. The
tengu wears the cap and pom-pommed sash of a follower of Shugendō.]]
of
Tengu]]
are a class of supernatural creatures found in Japanese folklore, art, theater, and literature. They are one of the best known yōkai (monster-spirits) and are sometimes worshipped as Shinto kami (revered spirits or gods). Although they take their name from a dog-like Chinese demon (Tiangou), the tengu were originally thought to take the forms of birds of prey, and they are traditionally depicted with both human and avian characteristics. They appear in the children's story 'Banner in the sky' when the main character trips over one and falls off the face of the mountain. The earliest tengu were pictured with beaks, but this feature has often been humanized as an unnaturally long nose, which today is practically the tengu's defining characteristic in the popular imagination.
Buddhism long held that the tengu were disruptive demons and harbingers of war. Their image gradually softened, however, into one of protective, if still dangerous, spirits of the mountains and forests. Tengu are associated with the ascetic practice known as Shugendō, and they are usually depicted in the distinctive garb of its followers, the yamabushi.
Image
debating with the
tengu of
Mount Hiko, by
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi. The
tengu's nose protrudes just enough to differentiate him from an ordinary
yamabushi.]]
The tengu in art appears in a large number of shapes, but it usually falls somewhere between a large, monstrous bird and a wholly anthropomorphized being, often with a red face or an unusually large or long nose. Early depictions of tengu show them as kite-like beings who can take a human-like form, often retaining avian wings, head or beak. The tengu's long nose seems to have been conceived in the 14th century, likely as a humanization of the original bird's bill.
The tengu of this period were often conceived of as the ghosts of the arrogant, and as a result the creatures have become strongly associated with vanity and pride. Today the Japanese expression tengu ni naru, literally, "he is turning into a tengu", is still used to describe a conceited person.
A section of the Tengu Meigikō, later quoted by Inoue Enryō, lists the daitengu in this order:
of Mount Kurama
of Mount Atago
of the Hira Mountains
of Mount Akiba
of Mount Kōmyō
of Mount Hiko
of Daisen (mountain)
of Mount Ueno (Ueno Park)
of Itsukushima
of Mount Ōmine
of Katsuragi
of Hitachi Province
of Mount Fuji
of Mount Takao
of Shiramine
of Mount Iizuna
of Higo Province
Daitengu are often pictured in a more human-like form than their underlings, and due to their long noses, they may also called . Kotengu may conversely be depicted as more bird-like. They are sometimes called , or . Inoue Enryō described two kinds of tengu in his Tenguron: the great daitengu, and the small, bird-like konoha-tengu who live in Cryptomeria trees. The konoha-tengu are noted in a book from 1746 called the , as bird-like creatures with wings two meters across which were seen catching fish in the Ōi River, but this name rarely appears in literature otherwise.
Creatures that do not fit the classic bird or yamabushi image are sometimes called tengu. For example, tengu in the guise of wood-spirits may be called , but this word can also refer to tengu with canine mouths or other features. The people of Kōchi Prefecture on Shikoku believe in a creature called , but this is a small child-like being who loves sumō wrestling and sometimes dwells in the water, and is generally considered one of the many kinds of kappa. Another water-dwelling tengu is the of the Greater Tokyo Area. This creature is rarely seen, but it is believed to create strange fireballs and be a nuisance to fishermen.
Protective spirits and deities
(portable shrine) in the city of
Beppu,
Ōita Prefecture, on
Kyūshū.]]
The Shasekishū, a book of Buddhist parables from the Kamakura period, makes a point of distinguishing between good and bad tengu. The book explains that the former are in command of the latter and are the protectors, not opponents, of Buddhism - although the flaw of pride or ambition has caused them to fall onto the demon road, they remain the same basically good, dharma-abiding persons they were in life.
