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Shuten Dōji ('The Drunken Boy') was an ogre in Japanese mythology which was killed by the warrior Minamoto Yorimitsu.


Story

Shuten Dōji lured young women to his lair in the mountains where he kept them prisoner and sometimes ate them. Yorimitsu and his four companions deceived the monster by disguising themselves as yamabushi ('mountain monks').

They made him drunk, then cut off his head, freeing the district from this terrible peril. The historical Yorimitsu was a warrior who actually lived AD 948-1021 and served the Heian court by getting rid of robbers and pirates, suggesting why this legend was attached to him.