TENGU

Lore

The term “tengu” originally comes from China, where it referred to meteors believed to herald disasters. Thunderous fiery objects blazed through the sky, compared to beastlike spirits barreling overhead with roars. There’s an old account of a monk named Min who declared a blazing star across the sky was a tengu, for its roar was like thunder.

Folklore branched into two main types, notably the Karasu-Tengu, which combine avian and human traits with powerful wings and sharp beaks. Tengu favor mischief that may seem harmless by their standards but catastrophic to humans. They were notorious for kidnapping pious monks and whisking them off to mountain lairs.

Ancient tradition claims wicked tengu are the souls of monks who failed Buddhist teachings or were puffed up with arrogance. Blending aspects of human, bird, and dog, they lurk in treetops across Japan's mountainous forests. Tengu are morally ambiguous, their alignment depending on how each perceives humanity.