ONIKUMA

Lore

Onikuma, the “demon bear,” belongs to that class of animals which, once they reach an extreme age or size, cross over into the supernatural. Legend tells of an incident in the Kiso Valley of present-day Nagano Prefecture, where an abnormally large bear was killed: when its hide was stretched flat on the ground, it covered roughly 100 square feet (about 9.5 m²). The animal’s unusual size made the locals feel threatened, so they declared it not merely a rare specimen but a demonic creature capable of walking on two legs, shoving multi-ton boulders down into the valley, and at night hauling bulls and horses out of their stalls. Storytellers add that one such boulder, now called the “Onikuma Stone,” is still shown as tangible proof of the mythical predator’s strength. Some records liken the Onikuma to a northern brown bear, yet the villagers view it as an entirely hostile force, and the only solution they recognize is to kill the beast outright.