RICHARD FREEMAN'S YOKAI OF THE WEEK: Raijū

Raijū
The thunder beast. The animal is said to fall to the earth in a bolt of lighting. It can take the form of a tanuki, a weasel, a monkey, a cat or a wolf. It is wreathed in lightning. It can also fly around in the form of a ball of lightning.

The Raijū is said to be the companion of Raijin the Shinto god of lightning. Where lighting strikes the Raijū has clawed the ground. Raiju leaves claw marks in trees. People did not hide under trees during storms in case the thunder beast leapt upon them.

A school teacher from Kanayama Town, Gifu Prefecture, was scratched on the face by a Raijū during a thunderstorm. It left a scar. Raijū were rumoured to live atop Kaga Province's Mt. Hakusan and Shinano Province's Mt. Asama. One was captured and put on show in either Osaka or Kyoto. It resembled a fox and was kept in an iron net. It refused to eat or drink but its hair stood on end before the evening rain.

Another was captured in Lord Nagai's fiefdom of Iwatsuki whilst running through a vegetable patch after a storm. It refused to eat and drink and thus died. It was then stuffed. It looked like a puppy with bear’s claws. Its feet had many knuckles and folds. The pelt was thin except beneath the legs where it thickened.

The boddhisattva Kokūzō captured one of these beasts after it came down in a thunderbolt at Satoshō Town, Asakuchi District, Okayama Prefecture. From then on no more thunderbolts fell. The greatful locals held a festival on the 13th day of the first old month each year in celebration. For some unfathomable reason the Raijū hates camels. If images of camels are erected then the thunder will not come.

The Raijū also has the odd habit of sleeping in a person’s navel. When Raijin wants to awaken the beast he fires arrows into the unfortunate mortal’s belly button. This is the reason the superstitious sleep on their bellies during storms. A bird called Kaminari-no-tori is the favourite food of the thunder beast. In the Saishōji Temple in Niigata prefecture a supposed Raijū mummy is held in the hall of treasures. It seems to be no more than a mummified cat like those sometimes found in the walls of very old buildings in Britain.