness and
scaring festival-goers. After the festival, he was unable to take the ohni mask off. It
had fused to his face, becoming a part of his body. When he sought help from the abbot,
he was scolded for his wickedness. He was mocked and teased by the other monks for his
ugliness. His heart became like an ohni too – wicked, and full of anger. Shuten dōji
left the monastery and fled into the mountains to live as a hermit.
In his solitude, Shuten dōji grew to hate the world. He embraced his wickedness and
began to study black magic. He used his power and wit to attack the merchants and travelers
moving through his area. He kidnapped young men and women to drink their blood and eat
their organs. With each passing year he grew more powerful, and more violent. His infamy
grew, and other wicked people began to flock to his cause. Like Shuten dōji, these people
transformed into ohni. Before long, Shuten dōji had become like a king to a small army
of demons.
Shuten dōji and his thugs built a castle on Mount Ōe. He set his sights on wreaking
vengeance upon the cruel world, and becoming ruler over all of Japan. Using the mountain
as a base of operations, Shuten dōji’s army began to attack the capital in greater
frequency. Their kidnappings and murders attracted the attention of Emperor Ichijō, who decided
that Shuten dōji needed to be stopped before he became any more powerful.
The emperor commanded his bravest warrior, Raikō, to climb Mount Ōe and bring back
the head of Shuten dōji. Raikō and his men ventured into the mountains and found the
army of ohni inside their castle, drinking sake. They poisoned the sake, and when the
ohni had all fallen into a poison-induced drunken slumber, Raikō and his men snuck
into the castle.
They slew the ohni one by one, and finally they reached Shuten dōji. Raikō swung his
sword and sliced off the ohni king’s head. Shuten dōji was so powerful that even after
he had been killed, his head continued to bite at the heroes. Eventually the head was
buried outside of the city limits, where it could cause no more trouble.
2). Tamamo no Mae, popularly called the Kitsunay.
Tamamo no Mae was a wicked, shape-changing, nine-tailed fox whose evil was only matched
by her ambition. She disguised herself as a human child and was found by an elderly
couple who were unable to have children of their own. They named her Mikuzume and raised
her as their daughter.
Mikuzume grew to be an exceptionally talented and beautiful young woman, and attracted the
attention of everyone around her. When she was 7 years old, she recited poetry in front
of Emperor Toba, who was so taken with her that he offered her a job as a servant of
the imperial court.
Mikuzume excelled at court, absorbing knowledge like a sponge. There was no question she could
not answer, whether it was about music, history, astronomy, religion, or Chinese classics.
Her clothes were always clean and unwrinkled. She always smelled pleasant. Mikuzume had
the most beautiful face in all of Japan, and everyone who saw her loved her.
One summer, during a poetry recital, a powerful rainstorm hit. The candles in the recital
room were snuffed out by the wind. Suddenly, a bright light emanated from Mikuzume’s
body, illuminating the room. Everybody at the recital was shocked, and it was declared
that she must have had an exceedingly good and holy past life. Mikuzume was given the
name Tamamo no Mae, and Emperor Toba, already exceedingly fond of her, made her into his
consort.
Shortly afterwards, Emperor Toba became gravely ill. The country’s best physicians could
not figure out what was wrong with him. The highest priests prayed for him to get better,
but he only grew worse. Sorcerers were called in to divine the cause of his illness. According
to the sorcerers, the emperor was being made sick by someone close to him. They suspected
that Tamamo no Mae was actually a fox in disguise, but the emperor refused to believe that his
beloved could be something wicked. In fact, she had been using her magic to shorten the
emperor’s life, and was responsible for his condition.
Tamamo no Mae was ordered to participate in the divine rituals to save the emperor’s
life. The sorcerers reasoned that if she were an evil spirit, she would not be able to recite
the holy words or perform the ritual. She was reluctant to participate, for she was
afraid of what would happen when the sorcerers identified her as the cause of the emperor’s
illness. But due to court decorum, she had little choice. She recited the holy words
and played her part extremely well. But just as she was about to wave the ceremonial staff,
she vanished. The sorcerers’ suspicions were confirmed.
The emperor summoned his best warriors and ordered them to find Tamamo no Mae. An army
of 80,000 men was sent forth to hunt her down. News came that a nine-tailed fox had been
spotted in the east. The army chased her all the way to the plains of Nasuno.
The night before she was caught, Tamamo no Mae appeared to an archer named Miuranosuke
in a dream. She was crying. She told him that tomorrow he would find her, and she begged
him to spare her life. Her beauty was indescribable. She appeared so pitiable. But Miuranosuke’s
sense of duty was stronger than his sense of pity, and he rejected her plea.
