How is everyone doing on the yokai poster contest? Have you figured almost all of them out yet? Don’t forget to submit your answers before Halloween!
Anyway, on to today’s yokai: another oni, and a famous one to boot! | 妖怪ポスターコンテストの進み具合はどうですか?ほとんどの妖怪が分かる所まできましたでしょうか?締め切りはハロウィーン前日までですよ~!
さておき、今日の妖怪はさらに鬼についてです。有名な鬼ですよ!

Shuten-dōji
Shuten-dōji (酒呑童子)
There are three monsters who are considered the greatest and most evil yokai in all of Japanese folklore: the ghost of Emperor Sutoku, a nine-tailed kitsune named Tamamo-no-Mae, and the dreaded king of the oni, Shuten-dōji. (Sometimes just for fun, Nurarihyon is thrown in there to make it the four most powerful yokai in all of Japan.)
Shuten-dōji, who’s name could be translated as “little alcoholic,” was not born an oni. There are many legends about how he came to be, but most of them say that he was originally a human boy who was born over a thousand years ago either in present-day Shiga or Toyama. His mother was a human and his father was the dragon Yamata-no-Orochi (I talked a bit about him some time back). How he changed from boy to demon varies greatly from story to story, but the version I like the best goes like this: he was supernaturally strong for his age, and abnormally intelligent. Those around him called him a demon child for his strength and wit, and he soon grew terribly anti-social and resentful of those around him. At age six, his mother abandoned him, and he became an apprentice priest at Mt. Hiei in Kyoto. He was stronger and smarter than his co-acolytes, and he grew resentful of them as well, and did not do well in his studies as a result. He also fell into drinking, which was forbidden to monks; however he could outdrink anyone and everyone who was willing to drink with him.
One night there was a religious festival at the temple, and the little boy showed up very drunk. He put on an oni mask and went around scaring his fellow priests. At the end of the night, when he tried to take off his mask, he couldn’t — it had fused to his body. Ashamed, and scolded by his masters for being drunk, he fled into the mountains where he would no longer have to be with people whom he saw as weak and foolish. He lived on the outskirts of Kyoto, stealing food and alcohol from villagers, and generally living in a drunken rage. He fell in with a group of bandits, who stuck with him loyally and became the foundation for his gang.
In his exile, he grew in power and knowledge, Learning and mastering strange, dark magics. He met another demon child like him, named Ibaraki-dōji, who became his chief servant. His gang of thugs also gradually transformed into oni, and eventually he had a whole clan of oni and yokai thugs who prowled the highways.
Shuten-dōji and his gang eventually settled upon Mount Ōe, near Kyoto. There, in his castle, he drank his time away, plotting to take the capital of Japan and rule as its emperor. He and his gang rampaged through the capital, capturing noble virgins, drinking their blood and eating their organs raw. His various exploits are detailed in many stories of the Heian era. Finally, a band of heroes led by the legendary warrior Minamoto no Yorimitsu assaulted his palace, and with the help of some magical poison, were able to assault the oni band during a bout of heavy drinking, and cut off Shuten-dōji’s head. Even after cutting his head off, it continued to bite at Minamoto no Yorimitsu, and because it was an unholy demon head, they had to bury it outside of the city, at of Oinosaka. The cup and bottle of poison that Yorimitsu used are said to be kept in safekeeping at Nariaiji temple in Kyoto.
