Rashōmon (otogi-zōshi)

Minamoto no Yorimitsu and his four generals, including Watanabe no Tsuna, and Fujiwara no Yasumasa [ja] defeat the demon of Ōe-yama.^[1] Later, one night at a banquet, Yasumasa tells of a servant of the Ōe-yama demon, Kidōji that is menacing passers by at the Rashōmon.^[1] Tsuna, expressing doubt, visits the Rashōmon to verify the rumour, and cuts off Kidōji's right arm with a tachi called Hizamaru (膝丸), but as he is returning with his prize the demon steals his arm back.^[1] Later, Yorimitsu falls ill.^[1] Hearing that his master's sickness will be cured if the demon who lives in the forest of Uda, Yamato Province, Tsuna heads out.^[1] He encounters an ushi-oni in the form of a beautiful woman, cuts off its hand with a tachi called Higekiri (鬚切), and carries it home.^[1]

On the advice of a fortune-teller, Yorimitsu places the hand in a red chest (朱の唐櫃 shu no karabitsu), placing the chest in a northwest-facing storehouse.^[1] He encloses it in a shimenawa and for seven days reads aloud the Humane King Sutra before it.^[1] On the sixth day, the ushi-oni appears before Yorimitsu in the form of the latter's mother, in order to steal back its hand,^[1] but Yorimitsu cuts it down with Higekiri.^[1]

The swords Hizamaru and Higekiri are dubbed, respectively, Onimaru and Onigiri and become prized family heirlooms of the Minamoto clan.^[1]

There are picture book copies under the title Rashōmon E-kotoba (羅生門絵詞) in the holdings of Toyo University,^[1] Kyoto National Museum^[1] and the Tenri Library,^[1] as well as one in the collection of Yutaka Shimizu [ja].^[1] There is also a two-volume Nara-ehon edition in the Seikadō Bunko Art Museum.^[1]