Daisen Karasu-Tengu Legend

The Daisen karasu-tengu legend records the Shugendo cycle on Mount Daisen (1,729 m) in Hoki Province (Tottori), centred on a band of crow-tengu and their leader Hokibo. Hokibo is counted among the eight major tengu of Japan and is said to have moved to Daisen from Sagami's Oyama. The crow-tengu, his retinue, are said to perch in trees, test ascetics, guide lost travellers and at times turn them back. From the medieval period the cycle is bound to the Tendai temple Daisen-ji and reads the wonders and night sounds of the pilgrim road as the work of the crow-tengu. The central sites are Daisen-ji and the Okumiya of Ogamiyama Jinja near the summit. Mount Daisen is the leading mountain ascetic centre in western Japan, ranked with Hiei-zan and Atago-yama. The crow-tengu cycle is also linked to Sagami Oyama (Isehara, Kanagawa) through the figure of Hokibo. Sources include the medieval Daisen-ji Engi, the Edo Hoki Mindanki, gazetteers in the Inhaku Sosho, and Chigiri Kosai's Tengu no Kenkyu, which sets out the eight-tengu schema and places Hokibo within it.