ABSTRACT
In the Edo period (1603-1867), oni were often tamed through humor and science. Some, including those in “The Kibitsu Cauldron” and “The Blue Hood” by Ueda Akinari (Tales of Moonlight and Rain, 1776), retain their fearsomeness. In modern fiction, oni sometimes refers to evil people such as Takegorō in Kotō no oni (Demon of a Solitary Island, 1929-30) by Edogawa Ranpo. Tanizaki Ichirō, Oda Sasunosuke, and Enchi Fumiko, among others, have treated oni as part of the human psyche. However, the connection between human emotion and oni is made in The Tale of Genji (c. 1011) and Heian poetry, for example, in the phrase “kokoro no oni” (demon of the heart). Writers such as Nakagami Kenji and Yumemakura Baku reflect a modern sensibility in emphasizing the suffering of oni. Yet, before leaping into flames, the oni in the previously mentioned Kankyo no tomo tale about a spurned woman addresses an angry mob, describing her pain and expressing the desire that her spirit be assisted through ritual.
