Japan monsters reading summary

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ONI

Demon or Ogre

A ubiquitous character in Japanese folklore, religion, and popular culture, the oni may be variously translated into English as "demon;' "devil," or "ogre." Found in written documents as far back as the eighth century, oni feature in numerous folktales and legends and, more recently, in manga, anime, and film. Historically there is a wide variety of oni images, but in contemporary Japanese culture oni are commonly imagined as large, powerful, frightening, humanlike male figures with red, blue, black, or yellow faces, clawed hands, and sharp, protruding fangs. They have horns,

Michael Dylan Foster, The Book of Yōkai: Mysterious Creatures of Japanese Folklore (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2015)

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carry an iron staff or club, and wear a loincloth (fundoshi) made of tiger skin. While many of these details vary, the horns-whether a single pro- trusion or two or more-are the creature's most definitive feature in the

modern Japanese imagination. 4

Although there is some variation, the oni is generally portrayed in nar- ratives and ritual contexts as a nasty otherworldly being who threatens humans; he is a person-shaped antiperson, encapsulating everything that imperils humans and human society. As one scholar notes tersely, "The oni is a presence that excludes human nature [ningensei]."5 There are also numerous examples of humorous, stupid, innocuous, and even benevolent oni, but these are the anomalies, the ones that stand out because the "premise" is that the oni's general intentions are negative; oni are "con-

structed as antisociety and antimoral:' 6

The word oni is found in the earliest-known Japanese texts, including the Kojiki, Nihonshoki, and various fudoki (local gazetteers). Although the pronunciation-oni-seems to be a Japanese construction, the kanji currently associated with it is inconsistent in these early texts and became established only during the Heian period . (At that time, the reading ki

also came to be used in compound words.) The earliest images of oni ( or figures that would come to be associated

with oni) are seen in Buddhist depictions of hell, such as the late-twelfth- century Jigoku zoshi (Hell scrolls).7 As the image developed it was prob- ably also influenced by early pictures of Raijin (the thunder deity), as found in, for example, the thirteenth-century illustrated Kitanotenjin engi emaki. Portrayal of the oni as a fierce, demonic, violent horned figure has remained remarkably consistent since these early illustrations. Similarly, its characterization as a "frightening presence" has been constant since its earliest mention in writing. 8 Whatever the absolute origins of the oni concept and image, influences on the development of the figure have var- ied and include Chinese, native Japanese, Buddhist, and Onmyodo

sources. 9

Historically, oni were conflated with yokai more generally-invoked as generic signifiers for all sorts of frightening or unknown monsters. For example, the medieval-period expression hyakkiyagyi5 contains the kanji for oni (pronounced ki) and translates as "night procession of one hun- dred oni:' But in most cases, the oni in the procession are interchangeable

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with yokai more generally; that is, they are not only anthropomorphic demonlike creatures but also monstrous beings of all shapes and sizes.

Through time, however, the oni eventually developed into a specific figure (a single type ofyokai) characterized by a number of traits that appear again and again in visualizations and descriptions. These include a fierce counte- nance, a large muscular body stripped to the waist, a nasty temper, an asso- ciation with lightning, and a penchant for eating people. In many images, oni have only three fingers on each hand and three toes on each foot, all of them with sharp, clawlike nails. Sometimes oni are portrayed with a third eye in the middle of the forehead. As mentioned earlier, they commonly have ox horns on their heads and wear tiger-pelt loincloths. These features suggest an association with the north-east direction, known in Japanese as ushi- tora, literally "ox-tiger;' a direction linked with the kimon, or "oni-gate;' through which misfortune was said to enter a household or community. 10

The specific visual imagery associated with the oni may have taken shape in response to vague fears and invisible dangers. That is, the image of the oni serves as a floating signifier applicable to any number of threats to human society. One interpretation of the oni's origins, for example, is that the word signified an epidemic; the physical body of the oni thus became a visible image of the invisible yet terrifying spread of disease.

Similarly, oni can be interpreted historically as visualizations of other- ness and the dangers associated with it. Almost human in form, but at the same time imperiling all that is human, oni represent everything foreign and mysterious that threatens the status quo. Varying interpretations sug- gest that these humanlike supernatural beings may reflect fear of histori- cally marginalized populations, such as shugendi5 religious practitioners, who were "outsiders" living in the mountains and engaging in mysterious practices. Similarly, oni may have been associated with communities of blacksmiths, metalworkers, and miners who lived on the outskirts of vil- lages and were believed to possess-along with their ability, literally, to shape metal-supernatural powers for safe childbirth. As a kind of antihe- gemonic cultural metaphor, then, the presumably negative and destruc- tive oni can also assume a positive and creative role as antiestablishment rebel or underdog, the marginalized or disenfranchised Other who chal- lenges the entrenched sociopolitical order and becomes a driving force in shaping history. 11

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This transgressive but ambiguous role is evident in one of the most famous oni legends, the story of Shu ten doji, literally, "Sake-Drinking Boy:' As with all folk narratives, there is more than one version, but the oldest extant written account is the so-called Oeyama text ( early four- teenth century) in which the demonic protagonist resides on Mount Oe, on the edge of the Heian capital, present-day Kyoto. In the story, the time period is not specified, but references to real people hint that it probably took place around the late tenth or early eleventh century.

