TENGU

Tengu Profile

“Mountain spirit”

Habitat: Deep in the mountains

Features: Red face and long nose; carries a cane in one hand, a fan made of feathers in the other

Footwear: Single-toothed geta sandals

Special powers: Can fly

About tengu

Tengu (long-nosed goblins) are spirits that live deep in the mountains. Over the years they have become associated with religious ascetics called yamabushi, who also spend most of their time in the mountains and undergo rigorous training there, standing under waterfalls and walking on burning fields. They do this because this is believed to give them mystical, supernatural powers. Tengu are usually depicted as wearing a cap and sash with pom-poms, which the yamabushi also wear. Yamabushi are followers of a teaching called shugendo (strict training), which developed in Japan more than 1,000 years ago.

Where tengu live: Mount Takao

About 50 kilometers west of central Tokyo stands Mount Takao, which is popular with hikers in the Tokyo area. It is also famous as both a training ground for the yamabushi and as a home of the tengu.

There are many strange legends about the tengu along Mount Takao's hiking path. One concerns the "octopus cedar." One day, the tengu in Takao were working to build a path to the top of the mountain when they came across a huge cedar tree with roots that were blocking the path. The tengu decided to pull the roots out the first thing next morning. But when they returned the next day, the roots were curled up like the legs of an octopus. The tree had decided to "behave" and pulled in its roots so as not to interfere with the work of the tengu.

Since then the "octopus cedar" has been worshipped by people who regard it as a symbol for the "opening of a path" toward good fortune, and it can still be found along the hiking trail today.

Another legend regarding Mount Takao is about the "laughing tengu." It is said that you sometimes hear the laughter of a large group of people when walking on the mountain, but when you turn around, nobody is there. Then there is the story of the "toppling tengu." You hear the sound of a large tree crashing to the ground, but when you go see it the next day, there are no fallen trees in sight.

There is also a folktale about tengu living on Mount Takao:

Once upon a time, there lived an old woman in a village at the foot of Mount Takao. She would always cook up rice and bamboo shoots for the tengu to eat.

One day, the old woman fell ill. Her son became worried and went to fetch some water from a hot spring far away. He tripped just before reaching home, however, and spilled all the water. He was very disappointed, but then he noticed water springing up from the ground. When the old woman bathed in this water, she became healthy again. Everyone in the village said it must have been the tengu who caused water to spring up as a way of saying thank you to the woman for all the meals she cooked for them.

Where tengu live: Mount Kurama

Mount Kurama is located north of Kyoto, one of the ancient capitals of Japan. A temple called Kurama-dera was built there some 1,200 years ago. The mountain is believed to have special powers, and it has been carefully preserved as a place of religious training and worship.

The innermost sanctuary of the temple is called Oku no In. It is around this part of the mountain that Japan's greatest tengu, called Sojobo, is believed to live. To get there, one has to travel along rocky roads, where the roots of giant cedar trees are exposed above ground. This is because the ground is so hard that the roots have been unable to penetrate it.

About 840 years ago, two samurai clans were competing for control of the capital. The Minamoto clan lost a major battle, and three young sons of its leader were entrusted to various temples. The youngest son, seven-year-old Ushiwaka-maru, came to Kurama-dera.

One day, Ushiwaka-maru learned that his father had been killed by the rival Taira clan. He vowed to take revenge, so he studied hard during the day, and at night he went into the mountains to practice swordsmanship. Along the mountain path is a spring called Ikitsugi-no-mizu (literally "water for catching one's breath"). This is where he is believed to have paused to rest during training.

The great tengu of Mount Kurama saw Ushiwaka-maru training hard every day and is said to have taught the boy the art of warfare. Ushiwaka-maru practiced very hard and became an expert swordsman. When he turned 16, he left Kurama for Iwate in northern Japan, where relatives of the Minamoto clan lived. There is a stone still standing in Kurama with which he is believed to have compared his height just before his departure.