Tradition / Region: Japanse Mythology
Alternate Names: Otoroshi
Category: Mountain dweller, Ogre
The Myth
Yama-Otoroshi is a yokai said to inhabit Mount Tsurugi in the Tateyama mountain range. It is described as resembling an ogre with a red face and body and lacking iron bars. It was believed to wait on rocky outcrops and attack climbers.
It was said that before 1907, climbers failed to reach the summit of Mount Tsurugi because the Yama-Otoroshi waited on the rocks, seized them by the collar, and threw them to their deaths. After the Meiji period, the being was said to descend from the mountain and take up residence at temple gates such as Zenkoji Temple. There it grabbed non-believers by the collar and stopped them from passing through. In this form, it was also called simply Otoroshi. An illustration shows the red-faced, two-horned ogre throwing away a climber.
Gallery
Sources
TYZ Yokai Blog. (2016). 山おとろし (Yama-Otoroshi). From https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1058924391.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