In Japanese mythology, the raijū (雷獣, らいじゅう; lit. "thunder animal/beast") is a legendary creature and yōkai associated with lightning and thunder, as well as the god Raijin. It is said to appear with lightning strikes. Legends of the creature exist throughout Japan, centered primarily in East Japan. Its name appears frequently in Edo period essays and modern folklore materials. One theory suggests that the Nue, a yōkai defeated by Minamoto no Yorimasa in the Heike Monogatari, was actually a raijū.
Mythology and behavior A raijū's body is composed of (or wrapped in) lightning. It may also fly about as a ball of lightning (in fact, the creature may be an attempt to explain the phenomenon of lightning, such as ball lightning). Its cry sounds like thunder. Raijū is the companion of Raijin, the Shinto god of lightning. While the beast is generally calm and harmless, during thunderstorms it becomes agitated, and leaps about in trees, fields, and even buildings (trees that have been struck by lightning are said to have been scratched by raijū's claws).
Sleeping in navels Another of raijū's peculiar behaviors is sleeping in human navels. This prompts the Raijin to shoot lightning arrows at raijū to wake the creature up, and thus harms the person in whose belly the demon is resting. Superstitious people therefore often sleep on their stomachs during bad weather, but other legends say that raijū will only hide in the navels of people who sleep outdoors.
Corn and habits According to the essay Kasshi Yawa by Matsuura Seizan, when a raijū fell with a large ball of fire, a person nearby tried to capture it but had their cheek clawed and was bedridden due to the creature's "poisonous miasma." The same book contains a story about a person in Akita, Dewa Province, who caught a raijū that came down with thunder, boiled it, and ate it. Also in Kasshi Yawa, the Edo period painter Tani Bunchō stated that humans who are near a lightning strike often lose their minds, but eating maize can cure them. A servant of a samurai family was rendered an invalid after being near a lightning strike, but returned to his senses after Bunchō fed him powdered maize. Furthermore, Bunchō heard from a man who had kept a raijū for two or three years that the creature loves to eat sweetcorn.
Hunting and rituals The Edo period ghost story collection Ehon Hyaku Monogatari describes the creature under the title "Kaminari" (Thunder). It states that a beast called raijū lives in the mountains near Tsukuba in Shimotsuke Province (Note: Tsukuba is actually in Hitachi Province; this is considered an error in the text). While usually docile like a cat, it runs into the sky with ferocious force when evening storm clouds gather. When this beast damages crops, people hunt it down; the villagers call this "Kaminari-gari" (Thunder Hunting). People have also seen this beast near Mt. Futarasan in Nikkō, and the Edo scholar Arai Hakuseki also wrote about this in detail in his essays. In the Kantō region, when lightning struck a rice paddy, people would immediately erect green bamboo and string a shimenawa (sacred rope) around the area. It was believed that as long as the bamboo was there, the raijū could ascend back to the heavens. The Sengoku period warlord Tachibana Dōsetsu was struck by lightning and became half-paralyzed. However, because he continued to fight while riding in a palanquin and showed demon-like strength, a legend was born that he "became paralyzed when he slashed a raijū" (or the lightning god).
Origins and cultural significance Since modernization progressed in the Meiji era, the fame of the raijū has declined compared to yōkai and legendary creatures like the kappa or mermaid. However, during the Edo period, the raijū was extremely well known. Because people at the time lacked aviation technology, the sky was a completely unknown world. They could only imagine what existed above the clouds. Therefore, it is said that the legend of the raijū was born from the belief that unknown organisms lived in the sky and fell to earth during natural disasters like lightning strikes. Raijū are given negative connotations as many things were happening in the sky beyond the reach of humans during the Edo period. While the depths of oceans were also inaccessible to human reason, oceans were helping humans with fishes (food) and sustained life forms. In this sense, phenomena of the sky were transcendental and given negative connotations to the phenomena and the creature. It is believed that the myth of raijū originated from the Chinese materia medica text Bencao Gangmu. Additionally, the Shan Hai Jing, considered China's oldest geography text, describes a yōkai called the Kui (Japanese: Ki) whose bark sounds like crashing thunder; some theories suggest this Kui is the origin of the Japanese raijū legend. There are also folk customs where belief in indigenous Dōsojin and Yama-no-Kami (Mountain Gods) merged with the Kui god, such as seen in the Kuishin statues transmitted at the Yamanashioka Shrine in Fuefuki, Yamanashi Prefecture.
Appearance and variations
While broadly described as a white-blue wolf or dog, the appearance of the raijū varies significantly across documents and folklore. It is commonly conceived of taking forms such as a tanuki, rabbit, porcupine, bear, squirrel, rat, mouse, deer, boar, leopard, fox, weasel, black or white panther, serow, ferret, marten, marine mammal (such as whale, dolphin or seal), tiger, and cat. Summarizing its physical characteristics simply, it is often said to be a mammal resembling a puppy or tanuki, about 2 shaku (approx. 60 cm) in length, with a tail of 7 to 8 sun (approx. 21 to 24 cm) and sharp claws. However, detailed forms and features differ by source:
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