The Nue (鵺, 鵼, 恠鳥, or 奴延鳥) is a

legend A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess ...

ary

yōkai are a class of supernatural entities and spirits in Japanese folklore. The word is composed of the kanji for "attractive; calamity" and "apparition; mystery; suspicious." are also referred to as , or . Despite often being translated as suc ...

mononoke ''Mononoke'' (物の怪) are vengeful spirits (onryō), dead spirits ( shiryō), live spirits ( ikiryō), or spirits in Japanese classical literature and folk religion that were said to do things like possess individuals and make them suffer, cau ...

Appearance

In the ''

Tale of Heike is an epic account compiled prior to 1330 of the struggle between the Taira clan and Minamoto clan for control of Japan at the end of the 12th century in the Genpei War (1180–1185). Heike () refers to the Taira (), ''hei'' being the ''on'yo ...

'', it is described as a Japanese

chimera Chimera, Chimaera, or Chimaira (Greek for " she-goat") originally referred to: * Chimera (mythology), a fire-breathing monster of Ancient Lycia said to combine parts from multiple animals * Mount Chimaera, a fire-spewing region of Lycia or Cilici ...

having the head of a monkey, the limbs of a

tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus ''Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on ...

, the body of a

Japanese raccoon dog The Japanese raccoon dog (''Nyctereutes viverrinus''), also known as the ''tanuki'' ( ja, , , ), is a species of canid endemic to Japan. It is one of two species in the genus ''Nyctereutes'', alongside the common raccoon dog (''N. procyonoides'' ...

and the front half of a

snake Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more j ...

for a tail. In other writings nothing is stated about its torso, so it is sometimes depicted to have the torso of a tiger. The ''

Genpei Jōsuiki The , is a 48-book extended version of the ''Heike Monogatari'' (''The Tale of the Heike''). References External links at University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virgi ...

'' describes it as having the back of a tiger, the limbs of a tanuki, the tail of a fox, the head of a cat, and the torso of a chicken. Due to its appearance, it is sometimes referred to as a Japanese

. It is said to make terribly eerie bird cry "hyoo hyoo" noises that resemble that of the

scaly thrush The scaly thrush (''Zoothera dauma'') is a member of the thrush family Turdidae. Distribution and habitat It breeds in wet coniferous taiga, mainly in the Himalayas through Malaysia. Description The sexes are similar, 27–31 cm long, wi ...

. In the movie '' Akuryōtō'' (originally by

Seishi Yokomizo was a Japanese mystery novelist, known for creating the fictional detective Kosuke Kindaichi. Early life Yokomizo was born in the city of Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture. He read detective stories as a boy and in 1921, while employed by the Daiichi Ban ...

), the catchphrase "nights where the nue cry are dreadful" refers to this fact. The nue is also said to have the ability of shape-shifting, often into the form of a black cloud that can fl
Nue – Mysterious Mythological Shape-Shifting Creature Transforming Into A Black Cloud
The yokai is also thought to be nocturnal as most of its sightings happen at night. Its name written in

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...

translates to ''night'' and ''bird''.

History

The nue is thought to have started appearing in the late

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese ...

. For a more precise dating, different sources claim different periods, like the

Emperor Nijō was the 78th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. His reign spanned the years from 1158 through 1165. Genealogy Before his ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne, his personal name (his ''imina'') was Morihito''-sh ...

period, the

Emperor Konoe was the 76th emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 近衛天皇 (76)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. Konoe's reign spanned the years from 1142 through 1155. Genealogy Before his ascension to the Chry ...

period, the

Emperor Go-Shirakawa was the 77th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. His de jure reign spanned the years from 1155 through 1158, though arguably he effectively maintained imperial power for almost thirty-seven years through the ''ins ...

period, or the

Emperor Toba was the 74th Emperor of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 鳥羽天皇 (74)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. Toba's reign spanned the years from 1107 through 1123. Genealogy Before his ascension to the C ...

period. The visual appearance may be a combination of the animals in the

Sexagenary cycle The sexagenary cycle, also known as the Stems-and-Branches or ganzhi ( zh, 干支, gānzhī), is a cycle of sixty terms, each corresponding to one year, thus a total of sixty years for one cycle, historically used for recording time in China and t ...

, with a northeast

Tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus ''Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on ...

, a southeast

Snake Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more j ...

, a southwest Monkey, and a northwest Qian (

Dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. Do ...

and

Wild Boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is ...

