Shuten-dōji is a mythical Oni or demon leader of Japan, who according to legend was killed by the hero Minamoto no Raikō. Although decapitated, the demon's detached head still took a bite at the hero, who avoided death by wearing multiple helmets stacked on his head. Shuten-dōji had his lair at Mount Ōe northwest of the city of Kyoto, or Mount Ibuki, depending on the version. It has also been theorized that the original mountain was Mount Ōe on the western edge of the city of Kyoto.

During the reign of Emperor Ichijō (r. 986–1011), a large number of missing people were being reported in the capital city of Kyoto, most of the victims being young women. Abe no Seimei, the famous onmyōdō diviner of the imperial court, determines that the oni-king of Mt. Ōe (later identified as Shuten-dōji) was responsible for the abductions. The Emperor then commanded Minamoto no Raikō (Minamoto no Yorimitsu) and Fujiwara no Hōshō to exterminate this demon. Raikō had his four lieutenants called the shitennō while Hōshō had only the junior secretary (shōgen) of Dazaifu to assist them. The party left Kyoto in the year 995.

The party encountered a group of four men who turned out to be transformations of four deities. At their recommendation, Raikō and his retinue disguised themselves as yamabushi priests. When they traveled through a cave-tunnel, they came to a river and found an old kidnapped woman doing the laundry. The old woman explained that the kidnapped young maidens were being forced to act as maidservants, but the ogres wantonly slaughtered the girls, ate their flesh and drank their blood.

The warriors, pretending to be priests, convinced the ogre-king to give them lodging. The ogre-king treated his guests with sake and began to tell the tale about himself, how he was called Shuten-dōji, the "sake-drinking lad" by his underlings for his love of drinking sake, and how the ogres had been displaced from their ancestral Hira Mountains when Enryaku-ji temple was built nearby. and have been at Mt. Ōe since the year 849.

Raikō then offered Shuten-dōji the sake given to him by one of the deities, which rendered him incapacitated. The warriors dressed up in armor and weapons which they concealed in their priestly back-pack chests called oi. Then they stormed Shuten-dōji's sleeping quarters, and while the four deities held down the ogre's limbs, Raikō cut off Shuten-dōji's head with a stroke of his sword, Dōjigiri. The severed head was still alive and snapped its jaws, aiming at Raikō's head, but the warrior defended himself by wearing two of his men's helmets in addition to his own. The group returned triumphant to Kyoto with the head, which was laid to rest in the Uji no hōzō (Treasure House of Uji) at Byōdō-in temple.

All published appearances of Shuten-dōji from before January 1, 1929 are in the public domain in the US.

Some notable appearances are listed below:
*Ōeyama Ekotoba
*Otogi-zōshi
*Otogi Bunko

*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuten-d%C5%8Dji Wikipedia]
*[https://comicvine.gamespot.com/shuten-douji/4005-98128/ ComicVine]
*Myths in Media Wiki
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