Seven Demon Stories from Medieval Japan

by Noriko T. Reider

  Dōji stories, Munenobu was entirely dropped from them.

  Fortunately, Hōshō is still famous in the visual arts world with such

  prints as those by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839–92) titled Fujiwara no Hōshō

  gekka rōtekizu (Fujiwara no Yasumasa Plays the Flute by Moonlight, 1883)

  and a Kabuki play that is based on this print.

  shitennō (four Guardian kings)

  Shitennō, or Four Guardian Kings, are pre-Buddhist deities incorporated into

  the Buddhist pantheon to protect Buddha’s Law, Buddhists, and Buddhist

  countries (specifically, Japan from the Japanese viewpoint). As mentioned

  earlier, they are Tamonten (Vaisravana, North), Jikokuten (Dhrtarasta, East),

  Zōchōten (Virudhaka, South), and Kōmokuten (Virupaksa, West). Each of

  them rules one of the cardinal points and a race of earthly devas. Later,

  the appellation shitennō also came to be used for four outstanding men of

  valor under a military commander. From medieval times on, Raikō’s shitennō

  were Watanabe no Tsuna (953–1025), Sakata no Kintoki (?–1017), Taira no

  Sadamichi (also known as Usui no Sadamitsu, 954?–1021?), and Taira no

  Suetake (also known as Urabe no Suetake, 950?–1022?). In Raikō’s time,

  however, there was no such thing as Raikō’s shitennō; this was a later creation.

  Konjaku monogatarishū, the largest setsuwa collection, compiled a cen-

  tury after Raikō’s death, introduces Taira no Sadamichi, Taira no Suetake,

  and Kintoki as Raikō’s retainers. The second episode of volume 28, titled

  “Yorimitsu no rōtōdomo Murasakino ni mono o miru koto” (Yorimitsu’s

  Retainers Go Sightseeing at Murasakino), begins, “At a time now past,

  among Governor of Settsu Minamoto no Raikō’s retainers were three

  outstanding warriors, Taira no Sadamichi, Taira no Suetake, and [ . . . ]26

  26

  Part I: Samurai

  Kintoki.” Watanabe no Tsuna’s name does not appear here or in any Heian

  literature (794–1185) for that matter. The narrator continues, “They all look

  magnificent, excel in martial arts, [are] daring and thoughtful, and leave

  nothing to be desired. Further, they did a marvelous service in the East and

  people feared them, so Raikō favored these three, having them accompany

  him everywhere” ( SNKBZ 38: 152).27 Having started by admiring the three

  retainers, the story then tells how the three, who wanted to see a Kamo

  Festival’s procession, miserably failed. Hoping to see the procession, the

  warriors decided to use an ox carriage, a transportation vehicle for aristo-

  crats, and disguised themselves as women so no one would recognize them.

  However, not accustomed to riding in a carriage for the noble, they all had

  terrible motion sickness and could not see the procession at all. The story

  ends with a comment, “Brave and considerate warriors as they are, they

  have never been on an ox carriage before, so they had pathetic motion sick-

  ness. It is stupid or so it is handed down” ( SNKBZ 38: 155). It is a comical

  story of a blunder by famous warriors. The narrator laughs at the warriors’

  heavy Eastern rural dialect and their hilarious manners. It is a typical view

  of Eastern warriors—bold but boorish—by people in the capital.

  While this setsuwa tells us that Taira no Sadamichi, Taira no Suetake, and

  Kintoki were Raikō’s famous men, in reality there is no historical evidence

  that Raikō had his own band of warriors, let alone shitennō. Again, this is

  where the imagination enters for creative writing.

  Watanabe no Tsuna

  When it comes to the supernatural episodes, Tsuna attracts oni as much as

  Raikō does. As discussed in chapter 2, according to the “Swords Chapter”

  of the Heike monogatari (Tale of the Heike, thirteenth century), for example,

  Tsuna encounters an oni and severs his hand. Tsuna also plays an important

  role in fighting another supernatural creature, an earth spider.

  From medieval times on, Watanabe no Tsuna (953–1025) is known as

  Raikō’s right-hand man and the leader of Raikō’s shitennō. Sonpi bunmyaku also

  notes that Tsuna was the most eminent of Raikō’s shitennō (Tōin 3: 14). Any

  relevant entry in a dictionary would make the same points. As mentioned

  earlier, however, Tsuna’s name does not appear in any Heian literature. He is

  the newest member of the shitennō in both historical and fictional documents.

