“Oni” and Outsiders in Japanese Cultural History

Shuten Dōji (second from right) is a giant dōji by day, but transforms into an oni at night. From the Ōeyama Shuten Dōji emakimono (Ōeyama Shuten Dōji Picture Scroll). (Courtesy National Diet Library Digital Collection)

Ōeyama ekotoba (Illustrated Story of Ōeyama) is the oldest extant work depicting the legend of Shuten Dōji, and dates back to the fourteenth century. (Courtesy Itsuō Art Museum)

An illustration from an Edo period kibyōshi “yellowback” comic book of King Enma, the ruler of hell, seated at center, with the oni musume (oni girl) to the right, on display in a show at Ryōgoku in Edo (now Tokyo). (Courtesy National Diet Library Digital Collection)

Fuku-chan, at right, defeats an oni, while another child slashes an oni disguised as an enemy solder at left. From the wartime propaganda magazine Shashin shūhō (The Weekly Photographic Bulletin). (Courtesy National Archives of Japan).