Oni (鬼 Demon?) is a common word in modern Japanese for wild-type, beast-men that are usually youkai with a fierce, ferocious appearance. Demons are a common theme in Japanese art and literature. The image of Japanese demons is often taken from Chinese demons (Journey to the West) such as Kim Giac, Ngan Giac, or Niu Ma Vuong.
Descriptions of demons vary, but usually they have a fierce, hideous appearance, with claws, and sharp horns on their heads. They often wear tiger skins, loincloths holding a weapon called Kanabou (wolf tooth mace).
The Oni demon has the face of someone from hell, which has long been associated with the image of the Bull Demon King. It has bulging eyes and very long horns accompanied by a wicked smile with two pairs of sharp fangs. Hair is always left loose. They usually have red, blue or black bodies.
The Oni demon has a background that often wraps around a tiger skin, wielding iron spikes to break people's heads. Completely silent and devilish. Oni are essentially the gatekeepers of hell, using their hideous faces to scare the souls who have just died wandering into hell, making them afraid. After escaping to the world of the living for some reason, they always seek human flesh to survive.
There are several theories about the origin of the Oni.
Initially, people called invisible entities “oni.” Later, the kanji “鬼” meaning “souls of the dead” was transmitted from China and the Japanese adopted it as the kanji for them. the word "oni".
The image of a ferocious man-eating demon was created after many periods of being influenced by the image of Gokusotsu in Buddhism.
There are some beliefs that regard Oni as “the god of the wild mountains.” And to suppress the violent Oni, many temples have been built in localities across the country. We call Oni Onigami, Kishin or Kijin, which all mean Demon God.
One theory says: Humans are bad people for life, when they die, they will become Oni and have the function of torturing people who are not bad (nor Onis) being tortured in hell.
The other and more popular theory is that when a person is very bad, he transforms into an Oni that is still alive but ends up making people's lives miserable and they even feed them.
And they still say that there are only two Oni, the red goblin (Aka - Oni) and the other blue one (Ao-Oni) are the servants of the great demon king named Enma Dai Oh who is a Buddhist.
📚 Explore more of the Mystical Creatures series here: Dive into the Enchanted Realms of Mythology
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