The capital is plagued by demons abducting young women, including the daughter of an important government official. Eventually, a divination is performed and it is determined that the demon culprits reside on Mount Oe. The emperor orders the great warrior Minamoto no Yorimitsu (Raiko) and his lieutenants to subdue the demons.

Raiko and his men pray to various Buddhist deities, and then, disguised as mountain ascetics, they head into the hills in search of the oni's hideout. Along the way, they meet three old men who explain that the lead oni, Shuten doji, is particularly fond of alcohol; the old men give Raiko and his entourage a container of magical sake that is poisonous to oni but benefi- cial to humans. It turns out that these men are actually deities, incarna- tions of the very gods to whom Raiko and his men had prayed. After pointing the warriors in the direction of the oni's lair, the deities disappear

into thin air. Traveling upstream, the warriors meet a young woman who provides

them with more information, explaining that Shuten doji "has light-red skin and is tall with disheveled short hair. He has a human appearance during the day, but at night he transforms into a ten-foot-tall demon whose countenance is truly horrible. He always drinks sake. Once he becomes intoxicated, he forgets everything." The warriors eventually come to the iron palace in which the oni and his demon army live. Through a mixture of good fortune and cunning, Raiko and his men end up eating and drinking with Shuten doji and his henchmen, sharing the magical liquor, until all the oni become drunk and disoriented and, eventually, pass out. In repose, Shuten doji himself expands to twice his size: "His horns were now protruding through the spiked red bristles on his scalp, his beard had become wildly shaggy, and his eyebrows were overgrown. His limbs had become heavy and thick , like those of a bear:'

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With the assistance of the three deities, who appear again just when they are needed, Raiko cuts off Shuten doji's head-which at first contin- ues to attack and bite even after being separated from its body. And then, in a dramatic battle, the warriors dispatch all the other oni. Entering deeper into the compound, the men discover a scene of horror, replete with skeletons, pickled human flesh, and a woman with severed limbs but still alive, who they vow to come back for later. Raiko and his men then lead the young, abducted women to safety, reuniting them with their fami- lies in the capital, where Raiko himself is celebrated as a heroic warrior.

In this extended and theatrical narrative, Shuten doji and his fellow oni are vicious and unpleasant to be sure, but they can also be read in a more sympathetic light. They are, after all, somewhat hospitable and good- natured when banqueting with the warriors, they fight honorably and well, and ultimately, they fall victim to the warriors' deception. Indeed, as Shuten doji himself exclaims before his head is cut off, "How sad, you priests! You said you do not lie. There is nothing false in the words of demons:' 12 In one sense , they might be seen as antiestablishment rebels- no coincidence, perhaps, that the women they kidnap all seem to be the daughters of government officials. Shuten doji himself can certainly be interpreted in terms of otherness: a being unable to live within society and driven into an isolated existence literally on the margins of the seat of power (the capital). 13

While the Shuten doji story is considered a classic literary text, many legends and folktales concerning oni were passed down orally in local communities and reflect a much more popular approach, in which oni are outwitted or subdued not by great warriors but by cunning common folk. A tale collected in Yamanashi Prefecture, for example, tells of an excruci- atingly poor mother who can no longer afford to feed her three sons, and who reluctantly abandons them in the forest. The children seek shelter in a hut, but the old woman living there tells them that the house belongs to an oni, who will soon be coming home. Sure enough, a moment later they hear him coming, and the old woman quickly hides the boys in a storage pit. Sensitive to the odor of human flesh, the oni is immediately suspi- cious; the old woman explains that three boys had come, but had left as soon as they heard he was coming . The oni proceeds to put on his magic boots, which allow him to travel many miles with each step, and dashes

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out to look for them. Try as he might, however, he cannot find them any- where, and eventually he concludes that he has gone too far. Deciding to wait for them to come his way, he lies down to take a nap.

