Tradition / Region: Japanese Mythology
Alternate Names: Oni-doku
Category: Mountain dweller, Demon
The Myth
On the thirteenth day of the eighth month in the second year of Kan’en (1749), a strange and terrifying event took place in Soma County of Hitachi Province.
Atop Mount Masakado stood an ancient pine tree. It was said to have grown there since the days of Taira no Masakado, its roots gripping the mountain for generations. But that year, long and relentless rains soaked the land. The mountain soil eroded, and floodwaters rushed down its slopes, exposing the roots of the old pine. Then a fierce wind arose and toppled the great tree from its base.
When the pine fell, something was revealed beneath its roots.
Buried in the earth lay a monstrous being—what people called a “Kidoku,” a Demon Slayer, though no one knew its true nature. As the rain beat down upon it, the creature awoke and began to scream.
Its cries echoed across the castle town below. The sound was so dreadful that men, women, and children alike were seized with terror. Some collapsed where they stood. Others fled indoors, covering their ears. The wailing did not cease.
The castle’s commander gathered a rifle squad and marched to the mountain. The creature, fully exposed now, writhed and shrieked beneath the fallen pine. It was immense—said to be the size of eight tatami mats laid side by side.
Those who saw it described a form like a monstrous ogre mixed with a crab. Its eyes were round and bowl-like, shining with an eerie light. The top of its head was sunken inward. Crimson hair, stiff and sharp like palm leaves, bristled from its scalp, and beneath its chin grew spiky strands like thorns. Its teeth were bared in rage.
The riflemen fired again and again. After several shots, the monster finally fell silent.
Thus the Kidoku was slain, and the mountain returned to stillness. But people long remembered the day when the ancient pine fell, and a screaming demon rose from the earth beneath its roots.
Gallery
Sources
tyz-yokai.blog.jp contributors. (n.d.). Kidoku. In tyz-yokai.blog.jp, from https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1077741605.html
Interpretive Lenses
Religious Readings
- Christian Ascetic Deep Dive
Philosophical Readings
- Nietzschean Deep Dive
Psychological Readings
- Jungian Deep Dive
Esoteric Deep Dive
- Hermetic Deep Dive
Political / Social Readings
- Marxist Deep Dive
Other
- How to Invite The Kidoku