Ushi-oni

Ushi-oni (gyuki) is a yokai of western Japan with a bull-head and demon-body (or, in some regions, a bull-body and spider/oni-head) said to haunt shores, rivers, and deep pools, attacking travellers and devouring their flesh. Densities of tradition are recorded in Nanyo (southern Ehime) and the Uwajima district, Kagawa, Wakayama, and the coastal Tokushima. Variations include encounter narratives on dark beaches, the Isono-zenji exterminator tradition, and Buddhist subjugation by sutra-chanting at temples; well-known cases include Negoroji in Kagawa, the Uwajima ushi-oni tradition (commemorated by the giant ushi-oni festival floats of July), and the cape traditions of Nishi-Muro in Wakayama. The Konjaku Monogatari-shu, volume 27, tale 12, "An oni in the form of a bull kills men," records an early analogue. Toriyama Sekien's Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki (1779) gives a canonical figure. The Nichibunken database compiles regional cases by coast, river, and temple.