Shuten-dōji (酒呑童子) (role )

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Biography:

Noriko T. Reider wrote on page xxiii of the introduction in her Japanese Demon Lore, published by Utah State University in 2010: "0e second chapter (“Shuten Dōji [Drunken Demon]”) explores one of Japan’s most renowned oni legends, the story of Shuten Dōji. Shuten Dōji is a dynamic medieval oni with all the typical oni characteristics. He and his cohorts kidnap daughters of the nobility and then eat their flesh. Shuten Dōji is finally eliminated by the warrior-hero Minamoto no Raikō (or Yorimitsu, 948–1021) and his four loyal lieutenants. 0e legend is intriguing in that, while it clearly praises “the forces of good” (the protectors of Japan with the imperial authority as its center), a sympathetic view of “evil forces” (voices of those outside the central authority) resonates equally. 0e tale is also insightful in that it anticipates the emerging power of the warrior class in contrast to the declining dominance of oni. Using Mikhail M. Bakhtin’s theory of the “carnivalesque” (see Rabelais and His World ) this chapter examines the Shuten Dōji texts as treatments of the marginalized other."

On pages 30--31 the author notes: "According to legend, during the reign of Emperor Ichijō (r. 980–1011), people begin to disappear mysteriously from the royal court. Abe no Seimei (921?–1005), an official diviner of the Heian court, discovers that it is the work of the archfiend, Shuten Dōji, the chieftain of the oni. Shuten Dōji and his cohorts abduct and devour young Kyoto maidens. 0e warriors Minamoto no Raikō (or Yorimitsu, 948–1021) and Fujiwara no Hōshō (or Yasumasa, 957–1036), as well as Raikō’s shitennō (the four heavenly guardians) are charged by the imperial court to destroy Shuten Dōji and his evil minions. 0e warriors, with the help of their attending deities, carry out their mission, ultimately slaughtering the oni, rescuing the surviving captives and restoring peace and the security of the country. While on the surface Shuten Dōji provides a potent literary example of “good” triumphing over “evil,” internal tensions in the text blur these distinctions. Although praise for some central authority3 is clear, especially when the virtues of the emperor and his warriors are extolled, the voice of the marginalized “other” also resonates throughout the text in the form of the arch demon himself. 0us, the representation of the Japanese imperial court and the noble warriors fighting on its behalf as the force of all that is “good” becomes a troubled one."