Meanwhile, the old woman instructs the boys to escape out the back door, and they run off. Eventually, they hear a sound like the thunder god and realize they have come to the place where the giant oni lies fast asleep, snoring. The youngest brother decides to steal the oni's magical boots, which he manages to do-very carefully-while the slumbering demon mumbles something about mice. The boy gives the boots to the oldest brother, who puts them on, ties his brothers to his back , and flies away with them. Without his boots, the oni cannot catch them, and the brothers soon escape to the safety of human habitations, where "they worked very hard and helped their mother:' 14 The tale is lighthearted, to be sure, and it features an oni who eats flesh but is at the same time a bit goofy, as in the typical "numbskull" tales found in folklore of cultures around the world. But as with the Shuten doji legend, it is also a tale of conquest and escape

from mortal harm. The most famous of all Japanese folktales, the story of Momotaro

(Peach Boy), presents a similar situation, in which oni are defeated. In this case, a boy born from a peach and raised by an old couple decides to travel to Oni Island (Oni-ga-shima) to conquer its demonic inhabitants. His parents supply him with energy-giving kibi-dango (millet dumplings), and he sets off on his quest, acquiring along the way a loyal entourage made up of a dog, pheasant, and monkey. Upon arriving at Oni Island, the small band of warriors, fortified by Japan's finest millet dumplings, easily defeat the oni, making them pledge never to be bad again and receiving all

sorts of treasure. 15

The tale of an exceedingly courageous boy defeating a band of terrifying demons is a gratifying story in which the underdog wins and good triumphs over evil. Because of this relatively simple structure, the narra- tive lends itself to allegorical interpretation and manipulation; it is not surprising that this tale in particular was adapted for early-twentieth- century textbooks and for propaganda during Japan 's colonial period and the Pacific War, when the allied troops were portrayed as the dangerous demonic Other. In one 1942 film, Oni Island is identified as

Hawaii. 16

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Female Oni

The oni I have described here are primarily male figures; this is the imagery commonly associated with them in Japan today. But historically, as the embodiment of anger and resentment , oni have also often assumed female form. In fact, perhaps the earliest known oni-like figures are the Yomotsu-shikome, the "hags of Yomi," who appear in the Kojiki and Nihonshoki. These demonic women chase Izanagi from the underworld after he has glimpsed his deceased wife, Izanami , as a rotting corpse in which "maggots were squirming and roaring." 17

While the word oni is not actually used for these hags ofYomi , it does appear during the medieval period, in a tale from a Buddhist setsuwa col- lection called Kankyo no tomo (A companion in solitude), believed to have been compiled in 1222 by the priest Keisei Shonin. 18 The tale relates an event that "took place not too long ago in the province of Mino:' A young woman is neglected by her lover from a distant province. She quietly gives up eating and takes to her bed, until "one day she took some millet jelly from a container lying nearby . She tied her hair up into five knots and smeared some jelly on them; she then let them dry so they would look like horns. Then, putting on a red skirt, she quietly ran away that evening:'

After some thirty years, word spreads that there is a demon living in an old temple, who has been wreaking havoc in several villages. Finally, the villagers burn the temple, and from the flames runs "a creature with five horns, wearing a red skirt, bent at the hips and looking indescribably frightening." The oni identifies herself, confessing that she had indeed murdered the man who had deserted ber . ''After that; ' she continues , "no matter how much I tried, I could not regain my former physical self:' In a sense , by not only taking on the superficial form of a demon but also actu- ally acting demonically-that is, committing murder-she has trans- formed herself irrevocably into a demon whose very existence "is extremely painful:' In tears, she eventually leaps into the fire and dies. The tale is one of pathos and sadness and, as one scholar puts it, "reveals an understand- ing of the oni as ultimately lonely and pitiful, and with human pain despite her transformation. "19

This particular Buddhist tale seems to be related to a number oflater, similar narratives, including one found in a version of The Tale of the

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Heike (fourteenth century) and the Noh play The Iron Crown (fifteenth century). In all these cases the woman's transformation into an oni comes about as a result of inordinate passion and jealousy. Her internal state of mind, one of anger and resentment, causes her body to change-often through purposeful and sustained effort-into the body of a demon. It is a profound and presumably permanent transformation that makes visible an invisible emotion-in this case, rage. As pitiable and human as this emotion may be, it is expressed by the oni's deeply antihuman behavior.

Oni in Festival and Ritual

Oni are a lively presence in contemporary Japanese ritual and festival life. Particularly on New Year's Eve, or a date known as Koshogatsu (Little New Year) observed around January 15, oni-like figures feature in local observ- ances in a number of small communities, especially in the Tohoku region. The most famous version of this ritual is called Namahage and takes place on the Oga Peninsula of Akita Prefecture. Young men from the local com- munity dress in straw raincoats and demon masks and tromp through the snow from house to house, receiving offerings of food and drink from the residents and chasing and scaring the kids of the household. The origins of Namahage and similar rituals, including summer rituals observed in the Ryukyu Islands of Okinawa Prefecture, are unknown, and there is much debate about whether the frightening figures are oni, kami, or some other presence. "Whatever the case, however, it is clear that the current incarnation of these figures has been deeply influenced by oni iconogra- phy and behavior. 20

A much more common and widespread oni-related ritual is the Setsubun holiday observed in early February. Strictly speaking, setsubun refers to a 'Joint" in the year when one season changes into another, so there are four Setsubun annually; in Japan, however, the only one still observed to any extent is in February, the day before risshun, or the first day of spring (according to the old calendrical system). So Setsubun is much like New Year's Eve, a dividing point between the old year and the new and therefore a ritually meaningful moment of transition. This is a crack in the flow of time, a potentially dangerous bridge between one period and another, during which both good and bad spirits might enter.

