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About This Work
This black-and-white print depicts a fearsome oni, characterized by a bulbous, muscular torso, long unkempt hair, and prominent horns emerging from its brow. The creature is posed in a semi-crouch on a checkered surface, leaning heavily against a single upright pillar with one clawed hand. The background is dominated by a graphic, spiral-patterned vortex that suggests violent wind or supernatural energy radiating outward. The lines are distinctively calligraphic, emphasizing the creature's hairy, bestial limbs and the dynamic movement of the wind.
This image is a plate from the 'Konjaku Hyakki Shūi' (Supplement to the Hundred Demons of the Past and Present), an influential 1780 compendium of yōkai by Toriyama Sekien that codified much of modern Japanese folklore. The Oni of the Rashomon Gate refers to legends involving the Minamoto warrior Watanabe no Tsuna, who famously encountered a demon at the southern gate of Kyoto (Rashōmon).
Inscriptions(Japanese)
羅城門鬼 とある人の言 ららもんと今 いつとふの 流なるや 其髪ともなく ふかく ともさびし 思秋一かとつぎいく そらはそらは 氷消波洗の髪と 後の渡辺綱とさん といふともきれざるものか
Translation
Rashomon Oni (A story told by a person: It is said that in the days of old, the Rashomon gate was known as 'Raramon'. There is a legend of a demon whose hair flowed and was indescribably deep and lonely. In the autumn, it passed through, resembling the hair of melting ice and washing waves. It is said that even the later [hero] Watanabe no Tsuna could not sever it.)
Connected Texts
Konjaku Hyakki Shūi
This print is a primary illustration from the third and final volume of this seminal yōkai encyclopedia.
Watanabe no Tsuna
The subject matter relates to the legend of the hero Watanabe no Tsuna and the severing of the demon's arm at the Rashōmon gate.