đ
Japanese Folktales: Tale of the Drunken Demon (Shuten Doji...Will He EAT You?) - YouTube
Channel: Linfamy
[0]
People started to go missing in the capital,
especially young women.
[4]
One day, a government official came to the
emperor with tears in his eyes.
[8]
His beloved daughter had gone missing.
[10]
He and his wife loved her dearly, so much
that they had servants accompany her outside
[15]
the house to shield her from strong winds,
which might give us a clue as to why she disappeared.
[20]
He and his wife were in agony.
[22]
They called in a fortune teller, plopped a
ginormous bag of gold coins in front of him,
[27]
and asked him to find their daughter.
[29]
What the fortune teller saw frightened them.
[32]
The oni living on Mount Oe (性æ±ć±±) had
abducted their daughter, along with countless
[37]
other unlucky souls that the couple didnât
care about.
[39]
Oni were basically demons or ogres.
[42]
Sadness in his face, the fortune teller solemnly
wished them luck in rescuing their daughter
[47]
and walked out, the bag of coins jingling
on his back.
[51]
The emperor pissed-offedly summoned a brave
warrior to eliminate the oni threat.
[56]
His name was Minamoto no Yorimitsu (æșé Œć
),
or Minamoto no Raiko.
[60]
Raiko and his handful of men were nervous.
[62]
Demons were strong, it probably wasnât a
good idea to attack head-on, so they would
[67]
disguise themselves as Buddhist monks who
lived in the mountains and tricked demons.
[71]
Being devout worshippers, they prayed to the
gods and Buddhas at 3 different shrines, then
[76]
set off towards Mount Oe wearing their monk
garbs.
[80]
On the way up the mountain, the crew of six
met 3 old men who happened to have valuable
[85]
information and directions to the demon lair.
[88]
They said the demon leader was Shuten Doji,
which meant Drunken Demon.
[93]
He was one of the most powerful demons out
there.
[96]
Thus named because he was an alcoholic.
[98]
When drunk, he would lose attention of everything
around him.
[101]
Which seems to be a critical weakness for
one of the most powerful demons.
[104]
The old men gave the band of warriors magical
sake that would make demons lose their powers
[109]
and become confused.
[110]
The former because it was magic, the latter
because it was sake.
[114]
The sake did not affect humans.
[115]
They also gave Raiko a cool helmet and told
him to put it on when cutting off Shuten Dojiâs
[121]
head.
[122]
After receiving the magical toys, the warriors
thought, âWhy do these guys have magical
[126]
toys?â
[127]
Then they realized the old men must have been
gods of the 3 shrines they visited before
[132]
their quest.
[133]
Obvi!
[134]
They got on their knees and tearfully thanked
the old men, then went on their way.
[138]
They met a young lady by a river, washing
a bloody dress, and confirmed that the demons
[143]
did capture the daughter of that government
official we saw in the beginning, along with
[147]
many other women.
[148]
The young lady herself was a daughter of another
official, now she was a prisoner.
[153]
She lamented about her captivity.
[155]
The demons lived in a large palace.
[158]
They forced the captive maidens to enter the
demon palace at night and ahem give them massages.
[164]
When the demons were feeling frisky, they
would drain the blood from a womanâs body
[168]
and eat her flesh.
[169]
In fact, she was washing the blood-stained
dress of a victim at that moment.
[174]
Raiko promised her they would defeat these
vampire demons and free her.
[178]
She said they werenât vampires, just demons.
[180]
Raiko said, âOh.â
[182]
When they reached the demon palace, the guards
looked hungry for their flesh, but invited
[186]
them in after notifying their boss Shuten
Doji.
[190]
Shuten Doji said he was shocked that humans
arrived.
[193]
The mountain terrain was torturous, surely
no human could have traversed it.
[198]
Raiko explained that they were mountain priests.
[201]
They were following the sacred path laid down
long ago by Holy Monk Bob-
[207]
bi-
[207]
son,
[208]
but got lost.
[209]
He asked the demon for a place to stay.
[211]
In return, they would share their special
one-of-a-kind sake.
[215]
Shuten Doji agreed, probably because he thought
these Buddhist monks were weird and interesting,
[220]
and heâs an alcoholic.
[221]
But, still suspicious, the demon offered the
monks some demonic delicacies from the cook:
[226]
maidenâs blood sake to drink and human limbs
to eat.