The next day Miuranosuke spotted a nine-tailed fox on the plains. He fired two arrows at
it, piercing its side and neck. The swordsman Kazusanosuke swung his blade at its head.
The fox fell, and Tamamo no Mae’s life ended. The army returned to Kyoto with the fox’s
body as proof of her defeat.
However, Tamamo no Mae’s evil did not end with her death. One year after she died, Emperor
Konoe died, heirless. The following year, her lover — the former emperor Toba — died
as well. This paved the way for a succession crisis that spelled the end of imperial power
in Japan and allowed the rise of the first shoguns.
3). Emperor Sutoku, popularly known as Tengu.
Emperor Sutoku rose to the throne when he was just a child. Though official records
stated that Sutoku was the eldest son of Emperor Toba, it was an open secret that he was actually
sired by Toba’s father, the retired Emperor Shirakawa. Shirakawa wielded considerable
power behind the throne in his retirement, and he forced Toba to abdicate in favor of
the young Sutoku, whom Shirakawa could control much more easily than the older and more ambitious
Toba.
After Shirakawa died, Toba became the power behind the throne. Toba hated Sutoku, whom
he considered a bastard son. He enacted his revenge upon Sutoku by convincing the young
emperor to appoint Toba’s son as his successor and join him in retirement. Sutoku did so,
and Konoe, at only three years old, became the new emperor. Konoe was entirely the puppet
of his father Toba. He had all of Sutoku’s supporters transferred to distant provinces
and filled the capital with people loyal to Toba.
Emperor Konoe was sickly his whole life. He passed away, childless, at the age of 17.
This sparked a succession crisis between Toba’s next oldest son and Sutoku’s son, both of
whom had a claim on the throne. The imperial court, full of Toba’s supporters, decided
in favor of Toba’s son, Go-Shirakawa.
When Toba died the following year, Sutoku’s supporters attempted to overthrow the young
Emperor Go-Shirakawa. There was a brief and bloody fight, but the rebellion was quickly
put down. Go-Shirakawa’s revenge against the rebels was merciless. They and their families
were executed, and Sutoku was banished to Sanuki Province.
Sutoku lived out the remainder of his life in exile as a monk. He shaved his head and
devoted his efforts to hand-copying the holy sutras. After years of work, Sutoku sent his
prayer scrolls and manuscripts to Kyoto as an offering for the imperial temples. Go-Shirakawa
suspected that Sutoku may have cursed the work, and refused to accept them. Instead,
he had the manuscripts sent back to Sutoku.
This rejection proved to be the final straw for the exiled emperor. Sutoku bit off his
own tongue, and as he bled to death he wrote in his own blood a powerful curse against
Japan and the emperor. He poured all of his hatred and resentment from his entire life
into that curse. As he bled, he transformed into a great tengu. His nails and his hair
grew long, and he never cut them again for the rest of his life.
The Japanese culture is very rich in myths, ghost stories, urban legends and supernatural
phenomena. In Japan, spirits and demons are popularly termed Yokai. The word yōkai means
"bewitching; attractive; calamity"; "spectre; apparition; mystery; and suspicious". Yōkai are
a class of supernatural monsters, spirits, and demons, they may be good, they may be
evil, they may be in between, or they may just be mischievous.
But there are three most dreaded monsters who, according to legend, posed the greatest
threats to Japan’s existence. They are the Ohni, the Kitsunay, and the Tengu. And they
still instill fear in the minds of the Japanese people even till today.
Now I'll tell you their stories and how they rose to become the most feared yokai in all
of Japan.
1). The Shuten dōji, popularly known as The Ohni.
Before he became a legendary monster, Shuten dōji was a troublesome orphan child. He was
very strong and very smart; so much so that people believed his father must have been
a demon or a dragon. At an early age he was apprenticed to the Mt. Hiei temple complex
and became a monk. However, monastic life did not suit him. He was disrespectful, he
got into fights with the other monks, and he was lazy in his studies. He spent most
of his time drinking sake, which is how he earned the nickname Shuten dōji, or “little
drunkard.”
One night during a festival, Shuten dōji got really drunk and decided to play pranks.
He put on an ohni mask and snuck around the festival, jumping out of the darkness and
scaring festival-goers. After the festival, he was unable to take the ohni mask off. It
had fused to his face, becoming a part of his body. When he sought help from the abbot,
he was scolded for his wickedness. He was mocked and teased by the other monks for his
ugliness. His heart became like an ohni too – wicked, and full of anger. Shuten dōji
left the monastery and fled into the mountains to live as a hermit.
