Editing Tengu (section)

==Martial arts==
[[File:KunitsunaTengu.jpg|thumb|Ushiwaka-maru training with the ''tengu'' of Mount Kurama, by Kunitsuna Utagawa. This subject is very common in ''[[ukiyo-e]]''.]]
[[File:YoshitoshiTakatokiTengu.jpg|thumb|Japan's regent [[Hōjō Tokimune]], who showed down the Mongols, fights off tengu]]

During the 14th century, the ''tengu'' began to trouble the world outside of the Buddhist clergy, and like their ominous ancestors the ''tiāngǒu'', the ''tengu'' became creatures associated with war.<ref>de Visser, pp. 67.</ref> Legends eventually ascribed to them great knowledge in the art of skilled combat.

This reputation seems to have its origins in a legend surrounding the famous warrior [[Minamoto no Yoshitsune]]. When Yoshitsune was a young boy going by the name of Ushiwaka-maru, his father, [[Minamoto no Yoshitomo|Yoshitomo]], was assassinated by the [[Taira clan]]. [[Taira no Kiyomori]], head of the Taira, allowed the child to survive on the grounds that he be exiled to the temple on [[Mount Kurama]] and become a monk. But one day in the Sōjō-ga-dani Valley, Ushiwaka encountered the mountain's ''tengu'', [[Sōjōbō]]. This spirit taught the boy the art of swordsmanship so that he might bring vengeance on the Taira.<ref>de Visser, pp. 47–48.</ref>

Originally the actions of this ''tengu'' were portrayed as another attempt by demons to throw the world into chaos and war, but as Yoshitsune's renown as a legendary warrior increased, his monstrous teacher came to be depicted in a much more sympathetic and honorable light. In one of the most famous renditions of the story, the [[Noh]] play [[Kurama-tengu|''Kurama Tengu'']], Ushiwaka is the only person from his temple who does not give up an outing in disgust at the sight of a strange ''yamabushi''. Sōjōbō thus befriends the boy and teaches him out of sympathy for his plight.<ref>Outlined in Japanese [http://www.noh-kyogen.com/story/ka/kuramatengu.html here] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080208143355/http://www.noh-kyogen.com/story/ka/kuramatengu.html |date=2008-02-08 }}. For another example see the picture scroll ''Tengu no Dairi'' [http://dbs.humi.keio.ac.jp/naraehon/ehon/index2-e.asp?ID=KL044&FRAME=False here] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070609181322/http://dbs.humi.keio.ac.jp/naraehon/ehon/index2-e.asp?frame=False&id=KL044 |date=2007-06-09 }}, in which the ''tengu'' of Mount Kurama is working with a Buddha (who was once Yoshitsune's father) to overthrow the Taira clan. This indicates that the ''tengu'' is now involved in a righteous cause rather than an act of wickedness.</ref>

Two stories from the 19th century continue this theme: In the ''Sōzan Chomon Kishū'', a boy is carried off by a ''tengu'' and spends three years with the creature. He comes home with a magic gun that never misses a shot. A story from [[Inaba Province]], related by [[Inoue Enryō]], tells of a girl with poor manual dexterity who is suddenly possessed by a ''tengu''. The spirit wishes to rekindle the declining art of swordsmanship in the world. Soon a young samurai appears to whom the ''tengu'' has appeared in a dream, and the possessed girl instructs him as an expert swordsman.<ref>de Visser, p. 79.</ref>