[231]
Raiko and his men...
[232]
did not hesitate.
[234]
They gulped down the blood sake and went to
town on the human meat.
[237]
Shuten Doji was like wtf.
[240]
Raiko explained un-nervously.
[242]
Their Buddhist sect taught that you should
eagerly accept any gift given with good intention,
[248]
even if you donât like it.
[250]
This line actually worked, it made the demon
boss feel shame and regret his cannibalism
[256]
test.
[257]
He told the warriors to no longer worry,
[259]
âthere is nothing false in the words of demons.â
[262]
Raiko then took the opportunity to offer his
sake to Shuten Doji, drinking it first to
[267]
show that it was not poisoned and that there
is a lot of false in the words of humans.
[272]
The demon drank it, loved it, shared it with
his other demon buddies, and they all got
[276]
smashed.
[277]
He started talking about how he came to be
the famous Drunken Demon.
[281]
Now there are a ton of different origin stories
for Shuten Doji, I will give you the most
[285]
colorful one, in my opinion.
[288]
As a human boy, he grew up in a mountain temple
and was training to be a priest.
[292]
However, he did not get along with his peers
and always got into fights.
[295]
His masters scolded him all the time.
[298]
He also drank a lot, which pretty much guaranteed
an F on the BPATs.
[302]
One day, the temple had a festival and, being
a drunk ass, he put on an demon mask and went
[307]
around scaring everyone.
[309]
At the end of the day, to his horror (and
everyoneâs delight), karma struck and the
[313]
mask eventually fused into his skin.
[317]
His face now reflected his inner darkness.
[320]
He was ashamed and ran off to live deep in
the mountains, he hated humans.
[325]
The demon mask boy accumulated a following
of criminals and they all slowly transformed
[330]
into actual demons rampaging nearby towns.
[334]
Everyone feared the Drunken Demon.
[336]
Back at the Palace of Surprisingly Hospitable
Demons...all the demons were on the ground,
[341]
slurring their snores.
[343]
Shuten Doji had retired to his bedchamber.
[346]
When our heroes entered, they found that the
sake had changed him to his true form.
[351]
20 feet tall, huge horns, and a hideous face,
like how the cute guy from the bar looks the
[355]
next morning.
[356]
Raiko donned his cool helmet and swung his
sword at the monster.
[360]
Shuten Doji woke up at the last moment and
cried out in despair.
[363]
âYou deceived me!â
[365]
His flying head said.
[366]
âThat is what humans do.
[368]
Unlike demons.
[369]
There is nothing false in the words of demons!â
[372]
With its last bit of life, John Carpenterâs
flying head tried to bite off Raikoâs lying
[377]
monk face, instead it smashed right into Raikoâs
helmet and died.
[382]
Our heroes rescued the women and came back
to the capital, where they were showered with rewards
[386]
and women.
[388]
Shuten Doji is one of the most famous oni
and is one of the Three Most Evil Yokai of
[393]
Japan.
[394]
Yokai are basically monsters, spirits, or
demons.
[397]
There are many different versions of this
story, this version is the oldest one that
[400]
we know of.
[401]
This story belongs to a genre called otogi
zoshi (ćŸĄäŒœèć), which translates into
[405]
âcompanion tales.â
[407]
These were short stories from the 1300s to
1600s written for entertainment and to spread
[412]
religious and moral teachings.
[414]
Besides just being monsters, oni were often
used to give voice to the oppressed and social
[419]
outcasts.
[420]
If you paid attention, and you better have,
youâd see that in the story, Shuten Doji
[424]
was the honest one, and the heroes were the
deceitful ones.
[427]
And the only people you see captured were
daughters of government officials.
[431]
It didnât focus on the kidnapping and killing
of the common folk.
[436]
Hey guys, Iâm almost at the $300 goal on
Patreon, please help me get there!
[440]
Once we reach the goal, weâll hold a contest
only for patrons to win this book, Premodern
[444]
Japan.
[445]
Itâs easy to read and has a bunch of info
about Japan before the modern age.
[448]
Itâs like almost a $50 value on Amazon last
I checked, but you can get it for free by
[453]
answering a question Iâll have for you in
the contest.
[456]
Also, shout out to Robert Dailey for being
a new patron, welcome!
[460]
Alright much love guys, spread the knowledge.
Most Recent Videos:
You can go back to the homepage right here: Homepage