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Accordingly, a custom found throughout Japan is to scatter beans around the house or throw them out windows and doors, shouting, "Out with oni; in with good fortune" (Oni wa soto; fuku wa uchi). The actual practice varies with region and family tradition, but the notion of simultaneously inviting in good fortune and banishing bad (i.e., oni) is generally consist- ent. So too is the power of beans (usually roasted soybeans); during this time throughout Japan, supermarkets and convenience stores sell small packets of beans expressly for banishing oni. 21

The origins of the Setsubun ritual are likely a combination of Buddhist, Onmy6d6, and popular religious practices. The expulsion of oni is related to a purification ceremony called tsuina, probably of Onmy6d6 origins, which was enacted to cleanse the palace before the emperor's appearance on the eve of the new year. The practice entails banishing bad spirits and warding off evil for the coming year through a variety of symbolic gestures, such as shooting arrows in four directions and striking a shield with a staff.

In the modern era, tsuina has been revived at various shrines and tem- ples. Currently, every year at the Yoshida Shrine in Kyoto, for example, tens of thousands of people gather to witness a tsuina ceremony featuring three large (and somewhat comical-looking) red, blue, and yellow oni, who dance and roar at the crowd but eventually leave weakened and cowed, having been conquered by the ritual. The Rozan Temple in Kyoto also holds a similar ritual presentation to banish disease and bad fortune, in which red, green-blue, and black oni perform a slow dance of intimida- tion and eventually depart, defeated and submissive. After they leave, temple officials throw lucky beans to the throngs of visitors.

Similar ceremonies involving humans wearing oni costumes are enacted throughout Japan on Setsubun. This visualization-the transformation of the invisible vapors of pestilence, famine, and all sorts of bad fortune into a visible, embodied form-is critical to the oni's pervasiveness in Japan. "While the medieval version of the tsuina ritual most likely only suggested oni (that is, the oni themselves were never visible), the oni of the modern Yoshida Shrine ritual have horns and wear tiger-skin loincloths, at once reflecting and contributing to the oni image in the contemporary imagina- tion. Catching a glimpse of an oni is one of the most exciting aspects of the experience; people stand in place for hours before the ritual begins, chil- dren sit on parents' shoulders, and amateur photographers with massive

Figure 4. Oni. Original illustration by Shinonome Kijin.

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telephoto lenses position themselves atop stepladders throughout the

shrine grounds. Interestingly, when the tsuina ceremony was first reintro­

duced at the Yoshida Shrine in the twentieth century, it garnered little

public attention. Only later, when the shrine staff decided to make the oni

visible, did tourists flock to see it. 22

Komatsu Kazuhiko writes that in his own family version of Setsubun, he

used to put on a paper oni mask and run through the house while his wife

and daughter threw beans at him. Rather than aiming at an imagined but

invisible oni, he notes, his family found it was "much more fun and easily

understandable" to throw beans at an oni they could actually see. 23 This

simple family anecdote reflects the same logic found in making oni visible

at public events, such as those enacted at Yoshida Shrine and Rozan

Temple. It also reflects the process by which generations of artists have

illustrated oni, and storytellers have described them, making the danger­

ous, threatening, fearsome things around us into visible embodied beings­

and accordingly subject to efforts to control them.

In one form or another, then, oni play a role in thousands of folktales,

legends, festivals, and customs throughout Japan. While it would be dan­

gerous to generalize, we can certainly say that many of these-from the

Shuten doji narrative, to Momotaro, to the enactment at Yoshida Shrine­

involve the triumph of human over oni. Sometimes this triumph is accom­

plished by courage and strength, sometimes by cunning or deceit, and

sometimes by dumb luck, but if oni are the Other of the human,

embodying the fears and dangers of worldly existence, then their defeat-

in narrative and ritual-reflects a symbolic triumph of human order over

chaos. At the same time, the oni's failure makes the creature seem

somewhat comical and even loveable. In contemporary Japan, the

negative, terrifying image of the oni coexists happily with a more cheerful,

amiable image found in media of all sorts and used as an advertising icon

for a wide range of products.