Ryomen-sukuna (Gifu)

Ryomen-sukuna is a figure of Hida Province (modern Gifu) said to have two faces and four limbs each holding a weapon. The Nihon Shoki (720 CE), Emperor Nintoku year 65, records that a being who would not submit to the court appeared in Hida; with two faces opposed front and back and four limbs that wielded weapons in unison, Sukuna was suppressed by Naniwa-no-neko Takefurukuma-no-Mikoto. Court history thus treats him as an enemy of the court. Local Hida tradition, however, in temples such as Senkoji on Mount Tatamine in Takayama and Nichiryubuji in Seki, venerates Sukuna as the temple founder and the slayer of a wicked dragon; statues of the two-faced figure remain in several temples. The Nihon Shoki, Emperor Nintoku year 65 entry is the early textual reference. Hida temple engi and gazetteers from the early modern period record the local view, and Murakami Kenji's Nihon Yokai Daijiten (Kadokawa, 2005) and the International Research Center for Japanese Studies Yokai Folklore Database treat it as a discrete entry.