At Sai no Kawara, oni demons torment the souls of deceased children by smashing the stone towers they build. Jizō Bosatsu opposes the oni, shielding the children in his robes and driving away the demons.
Oni demons torment the spirits of mizuko at Sai no Kawara, smashing the small stone towers the children build to earn merit for their grieving parents, trapping them in an endless cycle of futile labor and cruelty.
Momotaro set out from his village with the singular purpose of conquering the oni who had terrorized the land, sailing to their island stronghold Onigashima to challenge and defeat them.
Momotarō sailed to Onigashima with his animal companions — a dog, a monkey, and a pheasant — and defeated the oni, slaying their leaders and reclaiming the treasure they had stolen from the people of Japan.
Emma-Ō commands the oni as torturers and wardens of the Japanese hell courts. In Jigoku-e paintings, horned oni with iron clubs carry out Emma-Ō's sentences, dragging the condemned through the various hells and administering punishments under his authority.
Shuten-dōji and his oni band occupied Mount Ōe as their stronghold, using it as a base to raid Kyōto and abduct noble women, until Minamoto no Yorimitsu's expedition destroyed them there.
Oni inhabit and control Onigashima, the legendary Demon Island across the sea. From this island fortress, they hoarded stolen treasure and launched raids on the Japanese mainland.
The kanabō iron club is the iconic weapon of the oni. The Japanese proverb 'oni ni kanabō' — giving an iron club to an oni — means making something already formidable even more powerful.
On Setsubun, the eve of spring, Japanese families throw roasted soybeans at costumed oni while shouting 'Oni wa soto!' to ritually drive the demons from their homes and purify the household for the coming year.
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