Onigajoおにがじょう

This version of Sakanoue no Tamuramaro is not treated as the historical military official, but as the deified Tamura Daimyojin of later generations. He is told as a warrior receiving the protection of Kannon at Kiyomizu-dera, a paired husband-and-wife deity with Suzuka Gozen at Suzuka Pass, and as General Tamura subjugating Akuro-o and Otakemaru in Tohoku. A single person's name wandered through the temple origins of Kyoto, the mountain pass faith of Suzuka, and the shrine and temple origins of Tohoku, acquiring different faces in each land. The power of Tamuramaro is not the sword that slashes demons itself. Kiyomizu Kannon, Vaisravana, Suzuka Gozen, the sacred sword, and the gods of the passes support his story, transforming his martial prowess into "protection acknowledged by the gods and buddhas." Therefore, in the Tamura-gatari, rather than the scenes of defeating enemies, what matters more is which gods and buddhas took his side, in what land he was enshrined, and to which mounds or temples the memories were transferred. Sakanoue no Tamuramaro is a hero who defeats yokai, but at the same time, an axis to pass down yokai as stories to later generations.

A compiled variant portraying the ogre-general aspect of Kanekira Shika within Tamuramaro-style oni-slaying tales along the Kumanonada coast. He is said to have ruled from the ogres’ sea-eroded cavern known as the Demon’s Rock Dwelling, commanding a band of oni to disrupt maritime routes. In the clash with Tamuramaro, he feared Kannon’s protection, tightened his wards, and barred the stone door to endure a siege. Entranced by the dance led by a child avatar of Senju Kannon, he peered through the doorway and was fatally shot in the left eye. After his defeat, the head was buried in a ravine and ritually pacified. Local lore sometimes names him the pirate chief Tagamaru, with traces preserved in temple-shrine origin tales and toponyms such as Mamigashima, Tomari Kannon (Seimizu-dera), Ōma Shrine, and Onimoto. Historicity is uncertain; some see memories of suppressing revolts or local powers in Kumano later recast into Tamuramaro legend, yet all survive as narrative tradition.