Do you like Japanese ghosts and demons? Are you a fan of strange Japanese horror? Then get my book, The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons from Amazon.com today! |

Shuten-dōji
Shuten-dōji (酒呑童子)
最も凶悪な3大妖怪として考えられているのは、嵩徳天皇の怨霊、九尾の狐である玉藻前、そして最も恐れられた鬼、酒呑童子(時に滑瓢も仲間に入って4大妖怪ともされている事もある)である。
酒呑童子はうまれながらにしての鬼ではない。彼の起源については諸説あるが、多くいわれているのは彼が千年以上昔に近江か越後で産まれた人の子であったというものである。.彼の母は人間で父は八岐大蛇(以前これについて描いた事があります)彼が鬼になった経緯にも諸説あるが、一つにはこうある。彼は超人的な力と知能を幼少のころから持っており、周囲のものは彼を鬼の子と呼んだのだそうだ。そのような環境の中、無法者で横柄な子供に育った彼は六歳の時に母に捨てられ京都の比叡山に奉公に出された。彼は周りの者よりも賢くて強かったため、他の人間に対して常に憤っていた。さらに彼は僧侶としては禁じられている酒を呑んでおり誰も彼にかなう者はいなかった。
ある夜寺で祭礼が開かれ、酔った童子はそこに現れた。彼は鬼の面をつけ他の僧を脅かしていたのだが、祭礼も終わり夜も更けた頃面をはずそうとするとどうした事か顔に張り付いてしまってどうやってもはずれないのである。彼は酒を飲んでいた事を咎められ山から逃げ出し、京都の外れに住んで酒や食べ物を町から盗んでは毎日酔っ払い怒りをふりまいてていた。やがて彼は賊の仲間になるが仲間は彼の強さを敬い、そのうちに賊の長になっていった。
彼は力と知能を高め悪しき神通力を使うようになる。そしてそこで後に彼の片腕となる茨木童子という他の鬼の童子と出会う。彼の仲間達も鬼と化してゆき最終的には鬼や辺りをうろつく物の怪達の長となっていったのである。
酒呑童子と彼の一族は大江山に豪勢な住み処をもち、毎日のように酒を呑んで京の町を荒らし回り、貴族の婦女をさらい行き血を飲んだり生肉を喰ったりと悪行を繰り返していた。彼の“偉業”に関する言い伝えは平安時代に多くみられる。
遂に、帝の命により源頼光らは神通力を封じる毒を携え鬼退治に向かう事となった。討伐隊は鬼達が酔っている間に頼光らが奇襲をかけ酒呑童子の頭を切り落としたのである。酒呑童子の頭は切り落とされてもなお頼光に喰らいかかという。この不浄な物は京都に持ち帰れないため老いの坂にその首を埋めたのであった。
京都の成相寺にはこの神便鬼毒酒に用いられた酒徳利が所蔵されているという。
他の妖怪にも興味をもっていただけたなら、是非アマゾンから「The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons(百鬼夜行)」をどうぞ!
Seeing as you’ve done Nurarihyon and Tama-chan already, I’m hoping we’ll see the Emperor eventually?
Eventually, that’s for sure. I’ve wanted to do him for a long time, but there are just so many yokai to cover!!
11,520 of ’em? And I just compared the paintings you drew of Nurarihyon, Shuten-doji and the Kyuubi(Not Tama). The cuddly little furball looks so inappropriate! That said though, I’d love to see a painting of a more beast-like, tails-raised sort of Kyuubi. Maybe even a painting containing all four of them, that would be amazing!
I plan on including the 3 great evils in the next book, as I’ve only ever featured them on the blog before… but that will be some time away yet.
Sequel confirmed! Weee~
If I may ask, do you ever intend to draw Yamata no Orochi?
Yes. I’ve done a few pieces on Japanese gods and early mythology, and I hope to do a lot more of those eventually.
Yes, I recall seeing your God series. Maybe Orochi should be made on the last day of October, just a suggestion.
Given that there’s, what?, 8 000 or so gods within the mythology, you’ll have plenty of material 😉
Pingback: A-Yokai-A-Day: Kurozuka | MatthewMeyer.net
Hello, I’m an postgraduate student majority in Japanese Literature. I start to make a thesis about Shuuten Douji. I really like the story, but, i can’t find out the name of the author in my Shuuten Douji’s book. Is anyone here know the author?. Please let me know, i would be thankful for that.
If you don’t quote your source this is plagiarism. It’s almost word for word copied.
Copied from?? Since I wrote this I’m curious as to what you could possibly mean.