In his solitude, Shuten dōji grew to hate the world. He embraced his wickedness and
began to study black magic. He used his power and wit to attack the merchants and travelers
moving through his area. He kidnapped young men and women to drink their blood and eat
their organs. With each passing year he grew more powerful, and more violent. His infamy
grew, and other wicked people began to flock to his cause. Like Shuten dōji, these people
transformed into ohni. Before long, Shuten dōji had become like a king to a small army
of demons.
Shuten dōji and his thugs built a castle on Mount Ōe. He set his sights on wreaking
vengeance upon the cruel world, and becoming ruler over all of Japan. Using the mountain
as a base of operations, Shuten dōji’s army began to attack the capital in greater
frequency. Their kidnappings and murders attracted the attention of Emperor Ichijō, who decided
that Shuten dōji needed to be stopped before he became any more powerful.
The emperor commanded his bravest warrior, Raikō, to climb Mount Ōe and bring back
the head of Shuten dōji. Raikō and his men ventured into the mountains and found the
army of ohni inside their castle, drinking sake. They poisoned the sake, and when the
ohni had all fallen into a poison-induced drunken slumber, Raikō and his men snuck
into the castle.
They slew the ohni one by one, and finally they reached Shuten dōji. Raikō swung his
sword and sliced off the ohni king’s head. Shuten dōji was so powerful that even after
he had been killed, his head continued to bite at the heroes. Eventually the head was
buried outside of the city limits, where it could cause no more trouble.
2). Tamamo no Mae, popularly called the Kitsunay.
Tamamo no Mae was a wicked, shape-changing, nine-tailed fox whose evil was only matched
by her ambition. She disguised herself as a human child and was found by an elderly
couple who were unable to have children of their own. They named her Mikuzume and raised
her as their daughter.
Mikuzume grew to be an exceptionally talented and beautiful young woman, and attracted the
attention of everyone around her. When she was 7 years old, she recited poetry in front
of Emperor Toba, who was so taken with her that he offered her a job as a servant of
the imperial court.
Mikuzume excelled at court, absorbing knowledge like a sponge. There was no question she could
not answer, whether it was about music, history, astronomy, religion, or Chinese classics.
Her clothes were always clean and unwrinkled. She always smelled pleasant. Mikuzume had
the most beautiful face in all of Japan, and everyone who saw her loved her.
One summer, during a poetry recital, a powerful rainstorm hit. The candles in the recital
room were snuffed out by the wind. Suddenly, a bright light emanated from Mikuzume’s
body, illuminating the room. Everybody at the recital was shocked, and it was declared
that she must have had an exceedingly good and holy past life. Mikuzume was given the
name Tamamo no Mae, and Emperor Toba, already exceedingly fond of her, made her into his
consort.
Shortly afterwards, Emperor Toba became gravely ill. The country’s best physicians could
not figure out what was wrong with him. The highest priests prayed for him to get better,
but he only grew worse. Sorcerers were called in to divine the cause of his illness. According
to the sorcerers, the emperor was being made sick by someone close to him. They suspected
that Tamamo no Mae was actually a fox in disguise, but the emperor refused to believe that his
beloved could be something wicked. In fact, she had been using her magic to shorten the
emperor’s life, and was responsible for his condition.
Tamamo no Mae was ordered to participate in the divine rituals to save the emperor’s
life. The sorcerers reasoned that if she were an evil spirit, she would not be able to recite
the holy words or perform the ritual. She was reluctant to participate, for she was
afraid of what would happen when the sorcerers identified her as the cause of the emperor’s
illness. But due to court decorum, she had little choice. She recited the holy words
and played her part extremely well. But just as she was about to wave the ceremonial staff,
she vanished. The sorcerers’ suspicions were confirmed.
The emperor summoned his best warriors and ordered them to find Tamamo no Mae. An army
of 80,000 men was sent forth to hunt her down. News came that a nine-tailed fox had been
spotted in the east. The army chased her all the way to the plains of Nasuno.
The night before she was caught, Tamamo no Mae appeared to an archer named Miuranosuke
in a dream. She was crying. She told him that tomorrow he would find her, and she begged
him to spare her life. Her beauty was indescribable. She appeared so pitiable. But Miuranosuke’s
sense of duty was stronger than his sense of pity, and he rejected her plea.