  Tsuna’s name emerges for the first time in Kokon chomonjū (A Collection

  of Ancient and Modern Tales That I’ve Heard, 1254), written by Tachibana

  no Narisue more than two centuries after Tsuana’s death (Takahashi, Shuten

  Dōji no tanjō 199; Kobayashi, “Chūsei buyūdenshō to sono kisō” 961).28

  Included in volume 9, the story is titled “Minamoto no Raikō Kidōmaru

  Drunken Demon

  27

  o chūsuru koto” (Minamoto no Raikō Kills Demon Boy).29 Tsuna appears

  there with Sadamichi, Suetake, and Kintoki, and they are identified as Raikō’s

  shitennō. Kidōmaru literally means Demon Boy; there is no explanation

  about who this Demon Boy is and what he does. The story tells that Raikō

  stops by for warm saké at his brother’s house one cold night when he sees

  Demon Boy tied up at the stable. Raikō warns his brother to tie Demon Boy

  more firmly. Insulted, Demon Boy attempts revenge on Raikō and escapes

  his bonds. The following day Demon Boy hides himself in a bull’s belly and

  ambushes Raikō, who is on his way to Mt. Kurama. Tsuna sees through the

  situation and shoots an arrow into the bull in which Demon Boy is hidden.

  Demon Boy, pierced by Tsuna’s arrow, jumps out of the bull and dashes

  off to kill Raikō. Undaunted, Raikō draws his sword and beheads Demon

  Boy with a single stroke; thereupon Demon Boy’s head flies off and bites

  into the front rope decoration of the harness of Raikō’s horse (Nishio and

  Kobayashi 409–13; Sato 62–64). The Demon Boy, his beheading by Raikō,

  and the flight of the Demon Boy’s head targeting Raikō are similar to some

  core elements of the Shuten Dōji story.

  According to Sonpi bunmyaku, Tsuna’s father was Minamoto no Mitsuru

  (?–?) of the Saga Genji line. Minamoto no Mitsuru had his base in Mita,

  Musashi Province (present-day Tokyo, Saitama, and part of Kanagawa pre-

  fectures). Tsuna was adopted by Minamoto no Atsushi (?–?), who was of

  the Ninmyō Genji line (Tōin 3: 14). When one turns to the section on the

  Ninmyō Genji line, a comment is written that Minamoto no Atsushi was

  a son-in-law of Minamoto no Mitsunaka, Raikō’s father, and that Tsuna

  was the founder of the Watanabe group (Tōin 3: 28). Tsuna was known as

  a Saga Genji warrior rather than as Ninmyō Genji. As Mitsunaka married

  the daughter of Minamoto no Suguru (?–?) of the Saga Genji line of the

  Minamoto and Tsuna’s foster father married a daughter of Mitsunaka, per-

  haps it was more advantageous to identify Tsuna with the Saga Genji line.

  Interestingly, some scholars such as Kobayashi Miwa and Takahashi

  Masaaki consider that the core of the oni legends surrounding Shuten Dōji

  was created by Watanabe. Kobayashi Miwa writes that many episodes in

  Kokon chomonjū are about the Watanabe family’s h
istory and that Watanabe is

  good at self-promotion. An extraordinary degree of Watanabe no Kakeru’s

  (?–?) self-publicity described in the Jikōji edition of Jōkyūki (Records of the

  Jōkyū War, mid-thirteenth century) is, according to Kobayashi, the essence

  of the Watanabe group. She conjectures a connection between Kakeru flee-

  ing to Mt. Ōe and legends of conquering oni on Mt. Ōe. It is possible to

  presume, Kobayashi writes, that an oni legend may have come from the

  Watanabe group, that is, Tsuna’s spectacular reputation as an oni conqueror

  28

  Part I: Samurai

  in the medieval period was created in the process of story transmission

  within that group (Kobayashi, “Chūsei buyūdenshō to sono kisō” 961–68).

