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No.034

Nue

THE CHIMERA OF THE NIGHT SKY

Nue
Pixel artOriginal art by Pixel Yokai
"Nue" from Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki
For reference: old artToriyama Sekien（1779）
"Nue" from Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki
Public domain (Wikimedia Commons)
Japanese name
鵺（NUE）
Type
Night-sky spirit
Found in
The night sky over the capital, inside a black cloud
Where the legend lives
  • Kyoto — The imperial palace of Heian-kyo, where The Tale of the Heike says Minamoto no Yorimasa shot down the nue

◆ The legend

A creature of unknown nature that appears in The Tale of the Heike. Near the end of the Heian period, it is said to have come night after night with a black cloud over the imperial palace, tormenting the emperor. When the master archer Minamoto no Yorimasa shot it down, the story goes, it turned out to have a monkey's head, a tanuki's body, a tiger's legs, and a snake for a tail, as if several animals had been stitched together. Exactly which animal provides which part varies a little from book to book.

The word "nue" was originally the name of a bird. It's a bird that calls with a thin, lonely whistle in the forest at night, thought to be the one now called the White's thrush. The Tale of the Heike says the creature's cry sounded like a nue's. Over time, the name of a night bird that people heard but rarely saw became the name of the mysterious creature itself.

◆ Stories about this yokai

Yorimasa and the Nue: Reading the Tale from the Archer's Side and the Creature'sIn The Tale of the Heike, Minamoto no Yorimasa shoots down the nue that haunted the imperial palace night after night. A gentle look at why an archer was chosen, the prayer before the shot, and the Noh play "Nue," which retells it all from the creature's side.