Rare Monsters

   Ichimokuren is a local weather god from Mount Tado, Japan. He has many different forms, either a dragon with one glaring eye in the middle of his forehead, or one working eye and one destroyed eye. Or he can appear as a single eye peering out from the sky, or he can appear as a flying fireball. Ichimokuran is known for creating devastating storms, which are capable of knocking down buildings, capsizing boats and throwing people into the air. It was believed that when he left his home in mount Tado to cause stores then black clouds would form around the mountain. People built a shrine to Ichimokuren there to pacify him. His shrine was built with no doors so he could come and go as he pleased. In modern time Ichimokuren has appeared in many video games and animes, usually in his floating eye form. Sources https://yokai.com/ichimokuren/

  Iku Turso is a war god, a giant and a sea monster from Finnish Mythology. He is a character who I’ve occasionally heard referred to as the Finnish Cthulhu. He’s almost certainly a composite character, with similarly named gods and monsters being condensed into one character over time. He has many epithets. The name Iku Turso means the eternal giant. He’s also known as The Bearded One, The One Who Stands on the Brink, the Ox of Death, The Thousand Headed, The Thousand Horned. One of his alternate names, Meritursas, is today one of the Finnish names for the common octopus. Iku Turso is able to take on multiple forms, one being that of a giant dressed in warrior’s armour, another that of a sea monster. In sea monster form his appearance is variable and unclear. He’s described as having a slimy beard of tentacles, walrus tusks, and horns or antlers. However it’s unclear if this form is bestial or humanoid. Iku Turso was fathered by the god of old age. He burst out of his m...

  Xiangliu was a serpent with nine human heads. Sometimes the head each have different necks, and other times the head form a cone or a grid, all beside each other. In spite of this monstrous appearance, Xiangliu was intelligent and a minister to the equally monstrous water god Gonggong. Xiangliu was responsible for enacting Gonggong's orders to bring floods and devastation to the land. Xiangliu's mere presence was able to cause devastation everywhere he went. Everywhere he breathed became a bog with poisoned water. He was also immoral and took glee in destruction he caused and the suffering he created for others. When Gonggong rebelled against the heavens Xiangliu fought by his side. However once the goddess Nuwe killed Gonggong Xiangliu fled. Yu the Great, the last of the three sage kings, tracked Xiangliu to the swamps of Sichuan Province. He killed Xiangliu after a pitched battle. However Xiangliu's blood threatened to poison the whole region. If Xiangliu was left t...

  Vishap is a dragon from Armenian mythology. He was depicted as a serpent with wings, often with features of other animals, such as horns. Vishap was closely associated with water. He was also venomous and able to taint everything around it, and associated with bad luck, curses and sudden tragedy. Vishap was thought to live in the Armenian highlands, especially Mount Ararat. The volcanic activity of Mount Ararat was attributed to Vishap. Vishap was also associated with thunderstorms, causing them when he ascended into the sky or descended back down to the ground. He was even responsible for eclipses. Unusual for dragons, but much like European fairies, Vishap was thought to steal children and replace them with a dragon whelp from its own brood. Vishap was slain by Vahagn, an important god in ancient pagan Armenia. He was the god of war, bravery and the sun. Vishap himself was also worshipped as an earlier god of water and fertility before becoming purely a monster. Vishap is also ...

  Denglong, also known as Wangtianhou, Chaotianhou and Hou, is a chimeric beast from Chinese mythology. It's sometimes considered a dragon and other times its own type of creature. Denglong has the qualities of several other animals: antlers of a deer, a camel's head, cat ears, shrimp eyes, a donkey's mouth, lion's mane, snake neck, sea serpent's belly, carp scales, eagle's talons and tiger's back legs. Incidentally, this list of features is very similar for Chinese dragons, who are often similarly described as having the features of many common animal. Denglong said to be one of the sons of the dragon emperor, although I didn't see it listed when researching the nine sons before. Yet Denglong looks very similar to Chaofeng's beast form and there may be some confusion between them, similar to how cockatrice and basilisk are used interchangeably in European mythology. Denglong is said to be the most powerful of beasts. And is capable of fighting and ...

  Tiangou is a celestial canine from Chinese mythology. He is usually associated with eating the sun or moon during eclipses but has many more roles than this. Tiangou's name means celestial dog. In his best known interpretations Tiangou is a giant black dog surrounded by flame. The most famous story about Tiangou is when he ate the moon in pursuit of Change'E. HouYi the legendary archer hero was given an elixir of immortal for his many great deeds. However his wife Chang'E drank the elixir before he could. For this the gods imprisoned Chang'E on the moon. They did this by making Chang'E so light that she floated up to the moon and couldn't step on the Earth. As Chang'E was floating away HouYi's dog licked up some of the immortal elixir that had been spilled on the ground. The dog grew in size to be larger than the heavenly bodies. It pursued Chang'E, trying to get the rest of the immortality elixir through her. The dog eventually ate the whole moon ...

  Shinchus are good monsters and considered holy. They are protective minor deities and are known as the divine insects. While shinchus look terrifying they only attack demons, especially those which cause disease. Shinchus violently rip these demons apart, leaving a trail of gore and blood. Every day a shinchu will devour six thousand demons, three thousand in the morning and three thousand in the evening. It's said the shinchu's appetite is as big as it is. Shinchus are silk moths the size of elephants or larger. They have bulging eyes, gaping mouths full of sharp teeth and a wasp like stinger. According to the myth, shinchus originated in India in the mythical lands of Jambudvipa. Of the four lands surrounding Mount Meru, Jambudvipa is the only one inhabited by humans and the only one where enlightenment could be achieved in one life time purely through study. Because such things could be achieved only in this one land it was under constant attack from demons who wanted to s...

  One of the most notable differences of Asian dragons from European dragons is the lack of wings, with Asian dragons having the magical ability to levitate effortlessly into the sky. This is true for most, but Yinglong is consistently depicted with wings, giving him a visually striking difference from other Asian dragons. Yinglong means responding dragon, a fitting name as his role was to respond to the emperor when he had requests to send to the heavens. Yinglong was also a weather deity, responsible for bringing rainfall. A role he shared with many other dragons. Yinglong appears several times in classic Chinese literature. In the Song of Chu , Emperor Yu was tasked with ending the floods destroying China when the previous emperors could not. He called on Yinglong to show him where to dig drainage canals. These canals then became the borders of the nine classical provinces of China. In The Classic of Mountains and Seas Yinglong and the Yellow Emperor's daughter Ba battled aga...

  In traditional Chinese folklore there are five dragon kings associated with each direction. There's Qinglong, the azure dragon of the east and of spring. Chilong, the red dragon of the south and of summer Bailong, the white dragon of the west and of autumn Heilong, the black dragon of the north and of winter And Huanglong, the yellow imperial dragon of the center and of late summer These directional associations exist in addition to the four beasts of the directions, the vermilion bird of the south, the white tiger of the west, the black turtle of the north and the azure dragon of the east, where Qinglong makes it into both groups. Already in early history there existed folk religion incantations to five seasonal dragons for rainmaking rituals. Although there were many different dragon king associated with smaller regional areas rather than one codified group of dragon kings. Later, Confucius texts associated each season with directions and colors, further codifying ...