Yokai Encyclopedia

An extraordinary figure from Hida Province described in the Nihon Shoki as having one body, two faces, and four hands that used bow and arrows. After being put to death by Naniwa no Neko Takefurukuma for defying the imperial command and plundering the people, Sukuna was remembered in Hida and Mino traditions as Senkōji’s founder, Zenkyūji’s manifestation of Kannon, and Nichiryūbu-ji’s dragon-defeating figure. Enkū’s devotional image sets the two faces side by side.

The core of Sanki Daigongen lies in its reversed divine nature, transforming the originally feared oni into a "guardian deity that wards off evil." The three demon gods—Tsuicho, Jibi, and Mara—each govern fortune, wisdom, and subjugation, with Dainichi Nyorai, Kokuzo Bosatsu, and Fudo Myoo as their original Buddhist forms. This trinity structure demonstrates the fusion of the Honji Suijaku (original reality and manifested traces) thought of Shingon esoteric Buddhism with mountain asceticism and tengu worship. The fact that it commands large and small tengu as familiars is directly connected to folk tales of Mount Misen being a spiritual mountain of tengu (like the tale of Masanori Fukushima's tengu extermination). It embodies the sacredness of Mount Misen itself, characterized by Kukai's founding, the unextinguishable spiritual fire, and the strange rock formations likened to Mount Sumeru. The Itsukushima Shrine (Ichikishima-hime and Benzaiten) on the sea and Sanki Daigongen on the mountain form a pair as the guardian deities of the two poles of Miyajima—the sea and the mountain.

Based on the Noto region’s distinctive image of the saru-oni. It has an ape-like body crowned with a single horn and dwells in rock caves, menacing livestock and people near settlements. It appears under cover of night and is feared as a boundary breaker between the mountains and the village. Communities sought the protection of local tutelary deities, and tales of subjugation by bow and arrow are tied to place-name origins. After its defeat, its horn is said to have been enshrined, and memorial shrines were established, pairing awe with appeasement. The saru-oni is told as a singular creature rather than a pack. Its range centers on cave mouths and the satoyama borderlands, its presence marked by a bestial stench and legends of black blood.

This portrait draws on the chieftain who leads his oni followers from Ōeyama. He descends into inhabited places in the guise of a monk or young warrior, exploiting indulgence in drink, sexual desire, and human weakness. At banquets he observes a host’s courtesies, though he is a violent oni who abducts people. In the slaying tale, his enemies turn an oath made before the deities against him and weaken him with poisoned sake. His willingness to admit guests in yamabushi dress proves fatal.

An edition distilled from late Edo-period ukiyo-e and comic prints depicting the smiling Hannya. Horns, fangs, bristling hair, wide staring eyes, and a strained grin form its core. Objects in its hands often allude to life and death, unsettling viewers with deliberate motifs. The demon-woman is understood to have once been human, transformed by accumulated jealousy, resentment, and attachment, aligning with the concept behind the Hannya mask. Specific local legends are sparse, yet it was treated in night-time tales and picture books as a symbol of fear and admonition, preserved as an image of the extreme of a woman’s grudge. In local oral tradition sometimes only the name remains, with the transmission of its form relying mainly on pictorial sources.