Shuten-doji Taiji Legend

The Shuten-doji legend tells of Minamoto no Yorimitsu (948-1021) and the four heavenly kings of Yorimitsu - Watanabe no Tsuna, Sakata no Kintoki, Usui no Sadamitsu and Urabe no Suetake - subjugating the oni leader Shuten-doji at Mount Oe in Tanba. Tasked by the emperor with stopping the abduction of young women from the capital, Yorimitsu's party disguises itself as yamabushi and travels to Mount Oe. Three old men - manifestations of Sumiyoshi Myojin, Hachiman Daibosatsu and Kumano Gongen - present them with the shinben-kidoku-shu, a sake that subdues oni. After a banquet inside the oni's hall, the sake puts Shuten-doji to sleep. Yorimitsu, protected by a star helmet given by the gods, beheads him with the sword Doji-o; the severed head flies at Yorimitsu but is stopped by the helmet. The retinue oni Ibaraki, Hoshiguma, Tora-kuma and Kane-kuma generate later cycles, especially Ibaraki's arm-severing tale at Ichijo-modoribashi. Sources include the Muromachi otogi-zoshi Shuten-doji (also transmitted as the Oeyama Ekotoba picture scroll), references in the Konjaku Monogatarishu volume 27, the noh plays Oeyama and Rasho-mon, and Edo-period ukiyo-e by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi.