Theushi-oni (牛鬼; oxoni; ox demon), orgyūki, is ayōkai from thefolklore of westernJapan.[1] The folklore describes more than one kind ofushi-oni, but the depiction of a bovine-headed monster occurs in most.Ushi-oni generally appear on beaches and attack people who walk there.
Ushi-oni have brutal, savage personalites. Their appearance varies, mainly based on geographical location. They usually have anox's head with sharp upward-curving horns, wicked fangs and a slender tongue. They spitpoison and enjoy killing and eating humans. Their body is most commonly depicted as spider-like with six legs and long singular claws at the end of each appendage.[2][3]
In other descriptions, they have the head of an ox and anoni's torso. Certain legends claim that they appear in front of temple gates in the mountains wearing human clothing, or flying with the wings of an insect. Otherushi-oni have a reverse appearance, with an oni's head and an ox's body.[1]
They are said to appears in beaches, in mountains, in forests, in rivers, in swamps, and in lakes. They often appear instream pools, and in theKinki region andShikoku among other places, there are many places names such as "ushi-oni fuchi" (ushi-oni stream pool) or "ushi-oni taki" (ushi-oni waterfall).
Inyōkai emaki of theEdo Period such as theHyakkai Zukan, they are most often shown with the bovine head and a spider torso. In theHyakki Yagyō Emaki, a similar picture goes under the title ofTsuchigumo.
Theushi-oni is considered to curse theMie Prefecture. It is said that there was once anushi-oni in the caves of Gokasho-ura,Minamiise, and when the lord of the Gokasho castle, Aisu Shigeaki shot it with a bow, theseishitsu (lord's wife) fell sick with an incurable illness due to the curse. Because of this, Shigeaki distanced himself from the seishitsu, and developed an infatuation for ashirabyōshi (dancer) who came from the capital. As a result, the seishitsu's parents,Kitabatake, came to have bad relations with the Aisu, and ended up ruining the Aisu.[1]
Theushi-oni stream pool inNishimuro District connects to the sea at its bottom, and when the water gets dirty, people would say "the ushi-oni is there."[4] Just encountering thisushi-oni would result in catching an illness.[1] It is said that by saying opposites like "rocks flow, leaves sink, oxen neigh, and horses bellow," one's life can be saved.[5] Theushi-oni of this land possess a catlike body that is springy like a ball with a tail at a length of 1 shaku (about 3.3 meters) or more, and therefore do not make sound as they walk.[4]
It is said that there is anushi-oni at the waterfall basin in Wado River. People who have their shadows licked by one would get a high fever and die in a few days, and to avoid this, one can provide theushi-oni with its favorite thing, some alcohol, every year at new years.[6]
The tale about the yōkai at Mio River pool is an extremely unusual story about anushi-oni who would shapeshift into a human, and even help a human. A young lad shared his bentō with a woman, who was the shapeshifted master of the stream pool, theushi-oni, and when this young lad was washed away by a flood two months later, he was saved by the shapeshiftedushi-oni. However, it is said that an ushi-oni who saves a human must leave this world in exchange, so as theushi-oni was saving the young lad, deep red blood sprang out from theushi-oni's body as it melted and disappeared.[6]
InWakayama Prefecture,ushi-oni are mountain-dwelling beasts. Legend says when a hiker or traveler makes eye contact with theushi-oni, the person cannot avert his or her gaze. The person's soul or energy is drained and he or she dies. This is called "Kage wo kuu (影を食う)" or sometimes "Kage wo nomu (影を飲む)", which translates to "eating the shadow" or "drinking the soul".[7][8]
In tales told inUshimado (nowSetouchi), whenEmpress Jingū invaded the three Korean kingdoms, an eight-headed ox-shaped monster called Jinrinki attacked her, and she shot and killed it with an arrow. Jinrinki separated into head, torso, and tail, which became Ushimado's islands of Kishima (yellow island), Maejima (front island), and Aojima (blue island). As the empress returned fromSilla, Jinrinki, who was not able to go in peace, turned into anushi-oni and attacked again. TheSumiyoshi sanjin grabbed theushi-oni by the horn and threw it away. After theushi-oni was eliminated, it is said its body fell into pieces and became the islands of Kuroshima (black island), Naka no Kojima (middle small island), and Hashi no Kojima (side small island). The name "Ushimado" is considered to be from an accented form of calling this place of legend the "Ushimarobi" (the place where the ox fell).[9][10] Also, in theHachiman Gudōkun, which introduced the authority ofHachiman who was established in theKamakura period, there are writings about an oni called Jinrin who fought with Emperor Chūai, and this is considered to be the origin of the aforementioned legend.[11]
