Editing Tengu (section)

==Origins==
[[File:SekienTengu.jpg|thumb|''Tengu'' as a kite-like monster, from [[Toriyama Sekien]]'s [[Gazu Hyakki Yakō]].<br /> Text: 天狗/てんぐ (''tengu'')]]
It is believed, the term ''tengu'' and the characters used to write it are borrowed from the name of a fierce demon from Chinese folklore called ''[[tiangou|tiāngǒu]]'' though this still has to be confirmed. Chinese literature assigns this creature a variety of descriptions, but most often it is a fierce and [[wikt:anthropophagy|anthropophagous]] canine monster that resembles a shooting star or comet. It makes a noise like thunder and brings war wherever it falls. One account from the ''Shù Yì Jì'' ({{lang|zh|述異記}}, "A Collection of Bizarre Stories"), written in 1791, describes a dog-like ''tiāngǒu'' with a sharp beak and an upright posture, but usually ''tiāngǒu'' bear little resemblance to their Japanese counterparts.<ref>de Visser, pp. 27–30.</ref>

The 23rd chapter of the ''[[Nihon Shoki]]'', written in 720, is generally held to contain the first recorded mention of ''tengu'' in Japan. In this account a large shooting star appears and is identified by a Buddhist priest as a "heavenly dog", and much like the ''tiāngǒu'' of China, the star precedes a military uprising. "9th year, Spring, and month, 23rd day. A great star floated from East to West, and there was a noise like that of thunder. The people of that day said that it was the sound of the falling star. Others said that it was earth-thunder. Hereupon the Buddhist Priest Bin said:—"It is not the falling star, but the Celestial Dog, the sound of whose barking is like thunder.". When it appeared, there was famine".—(Nihon Shoki) Although the [[hanzi|Chinese characters]] for ''tengu'' are used in the text, accompanying phonetic [[furigana]] characters give the reading as ''amatsukitsune'' (''heavenly fox''). M.&nbsp;W. de Visser speculated that the early Japanese meaning for the characters used to write Tengu may represent a conglomeration of two Chinese spirits: the ''tiāngǒu'' and the fox spirits called ''[[huli jing]]'' before the nuances of meaning were expanded to include local Japanese kami, therefore the true Tengu in appearance.<ref>de Visser, pp. 34–35.</ref>

Some Japanese scholars have speculated that the ''tengu's'' image derives from that of the [[Hindu]] eagle deity [[Garuda]], who was pluralized in Buddhist scripture as one of the major races of non-human beings. Like the ''tengu'', the ''garuda'' are often portrayed in a human-like form with wings and a bird's beak. The name ''tengu'' seems to be written in place of that of the ''garuda'' in a Japanese [[sutra]] called the ''Emmyō Jizō-kyō'' ({{lang|ja|延命地蔵経}}), but this was likely written in the [[Edo period]], long after the ''tengu's'' image was established. At least one early story in the ''[[Konjaku Monogatari]]'' describes a ''tengu'' carrying off a dragon, which is reminiscent of the ''garuda's'' feud with the ''[[nāga]]'' serpents. In other respects, however, the ''tengu's'' original behavior differs markedly from that of the ''garuda'', which is generally friendly towards Buddhism. De Visser has speculated that the ''tengu'' may be descended from an ancient [[Shinto]] bird-demon which was [[syncretism|syncretized]] with both the ''garuda'' and the ''tiāngǒu'' when Buddhism arrived in Japan. However, he found little evidence to support this idea.<ref>de Visser, pp. 87–90.</ref>

A later version of the ''[[Kujiki]]'', an ancient Japanese historical text, writes the name of [[Amanozako]], a monstrous female deity born from the god [[Susanoo]]'s spat-out ferocity, with characters meaning ''tengu deity'' ({{lang|ja|天狗神}}). The book describes Amanozako as a raging creature capable of flight, with the body of a human, the head of a beast, a long nose, long ears, and long teeth that can chew through swords. An 18th-century book called the {{nihongo|''Tengu Meigikō''|天狗名義考}} suggests that this goddess may be the true predecessor of the ''tengu'', but the date and authenticity of the ''Kujiki'', and of that edition, in particular, remain disputed.<ref>de Visser, pp. 43–44; Mizuki, Mujara 4, p.7.</ref>
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