Shuten-dōji
Shuten-dōji is a mythical oni or demon leader of Japan, who according to legend was killed by the hero Minamoto no 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 Mount Ōe northwest of the city of Kyoto, or Mount Ibuki, depending on the version. It has also been theorized that the original mountain was Mount 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, Dōjigiri. 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 hospitable 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
Warriors would conceal their armor and swords, many of which have been given proper names, in their oi.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 tachi named Dōjigiri, 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. Tada Shrine also has a tachi, Onikirimaru, which has a legend that it defeated Shuten-dōji. Kitano Tenmangū Shrine owns tachi that has been handed down as Onikiri described in this tradition.
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
The Three Great Yokai
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 Ōtakemaru. 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.Komatsu suggests that these yōkai were considered exceptional because they received special treatment after their defeat. He explains that their remains, or parts of them, were kept as "treasures" by the ruling class in Kyoto, centered around the Emperor. These remains were stored in the treasure house of Byodo-in Temple in Uji, built by Fujiwara no Yorimichi, symbolizing the rulers' power.
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.