Editing Oni (section)

==Etymology, change of meaning==
[[File:Sessen-Doji-Offers-His-Life-Ogre-Oni-1764-Soga-Shohaku.png|thumb|Sessen Doji Offering His Life to an Ogre (Japanese Oni), hanging scroll, color on paper, c. 1764. Painting by [[Soga Shōhaku]] (1730–1781).]]
{{transliteration|ja|Oni}}, written in {{transliteration|ja|[[kanji]]}} as 鬼, is read in China as ''guǐ'' <small>([[pinyin]])</small>, meaning something invisible, formless, or unworldly, in other words, a 'ghost' or the 'soul of the dead'. On the other hand, the Japanese dictionary {{nihongo3||和名類聚抄|[[Wamyō Ruijushō]]}} written in Japan in the 10th century explained the origin of the word {{transliteration|ja|oni}} as a corruption of {{nihongo3||隠|on/onu}}, meaning 'to hide'. The dictionary explained that {{transliteration|ja|oni}} is hidden and does not want to reveal itself. When the character for 鬼 was first introduced to Japan, it was pronounced as {{nihongo3||キ|ki}} in the {{transliteration|ja|[[Kanji#On'yomi (Sino-Japanese reading) |on'yomi]]}} reading.<ref name="doshisha">{{cite web|url=https://www.dwc.doshisha.ac.jp/research/faculty_column/18257|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123132227/https://www.dwc.doshisha.ac.jp/research/faculty_column/18257|script-title=ja:「鬼」の話|author=[[:ja:吉海直人|Naoto Yoshikai]]|language=ja|publisher=[[Doshisha Women's College of Liberal Arts]]|date=10 January 2023|archive-date=23 January 2023|access-date=14 May 2023}}</ref><ref name="rekishi">{{cite web|url=https://www.rekishijin.com/27666|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230512073350/https://www.rekishijin.com/27666|script-title=ja:「鬼」という概念はどのようにして生まれたのか？|author=[[:ja:八木透|Toru Yagi]]|language=ja|publisher=Rekishijin|date=12 May 2023|archive-date=12 May 2023|access-date=15 May 2023}}</ref><ref name="jpknow">{{cite web|url=https://japanknowledge.com/introduction/keyword.html?i=194|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230515161208/https://japanknowledge.com/introduction/keyword.html?i=194|script-title=ja:鬼|language=ja|publisher=Japan Knowledge|archive-date=15 May 2023|access-date=15 May 2023}}</ref>

The character 鬼 has changed over time in Japan to become its own entity, and there are significant differences between the Japanese {{nihongo3||鬼|oni}} and the Chinese ''guǐ'' (鬼). The Chinese ''guǐ'' generally refers to the disembodied spirits of the dead and are not necessarily evil. They usually reside in the underworld, but those with a grudge sometimes appear in the human world to haunt, and [[Taoism|Taoist]] priests and others have used their supernatural powers to exterminate them. Japanese {{nihongo3||鬼|oni}}, on the other hand, are evil beings that have substance, live in certain places in the human world, such as mountains, have red or blue bodies with horns and fangs, are armed with {{nihongo3|metal clubs||[[kanabō]]}}, and can be physically killed by cutting with [[Japanese swords]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.j-cfa.com/report/columu/%E5%BD%A2%E3%81%AE%E3%81%82%E3%82%8B%E3%80%8C%E9%AC%BC%E3%80%8D%E3%81%A8%E5%BD%A2%E3%81%AE%E3%81%AA%E3%81%84%E9%AC%BC/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221120054059/https://www.j-cfa.com/report/columu/%E5%BD%A2%E3%81%AE%E3%81%82%E3%82%8B%E3%80%8C%E9%AC%BC%E3%80%8D%E3%81%A8%E5%BD%A2%E3%81%AE%E3%81%AA%E3%81%84%E9%AC%BC/|script-title=ja:形のある「鬼」と形のない“鬼”|language=ja|publisher=Japan-China Friendship Association|date=1 March 2021|archive-date=20 November 2022|access-date=14 May 2023 |work=公益社団法人 日本中国友好協会（日中友好協会） }}</ref><ref name="doshisha"/><ref name="rekishi"/>

The {{nihongo3||出雲国風土記|[[Fudoki|Izumo no Kuni Fudoki]]}} and {{nihongo3||日本書紀|[[Nihon Shoki]]}} are the earliest written examples of {{transliteration|ja|oni}} as entities rather than soul of the dead. The {{nihongo3|||Izumo no Kuni Fudoki}}, whose compilation began in 713, tells the story of a one-eyed {{transliteration|ja|oni}} who ate a man. {{nihongo3|||Nihon Shoki}}, completed in 720, tells of a {{nihongo|hat||[[Kasa (hat)|kasa]]}}-wearing {{transliteration|ja|oni}} watching the funeral of [[Empress Kōgyoku|Emperor Saimei]] from the top of Mount Asakura. The character for 鬼 is believed to have been read as {{transliteration|ja|oni}} when the {{nihongo3|||Nihon Shoki}} was completed,<ref name="rekishi"/> and was also read as {{transliteration|ja|kami}}, {{transliteration|ja|mono}}, and {{transliteration|ja|shiko}} in the Heian period. In {{nihongo3||今昔物語集|[[Konjaku Monogatarishū]]}}, the character for 鬼 is read as {{transliteration|ja|mono}}. It was not until the end of the Heian period that the reading of {{transliteration|ja|oni}} for the character 鬼 became almost universal.<ref name="jpknow"/>

Particularly powerful oni may be described as ''kishin'' or ''kijin'' (literally "oni god"; the "ki" is an alternate character reading of "oni"), a term used in [[Japanese Buddhism]] to refer to [[Wrathful Deities]].

The ''oni'' was [[Syncretism|syncretized]] with [[Hinduism|Hindu]]-[[Buddhism|Buddhist]] creatures such as the man-devouring ''[[yaksha]]'' and the ''[[rakshasa]]'', and became the ''oni'' who tormented sinners as wardens of Hell ([[Diyu|Jigoku]]), administering sentences passed down by Hell's magistrate, King [[Yama (Buddhism)|Yama]] (Enma Daiō). The [[Hungry ghost|hungry ghosts]] called ''[[Preta|gaki]]'' (餓鬼) have also been sometimes considered a type of ''oni'' (the Kanji for "ki" 鬼 is also read "oni"). Accordingly, a wicked soul beyond rehabilitation transforms into an ''oni'' after death. Only the very worst people turn into ''oni'' while alive, and these are the ''oni'' causing troubles among humans as presented in folk tales.

Some scholars have even argued that the ''oni'' was entirely a concept of Buddhist mythology.

Oni bring calamities to the land, bringing about war, plague/illness, earthquakes, and eclipses. They have the destructive power of lightning and thunder, which terrifies people through their auditory and visual effects.