The next day Miuranosuke spotted a nine-tailed fox on the plains. He fired two arrows at
it, piercing its side and neck. The swordsman Kazusanosuke swung his blade at its head.
The fox fell, and Tamamo no Mae’s life ended. The army returned to Kyoto with the fox’s
body as proof of her defeat.
However, Tamamo no Mae’s evil did not end with her death. One year after she died, Emperor
Konoe died, heirless. The following year, her lover — the former emperor Toba — died
as well. This paved the way for a succession crisis that spelled the end of imperial power
in Japan and allowed the rise of the first shoguns.
3). Emperor Sutoku, popularly known as Tengu.
Emperor Sutoku rose to the throne when he was just a child. Though official records
stated that Sutoku was the eldest son of Emperor Toba, it was an open secret that he was actually
sired by Toba’s father, the retired Emperor Shirakawa. Shirakawa wielded considerable
power behind the throne in his retirement, and he forced Toba to abdicate in favor of
the young Sutoku, whom Shirakawa could control much more easily than the older and more ambitious
Toba.
After Shirakawa died, Toba became the power behind the throne. Toba hated Sutoku, whom
he considered a bastard son. He enacted his revenge upon Sutoku by convincing the young
emperor to appoint Toba’s son as his successor and join him in retirement. Sutoku did so,
and Konoe, at only three years old, became the new emperor. Konoe was entirely the puppet
of his father Toba. He had all of Sutoku’s supporters transferred to distant provinces
and filled the capital with people loyal to Toba.
Emperor Konoe was sickly his whole life. He passed away, childless, at the age of 17.
This sparked a succession crisis between Toba’s next oldest son and Sutoku’s son, both of
whom had a claim on the throne. The imperial court, full of Toba’s supporters, decided
in favor of Toba’s son, Go-Shirakawa.
When Toba died the following year, Sutoku’s supporters attempted to overthrow the young
Emperor Go-Shirakawa. There was a brief and bloody fight, but the rebellion was quickly
put down. Go-Shirakawa’s revenge against the rebels was merciless. They and their families
were executed, and Sutoku was banished to Sanuki Province.
Sutoku lived out the remainder of his life in exile as a monk. He shaved his head and
devoted his efforts to hand-copying the holy sutras. After years of work, Sutoku sent his
prayer scrolls and manuscripts to Kyoto as an offering for the imperial temples. Go-Shirakawa
suspected that Sutoku may have cursed the work, and refused to accept them. Instead,
he had the manuscripts sent back to Sutoku.
This rejection proved to be the final straw for the exiled emperor. Sutoku bit off his
own tongue, and as he bled to death he wrote in his own blood a powerful curse against
Japan and the emperor. He poured all of his hatred and resentment from his entire life
into that curse. As he bled, he transformed into a great tengu. His nails and his hair
grew long, and he never cut them again for the rest of his life.
When Sutoku passed away, his body was set aside while his caretakers awaited funeral
instructions from the emperor. After 20 days, his body was still as fresh as it had been
on the day he died. Go-Shirakawa ordered that nobody should go into mourning, and that no
state funeral would be held. While his coffin was taken to be cremated, a terrible storm
rolled in. The caretakers placed the casket on the ground to take shelter. After the storm
passed, the stones around the casket were soaked with fresh blood. When his body was
finally cremated, the ashes rose into the sky, and descended upon Kyoto as a dark cloud.
For many years after his death, disaster upon disaster struck the capital. Go-Shirakawa’s
successor, Emperor Nijo, died suddenly at age 23. Storms, plagues, fires, droughts,
and earthquakes all pounded the capital. Imperial power weakened. Clan rivalries grew more and
more violent. Many of Go-Shirakawa’s allies were killed in battles, and the country stepped
closer and closer towards disaster. Finally, in 1180, civil war broke out. After five years
of bloody fighting, the power of the imperial court was drained, and the Kamakura shogunate
seized control of Japan. All of this was attributed to Emperor Sutoku’s curse.
There are tales that Sutoku’s vengeance lingers even today. In 2012, when NHK broadcast
the historical drama Taira no Kiyomori, an earthquake struck the Kanto region right at
the moment when Emperor Sutoku laid his curse....
Of all the evil spirits out there in Japan, none of them has brought so much destruction
and calamity as much as the Oni, the Kitsune and the Tengu. These three have brought terrors
and caused dread for generations, not just among the indigenous people of Japan, but
also outside the country. And so, that is how they became the Three Most Dreaded Yokai
of Japan.