Shuten-dōji, Said to be a Cannibal, Surrounded by Women by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi Image: “Dōji was born at the foot of Mount Iyahiko in the Echigo region [today’s Niigata prefecture]. He liked to eat human meat and as a result became a demon. Later, he came to Mount Ōe in the Tanba region and became an outlaw chief. He kidnapped ladies from the palace and entertained himself with them alone on his high throne. Ultimately, he fell to Raikō’s scheme, leaving a shameful reputation for generations to come.” – Kikubatei Rokō Photo Courtesy of ASU Art Museum
“Dōji was born at the foot of Mount Iyahiko in the Echigo region [today’s Niigata prefecture]. He liked to eat human meat and as a result became a demon. Later, he came to Mount Ōe in the Tanba region and became an outlaw chief. He kidnapped ladies from the palace and entertained himself with them alone on his high throne. Ultimately, he fell to Raikō’s scheme, leaving a shameful reputation for generations to come.” – Kikubatei Rokō Photo Courtesy of ASU Art Museum

Shuten-dōji, Said to be a Cannibal, Surrounded by Women

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Shuten Dōji, or “Drunken Boy”, was a legendary villain who lived in the mountains of modern-day Niigata prefecture. He was said to have been transformed into a demon because of his cannibalism, and he captured and raped noble women who passed through his territory. A 10th-century emperor sent the samurai Raikō out to kill Shuten Dōji, and this print depicts the moments shortly before the villain’s demise.

We see the demon Shuten Dōji himself in his lair surrounded by women and signs of his gluttony. He is reclining, visibly drunk from consuming vast amounts of sake from the enormous sake bowl before him. We also see plates of sweets and the whole uncooked leg of an animal laid out before him. The captive women behind Shuten Dōji are all dressed in palace robes, and in the foreground, we see another woman who is topless as she is wrestles with a demon, a suggestion of the bizarre and debauched entertainments that Shuten Dōji enjoyed. We do not see the hero of the story, Raikō, but viewers would have known that the sake being drunk had been poisoned by him. The wrestling demon in the foreground looks at the viewers with a side-eye glance, as if to let viewers know that the hero is about to leap into the frame to chop Shutendoji’s head off and end his reign of terror.

Every culture has tales about outlaws that are both frightening and beloved. Why do you think outlaw legends are so appealing?

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