An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Japanese Oni Demons

Learn all about the infamous oni of Japan in this comprehensive illustrated guide. Easy-to-follow accounts detailing the origins and lineages of the country’s most legendary oni are accompanied by over 160 historical visual resources dating as far back as the fourteenth century. Includes charts depicting the abilities and attributes of thirty-four iconic oni.

Table of contents
Chapter 1: Mount Oe, the Abode of Oni
Chapter 2: Vanquished Oni
Chapter 3: Human-Oni Transformations
Chapter 4: The Spread of Oni Lore
Chapter 5: Oni from the Buddhist Tradition
Appendix: Additional resources & maps

Featured in this book:
Ayo no Sato no Oni / Kugamimi no Mikasa / the oni of Mount Miuegatake: Eiko, Karuashi, Tsuchiguma / Shuten Doji / Ibaraki Doji / Kidomaru / Ura / Otakemaru / Zenki and Goki / Ushi-oni / the four oni of Fujiwara no Chikata / Hashihime / Momiji / the demon lady of Adachigahara / Kiyohime / Abe no Nakamaro / Sugawara no Michizane / night parade of one hundred demons / the oni in “The Inch-High Samurai” / the oni slain by Kintaro / the oni in “The Old Man with a Lump” / the oni encountered by Fujiwara no Tadahira / the oni of Suzaku Gate / oni in Otsu-e folk art / Kishimojin / Yasha / Rasetsu / Enma / Gozu and Mezu / hell guards / Datsueba and Ken’io / Gaki / Hososhi

Toru Yagi was born in Kyoto in 1955 and graduated from the Doshisha University Faculty of Letters. He is currently a professor in the Department of Historical Culture at Bukkyo University. His many publications include Kon’in to kazoku no minzokuteki kozo (The Folkloric Structure of Marriage and the Family; Yoshikawa Kobunkan, 1991), Kyo no matsuri to inori: Miyako no shiki o meguru minzoku (Festivals and Prayer in Kyoto: Folklore of the Four Seasons; Showado, 2015), and Nihon no minzoku shinko o shiru tame no 30 sho (Japanese Folk Beliefs in Thirty Chapters; Tankosha, 2019). A leading authority in the field of folklore studies, particularly the study of oni, he is president of the World Oni Society and former director and executive secretary of the Kyoto Folklore Society. He makes frequent appearances in media to help popularize “oni culture.”