  Likewise, Takahashi Masaaki surmises that a faction of the Watanabe

  group created Tsuna and the oni stories to restore factional power within

  the Watanabe group. The group’s vassalage relationship to the Settsu Genji

  is not confirmed until the time of Minamoto no Yorimasa (1104–80), a

  great-great-grandchild of Raikō (Takahashi, Shuten Dōji no tanjō 199). The

  Watanabe group, of which Tsuna is attributed to be the founder, was a

  band of warriors that had its main base at Watanabe around the mouth of

  the Yodo River in Settsu Province, controlling harbors in the vicinity. At

  the end of the Heian period the group was led by Minamoto no Yorimasa.

  A close relationship between Yorimasa, a driving force for the rebellion

  against Heike control, and the Watanabe group was detailed in volume 4 of

  the Tale of the Heike.30

  Historically, the Watanabe group members had been appointed

  Takiguchi, or Palace Guards, and starting at the end of the eleventh century

  they received the position of Ōe no mikuriya Watanabe sōkan (controller of

  Watanabe in Ōe no mikuriya manor) to present seafood to the court. Ōe

  no mikuriya was a huge imperial compound located in Kawachi, present-

  day southeastern osaka. The Watanabe group’s base was an important

  location in the compound (Takahashi, Shuten Dōji no tanjō 196). Takahashi

  surmises that the people in the Saga Genji line created Tsuna to recover

  from an injured identity and resuscitate their political power by painting

  a striking image of their founder, Tsuna. There were two lines within the

  Watanabe group, Takahashi explains. One was the Saga Genji line and the

  other the Fujiwara Southern Family Endō line. The Saga Genji line of the

  Watanabe group initially had more power, occupying the position of Ōe no

  mikuriya Watanabe sōkan. In the early Kamakura period, however, the Endō

  line of the Watanabe group, which supported Minamoto no Yoritomo in

  the Genpei War, became more powerful than the Saga Genji line. The Saga

  Genji’s declining status was exacerbated by the fact that the line supported

  the losing Retired Emperor GoToba (1180–1239) at the Jōkyū Disturbance

  in 1221, in which GoToba attempted to overthrow the Kamakura shogu-

  nate. The position of Ōe no mikuriya Watanabe sōkan was taken away from the

  Saga Genji line and moved to the Endō line (see Takahashi, Shuten Dōji no

  tanjō 193–220). In other words, Tsuna was concocted to achieve the political

  resurrection of the Saga Genji line.

  A legend or story of Shuten Dōji, encompassing the advancement

  of the Sumiyoshi Shrine, the Yahata Shrine, and Mt. Hiei, saw its rough

  formation from the end of the Kamakura period to the beginning of the

  Drunken Demon

  29

  time of the Southern and Northern Courts, which corresponds to the first

  half of the fourteenth century. Making Raikō its protagonist was an impor-

  tant element to be added at the final stage. This is considered the final

  stage because Raikō’s importance increased with the rise of the Ashikaga

  clan. So it has to have been after the establishment of the Ashikaga shogu-

  nate, Takahashi states. As noted earlier, the Ashikaga clan was Minamoto,

  and Ashikaga Takauji worshipped his ancestor Minamoto no Mitsunaka

  and his grave-shrine, the Tada Shrine, in Settsu. Raikō, who inherited the

  Tada manor from Mitsunaka, was the founder of Settsu Genji. Veneration

  toward Raikō increased during the Southern and Northern Courts and

  Muromachi periods. Tsuna’s oni story became Raikō’s under these circum-

  stances (Takahashi, Shuten Dōji no tanjō 219). Since Suetake, Sadamichi, and

  Kintoki were already known as Raikō’s favorite retainers by the early twelfth

  century, perhaps it was not difficult for some scribes of the Watanabe group

  to add Tsuna and make him shitennō.

  Tanigawa Ken’ichi also suggests that the Ōeyama legend was born in Ōe,

  Watanabe’s residence (Tanigawa 84). Behind an immensely popular story lurks

  the struggle of ambitious warriors who wanted to succeed and strengthen

  their power base. Needless to say, this was in addition to some influential

  religious institutions contributing their pitch for their deities’ efficacy.

  Sakata no Kintoki (or Shimotsuke no Kintoki)

  In Shuten Dōji stories, Kintoki is second among Raikō’s shitennō, after

  Watanabe no Tsuna.31 In the picture scrolls of Ōeyama ekotoba, for example,

  Kintoki’s name always appears immediately following Tsuna. When Shuten

  Dōji’s severed head was going to attack Raikō, Raikō quickly borrowed

  Tsuna’s and Kintoki’s helmets. Raikō also ordered Tsuna and Kintoki to

  gouge out Dōji’s eyes when the head bit into the helmets.