). Originally, the nue were stated to be a bird that resembles the

green pheasant The green pheasant (''Phasianus versicolor''), also known as the Japanese green pheasant, is an omnivorous bird native to the Japanese archipelago, to which it is endemic. Some taxonomic authorities consider it a subspecies of the common pheas ...

,角川書店『角川漢和中辞典』「鵺」「鵼」 but their precise identity is unknown. The 夜 within the 鵺 character is phonetic component and thus does not carry a meaning with it. The character 鵼 (kou or kuu) is determined to be a kind of strange bird. Due to the use of

Man'yōgana is an ancient writing system that uses Chinese characters to represent the Japanese language. It was the first known kana system to be developed as a means to represent the Japanese language phonetically. The date of the earliest usage of thi ...

, the historical spelling is known to have been ''nuye''. At this early time, although, it had a different semantic meaning. It referred to a bird known as White's thrush. In Japan, they are considered a bird that makes cries at night, and the word can be seen in the '' Kojiki'' and the '' Man'yōshū''. The owner of this crying voice was traditionally described as a yellow-red bird as big as a

Columbidae Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily ...

, but nowadays there is the accepted theory that it is the

. Since the people of the Heian Period regarded the sorrowful sounding voices of this bird as an ill omen, they were considered to be a wicked bird, and it is said that when the emperor or nobles heard its crying voice, they would make prayers that nothing disastrous would happen. The monster in the ''Heike Monogatari'', in the end, was merely "something that cries with the voice of a nue, its true nature unknown", and was not given a name. But nowadays, this particularly famous monster is usually identified as a "nue". In a derived sense the word "nue" is also used to refer to entities of unknown true form. The

noh is a major form of classical Japanese dance-drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Developed by Kan'ami and his son Zeami, it is the oldest major theatre art that is still regularly performed today. Although the terms Noh and ' ...

play '' Nue'', by

Zeami Motokiyo (c. 1363 – c. 1443), also called , was a Japanese Aesthetics, aesthetician, actor, and playwright. His father, Kan'ami, Kan'ami Kiyotsugu, introduced him to Noh theater performance at a young age, and found that he was a skilled actor. Kan ...

, based on the

setsuwa Setsuwa (, ja, 説話, setsu wa) is an East Asian literary genre. It consists of myths, legends, folktales, and anecdotes. ''Setsuwa'' means "spoken story". As one of the vaguest forms of literature, setsuwa is believed to have been passed down ...

, the Heike Monogatari. They are a regular feature of the Kiri-noh (fifth performance of a noh). Nue-harai Matsuri ("Nue-warding festival") – a festival performed every year on January 28 at the Izunagaoka Onsen in

Izunokuni 270px, Izunokuni City Hall is a city located in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 48,579 in 21,257 households and a population density of 506 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Izuno ...

, Shizuoka Prefecture. Among other things the ''nue-odori'' (nue-dance) and the ''mochi-maki'' (

mochi is a Japanese rice cake made of , a short-grain japonica glutinous rice, and sometimes other ingredients such as water, sugar, and cornstarch. The rice is pounded into paste and molded into the desired shape. In Japan, it is traditionally ma ...

-scattering) are performed. At Osaka Harbor, the Nue is used as a motif in its emblem design. From the legend of Nuezuka, it was selected for its relation to Osaka bay.

The slaying of the Nue

The ''

Heike Monogatari is an epic account compiled prior to 1330 of the struggle between the Taira clan and Minamoto clan for control of Japan at the end of the 12th century in the Genpei War (1180–1185). Heike () refers to the Taira (), ''hei'' being the ''on'yo ...

'' and the '' Settsu Meisho Zue'' from the

Settsu Province was a province of Japan, which today comprises the southeastern part of Hyōgo Prefecture and the northern part of Osaka Prefecture. It was also referred to as or . Osaka and Osaka Castle were the main center of the province. Most of Setts ...

