The Perfected Form of Honji Suijaku. Kumano Gongen is the most elaborately systematized example of "Honji Suijaku," the Japanese philosophy of Shinto-Buddhist syncretism. Each of the main deities of the Kumano Sanzan was assigned a Buddhist "original ground" (Honji Butsu). For instance, Ketsumimiko-no-Okami of Hongu was identified as Amida Nyorai; Kumano Hayatama-no-Okami of Hayatama Taisha as Yakushi Nyorai; and Kumano Fusumi-no-Okami of Nachi Taisha as Senju Kannon (Thousand-Armed Avalokitesvara). Consequently, a pilgrimage to Kumano functioned as a complete salvation system spanning the past, present, and future: erasing the sins of past lives (Yakushi), gaining benefits in this world (Senju Kannon), and securing a promise of rebirth in the Pure Land in the next life (Amida). Institutionalization and Networks of Shugendo. Kumano is one of the birthplaces of Shugendo, and rather than just a place of prayer, it was a rigorous training ground. From the medieval period onward, Shugendo developed into massive religious organizations such as the Honzan-ha (Tendai sect lineage) and Tozan-ha (Shingon sect lineage), building a nationwide network backed by the religious authority of Kumano. The establishment of "Kumano Shrines" (Junisho Gongen) in various regions was the result of propagation activities through this network of ascetics. The fact that thousands of these shrines still exist nationwide today demonstrates the deep penetration of Kumano Gongen into local communities. The Religious Nature of the "Path" Itself. When discussing the Kumano Gongen faith, the existence of the "Kumano Kodo" (Kumano Ancient Trail) cannot be overlooked. The journey to Kumano was extremely arduous, dotted with numerous small shrines called "Tsukumo Oji." Pilgrims were not merely aiming for a destination; the act of walking the treacherous mountain paths and enduring hardships was itself considered ascetic training to extinguish sins (Dochu Shugyo). Even from the perspective of modern public history, the Kumano Kodo retains its value not just as historical heritage, but as a "space to practice faith" where one purifies the mind using one's own body.

Edo-period picture scrolls and modern yokai encyclopedias often give Ushi-oni its best-known form: a sea demon with the head of a bull and the body of a spider. The image joins a primal fear of dark, deep water to the spider's refusal to release anything caught in its web. Cattle were closely bound to farming and water control in older Japanese life, and could be revered as sacred animals, messengers of a water deity, or divine beings in their own right, as in the case of Gozu Tennō. One influential interpretation therefore sees the Ushi-oni lurking in a deep pool as the fallen form of a violent water deity—a power once worshiped and feared that became a yokai as its cult declined. This is no mindless beast. Ushi-oni can supposedly kill a person merely by licking their reflection, and it uses Nure-onna as bait before striking at a vulnerable victim. Such arbitrary, absolute power retains the character of a dangerous deity. Its resentment is strong enough to keep a severed body part moving, leaving an ordinary person almost no hope of resistance. People instead appealed to higher Buddhist powers such as Senju Kannon, or brought Ushi-oni itself into a festival at the head of the mikoshi procession. Properly received as an aramitama—a rough and violent divine spirit—its ferocity could be turned toward defending the town from other evils.

This version places Kiyohime's personal nature at the forefront of the Dojoji legend. She is not merely a serpentine monster. Four layers overlap within her: the woman who confessed her love, the woman who was fled from, the woman who crossed the river, and the serpent woman who burned the bell. Dojoji Temple conveys the story through picture scroll storytelling (etoki), and in the Noh play *Dojoji*, the shirabyoshi dancer from the sequel tale disappears under the bell, only to reappear as a serpentine demoness . In other words, the terror of Kiyohime lies in the fact that the incident of the past is never truly over, being continually actualized on the stage of performing arts. In terms of yokai classification, Kiyohime is simultaneously a "serpent woman" and a "woman turning into a Hannya." She gathers within a single human body the anger and sorrow carved into the Hannya mask, the jealousy Hashihime left at the bridge and river, and the serpentine calamity mythologically displayed by Yamata no Orochi. The temple bell should have been a safe hiding place, but upon touching Kiyohime's obsession, it becomes a furnace instead of a refuge. This is where the symbolic nature of the Dojoji legend lies. The Buddhist temple, the Kumano pilgrimage route, the water of the Hidaka River, the metallic sound of the bell, and the fire of a woman collide at a single point, changing a romance tale into a yokai tale.

