#Shuten-doji (酒呑童子)

Contents

Fiction-Only + Summary. This document reuses a co sheet. Shuten-doji's main sheet is the "Oni King / Shuten-doji" (Lord-rank boss) of co-08-02-monster-templates.md. This volume does not build a new numeric Canon on top of it — it adds only narrative, divine-sake handling, and aftermath.

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#Opening Fragment — The Face Within the Cup

The cups of Mt. Oe were too large. A person's face was reflected within, and the reflected face was always a little redder. One who received a cup could hardly tell whether it was his own face, or the face of someone already devoured.

Shuten-doji offered the cup with a laugh. "Drink. On this mountain, only the drunk see the truth."

The disguised Yorimitsu received the cup with both hands. "What is the truth?"

"A human, too, when he drinks, lays bare his insides. An oni lays his bare without even drinking." Shuten-doji bared his teeth. "So which, then, is the more honest?"

Tsuna did not move his hand. Kintoki's shoulder stiffened ever so slightly. The laughter of the feast grew louder, and the shadows of the cave thickened along with the scent of sake.

Yorimitsu looked at his own face within the cup. It was a human face. But that face, too, would before long be stained with blood. The terror of the Mt. Oe subjugation lies not only in the oni being a monster. It lies in the fact that the human who came to cut down the monster must, when the feast ends, look upon his own face again.

#Scent — The Feast in the Cave of Mt. Oe

A certain autumn night of Ichijo. A deep valley of Mt. Oe (大江山). Within the mountain is a cave, and within that cave is a feast. Nearly a hundred torches are lit. There are seven sake jars. On the cutting board — there is human flesh.

The face of the one seated at the head is like a person's. His height is twice that of an ordinary man and his skin is red. Two horns on his head. Each time he raises his cup, every one at the feast mimics the motion. When he sings, all sing after him. When he falls silent, the whole cave falls silent.

His name is Shuten-doji (酒呑童子) — "the boy who drinks sake." He is the yoma king of Mt. Oe, and commands over a hundred kinds of subordinate yoma. The one who blocked the road from the Heian capital to the northeast.

Maidens begin to vanish in the capital. One every month, one every two months. In the dwellings of the vanished, only a single strand of black hair remains. The Emperor orders a divination, and the divination answers — "The Shuten-doji of Mt. Oe has carried them off."

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#Core Data

#co Sheet Location (re-confirmation)

• Main sheet: co-08-gm-tools/co-08-02-monster-templates.md — Lord-rank boss, Oni King
• Catalog classification: co-11-appendix/co-11-14-enemy-catalog.md — "Lord-rank boss axis / negotiable axis / faction-leader axis"

This volume does not change the numbers of the above sheet. It adds only narrative, environment, and aftermath.

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#The Subjugation Tale — Full Version

#1. The Order

Emperor Ichijo asks, by divination, the whereabouts of the vanished maidens. The divination's answer is "the Shuten-doji of Mt. Oe." The Emperor orders a subjugation party. As chief, Minamoto no Yorimitsu; as companions, the Four Heavenly Kings (Watanabe no Tsuna, Sakata no Kintoki, Usui no Sadamitsu, Urabe no Suetake).

#2. The Disguise

The five don the robes of shugenja (yamabushi) and hide their armor beneath them. Their weapons are placed within their packs, and on their backs they carry a single large cask — within that cask is the divine sake.

#3. The Meeting with the Gods

On the path up Mt. Oe, three old men greet the five. The true identities of the three old men are in fact incarnations of gods — the three gods Hachiman (八幡), Sumiyoshi (住吉), and Kumano (熊野). For the detailed divine data, see the Great Gods (4th rank) of fc01-02-02-taishin.md.

The gods hand the five a cask of divine sake (神酒), "Shinben Kidokushu (神便鬼毒酒)."

The nature of the divine sake:

• Ordinary sake to humans — it acts like ordinary sake, only slightly higher in proof.
• Poison to yoma — drinking it weakens their sorcery and at last robs them of their senses.

This asymmetry is the core tool of the subjugation. That the gods handed it directly to the five means this subjugation is the will of the gods.

#4. The Feast

The five reach the cave and greet Shuten-doji. "We are shugenja — we have come to the mountain to offer a cup of sake."

Shuten-doji does not suspect. He is one who drinks sake (酒呑) — he has no reason to refuse. He receives the first cup and praises it, "It is human sake." A second cup, a third. The five pour cups for him, and he too offers cups to them one by one.

The divine sake takes effect. Shuten-doji slowly loses his senses. He falls asleep.

#5. The Resolve

Yorimitsu cries out his own true name — "Minamoto no Yorimitsu."

To cry out one's true name in an oni subjugation tale is a rite. Honor is established only when "who kills whom" is plain. At the same time it is to make known to the yoma one's own spiritual seat — even if Shuten-doji cannot recover his senses, his soul has heard that name.