TheSakuyōshi (作陽志), at the Ōhira Mountain in Koshihata,Tomata District,Mimisaka Province (now Tomata District) mentions a paranormal phenomenon that it called "gyūki" (牛鬼). In theKan'ei period, a villager girl just 20 years old had a child with a self-professed government official, but this child's fangs grew long, and became like anushi-oni complete with a tail and horns, so the parents killed and skewered this child with a cast skewer to be exposed by the roadside. The folkloristKunio Yanagita states that this is a once-deified mountain god who fell and became seen as a yōkai.[12]
On the coast from theSan'in region to northern Kyushu, they are said to appear from the sea together with thenure-onna andiso-onna. It is said that a woman carrying a baby would stop someone and ask them to hold the baby; when this person holds the baby, the baby would become heavy like a stone, making the person unable to move, and the ushi-oni would use this chance to kill and eat that person.[13] They are said to shapeshift themselves into women to approach people, but it is said that even after having shapeshifted, their reflection on the waterfront will still be that of anushi-oni, so that is how one can discover their true identity.[14] Likewise, inIwami (nowShimane Prefecture), an angler was approached by a strange woman embracing a baby, who asked, "can you please hold on to this baby for a bit?" After he took hold of the baby, it looked like the woman disappeared, whereuponushi-oni came forth from the sea, and the baby in his arms became a stone so heavy that fleeing was impossible. His family's inscribed sword passed down through generations came flying and pierced the ushi-oni's neck, thus making a narrow escape from death.[15] Theushi-oni is also related to the origin of certain place names, and the island of Ushijima inHikari,Yamaguchi Prefecture is said to be because anushi-oni appeared there.[1]
InMeiwa 3 (1776), in a year of drought in the village of Okanouchi (nowKami), a man named Jirōkichi was said to have witnessed anushi-oni at the river Mine no Kawa.[16] In a tale from this prefecture, in a certain village, the livestock ox was killed and eaten byushi-oni. The villagers who tried to slay it were also killed and eaten, and a warrior of Chikamori Sakon who heard of this slew it with a single arrow shot. The villagers were overjoyed, and it is said that the villagers would imitate pulling an arrow while telling about how theushi-oni was slain, and this is considered the origin of this prefecture's festival, the Momotesai.[17]
In the legends of Azahodo field inMonobe (now Kami), it is said that an old lady who lived around the area rescued a cryingushi-oni who fell and was trapped in a pot-shaped bowl about 2–3ken deep, and after that, theushi-oni never cursed these lands again.[16]
InTosayama, there is a tributary of the Kagami River called the Shigekura River where there is a stream pool called theushi-oni pool. Once, when it was known as thekoke (moss) pool, anushi-oni lived in it. A hunter from the village of Hase went out to hunt animals in their wallows, when he encountered anushi-oni with a body height of 7 shaku, the body of an ox, and the head of anoni, so the hunter killed it. Theushi-oni fell into the stream pool and let out blood for 7 days and nights, and after that, bones with a length of about 7shaku floated up. A small shrine was built and enshrined, so the shrine was called "Kawauchi-sama" andkoke pool became called theushi-oni pool.[18]
The legend of theushi-oni atUwajima is one of the most well known among all theushi-oni legends. Once, anushi-oni attacked people and livestock, so ayamabushi fromKawabe,Kita District was called to slay it. Facing off with theushi-oni in the village, theyamabushi blew a conch and chanted a mantra, whereupon theushi-oni recoiled. Theyamabushi thrust a sword between its eyebrows and proceeded to cut its body into pieces. Theushi-oni's blood flowed for 7 days and nights, becoming a stream pool. Various places called "ushi-oni fuchi" (ushi-oni stream pool) – one at Tosayama,Kōchi Prefecture, one at Shirakiyama, Tokushima Prefecture, and one at Negoro-ji, Kagawa Prefecture – are said to be where this took place.[19]
Another theory is that theushi-oni that infestedEhime Prefecture had the head of an ox and the body of a whale. Despite being legends under the same name of "ushi-oni", they have remarkable variety in appearance, which has led the yōkai researcherBintarō Yamaguchi to state that large monsters that come from the sea may all have been calledushi-oni.[20]
