Tengu (天狗) (genre )
Links
Biography:
The Book of Tengu or Tengu zōshi (天狗草紙) was written in 1296, according to Abe Yasurō (阿部泰郎) in his article 'The Book of Tengu: Goblins, Devils and Buddhas in Medieval Japan'. It starts off "...with the construction of Buddhist temples by the wish of the emperor; list the founders of a religious sects, who became devout believers in Buddhism; honor the virtue and influence of successive high Buddhist priests and their miraculous virtue; and praise the Buddhist temples' virtue that enabled such exemplary religious deeds. Then the two texts move onto auspicious Buddhist rituals and rites for tutelary deities. After these descriptions, the texts always end with a final remark about the monks, who reside in temples, develop "arrogance" and become Tengu as a result of indulging in vanity."
Abe Yasurō wrote about another source for this theme on page 215: "Sumiyoshi myōjin spoke of three kinds of devil (ma)."The first, Tenma 天魔, or the devil king, is the transformed body of Buddhist priests at Mt. Hiei, who were presumably men of wisdom and masters of learning. They became extremely arrogant and their minds heretical. As the deity says, "All men of wisdom in the eight sects became Tenma, and now they are known as Tengu; thus all the kenmitsu 顕密 (i.e., the six Nara schools and two Heian schools of Tendai and Shingon) priests who were supposed to defend the royal law became Tengu. Furthermore, others, such as clerics of Pure Land Buddhism were sucked into the Realm of Devils and disappeared. In this way, Sumiyoshi explained the the definition of ma and Tengu, indicating that the cloistered emperor himself had an arrogant mind insofar as he believed that his religious training was superior to others. Consequently, the emperor was prone to attract the influence of ma, and was therefore himself ultimately nothing but a devil (ma). In this manner, the the cloistered emperor realized the demon within him, and then he chanted namu Amida Butsu for salvation. Sumiyoshi sent him a message that came from Dengō Daishi 傳教大師 (Saichō 最澄: 767-822) and directed him to go and receive esoteric initiation at Tennōji, known as the first site of the Buddhist law in Japanese history."
****
"THE TENGU is the most widely feared of traditional superhuman monsters. It is known to abduct young women, kidnap little children and do other mischief but at the same time, much power in punishing the bad and helping the good is attributed to it.
In common traditional belief, literature and pictures, the tengu is generally classified into two types, dai-tengu (big tengu), and sho-tengu (small tengu). The tengu is a semi-human, semi-bird monster. It has big wings and is able to fly freely at a terrible speed. It has long and sharp claws on its hands and feet. The face of the big tengu is red and has a very prominent nose. It is dressed in a costume similar to that worn by yamabushi or mountain priests, carring a kongo stick and a sword. Usually it also holds a big fan made of feathers. The small tengu has a pointed bill like a bird, but its nose is not so high as that of the big tengu.
All tengu live in high wooded mountains, far from villages. Occasionally they descend to the plains and inflict harm upon innocent villagers. The people have so long been in fear of tengu that many parents still mentions its name to make children behave. In many mountain regions, children still fear tengu, and believe that it will attack and carry them away, if they go out alone or do something bad.
The origin of the traditional tengu is very vague. It is now generally believed that it is a creation from three different things, the features of which are combined to make tengu.
The first of these three element is the spirit of the mountain, which rules the mountain and of which the people were in great fear in the past, as they believed that lightning, thunder, storms and many things that happen in great mountains were the doings of spirit of the mountain. The spirit of the mountain forms the basic characteristics of tengu, also giving it the bird-like features.
The second are yamabushi or Buddhist priests who underwent austere training in the mountains. They lived in great mountains far from human influence to train their minds and bodies. Some of them are reputed to have not only gained high Buddhist knowledge, but also superhuman power.
Foreigners, probably Caucasians, are the third element that formed tengu. In the ancient Konjaku-Monogatari it is written that the tengu came from Tenjiku (India) and went to the Omi lake (Lake Biwako). The red-faced, tall Caucasians, with his high nose, must have greatly surprised the people, if he did come to the country at that time. They feared the stranger, and seeing him so different from themselves, regarded him as superhuman. This stranger gave tengu the red face and high nose.
It is also said to be originally a satiric figure representing a proud and boastful person, and is still commonly used in that sense. In the picture scroll named Tengu-zoshi first printed in the Enbun era (1356-1361), many high leaders and priests who were known for their proud attitude are satirically represented as tengu with a long nose.
Yasha (Yaksha) mentioned in Buddhist sutras as a she-demon of supernatural power also came to be called tengu. Thus the original meaning of the boastful and the Buddhist Yasha came to be mixed to produce the popular idea of tengu.
Strangely it was the upper class of people who adopted Buddhism who first believed in the story of tengu.
