Oni
Artwork by Benedetta Fiore. ArtStation | Instagram
Origin: Japanese folklore
Oni are large, malicious demons commonly associated with calamity, disease, and misfortune. The Japanese Kanji for oni, 鬼, was originally an ancient Chinese hieroglyph representing the position a body would be laid to rest in the Yin Dynasty (1550—770 BCE). After some time, it came to represent both the ancestral and the evil spirits of the dead.
In most stories, they’re roguish villains with superhuman strength and a fearsome appearance with clawed limbs and hexagonal clubs in hand. They have a variety of skin colors like black, blue, red, yellow, or green, and have a third eye (or sometimes only have one eye) on their forehead underneath their long, messy hair. Their mouths are wide, with long, protruding canines.
They have one or two short horns like those of an ox and wear little, if any, clothing—usually just a loincloth made of tiger skin. The horns and tiger skin are a play on the Japanese word ushitora, or “north-northeast,” which is said to be an ominous direction pointing toward kimon, or “oni’s gate.”
When an evil person dies, they’re said to be reborn as an oni. But rather than being irredeemable demons, the oni are full of anger and wrath, but can still be converted to Buddhism.
The story of the most famous oni, Shuten-dōji, has been passed down since the 14th century. During Emperor Ichijō’s reign, numerous young women went missing from Kyoto. The imperial court’s diviner, Abe no Seimei, determined that it was Shuten-dōji—also known as the ogre king—abducting them. The Emperor sent Minamoto no Raikō and Fujiwara no Hōshō to dispatch the demon.
Along the way, they met with four deities who gave them sake that would aid them in their mission, and advised them to disguise themselves as priests. The two did so, and eventually found one of the kidnapping victims, an old woman doing laundry. She told them that Shuten-dōji was forcing the women to act as maidservants—but also allowed his ogres to kill and eat them. The warriors approached the ogre king asking for lodging, which the king obliged.
Shuten-dōji told stories about how the ogres had been displaced, and about his love of sake. The warriors shared the sake given them by the deities, which put the ogre king into a deep, incapacitating sleep. That night, after donning their armor, they stormed his bedroom while the deities appeared and held him down. Raikō cut off his head. The demon’s jaws snapped at Raikō’s head, but fortunately for the warrior, he was wearing two extra helmets. Raikō and Hōshō returned triumphant to Kyoto and laid the head to rest in the Treasure House of Uji at Byōdō-in Temple.
Appearances in media
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Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
(…and so many more.)