In theUwajima Domain, the shrine, Warei-jinja, built on the occasion of a house strife called the Warei Sōdō, holds theUshi-oni Festival on July 23 and 24.[21] Something like thedragon dancers at aChinese New Year celebration, thisushi-oni is represented with a huge, multiple-person costume with a cloth body and a carved, painted head held upon a pole. It has an oni-like head, a long neck, and the body of an ox. The body is either red or brown with shaggy hair similar to the coat of a yak. A short sword replaces its tail.[22]
There is a theory that theushi-oni is actually an aged tsubaki root. There are legends in Japan that divine spirits dwell in Tsubaki, so there is the interpretation that the ushi-oni is an incarnation of this spirit, and there are customs where they are honored for warding off evil spirits.[23] Also, tsubaki has been viewed as a special, holy flower that grows in sanctuaries in the final reaches of capes and shores, and since tsubaki flowers bloom at the boundaries, there is the theory that this expresses the place whereushi-oni appear. Both the accompanyingnure-onna and theushi-oni appear from the shores, and do not come from anywhere else.[24]
Another well-knownushi-oni is a massive, brutal sea-monster which lives off the coast ofShimane Prefecture and other places in Western Japan and attacks fishermen. It is often depicted with a spider- or crab-like body. Thisushi-oni seems to be connected to another monster called thenure-onna, who sometimes appears before anushi-oni attack and tricks the victim into holding her child, which then becomes stuck to the person's hands and grows heavier in order to hinder escape.[7]
The appearance of theushi-oni in theIzumo region according to some legends differs radically compared to the other legends. This bakemono resembles a shining, white butterfly instead of an ox. This version of theushi-oni appears in groups and sticks to travelers' bodies when they cross bridges on humid, rainy days.[7][8]
Yet anotherushi-oni is depicted as a statue on the grounds of the Negoroji temple inTakamatsu,Kagawa Prefecture. It is a bipedal monster with huge tusks, spurred wrists, and membranes like a flying squirrel. A sign nearby explains that this creature terrorized the area about four-hundred years ago, and was slain by a skilled archer by the name of Yamada Kurando Takakiyo (山田蔵人高清). He dedicated its horns to the temple, and they can still be seen to this day.[25]
When night fishing in Kumihama Bay ofKyoto, a voice is heard by fishermen beckoning them from the opposite shore. Upon arriving to the other shore, however, no one is there. The voice is then heard from the original shore. After chasing the voice around for a while, the fisherman returns to his boat, only to find all the fish that were in the boat are gone. This terror is attributed to theushi-oni.[7]
Legend says that Shirokiyama village and its people were terrorized by anushi-oni. It was defeated by a famous warrior.[8]
Folk tales aboutushi-oni are told in western Japan, but in classical literature, there are many statements about a yōkai similar to theushi-oni appearing aroundAsakusa.[19]
In writings such as theAzuma Kagami from the Kamakura Period, there is the following legend. InKenchō 3 (1251), an ox-like yōkai appeared atSensō-ji, and the 24 monks in the dining room was affected by its evil intent and fell ill, 7 of whom died.[19] TheShinpen Musashi Fudoki Kō quotes from theAzuma Kagami and states that anushi-oni-like yōkai appears atSumida River, who jumped at the Ushijima Shrine opposite the river from Asakusa, and left behind an orb called the "ushi-tama", or "ox orb".[19] Thisushi-tama became a shrine treasure, and theushi-oni was deified as a god. At this shrine, instead ofkomainu (guardian dogs), it instead is decorated with a pair ofkomaushi (guardian oxen). It also has anadeushi (petting ox) statue, and it is thought that by petting it on an area where one's own self is not well, the illness can be cured.[26] Considering how "Gozu-Tennō" (ox-head king of skies) is sometimes thought to be another name forSusanoo, and Susanoo's harsh personality, there is the theory that thisushi-oni is an incarnation of Susanoo, and the yōkai researcherKenji Murakami states that Ushi Gozen's attack on the temple comes from a backdrop of a religious confrontation.[1]
Their name is mentioned inThe Pillow Book under the name of "Oroshiki Mono" ("Fearful Thing") in section 148, and their face-off with Minamoto no Yorimitsu is also depicted in theTaiheiki.