, tell the following tale of the killing of the Nue: In the closing years of the

, at the place where the

emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

(

) lived, the Seiryō-den, there appeared a cloud of black smoke along with an eerie resounding crying voice, making Emperor Nijō quite afraid. Subsequently, the emperor fell into illness, and neither medicine nor prayers had any effect. A close associate remembered

Minamoto no Yoshiie Minamoto No Yoshiie (源義家; 1039 – 4 August 1106), also known as Hachimantarō, was a Minamoto clan samurai of the late Heian period, and '' Chinjufu-shōgun'' (Commander-in-chief of the defense of the North). The first son of Minamoto ...

using an arrow to put a stop to the mystery case of some bird's cry, and he gave the order to a master of arrows, Minamoto no Yorimasa, to slay the monster. One night, Yorimasa went out to slay the monster with his servant Ino Hayata (written as 猪早太 or 井早太), and an arrow made from an arrowhead he had inherited from his ancestor

Minamoto no Yorimitsu , also known as Minamoto no Raikō, served the regents of the Fujiwara clan along with his brother Yorinobu, taking the violent measures the Fujiwara were themselves unable to take. He is one of the earliest Minamoto of historical note for his mil ...

and the tailfeathers of a mountain bird. An uncanny black smoke started to cover the Seiryō-den. Yorimasa shot his arrow into it, there was a shriek, and a nue fell down around the northern parts of

Nijō Castle is a flatland castle in Kyoto, Japan. The castle consists of two concentric rings ( Kuruwa) of fortifications, the Ninomaru Palace, the ruins of the Honmaru Palace, various support buildings and several gardens. The surface area of the castle is ...

. Instantly Ino Hayata seized it and finished it off. In the skies above the imperial court, two or three cries of the

common cuckoo The common cuckoo (''Cuculus canorus'') is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, Cuculiformes, which includes the roadrunners, the anis and the coucals. This species is a widespread summer migrant to Europe and Asia, and winters in Africa. I ...

could be heard, and it is thus said that peace had returned. After this, the emperor's health instantly recovered, and Yorimasa was given the sword '' Shishiō'' as a reward.

The Nue's Remains

There are several accounts of what was done to the nue's corpse. According to some legends, like the ''Heike Monogatari'', as the people in Kyoto were fearful of the curse of the nue, they put its corpse in a boat and floated it down the

Kamo River The is located in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. The riverbanks are popular walking spots for residents and tourists. In summer, restaurants open balconies looking out to the river. There are walkways running alongside the river, and some stepping ...

. After the boat floated down the

Yodo River The , also called the Seta River (瀬田川 ''Seta-gawa'') and the Uji River (宇治川 ''Uji-gawa'') at portions of its route, is the principal river in Osaka Prefecture on Honshu, Japan. The source of the river is Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefectur ...

and temporarily drifted upon the shore of Higashinari County,

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

, it then floated into the sea and washed up on the shore between Ashiya River and Sumiyoshi River. It is said that the people in Ashiya courteously gave the corpse a burial service, and built a commemorating mound over its tomb, the ''Nuezuka''. The ''Settsu Meisho Zue'' states that "the Nuezuka is between Ashiya River and Sumiyoshi River." According to the ''Ashiwake bune'', a geography book from the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characte ...

, a nue drifted down and washed ashore on the Yodo River, and when the villagers, fearful of a curse, notified the head priest of Boon-ji about it, it was courteously mourned over, buried, and had a mound built for it. It is further said that as the mound was torn down at the beginning of the

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

, the vengeful spirit of the nue started tormenting the people who lived nearby, and so the mound was hastily rebuilt. According to the ''Genpei Seisuiki'' and the ''Kandenjihitsu'' the nue was said to be buried at the

Kiyomizu-dera is a Buddhist temple located in eastern Kyoto, Japan. The temple is part of the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto (Kyoto, Uji and Otsu Cities) UNESCO World Heritage site. History Kiyomizu-dera was founded in the early Heian period. By 77 ...

in Kyoto Prefecture, and it is said that a curse resulted from digging it up in the Edo period. Another legend relates the spirit of the dead nue turning into a horse, which was raised by Yorimasa and named Kinoshita. As this horse was a good horse, it was stolen by

Taira no Munemori was heir to Taira no Kiyomori, and one of the Taira clan's chief commanders in the Genpei War. As his father Taira no Kasemori uch a name does not existlay on his deathbed, Kiyomori declared, among his last wishes, that all affairs of the cla ...

, so Yorimasa raised an army against the Taira family. As this resulted in Yorimasa's ruin, it is said that the nue had taken its revenge in this way. Another legend says that the nue's corpse fell in the western part of

Lake Hamana is a brackish lagoon in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. Formerly a true lake, it is now connected to the Pacific Ocean by a channel. As an internal body of water, it is considered Japan's tenth-largest lake (by area). It spans the boundaries of the ...

in Shizuoka Prefecture, and the legend of the names of places in Mikkabi of Kita-ku,

Hamamatsu is a city located in western Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. the city had an estimated population of 791,707 in 340,591 households, making it the prefecture's largest city, and a population density of . The total area of the site was . Overview Ha ...