Yorimitsu takes up his sword. He strikes off Shuten-doji's head.

#6. The Last Challenge of the Severed Head

The severed head — even after death — flies forth. It tries to bite Yorimitsu's helmet. But because the gods' protection dwells in that helmet, Shuten-doji's fangs cannot pierce it. The head groans one last time and falls.

This scene is the summit of the Shuten-doji subjugation tale. It is depicted repeatedly in the ukiyo-e, Noh, and Kabuki of later ages.

#7. The Subjugation of the Subordinates

The Four Heavenly Kings each subjugate the subordinate oni. Tsuna cuts down the most, Kintoki shatters the largest oni, Sadamitsu catches a fleeing oni with his bow, and Suetake severs the legs of the fastest oni.

Before dawn comes, every yoma within the cave is subjugated. Of the vanished maidens, those still alive are freed and return to the capital.

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#Divine Sake "神便鬼毒酒" — Scenario Handling

This volume sets the divine sake's notation as 神便鬼毒酒. The 神変奇特酒 family of notations is treated as a source variant of the same subjugation tale.

The divine sake is treated as a narrative tool in this volume. The following handling applies only in scenarios where a rule effect is needed:

• Divine-sake effect = Energy 0 (unable to act, temporary during the scenario).
• The divine sake does not directly reduce Shuten-doji's Wounds.
• After that, a PC lands a blow for Wounds -N (the sheet number as-is) → bringing about death.

#The Divine Treasure Classification of the Divine Sake

The divine sake can be handled within the Divine Treasure / Sorcery category of fc01-04-00-divine-regalia-and-rites.md — in the form of "a joint Divine Treasure of the three gods Hachiman, Sumiyoshi, and Kumano." But this volume does not place a new Divine Treasure sheet — it follows the fc01 Divine Treasure handling guide as-is.

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#This Volume's Own Reinforcement — Aftermath

The subjugation tale itself is rich in source material. What this volume, fc04, adds is its aftermath.

#The Remnants of Shuten-doji (殘者)

The Tale of the Heike recorded that, after the subjugation, every yoma within the cave was subjugated. But — was it really all of them?

• Remnant scenario seed: Some years after the subjugation, one or two of Shuten-doji's subordinate oni lie sleeping in another valley of Mt. Oe. The PCs discover them. The remnants are one step weaker than Shuten-doji's main sheet (Elite-rank, or the lower end of Lord-rank).
• Detailed scenario: Seed 1 "The Remnants of Mt. Oe" of fc04-06-02-mountain.md.

#The Descendants of Shuten-doji

In the yoma tales of the later Heian and the Kamakura periods, Shuten-doji's "child" or "reincarnation" appears. This is outside the scope of this volume, but it is a motif that can be treated in the later volumes fc05~06.

#The Severed Head of Shuten-doji

There is a legend that the severed head was buried in various places in later ages — Uzumasa in Kyoto, Ibaraki, even as far as the Eastern provinces. This volume leaves this a mystery. A scenario in which the PCs trace the "place where Shuten-doji's head was buried" is possible — but this volume presents only a seed.

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#Tone

The madness of sake, the splendor of the yoma feast, a subjugation won by the protection of the gods.

In Shuten-doji's cave, splendor prevails over fearfulness. A feast of a hundred torches draws the eye. The scene of the five entering it and pouring sake is — not a subjugation tale but almost a single play. Even at the moment Shuten-doji dies, he holds a cup. That he receives the sword without ever waking is — the aesthetic of the Heian subjugation tale.

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#In One Line

"The one who drank sake died by sake. That was the meaning of his end."

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#References

#co — Shuten-doji Sheet (reuse)

• co-08-gm-tools/co-08-02-monster-templates.md — Shuten-doji main sheet (Lord-rank boss, Oni King)
• co-11-appendix/co-11-14-enemy-catalog.md — Enemy catalog (Lord-rank boss / negotiable / faction leader)

#co — Masterworks · Divine Treasures

• co-07-weapons/co-07-02-masterworks.md — Masterworks (Higekiri, Hizamaru)
• co-07-weapons/co-07-03-divine-artifacts.md — Divine Treasures (the divine sake's Divine Treasure handling — compatible with the fc01 Divine Treasure category)

#fc — Preceding Volumes

• fc01-02-02-taishin.md — Great Gods (Hachiman, Sumiyoshi, Kumano — the gods who gave the divine sake)
• fc01-04-00-divine-regalia-and-rites.md — Divine Treasures · Sorcery (the divine sake's Divine Treasure classification)

#Within fc04

• fc04-03-02-yorimitsu.md — The sheets of the 5-member subjugation party
• fc04-04-02-tsuchigumo-rashomon.md — Another Yorimitsu subjugation tale
• fc04-06-02-mountain.md — Mountain scenario (the remnant seed)

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Though the cups of Mt. Oe run empty, the scent of blood remains upon the rock.