In the beginning of the Edo Period, according to an old jōruri called "Ushi Gozen no Ohonchi" (Ushi Gozen's Original Place), the wife ofMinamoto no Mitsunaka, from a powerful family of the Heian period, had a dream where theKitano Tenjin dwelt in her womb. After a long pregnancy of 3 years and 3 months, a boy infant was born on an ox year, on an ox day, at the ox hour. This infant would be Minamoto no Yorimitsu's next younger sibling (in the original text, らいくわうの御しやてい "raikwau no oshatei", or ただの満中が次男, "tada no Mitsunaka ga jinan"), but he had an ox's horns and an oni's face, so he was about to be killed. However, the court lady who was ordered to perform the killing instead saved him and raised him in secret in the mountains, and grew up to be called "Ushi Gozen." Mitsunaka ordered his son, the yōkai-slaying hero Minamoto no Yorimitsu, to deal with Ushi Gozen. Ushi Gozen fought many battles in Kantō and resisted to the end. He threw himself in theSumida River, where it is said that he transformed into an ox 30 meters (about ten jō) in length and went insane.[27]
In an essay titledIsetsu Machimachi (異説まちまち) by Wada Masamichi, a warrior of theSekiyado Domain, there are statements aboutushi-oni asatmospheric ghost lights. According to this essay, inIzumo Province (now the northern parts ofShimane Prefecture), at a damp time of continual rain, if one goes to a place where there appears to be a bridge across a mountain stream where some white lights would fly about and stick to the body and not come off, one would say "I have encounteredushi-oni," and it is said to disappear by warming oneself at a hearth.[28] This is thought to be similar to the atmospheric ghost light calledminobi inNiigata Prefecture andShiga Prefecture.[1]
In legends ofInaba Province (now the eastern part of Tottori Prefecture), on snowy evenings, countless small firefly-like lights would collect on one'smino, and if one tries to shake them off, they would fall to the floor and then whirl up again and stick on. It is said that eventually, themino and umbrella would all be covered with a green light.[29]
InAnan,Tokushima Prefecture, a family called Kajima has enshrined a beast's skull told to have come from anushi-oni. It is said that the Kajima family's ancestor's slew thisushi-oni upon request from the local farmers who were being tormented by it, and then brought back its head.[30]
InKurume,Fukuoka Prefecture, a mummified hand at the Kan'onji is said to be the hand of anushi-oni that appeared one year inKōhei (1063). It had an ox's head and anoni's body, and it tormented the nearby residents with a supernatural power. It is said that although the warriors of several provinces hesitated to slay it, the head priest Kanamitsu Shōnin slew it withnenbutsu and Buddhist power.[30][31] It is said that the hand went to temple, the head was presented at the capital, and the ears were buried at Minōsan ("ear storage mountain").[30] The name Minōsan comes from this legend.[31]
AtNegoro-ji on Aonomine,Goshikidai inKagawa Prefecture, there are some treasured horns said to be from anushi-oni slain by Yamada Kudando Takakiyo near the start of the Edo Period. According to the pictures in thescrolls of this temple, thisushi-oni had the head of a monkey and the body of a tiger, and both legs is a flying membrane-shaped wing like that of a musasabi or bat.[4][14] The scroll and relic is currently not open to the public due to several problems, so it is open to the public only through the internet.[32]
There are records that there were onceushi-oni aroundKumakōgen, Ehime Prefecture, but none remain today.
