Case file · Folklore / legend
Shuten-dōji of Ōeyama
The 14th-century Ōeyama picture scroll tells how the warrior Minamoto no Raikō and his men, disguised as monks, killed the oni chief Shuten-dōji, who was abducting girls from Kyoto.
1350 CE · 35.45, 135.10 · status: legend
The account
The story is set around 990. Ōeyama on the Kyoto–Tango border has an oni museum, and the tale spread through Noh, scrolls and prints.
The sceptical view
Historians suggest the 'oni' were bandits or outsiders, possibly miners, cast as demons.