  In the Suntory version of the Shuten Dōji story, Kintoki plays a more

  prominent role. At Shuten Dōji’s banquet scene, an oni, commanded by

  the Dōji to entertain Raikō’s troupe, sings a song and dances a couple of

  times: “People from the capital, how did they lose their way, to become saké

  and side dishes?” Understanding the meaning of this song, Tsuna becomes

  livid and is about to kill the oni, but Raikō calms him down. Kintoki, who

  is introduced as a renowned dancer in the capital, rises to dance and sings

  two to three times in response: “Spring has come to the old demon’s cavern,

  wind will blow them out during the night.” The narrator says Shuten Dōji

  is too intoxicated to pay attention to the meaning of Kintoki’s song and

  enjoys “Kintoki’s dance and singing voice” (“Shuten Dōji-e jō, chū, ge” 176

  [1904]: supplement 16–17).32

  30

  Part I: Samurai

  Kintoki is without doubt the most familiar figure among Raikō’s shitennō;

  this is not necessarily through the name Kintoki but rather as Kintarō,

  Kintoki’s legendary childhood name. Kintarō is a boy with superhuman

  strength and is a popular character in folklore, Kabuki and puppet plays,

  children’s books and songs, even as candies. In present-day Japan a Kintarō

  figure, wearing a red harakake (large bib that covers the chest and stomach)

  on which a big character kin (gold) is written, is customarily put up on Boys’

  Day (or Children’s Day) in the hope that boys will become brave, strong,

  and healthy like Kintarō. By the end of the seventeenth century, a yamauba

  (mountain witch, ogress, hag) had come to be considered the mother of this

  Kintar
ō. Kintarō was raised in the mountains, wrestling with animals, and

  many legends say he was found by Raikō to become one of his shitennō (see

  Reider, Japanese Demon Lore chapter 4).

  In my earlier work I wrote that there is virtually no record of the exis-

  tence of Sakata no Kintoki except for an episode in Konjaku monogatarishū

  (“Yorimitsu’s Retainers Go Sightseeing at Murasakino”) and one in Kokon

  chomonjū (“Minamoto no Raikō kills Kidōmaru”) (Reider, Japanese Demon

  Lore 73). Kintoki has often been considered an imaginary figure. But

  it turned out that there was a historical figure for Kintoki’s model; he is

  Raikō’s contemporary. His family name was not Sakata but Shimotsuke,

  that is, Shimotsuke no Kintoki (?–1017), a famous Konoe toneri (Attendant

  of the Left and Right Imperial Guards) ( Oyamachō-shi 182). Kintoki’s father,

  Shimotsuke no Kintomo (?–?), is also Konoe ( Oyamachō-shi 204). Like Raikō

  and Hōshō, Kintoki served Fujiwara no Michinaga (966–1027).

  Regarding the Konoe toneri, Helen Craig McCullough writes:

  In the eleventh century they enhanced the magnificence of state proces-

  sions, doubled as court-appointed Escorts for senior nobles, and partici-

  pated in archery contests and similar ceremonies, both at Court and at the

  private residences of great men, but their most important function was

  the provision of music and dancing at kagura performances. The Shōgen

  [lieutenants] and lower posts often went to professional and semiprofes-

  sional performers, and there is much evidence to indicate that at all lev-

  els the Bodyguards contained exceptionally skilled dancers and singers.

  (McCullough, A Tale of Flowering Fortunes 2: 814; see also Wada and Tokoro

  136; Murasaki, NKBT 15: 210; SNKBZ 21: 421)

  Toneri were expected to be remarkably skilled at music and dancing.

  Kintoki must have excelled at dancing and singing. In Zoku honcho ōjōden,

  Ōe no Masafusa (1041–1111) lists Kintoki—Shimotsuke no Kintoki—and

  Owari no Kanetoki (?–?) among peerless Konoe during Emperor Ichijō’s

  Drunken Demon

  31

  reign (Hanawa, Gunsho ruijū 5: 412).33 According to Shimotsuke shi keizu

  (Genealogy of the Shimotsuke Clan), Owari no Kanetoki was Kintoki’s

  maternal grandfather. Kanetoki was an excellent dancer and horse rider—he

  was a dance teacher for Fujiwara no Norimichi (995–1065) and Fujiwara no