English Version
Among Japan’s many yokai, three names stand out with a special kind of fame: oni, kappa, and tengu. Even people who have never heard the phrase “Japan’s Three Great Yokai” often recognize these creatures from folklore, festivals, manga, anime, or travel stories.
But who actually decided that these three would be called the “Three Great Yokai”? Surprisingly, the answer is not someone from the Muromachi period or another era hundreds of years ago. The term is widely associated with a much more recent figure: the writer Katsumi Tada, born in 1961.
The Modern Writer Behind the Three Great Yokai
Katsumi Tada is not just a casual writer. He is known as a specialist with extraordinary knowledge of yokai, and has also served as a councilor for the World Yokai Association and the World Yokai Conference. He has edited yokai encyclopedias as well, making him an important modern figure in the study and popularization of Japanese folklore.
So why oni, kappa, and tengu?
According to this classification, these three were chosen because they appear overwhelmingly often in picture scrolls, stories, and legends, and because they are so famous that almost no one in Japan is unfamiliar with them. Oni, in particular, have a very long history and are mentioned in ancient works such as the Kojiki, though in text rather than as illustrated figures.
Not the Same as Japan’s Three Great Evil Yokai
There is another similar phrase that can cause confusion: Japan’s Three Great Evil Yokai.
Unlike the Three Great Yokai, which were chosen mainly for fame and cultural presence, the Three Great Evil Yokai are known for their destructive and harmful legends. This grouping was defined by the folklorist Kazuhiko Komatsu.
The Three Great Evil Yokai are Shuten-doji, Tamamo-no-Mae, and Otakemaru. Since this is a different category from oni, kappa, and tengu, it is best not to mix the two up.
Oni
“Oni” is a broad term for many kinds of ogre-like beings in Japanese folklore. Once you start looking into them closely, the variety is surprisingly large.
Shuten-doji, one of the Three Great Evil Yokai, is one type of oni. At the same time, even gaki, which are nothing like Shuten-doji in scale, are also sometimes counted among oni. That gives a sense of just how many beings fall under the oni category.
There are also more obscure oni, such as Akuro-o and Sankichi-oni, a mysterious oni passed down in Akita Prefecture. These lesser-known legends can easily pull you deeper into the world of yokai research.
Sankichi-oni is especially interesting. According to one story, he would drink alcohol and leave without paying. But if no one complained, he would come back in the middle of the night and leave firewood worth about ten times the price of the drink. In that sense, not every oni legend describes a purely harmful being.
Kappa
Kappa legends exist all across Japan. Stories about them can be found from Kyushu to Ibaraki, and even as far north as Iwate. That wide distribution shows just how familiar this yokai has been in local folklore.
Even today, people occasionally report alleged kappa sightings, so it is rare to find someone in Japan who has never heard of them.
Kappa are strange because they are not always described the same way. In some traditions, they are mischievous or dangerous yokai. In others, they are said to be friendly toward humans.
The most common image is of a creature living near rivers or other waters, pulling out a person’s shirikodama or drowning people who pass by. But there are also legends in which kappa help with civil engineering work, so they were not always considered entirely evil.
One of the most familiar traces of kappa in modern Japan is kappamaki, the cucumber sushi roll named after the creature’s famous love of cucumbers.
Tengu
Tengu are said to have originally come from Chinese folklore. Many Japanese yokai are believed to have been influenced by Chinese supernatural beings, and tengu in particular retain a strong sense of that connection.
Like oni and kappa, tengu have legends in many parts of Japan. But tengu are unusual because they are not always treated simply as yokai. In some traditions, they are also regarded as godlike or sacred beings.
The Japanese phrase “to become a tengu” refers to someone becoming arrogant or getting carried away with pride. Because of that, tengu are often said to be people who became too conceited. At the same time, they are sometimes portrayed as sacred mountain deities, so interpretations vary widely.
Modern manga and anime often draw from this image, portraying tengu as high-ranking or powerful beings rather than simple monsters. That layered identity is part of what makes them one of Japan’s most enduring yokai.
