Japanese Legends: Ibaraki doji ...Oni Woman..

 

 

 

 

Art link https://www.wallpaperflare.com/ibaraki-douji-fate-grand-order-fate-series-women-blonde-wallpaper-zblow

 

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 Ibaraki Doji is also know as the “thorn tree child”

She  is one of the most well known as well as one of the most feared demons in Japanese folklore.

She was the chief deputy to Shuten doji, the Oni King. Not very much is known about Ibaraki doji’s
life; Most stories depict Ibaraki doji as a kijo, or a female oni; yet there are other stories which refer to Shuten doji’s  deputy as a male so its really anybodys gyuess at this point(Im going to go with the female version of the story). 

Ibaraki doji was a cruel and   terrifying monster, bent of wreaking as much havoc in the human world as she could.
 

Some visions claim she was not only Shuten Dojis second in command but also his lover


Ibaraki doji’s most famous story takes place at Rashomon, the southern gate of old Kyotos city walls. Rashomon was built in 789, but after  the Heian period it fell into serious disrepair and became known as an unsavory place. It was overgrown and unkempt. Thieves and bandits hung out near it.

 It even served as a dumping point for unwanted babies, and a spot to dispose of murder victims. But the scariest part of its haunted reputation was the
 

                                                         Rashomon Gate replica

 

legend of Rashomon no oni — the demon of Rashomon.

 

After his celebrated victory over Shuten doji, the hero Minamoto no Yorimitsu returned triumphant to Kyoto. He was celebrating at his home with his  deputies — Sakata no Kintoki, Urabe no Suetake, Usui Sadamitsu, and Watanabe no Tsuna — when Fujiwara no Yasumasa, a noble, informed them that an oni was seen haunting Rashomon gate. Watanabe no Tsuna, having just returned from a great battle with Shuten doji’s clan, could not believe that there were any oni left, and single-handedly went out to investigate. He mounted his horse and went south.

                                           Watanabe Tsuna fighting the demon  at the Rashomon

When Tsuna arrived at the gate, a great howling wind broke out and his horse could travel no further. He dismounted and went on foot. Approaching the gate in the fierce gale, he noticed an enormous hand suddenly reach out of the dark to grab his helmet. Tsuna wasted no time, and swung his great katana around, severing the arm of an enormous demon: it was Ibaraki doji, coming to avenge the murder of Shuten doji. 

The injured demon ran away, leaving her arm behind, and Rashomon was no longer haunted.

Ibaraki doji later returned to Rashomon, looking for her arm. 

She disguised herself as Watanabe no Tsuna’s wetnurse, and was able to steal back her severed arm and escape, After that, her whereabouts were unknown. though for many years after, occasionally in some town or another, villagers would claim that they had seen Ibaraki doji from time to time

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Rashomon Gate was destroyed in the mid 1900's 

 

There is now a monument in its place too commemorate it...

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More Oni post's coming soon

Oni Myths, Shuten Doji the King of Oni.

 

 

Shuten Doji  was also called the “little drunkard”

He is considered among the most fearsome and evil yokai in all of Japanese folklore even among other Oni. 

However unlike most yokai, Shuten dōji was not born an oni. 

There are many stories about how he came to be, but most of them claim that he was originally a human boy who was born over a thousand years ago either in present-day Shiga or Toyama. 

His mother was a human woman and his father was the great dragon Yamata-no-Orochi. How he changed from boy to demon varies greatly from story to story, but the one popular version goes like this: There was a young boy who was supernaturally strong and abnormally intelligent for his age. 

Everyone around him constantly called him a demon child due to his incredible strength and wit, and he gradually became terribly anti-social and resentful of others. At age six, even his own mother abandoned him. Orphaned, he became an apprentice priest at Mt. Hiei in Kyoto. 

Naturally, he was the strongest and smartest of the young acolytes, and he grew resentful of them as well. He slacked off on his studies as a result and got into fights. He also fell into drinking, which was forbidden to monks; however he could out-drink anyone and everyone who was willing to sit down and drink against him. Because of his fondness for alcohol, he became known as Shuten dōji, “the little drunkard.”

One night there was a festival at the temple, and Shuten dōji showed up very drunk. He put on an oni mask and went around playing pranks on his fellow priests, jumping out from the darkness to scare them and such. At the end of the night, he tried to take off his mask but found he couldn’t — to his horror, it had fused to his body! Ashamed, scared, and scolded by his masters for being drunk, he fled into the mountains where he would no longer have to interact with other humans, whom he saw as weak, foolish, and hypocritical. He lived there on the outskirts of Kyoto for many years, stealing food and alcohol from villagers, and drinking vast quantities of alcohol. His banditry eventually attracted groups of thieves and criminals, who stuck with him loyally and became the foundation for his gang.

 

 

Living in exile, Shuten dōji grew in power and knowledge. He mastered strange, dark magic, and taught it to his thugs. He met another demon child like him, named Ibaraki dōji, who became his chief servant. Over time, the young man and his gang gradually transformed into oni, and eventually he had a whole clan of oni and yokai thugs who prowled the highways, terrorizing the people of Kyoto in a drunken rage. He and his gang eventually settled on Mount Ōe, where, in a dark castle, he plotted to conquer the capital and rule as emperor.

Shuten dōji and his gang rampaged through Kyoto, capturing noble virgins, drinking their blood and eating their organs raw. Finally, a band of heroes led by the legendary warrior Minamoto no Yorimitsu assaulted Shuten dōji’s palace, and with the help of some magical poison, were able to assault the oni band during a bout of heavy drinking. They cut off the drunken Shuten dōji’s head, but even after cutting it off, the head continued to bite at Minamoto no Yorimitsu.

Because the head belonged to an oni and was unholy, it was buried it outside of the city limits, at a mountain pass called Oinosaka. The cup and bottle of poison that Minamoto no Yorimitsu used are said to be kept at Nariai-ji temple in Kyoto.

 

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Modern Imagery

 

Shuten Doji From The Fate series

 

                                          https://www.artstation.com/artwork/GXPGqa

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                                           https://www.zerochan.net/3245251

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