It has been written in previous articles that Japan has had many gods since ancient times.
“八百万 / YAOYOROZU” Japan is a polytheistic country. Some gods are completely unique to Japan, while others were introduced from abroad and have taken root in Japan.
Buddhism was then introduced, and numerous Buddhas were accepted as being of the same level of respect as the gods. Both deities and Buddhas have taken root in the deepest part of the Japanese mind, as a harmonious whole, as beings who are grateful to be able to save mankind.
However, this flexible way of thinking can sometimes lead to a drastic change in the original form of the deities and Buddhas.
One well-known spiritual entity in Japan is the “天狗 / tengu” .
As mentioned above, Shintoism and Buddhism in Japan are separate but intricately intertwined, so ‘tengu’ are sometimes associated with shrine festivals and sometimes with the history of temples.
Their appearance is basically similar to that of humans, but they also have distinctive features.
・They are considerably taller and larger than normal humans.
・They have crow’s wings on their backs and can fly freely in the sky.
・They carry fans made of Fatsia leaves and wear footwear called “high geta”.
・Red face and stern expression. The extremely elongated nose is the symbol of a tengu.
・He is a form of ascetic. They train deep in the mountains and acquire supernatural spiritual powers.
・Not a few tengu play tricks on the general public, but conversely there are also moronic tengu who are fooled by the general public.
A very distinctive character, don’t you think…?
This spiritual being, the Tengu, originally originated in ancient China.
At first, they were ‘meteors’ that signaled that bad things were about to happen in this world, and were not even animals, let alone in human form.
Over time, this changed to lore relating to ‘eclipses’ and ‘lunar eclipses’.
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Long ago, the sun god and the moon god stole a ‘medicine of regeneration’ from the human world and fled.
The humans sent ‘Flying spirit dog’ to chase them.
The dogs bit the sun and moon gods, but did not die because they had already taken the medicine.
Nevertheless, the dogs did not give up and bit the sun and moon again and again.
This is why the current eclipses of the sun and moon are happening …
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‘Flying spirit dog’ … This replaced ‘meteor’ as the source of ‘Tengu’. The word ‘天狗’ written in Chinese characters means ‘(天 / heaven) (狗 / dog)’.
Well, the picture makes it look more like a cat or a skinny tiger than a dog…(^_^;)
Tengu folklore was introduced to Japan in the 7th century.
The phenomena of meteors that occurred at that time were said to be the work of tengu, which were later reflected in the appearance of shugenja for some reason.
Shugenja, who were holed up deep in the mountains and devoted themselves to mysterious practices, may have been close to the spirit world in the eyes of ordinary people.
However, some ascetics practised only to obtain magical powers. There were also those who had fallen away from the rigours of ascetic practice and were often arrogant and of poor conduct.
This background may have influenced the image of arrogance and mischievousness of the tengu in later folklore.
A further reaction may have been folk tales such as “stupid tengu” and “low magical powers tengu”.
Here is one story about a tengu that happened at a temple deep in the mountains in the middle of nowhere…
「鼻長尊 / Bichōson」
Once upon a time, there was a desolate temple in Nobeoka City, Miyazaki Prefecture, called Ōtake-ji.
There were many forest fires in the area and few people lived there because it was difficult to grow rice and vegetables.
However, the monk of this temple did not care much about details and spent all day napping for morning and evening sutra chanting, so the temple garden was in disrepair.
One early evening, the monk was still taking a nap. He woke up to a voice calling him from afar and went out to the doorstep to find a little monk standing there.
‘I was on a journey and got lost. Can you let me stay here?”The little monk said…
He couldn’t just send him away into the mountains at nightfall. Monk kindly invited him in, served him dinner and prepared a place for him to sleep.
The next morning, the monk woke up and went out into the garden and was surprised!
‘Is this our temple garden?’The garden is so clean and tidy that you would think.
Monk asked the little monk who came out from the back about this. He replied that he was thanking him for letting him stay.
Furthermore, he ask to be allowed to stay at the temple because will do anything, including cleaning and helping out…
Since then, the little monk worked diligently every day. The monk was also very kind to the little monk, and the two of them spent their days together in poverty and peace.
However, one day, the monk began to worry about one thing.
（The little monk works diligently every day, but I have never seen him work…)
When you start worrying about something, you can’t control it.
One day, the monk woke up before dawn and watched from the shadows as the little monk got up and started cleaning the garden.
The little monk took something out of his pocket and took a swing or two of it.
Then a small whirlwind arose, twisting the fallen leaves in the garden, and soon disappeared high into the sky…
「Why did you come here in the guise of a little monk…?」
The monk asked quietly at breakfast.
The little monk, startled by the unexpected question, remained silent for a while, but then began to answer…
「It can’t be helped if you have been seen.」
「Indeed, I am a tengu. I am tired of the strict precepts of the tengu world, and I wanted to live a peaceful life like the monk」
The little monk’s figure slowly disappeared and there was the majestic figure of a tengu.
「Carve a statue in my likeness and worship it.」
「In repayment for all you have done for me, I will prevent the fire from spreading around here.」
After saying these words, he disappeared with a gust of wind…
The monk regretted asking such an unnecessary question, but later carved a statue to fulfil his promise to the tengu.
The resulting statue, also called ‘Bichōson’, was enshrined with great reverence. Since then there have been no bushfires in the area at all…
A Ōtake-ji existence in Nobeoka City, Miyazaki Prefecture.
It is a very splendid temple, and the legend about the Tengu of the story seems to remain as part of the temple’s history.
It is still unclear why the ‘long nose’ became a characteristic of tengu, but one theory is that it represents over pride. Even today, the Japanese term ‘tengu ni naru’ refers to a person who is conceited.
The tengu in this folk tale were not very arrogant. It can be said that they were friendly and gentlemanly tengu.
Tengu of this character also exist from time to time and may still be spoken of in Japanese beliefs…