Kurama Tengu Legend

The Kurama Tengu legend is a medieval cycle in which Sojobo, the great tengu of Mount Kurama north of Kyoto, instructs Minamoto no Yoshitsune (boyhood name Ushiwakamaru) in swordsmanship and tactics. Placed in Kurama-dera as a child, Ushiwakamaru slips out at night to Sojogadani in the mountains, where he trains in bouts with Sojobo and his lesser tengu. Hardened by this training, he later joins Minamoto no Yoritomo's campaign against the Heike. The setting at Kurama, a Shugendo site, fuses mountain training with the warrior-coming-of-age story; the tengu appears as instructor rather than antagonist, distinguishing this cycle from the oni-subjugation tradition. The principal sources are the Gikeiki (Muromachi period), volume two, and the sword scroll of the Heike Monogatari. The noh play Kurama Tengu (attributed to Kanze Kojiro Nobumitsu, late Muromachi), the kowakamai Miraiki, and later kabuki and joruri adaptations transmit the cycle.