Ushi-oni, also known as gyūki, is a yōkai in western Japanese folklore. There are many varieties of ushi-oni, but most folklore works depict the yōkai with the head of a bull (or buffalo). Ushi-oni often appear on beaches and attack people walking there.
Ushi-oni are brutal, barbaric youkai. They appear in many different places. Their heads are usually bull-shaped with pointed upwardly curved horns, cruel fangs, and thin tongues. Their mouths can spit out poison, then kill and eat people. Their bodies are often described as spider-like with six legs and long claws at the end of each leg.
Other species are described as having the head of a bull and the body of a demon. Legend has it that they appear in front of the temple gates on the mountain, wearing human costumes or flying with insect-like wings. Some other species of ushi-oni have the opposite appearance as described above, with the head of a demon and the body of a cow.
They are found on beaches, in mountains, in forests, rivers, swamps and in lakes. They are commonly found in lakes and streams, and in the Kinki and Shikoku regions, there are many landmarks associated with them such as "ushi-oni fuchi" (ushi-oni spring pool) or "ushi-oni taki" "(ushi-oni waterfall).
In Yōkai emaki of the Edo Period such as the Hyakkai Zukan, they usually appear with the head of a bull and the body of a spider.
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