Japanese Language
日本妖怪の中でもひときわ輝きを放つ日本 3 大妖怪。。妖怪の中でも全国各地で名を聞く存在であり「日本 3 大妖怪」という言葉を知らなくとも、何となく名前が出てくるほど有名な妖怪たちで構成されています。しかし日本 3 大妖怪といってもいったい誰が定義したのでしょうか？。実は最近の人であることなどは広く伝わっておりませんので紹介していきます。作家・多田克己。実は日本 3 大妖怪を定義したのは室町時代などの何百年も前の方ではなく 1961 年生まれの作家「多田克己」という方になります。
といってもただの作家ではなく妖怪に関する知識が常人ではない方です。また 世界妖怪協会・世界妖怪会議評議員、妖怪図鑑の編者 でもありますので妖怪に関するスペシャリストでもあります。ではなぜ「鬼・河童・天狗」の三体が日本 3 大妖怪と言われるようになったかというと、絵巻物や物語で登場する機会が圧倒的に多く知らない人がいないほど有名であるため 3 体を日本三大妖怪としました。鬼に関しては古事記などにも出てくるほど歴史のある妖怪ですので（文章のみの登場です）納得がいきますね。
日本三大悪妖怪とは。日本大三妖怪ほど有名ではありませんが、日本 3 大悪妖怪という言葉も存在します。日本三大妖怪は知名度的な理由で決められましたが、日本妖怪三大悪妖怪はその名の通り悪い妖怪たちで構成をされています。日本妖怪 3 大妖怪は民俗学者の「小松和彦」という方に定義された妖怪たちです。人に多大なる危害を与え続けた酒吞童子・玉藻前・大嶽丸という妖怪が悪妖怪となっていますので混合しないようにしましょう。。鬼。鬼は全ての「鬼」とつく名の妖怪の総称となりますが、細かく鬼ついて調べていくと様々な種類がいることに驚かされます。
日本 3 大悪妖怪の一角として名高い酒吞童子も鬼の 1 つであり、酒吞童子とは比べ物にならない「餓鬼」も鬼の 1 つですのでかなりの数が存在していることになります。中には阿久良王（あくらおう）や秋田県に伝わる三吉鬼（さんきちおに）という正体不明の。マイナーな鬼もいますので調べていく内にどんどんハマってしまうことでしょう。ちなみに三吉鬼は酒を飲んで代金を払わないまま出ていき、何も言わなければ夜中に代金の 10 倍ほどの根がする薪を置いていく鬼なので害はない場合もあるんですね。
河童。各地で言い伝えが存在する河童。九州から茨城、はては岩手まで河童に関する伝承は存在していますのでそれほど馴染みの深い妖怪であったことがわかります。現代でも目撃情報が出るほどですので日本人で河童を知らない方は珍しいでしょう。また河童は悪さをする妖怪とも言われる場合もあれば、反対に人間に優しい妖怪であるともされる不思議な生物となります。一般的に川などの水辺で通りかかった人の尻子玉を抜く、おぼれさせて殺してしまうなどのイメージがありますが土木工事を手伝ったなどの言い伝えもありますので必ずしも悪い妖怪であったわけではないようです。
最も身近なものですとキュウリを巻いたカッパ巻きなどがありますね。天狗。元は中国の妖怪だったとされる天狗。日本の妖怪の多くは中国の妖怪を参考に作られているといいますが、その中でも天狗はかなり中国よりであるなと感じます。天狗も鬼・河童と同様に各地で伝承が存在していますが、妖怪ではなくときに神様としても扱われる不思議な生物となります。多くは「天狗になる」という言葉があるように慢心や調子に乗り過ぎてしまった者が天狗になったと言われていますが、神聖な山の神様として描かれていることもあり解釈の仕方は様々です。
最近の漫画やアニメなどはその流れをくみ取り、上位の存在であるようなキャラ設定が多いですね
