Shuten-dōji
Shuten-dōji (酒呑童子, also sometimes called 酒顛童子, 酒天童子, or 朱点童子) is a mythical oni or demon leader of Japan, who according to legend was killed by the hero Minamoto no Raikō.
Ibuki group texts reveal the villain's honji (avatar identity) as "the demon king of the Sixth Heaven" (Dairokuten maō [ja]), whereas the Mt.
The Otogi Zōshi text of the later period is clearly referring to Ōeyama [ja] (大江山) northwest of the Kyoto capital, since it specifically mentions Senjōdake which is part of this mountain chain.
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 Takeda Chōshū [ja].
[b] 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.
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.
[21] The version of the legend found in Shibukawa's Otogi Bunko[22] has been printed in English translation by Haruo Shirane and Noriko T.
A certain middle counselor[f] seeks his daughter's whereabouts and summons a diviner named Muraoka no Masatoki (rather than Seimei, as in the older text).
The Mikado[h] commands the formation of a punitive squad, consisting of the standard six warriors, Minamoto no Raikō and his "four guardian kings" (shitennō) including Watanabe no Tsuna[i] and Hōshō.
[k] The gods give Raikō the "sake [which is] divine elixir, poisonous to demons" (神便鬼毒酒, jinben kidoku shu)[l] which will rob the ogres of their ability to fly and stupefy them.
[m] She reveals that the lair which is called Iron Palace (Kurogane no gosho, 鐵の御所) lies inside the Demon's Cavern (Oni no iwaya 鬼の岩屋), and forewarns the group about the four ogres who are Shutendōji's lieutenants.(cf.
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 hospitable towards demons.
[37] Shuten-dōji begins to tell his life story (he is originally from Echigo Province according to this text), and also recounts how his henchman Ibaraki-dōji lost an arm in an encounter with Tsuna, one of Raikō's men.
As Raikō positions himself with his sword Chisui (or "Bloodsucker"[39]) in hand, the ogre faults the warrior for his sneaky underhanded tactics, exclaiming: "How sad, you priests!
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 (one of Raikō's men).
Academic folklorist Kazuhiko Komatsu [ja] has counted Shuten-dōji among the three most feared yōkai in medieval Kyoto, alongside the vixen Tamamo-no-Mae and the demon Ōtakemaru.
[53][54] Cultural anthropologist and folklorist Kazuhiko Komatsu has noted that if people in the Middle Ages, particularly those in the capital, were asked to name the most fearsome yōkai, they would likely mention three: Shuten-dōji, Tamamo-no-mae, and Ōtakemaru.
These remains were stored in the treasure house of Byodo-in Temple in Uji, built by Fujiwara no Yorimichi, symbolizing the rulers' power.
[55] The preservation of the demon's head and the fox's remains in the treasure house can be seen as a victory trophy, similar to the way fish prints or taxidermy animals are kept.
It is believed that among the many demons defeated in the Middle Ages, the most formidable ones were deemed worthy of being stored in the Uji treasure house, representing military might, intelligence, and divine protection that surpassed even the spiritual strength of these powerful yōkai.
[56] There is a depiction of Shuten-doji drinking human blood like sake, which Takahashi believes could stem from the story of a German named Stein Dotsch, shipwrecked in Tango.
This idea likely originated from the short story Shuten-doji, published in Weekly Asahi in 1952, where the Westerner, shipwrecked on Tango's shores, drank wine that resembled blood.
[56][57][58] In earlier versions of the Shuten-doji legend, Minamoto no Yorimitsu, who defeated the demon, and Fujiwara no Yasumasa were portrayed as equals.
In the Otogi-zoshi version of Shuten-doji, Yasumasa is depicted as one of Raiko’s retainers alongside the Four Heavenly Kings, a portrayal that became widely accepted in later generations.
Some stories, like the legend of the "Hōshō Sword" of the Chiba clan (from the Nanboku-chō period), even credit Yasumasa alone with the defeat of Shuten-doji.
According to the Otogi Bunko version as previously described, Shuten-dōji originally came from Echigo Province (now Niigata Prefecture) and, had lived since the Heian period (8th century) when Dengyō Daishi and Kōbō-Daishi were active.
[citation needed] 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".
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 (daimyōjin).
