Ushi Oni

 


The ushi oni is a monstrous yokai found in western Japan, usually along the coast or near rivers and waterfalls. The name mean ox demon. The most common depiction of the ushi oni is one with a bull's head and a spider's body. Although the spider part is just supposed to represent 'a form of demonic evil' and isn't inherently connected to spiders. However the name ushi oni refers to many local monsters with varying appearances.

Ushi onis are cruel and violent monsters. They almost exclusively eat people. Occasionally they are said to attack live stock, but this is usually to lure people out. Ushi onis also breath out toxic gas and spread a variety of diseases.

Ushi onis have a variety of behaviors and ways of hunting people. Some lay in wait in their layers and pounce upon unaware victims. These layers are usually along the coast in sea caves, in inland in dangerous river features such as whirlpools and waterfalls. Some rare ushi oni live far inland, up in the mountains near dangerous cliffs. Wherever the ushi oni lives it's always near a dangerous natural feature. It's likely the legend of the ushi oni was used to explain people's deaths by these features. Ushi oni have also been known to curse specific towns, returning over and over again to attack the residents and spread disease.

As if the presence of one ushi oni wasn't bad enough, they frequently work together with both their own kind, and with other harm full yokai. Most often this is with the nure onna, vampiric snake women who also live near the coast. These snake women act like sirens, luring men towards the ushi oni's den.

There are many local legends about the ushi oni

In Mie prefecture there was once an ushi oni who inhabited a sea cave. The local lord Aisu Shigeaki tried to rid the land of the ushi oni by shooting in with an arrow. However this only angered the ushi oni. In revenge it cursed the lord's wife with an incurable disease. Shigeaki distanced himself from his wife and brought in dancers to entertain him in her absence. This angered his family and eventually brought the ruin of his clan's reputation.

In Wakayama Prefecture there are several legends about ushi oni inhabiting whirlpools in rivers.

In nishimuro district there's a whirlpool where people believe when it turns brown and murky the ushi oni is within the pool. Just being near the whirlpool when it's in this state can cause people to become ill. To combat this people say opposite untrue statements, such as rocks flow, leaves sink, bulls neigh and horses bellow. This ushi oni has the head of a bull, body of a cat and a very long tail, and is silent when it walks.

Another ushi oni from wakayama prefecture is one that lives in the waterfall basin in the Wado River. This ushi oni would cause people to get sick with high fevers by licking their shadows. To appease the ushi oni offerings of sake were left for it at new years.

In San'in region ushi oni work together with nure onna. The nure onna would appear to travellers along the coast as a normal woman holding a baby. But the baby would actually be a disguised heavy stone. The traveller would be weighed down by the baby appearing stone and this would give the ushi oni time to sneak up on them and devour them.

In Kochi perfecter there was the village of Okanouchi which was tormented by an ushi oni in 1776. The ushi oni would attack their live stock, and when men went out to defend the live stock they would be devoured by the ushi oni. A warrior named Chikamori Sakon killed the ushi oni with a single arrow shot. This led to the momotesai festival of the region.

One of the best known ushi oni stories comes from Ehime Prefecture. Here the city of Uwajima was threatened by an ushi oni. An ascetic mystic came to save them. He blew a conch shell and recited a mantra. This caused the ushi oni to recoil. When the ushi oni was stunned the mystic stabbed the beast between the eyes and killed it. The ushi oni's blood flowed for seven days.

Another well known ushi oni is one that lived in the seas off the coast of Shimane Prefecture. This one was massive and had a bull's head on a crab's body. It thrived on attacking fishermen.


Sources


https://yokai.com/ushioni/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ushi-oni

  


  

  


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