This edition is not about a single seat on a particular sacred mountain, but a general treatise that thoroughly unravels "what a tengu is" from the history of its iconography and types. The individual traditions of each seat are left to the page of each great tengu. The form of the tengu is not uniform. The first type is the long-nosed tengu—ruddy face and high nose, clad in the ascetic's headcloth (tokin) and the suzukake robe, a feather fan in hand and one-toothed high clogs on the feet. The second is the crow tengu, with a crow's beak and wings, grasping a sword or a vajra staff. The third are the lesser tengu called leaf tengu and wood-chip tengu, held to be weak and numerous kin. Rather than a fixed classification, these reflect the breadth of the tengu image across eras and regions. The iconography shifted over time. The Heian-period tengu was first conceived as a bird like a black kite, and the image of the crow tengu retains that vestige. The long nose grows prominent only from the late Kamakura period; the Zegaibō Emaki depicts a scene in which a tengu that had disguised itself as a human has its nose lengthen as it returns to bird form. As for the origin of the long nose, there are theories that derive it from the high-nosed Jidō mask of gigaku and link the crow tengu to the Karura (Garuda) mask, and a view that sees the long nose as an iconographic vestige of a bird's beak—but none can be called settled doctrine. It was overlaid with the god Sarutahiko, described in the Nihon Shoki as having a nose seven hand-spans long, and the custom arose of using a tengu mask for the role of Sarutahiko in festivals. The tengu's dual nature is rooted in the Buddhist notion of the way of the tengu. Because it studies the Buddhist path it does not fall into hell, and because it handles heterodox arts it cannot reach paradise either—an intermediate state, and the one who falls there was held to be the arrogant monk. The Tengu Zōshi depicts this notion as satire of the monks of the seven great temples, yet Chigiri Kōsai too warns that the simplification "only arrogant monks become tengu" goes too far. Demon though it is, once subdued it turns to guardianship, and it was held that if a Shugendō practitioner recites the Tengu Sutra he may summon the tengu of the various provinces to grant his wishes—this amplitude between guardian and demon is the very core of the tengu. The certain medieval source for the grouping called the "Eight Great Tengu" lies in the libretto of the Muromachi-period Noh play Kurama Tengu. The passage in which the great tengu calls up the tengu of the provinces he commands in geographical order—"In Tsukushi, Buzenbō of Hiko-san; in the four provinces of Shikoku, Sagamibō of Shiramine; Hōkibō of Ōyama; Saburō of Iizuna… the host of Zenki of Ōmine, Takama of Katsuragi"—shows that the Eight Great Tengu were rooted in medieval belief and performing arts, not an Edo invention. Still, the composition wavers by source, with a variant that adds Hōkibō of Ishizuchi-san; it is no fixed roster.

A portrayal of the Ippon-datara based on records from Kii and Kumano through Nara. It is said to be one-eyed and one-legged, but firsthand sightings are rare; in many regions a single large track left after snowfall is taken as proof of its presence. Its most notable trait is appearing on December 20, the “Hate-no-Hatsuka,” a day overlapping taboos of mountain deities and roads, effectively discouraging entry into the mountains. In its link to smithing, folklore explains the one-leg one-eye form as derived from the tatara blower treading the bellows with one foot and watching the furnace with one eye. In the Obagatōge lineage it is equated with the oni-god Inosasao, once a terror of the peak but sealed by a monk and released only once a year. In Kumano and Itsukushima it is said “only footprints appear, not the body,” feared yet seldom directly harmful. While stories of one-legged snow spirits (such as Yuki-nyūdō and Yukibō) have blended with it, this entry centers on the Kumano–Nara stream, emphasizing three points: the taboo day, the single track, and the blacksmith-origin theory.

An iconographic reading of the Dōjōji bell as depicted in Toriyama Sekien’s Konjaku Hyakki Shūi. While a note alludes to a variant in which the woman, transformed into a serpent, coils around the bell hiding Anchin and heats it until it melts into scalding liquid, hearsay also holds that the bell itself survived in historical record. Its “yokai nature” here is less an ensouled object than a visualization of folk belief in obsession possessing a vessel and causing anomalies. It represents Edo-period reception where Noh, sekkyō, and engi traditions intermingle.

A form rooted in the topographic legends of Kitayama Village. A fox is said to possess a person and display uncanny lightness, leaping across sheer cliffs. Variant tales pit it against serpents or yamabushi ascetics, so rivals and techniques differ by account. Anchored to cliff-line marks cited as physical proof, it serves to evoke the village boundary’s numinous authority and taboos. Ritual details and personal names are not preserved, and narratives remain general in outline.

Okuri-suzume has been framed as a harbinger and ill omen warning of dangers on mountain roads. Its calls precede, and are said to lead into, appearances of wolves or the escorting wolf, forming a narrative that encourages careful footing and avoiding delays in the wilds. The name “kuzusuzume” aligned with the real bird Black-faced Bunting (Aoji) is recorded, though its supposed nocturnality is debated. Sightings of its form are scarce, leaving its appearance unsettled, and in parts of Nara it is conflated with the night sparrow. Stories place it around Myohosan in Wakayama, and it is said to draw near lantern light. More than a threat itself, the lore centers on its “foreboding call,” giving it a strong character as a sound-based apparition.

Based on types recorded around Kumano and Mount Kuanashi, this yokai takes the form of a young woman, asks for a light from a lantern, then steals it and slips into the dark to drain the victim’s flesh or vital essence. In encounter tales, brandishing strong flame from a matchcord or fire striker drives it off, and bullets engraved with Buddhist names expose its true form as a skeletal fiend—mountain taboos and carry-on wisdom are emphasized. Although later images show it slipping indoors to steal vitality while nestled close, this version centers on wilderness meetings and warnings for night travel, noting that lanterns, live embers, and recitation of Buddhist names function like protective charms. It avoids conflation with foreign lore and follows Kii oral traditions and records.