In Azuma-kagami, it is mentioned that during the Kamakura period (1185-1333), a tengu appeared in Kyoto and caused a big commotion among the residents. As the people became afraid of this creature, some priests utilized it for their interests. They staged a show with a tengu figure, and called it Tengu Matsuri or demon festival. They showed tricks before the gathered people, and made them offer coins to tengu.
strength came to be regarded as such. They would come down to villages and their demands for sake were eagerly met by those in dread of their power."
Quoted from: Mock Joya's Things Japanese, p. 449-450.
****
"In the mountains lives a type of demon that is very popular in Japanese culture: the tengu (lit. "celestial dog"). the earliest mention of a tengu appears in the Chronicles of Japan (Nihon shoki) from 637. The Tale of Heike (Heike monogatari), which dates to the thirteenth century, describes tengu in detail: "human, but not human; bird, but not bird; dog, but not dog; they possess feet and hands of a human, the heard of a dog, wings on both sides, and can fly as well as walk".
"THE TENGU is the most widely feared of traditional superhuman monsters. It is known to abduct young women, kidnap little children and do other mischief but at the same time, much power in punishing the bad and helping the good is attributed to it.
In common traditional belief, literature and pictures, the tengu is generally classified into two types, dai-tengu (big tengu), and sho-tengu (small tengu). The tengu is a semi-human, semi-bird monster. It has big wings and is able to fly freely at a terrible speed. It has long and sharp claws on its hands and feet. The face of the big tengu is red and has a very prominent nose. It is dressed in a costume similar to that worn by yamabushi or mountain priests, carring a kongo stick and a sword. Usually it also holds a big fan made of feathers. The small tengu has a pointed bill like a bird, but its nose is not so high as that of the big tengu.
All tengu live in high wooded mountains, far from villages. Occasionally they descend to the plains and inflict harm upon innocent villagers. The people have so long been in fear of tengu that many parents still mentions its name to make children behave. In many mountain regions, children still fear tengu, and believe that it will attack and carry them away, if they go out alone or do something bad.
The origin of the traditional tengu is very vague. It is now generally believed that it is a creation from three different things, the features of which are combined to make tengu.
The first of these three element is the spirit of the mountain, which rules the mountain and of which the people were in great fear in the past, as they believed that lightning, thunder, storms and many things that happen in great mountains were the doings of spirit of the mountain. The spirit of the mountain forms the basic characteristics of tengu, also giving it the bird-like features.
The second are yamabushi or Buddhist priests who underwent austere training in the mountains. They lived in great mountains far from human influence to train their minds and bodies. Some of them are reputed to have not only gained high Buddhist knowledge, but also superhuman power.
Foreigners, probably Caucasians, are the third element that formed tengu. In the ancient Konjaku-Monogatari it is written that the tengu came from Tenjiku (India) and went to the Omi lake (Lake Biwako). The red-faced, tall Caucasians, with his high nose, must have greatly surprised the people, if he did come to the country at that time. They feared the stranger, and seeing him so different from themselves, regarded him as superhuman. This stranger gave tengu the red face and high nose.
It is also said to be originally a satiric figure representing a proud and boastful person, and is still commonly used in that sense. In the picture scroll named Tengu-zoshi first printed in the Enbun era (1356-1361), many high leaders and priests who were known for their proud attitude are satirically represented as tengu with a long nose.
Yasha (Yaksha) mentioned in Buddhist sutras as a she-demon of supernatural power also came to be called tengu. Thus the original meaning of the boastful and the Buddhist Yasha came to be mixed to produce the popular idea of tengu.
Strangely it was the upper class of people who adopted Buddhism who first believed in the story of tengu.
In Azuma-kagami, it is mentioned that during the Kamakura period (1185-1333), a tengu appeared in Kyoto and caused a big commotion among the residents. As the people became afraid of this creature, some priests utilized it for their interests. They staged a show with a tengu figure, and called it Tengu Matsuri or demon festival. They showed tricks before the gathered people, and made them offer coins to tengu.
strength came to be regarded as such. They would come down to villages and their demands for sake were eagerly met by those in dread of their power."
Quoted from: Mock Joya's Things Japanese, p. 449-450.
****
"In the mountains lives a type of demon that is very popular in Japanese culture: the tengu (lit. "celestial dog"). the earliest mention of a tengu appears in the Chronicles of Japan (Nihon shoki) from 637. The Tale of Heike (Heike monogatari), which dates to the thirteenth century, describes tengu in detail: "human, but not human; bird, but not bird; dog, but not dog; they possess feet and hands of a human, the heard of a dog, wings on both sides, and can fly as well as walk". "
"In the Edo period (1603-1868) a distinction began to appear between different types of tengu. The usual form called konoha-tengu (foliage tengu) or karasu-tengu (raven tengu), while the form with an extraordinarily long nose is hanadaka-tengu. The latter is a more comical form that often appears in humorous depictions. Tengu can use magical feather fans to stir up great winds."