The tengu's unpleasant image continued to erode in the 17th century. Some stories now presented them as much less malicious, protecting and blessing Buddhist institutions rather than menacing them or setting them on fire. According to a legend in the 18th-century , a tengu took the form of a yamabushi and faithfully served the abbot of a Zen monastery until the man guessed his attendant's true form. The tengu's wings and huge nose then reappeared. The tengu requested a piece of wisdom from his master and left, but he continued, unseen, to provide the monastery with miraculous aid.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, tengu came to be feared as the vigilant protectors of certain forests. In the 1764 collection of strange stories , a tale tells of a man who wanders into a deep valley while gathering leaves, only to be faced with a sudden and ferocious hailstorm. A group of peasants later tell him that he was in the valley where the guhin live, and anyone who takes a single leaf from that place will surely die. In the , written in 1849, the author describes the customs of the wood-cutters of Mino Province, who used a sort of rice cake called kuhin-mochi to placate the tengu, who would otherwise perpetrate all sorts of mischief. In other provinces a special kind of fish called okoze was offered to the tengu by woodsmen and hunters, in exchange for a successful day's work. The people of Ishikawa Prefecture have until recently believed that the tengu loathe mackerel, and have used this fish as a charm against kidnappings and hauntings by the mischievous spirits.
Tengu are worshipped as beneficial kami (gods or revered spirits) in various Japanese religious cults. For example, the tengu Saburō of Izuna is worshipped on that mountain and various others as , one of the primary deities in the Izuna Shugen cult, which also has ties to fox sorcery and the Dakini of Tantric Buddhism. Izuna Gongen is depicted as a beaked, winged figure with snakes wrapped around his limbs, surrounded by a halo of flame, riding on the back of a fox and brandishing a sword. Worshippers of tengu on other sacred mountains have adopted similar images for their deities, such as or of Akiba and of Saijō-ji Temple in Odawara.
In popular folk tales
upsets a nest of small
tengu.]]
Tengu appear frequently in the orally-transmitted tales collected by Japanese folklorists. As these stories are often humorous, they tend to portray tengu as ridiculous creatures who are easily tricked or confused by humans. Some common folk tales in which tengu appear include:
: A boy looks through an ordinary piece of bamboo and pretends he can see distant places. A tengu, overwhelmed by curiosity, offers to trade it for a magic straw cloak that renders the wearer invisible. Having duped the tengu, the boy continues his mischief while wearing the cloak.
: An old man has a lump or tumor on his face. In the mountains he encounters a band of tengu making merry and joins their dancing. He pleases them so much that they take the lump off his face, thinking that he will want it back and join them the next night. An unpleasant neighbor, who also has a lump, hears of the old man's good fortune and attempts to repeat it. The tengu, however, simply give him the first lump in addition to his own, either to keep their bargain, or because they are disgusted by his bad dancing.
A scoundrel obtains a tengu's magic fan, which can shrink or grow noses. He secretly uses this item to grotesquely extend the nose of a rich man's daughter, and then shrinks it again in exchange for her hand in marriage. Later he accidentally fans himself while he dozes, and his nose grows so long it reaches heaven, resulting in painful misfortune for him.
: A gambler meets a tengu, who asks him what he is most frightened of. The gambler lies, claiming that he is terrified of gold or mochi. The tengu answers truthfully that he is frightened of a kind of plant or some other mundane item. The tengu, thinking he is playing a cruel trick, then causes money or rice cakes to rain down on the gambler. The gambler is of course delighted and proceeds to scare the tengu away with the thing he fears most. The gambler then obtains the tengu's magic gourd (or another treasured item) that was left behind.
A tengu bothers a woodcutter, showing off his supernatural abilities by guessing everything the man is thinking. The woodcutter swings his axe, and a splinter of wood hits the tengu on the nose. The tengu flees in terror, exclaiming that humans are dangerous creatures who can do things without thinking about them.
Martial arts
.]]
, who showed down the Mongols, fights off tengu]]
During the 14th century, the tengu began to trouble the world outside of the Buddhist clergy, and like their ominous ancestors the tiāngoǔ, the tengu became creatures associated with war. Legends eventually ascribed to them great knowledge in the art of skilled combat.
