Giant Red Oni Statue at Noboribetsu Onsen

The image captures a colossal red statue of a Japanese oni, a demonic folklore entity, positioned on a hillside overlooking a road. The oni has prominent white horns, a bushy black beard, and fierce, glaring eyes. It wears a yellow-and-black tiger-skin loincloth tied with a white sash and grips a tall, grey, iron-studded club in its left hand while gesturing with its right. The statue serves as a decorative landmark, flanked by signage that welcomes visitors to the Noboribetsu hot spring area.

This statue represents the modern cultural integration of the oni, a creature from Japanese folklore traditionally associated with the underworld and Buddhist hell, into the tourism and public iconography of hot spring regions in Hokkaido.