In theNanyo Region of Ehime Prefecture, especiallyUwajima and its surroundings, there is a local festival in which a procession of dashi (parade floats) calledushi-oni are paraded. There are several explanations suggested for the origin of this, including the aforementioned view ofushi-oni being holy, anIyo Province story of how Tōnai Zusho and Kuraki Heinojō slew anushi-oni, a story about how a person from Iyo slew the ushi-oni inKaifu District,Tokushima Prefecture, and a story about how whenToyotomi Hideyoshi dispatched troops to Korea,Katō Kiyomasa made "turtle shell carts" to the tigers of Korea.[1][5]
The cart is a turtle shell-shaped structure made from putting together bamboo, with an attached head (officially the "trunk") and tail ("sword"). The "trunk" is attached several meters ahead on bamboo, and on the other side is attached a T-shaped handle ("shumoku", or "bell-ringing rod"), which can be freely moved about. It is considered an honor to handle this. Depending on the region, some of them feature an ability to extend or contract the neck. The "sword" is attached to the main body by a rope. A large number of people would carry this and parade it about. At the same time, they would furiously shake the "trunk" and "sword", spin it around again and go into a fervor. However, they would not make them bump into each other or perform other kinds of "fights". Generally, there are two types of main bodies, one covered by ashuro (considered the original kind), and one covered by a black or red cloth (considered the development kind). The one with theshuro is the smaller one. The development kind has a shiny yellow thing in its center.
Furthermore, there is a saying that "if children can get theushi-oni to bite their head, they'll become smart," so when the people carrying it are resting, the people nearby would take their children and grandchildren along to get their heads bit.
Theushi-oni plays the main role in the festival of the Uwajima region. In the Warei Festival performed from July 22 to 24,ushi-oni would take the stage not just in Uwajima, but also in the mountain regions and in Kōchi Prefecture (Nishitosa). These are made by the city staff of Uwajima and theushi-oni preservation societies of various regions. Also,ushi-oni appear in autumn festivals (such as small scale festivals inAkehama,Seiyo, among other places). Following the example of the Ehime Prefecture festival,ushi-oni also appear in events in many areas, such as alongside the taiko floats of Niihama, or alongsidedanjiri carts in Saijo.
Since Uwajima become a sister city toHonolulu, Hawaii, every year on the first Friday, Saturday, and Monday is the Matsuri in Hawaii: Pan-Pacific Festival where volunteers from the Maruho Ushi-oni Preservation Society and the Uwajima City Government Ushi-oni Preservation Society would participate as the Uwajima Ushi-oni Preservation Society.[33]
In the Nanyo region, they would be at the front ofmikoshi and are said to play the role of warding off devils.[34]Ushi-oni also appear in festivals in the Cape Sada region,Mikame, Seiyo, the Kita District, among other places.
The autumn festival held at the Kamo Jinja inKikuma,Imabari is the only one in the Tōyo region where ushi-oni appear. It dons a black cloth and is somewhat large with a round torso.
Besides Ehime Prefecture, onAmami Ōshima, there is theushi-oni belief festival called the "Numato Nukanushi", where an ox yōkai god (farming god) with decorated countless eight-horned, eight-footed, and eight-tailedmadara-shaped patterns would rise up from the sea and shout with a loudcharamela-like voice and roam about the basket fires, whereupon the islanders would put their heads to the ground when it comes to them. However, this is actually a made-up god, and the islanders hate it when people from the mainland mention this to them.[35]
There are also similarushi-oni and ox god festivals inMinamitakaki District,Nagasaki Prefecture (nowUnzen) known called "Tōshimon", inUwajima,Ehime Prefecture called "Ushōnin", and inIchiki,Hioki District,Kagoshima Prefecture (nowIchikikushikino) called "Tsukuimon". Similarly, at a town along theKagoshima Bay in theŌsumi Peninsula there is said to be something called the "unmushi" (sea ox), a monster black ox that would crawl up from the ocean and wander about.[35] Thisunmushi is thought to appear after the bon festival on the 27th, so the people of this area would avoid the sea on this day.[36]
The comic artistMizuki Shigeru surmises that in the backdrop of theushi-oni are the ancient Indian ox gods, so the incarnations of Daijizaiten (Shiva), Izanaten (Ishana) and Enma-ten (Yama) are related, and that also related is the existence of theTenmangū that shrinesSugawara no Michizane (who is also Tenman Daijizaiten).[37]
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