This reputation seems to have its origins in a legend surrounding the famous warrior Minamoto no Yoshitsune. When Yoshitsune was a young boy going by the name of Ushiwaka-maru, his father, Yoshitomo, was assassinated by the Taira clan. Taira no Kiyomori, head of the Taira, allowed the child to survive on the grounds that he be exiled to the temple on Mount Kurama and become a monk. But one day in the Sōjō-ga-dani Valley, Ushiwaka encountered the mountain's tengu, Sōjōbō. This spirit taught the boy the art of swordsmanship so that he might bring vengeance on the Taira.
Originally the actions of this tengu were portrayed as another attempt by demons to throw the world into chaos and war, but as Yoshitsune's renown as a legendary warrior increased, his monstrous teacher came to be depicted in a much more sympathetic and honorable light. In one of the most famous renditions of the story, the Noh play Kurama Tengu, Ushiwaka is the only person from his temple who does not give up an outing in disgust at the sight of a strange yamabushi. Sōjōbō thus befriends the boy and teaches him out of sympathy for his plight.
Two stories from the 19th century continue this theme: In the Sōzan Chomon Kishū, a boy is carried off by a tengu and spends three years with the creature. He comes home with a magic gun that never misses a shot. A story from Inaba Province, related by Inoue Enryō, tells of a girl with poor manual dexterity who is suddenly possessed by a tengu. The spirit wishes to rekindle the declining art of swordsmanship in the world. Soon a young samurai appears to whom the tengu has appeared in a dream, and the possessed girl instructs him as an expert swordsman. Some rumors surrounding the ninja indicate that they were also instructed by the tengu.
Modern fiction
Profoundly entrenched in the Japanese imagination for centuries,
tengu continue to be popular subjects in modern fiction, both in Japan and increasingly in other countries. They often appear among the many characters and creatures featured in
Japanese cinema,
animation,
comics, and
video games. It also has been a creature long-found in the computer game
Angband (which is primarily based on the works of
J. R. R. Tolkien, but has borrowed creatures from many different genres). In the game it is an evil demon capable of teleporting itself next to your character or teleporting your character next to it. In Super Mario Bros. 2 there is an enemy named Tweeter based off of a Tengu. The
Pokémon character
Shiftry is based on a Tengu.
Graham Masterton's horror novel Tengu tells of a conspiracy by a secret Japanese society to avenge the American bombing of Hiroshima by producing invincible warriors possessed by the Tengu. It includes details of some of the mythology and rituals surrounding the Tengu.
In Eve Online, the Tengu is the name of the Caldari strategic cruiser.
In the 2009 movie RoboGeisha The Higher-Ranking Soldiers of in the film are called "Tengun" who are Geisha soldiers that wear red long-nosed mask's Modeled after the Tengu Creature of Japanese Mythology. "Tengu Milk" is also one of their attacks.
Notes
, Elephant catching a flying tengu]]
References
Primary sources
Supplementary sources
{tengu is playing in ultraman fighting evolution 3
External links
The Tengu by M. W. de Visser, courtesy of Google Books.
Tengu: the Slayer of Vanity
Tengu: The Legendary Mountain Goblins of Japan
Metropolis - Big in Japan: Tengu
The Tengu Race in the online role-playing game Guild Wars
Tengu statues
Mount Takao, a Tengu's living place in Tokyo
Category:Mythic humanoids
Category:Japanese gods
Category:Japanese legendary creatures
Category:Shinto kami
Category:Shapeshifting
Category:Legendary birds
Category:Japanese folklore
Category:Mythological hybrids
![[HD] Touhou Rouran - Perverted Tengu and the Tragic Maidens](http://web.archive.org./web/20110405070941im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/yk1_44dhr7k/0.jpg "[HD] Touhou Rouran - Perverted Tengu and the Tragic Maidens")