, such as Nueshiro, Dozaki ("torso"-zaki), Hanehira ("wing"-hira), and Ona ("tail"-na) come from the legend that the nue's head, torso, wings, and tail respectively fell in those locations. In Kumakōgen, Kamiukena District,

Ehime Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Ehime Prefecture has a population of 1,342,011 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 5,676 km2 (2,191 sq mi). Ehime Prefecture borders Kagawa Prefecture to the northeast, Tok ...

, there is the legend that the true identity of the nue is Yorimasa's mother. In the past, in the era when the Taira clan was at its peak, Yorimasa's mother lived in hiding in this place that was her home land, and at a pond called Azoga-ike within a mountains region, she prayed to the guardian dragon of the pond for her son's good fortune in battle and the revival of the Genji (Minamoto clan), and thus the mother's body turned into that of a nue due to this prayer and hatred against the Taira family, and then she flew towards Kyoto. The nue, who represented the mother, upon making the emperor ill, thus had her own son, Yorimasa, accomplish something triumphant by being slayed by him. The nue that was pierced by Yorimasa's arrow then came back to Azoga-ike and became the guardian of the pond, but lost her life due to wounds from the arrow.

Landmarks

* Nuezuka (Near Hashin Ashiya Station, at Matsuhama Park, Hyōgo Prefecture) : The mound where the nue that floated down the river in the ''Heike Monogatari'' was buried. The name of a nearby bridge, the Nuezuka-bashi originated from this Nuezuka. * Nuezuka ( Miyakojima-ku,

) : The mound where the nue that floated down Yado river in the ''Ashiwakebune'' was buried. The present mound was, as previously described, repaired in 1870 by Osaka Prefecture, and the small shrine was repaired in 1957 by the locals. * Nuezuka ( Kyoto Prefecture) : Near the athletic field at Okazaki park. It is unknown how this is related to the legend of how the nue was buried at the Kiyomizu-deru in Kyoto. * Nue pond ( Kyoto Prefecture) : A pond at Nijō park, Chikara Town, Kamigyō-ku to the northwest of Nijō Castle. It is said that in this pond Yorimasa washed the blood-smeared arrow that went through the nue and killed it. Presently, the remains of this pond has been remodeled into a water garden. * Shinmei-jinja : Shimogyō-ku, Kyoto. It is said that Yorimasa made a prayer here before killing the nue and subsequently donated the head of the lethal arrow as thanks. The arrowhead is kept as the treasure of the shrine. A photo is permanently exhibited, with the actual arrowhead shown to the public during an annual festival in September. * Yane-jizō :

Kameoka is a city in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 87,518 in 29,676 households and a population density of 390 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Kameoka abuts Kyoto to the east and is loca ...

, Kyoto Prefecture. When Yorimasa prepared to kill the nue, he offered a prayer to his proctive god, Jizō Bodhisattva. Jizō promptly appeared in his dream and instructed him to make an arrow with the feathers of swans at Mt. Tori in Yada. Related to this legend, Jizō has the appearance of holding an arrowhead, but it is usually not exhibited to the public. * Chōmyō-ji : Nishiwaki, Hyōgo Prefecture. This land was originally the territory of Yorimasa. The temple features a statue of Yorimasa killing the nue. The nearby bamboo grove ''Ya-takeyabu'' (lit. "arrow bamboo grove") is said to be the place where Yorimasa picked the bamboo used for the lethal arrow. Other than these, in

Beppu is a city in Ōita Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, Japan. As of March 31, 2017, the city had a population of 122,643

Ōita Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Ōita Prefecture has a population of 1,136,245 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 6,340 km2 (2,448 sq mi). Ōita Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the northwest, Kum ...

, it is said that there was a mummy of the nue in a theme park, the "Monster House (Kaibutsu-kan)" at the Hachiman Jigoku (one of the no-longer presently existing hot springs at the Hells of Beppu), and it was also said to be a precious treasure without parallel, but this theme park no longer presently exists, and the mummy's present whereabouts are unclear.

References

{{Japanese folklore long Mythological hybrids Yōkai