** Ushiwakamaru, about Yoshitsune's youth and training with the tengu of Kurama.

Their supernatural counterparts are oni and tengu.

Ryūha founders often attributed their mastery to magical teachings transmitted by Shinto or Buddhist deities, by long-dead historical figures like Minamoto no Yoshitsune, or by legendary supernatural creatures like the ' tengu ', a Japanese goblin commonly depicted with a long red nose.

A goblin from Japanese mythology that has several supernatural powers and skills in martial arts, the tengu were originally extremely dangerous demons and enemies of Buddhism, but over centuries, their behavior changed from a spirits of the damned to active defenders of Dharma.

The tengu wears the cap and pom-pommed sash of a follower of Shugendō.

Although they take their name from a dog-like Chinese demon ( Tiangou ), the tengu were originally thought to take the forms of birds of prey, and they are traditionally depicted with both human and avian characteristics.

The earliest tengu were pictured with beaks, but this feature has often been humanized as an unnaturally long nose, which today is widely considered the tengu's defining characteristic in the popular imagination.

Buddhism long held that the tengu were disruptive demons and harbingers of war.

Kobayakawa Takakage debating with the tengu of Mount Hiko, by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi.

The tengu in art appears in a large number of shapes, but it usually falls somewhere between a large, monstrous bird and a wholly anthropomorphized being, often with a red face or an unusually large or long nose.

Early depictions of tengu show them as kite-like beings who can take a human-like form, often retaining avian wings, head or beak.

Some of the earliest representations of tengu appear in Japanese picture scrolls, such as the, painted ca.

1296, which parodies high-ranking priests by endowing them the hawk-like beaks of tengu demons.

Beginning in the 13th century, tengu came to be associated in particular with the yamabushi, the mountain ascetics who practice Shugendō.

The association soon found its way into Japanese art, where tengu are most frequently depicted in the yamabushi's distinctive costume, which includes a and a.

Various other strange accessories may be associated with tengu, such as a type of tall, one-toothed geta sandal often called tengu-geta.

The term tengu and the characters used to write it are borrowed from the name of a fierce demon from Chinese folklore called tiāngoǔ.

The 23rd chapter of the Nihon Shoki, written in 720 CE, is generally held to contain the first recorded mention of tengu in Japan.

de Visser speculated that the early Japanese tengu may represent a conglomeration of two Chinese spirits: the tiāngoǔ and the fox spirits called huli jing.

How the tengu was transformed from a dog-meteor into a bird-man is not clear.

Like the tengu, the garuda are often portrayed in a human-like form with wings and a bird's beak.

The name tengu seems to be written in place of that of the garuda in a Japanese sutra called the Emmyō Jizō Kyō ( 延命地蔵経 ), but this was likely written in the Edo period, long after the tengu's image was established.

At least one early story in the Konjaku Monogatari describes a tengu carrying off a dragon, which is reminiscent of the garuda's feud with the nāga serpents.

De Visser has speculated that the tengu may be descended from an ancient Shinto bird-demon which was syncretized with both the garuda and the tiāngoǔ when Buddhism arrived in Japan.

An 18th century book called the suggests that this goddess may be the true predecessor of the tengu, but the date and authenticity of the Kujiki, and of that edition in particular, remain disputed.

In this festival, they keep playing Miyake Taiko from 11: 00 a. m. to 8: 00 p. m. to lead their mikoshi portable shrines going around their town.

* Fukuro Matsuri: This festival started in 1968 and features a parade of mikoshi ( portable shrines ) and a yassa dance.

The Jidai Matsuri begins in early morning with the mikoshi ( portable shrines ) brought out of the Old Imperial Palace so that people may pay their respects.

The procession of this festival begins at the old Imperial palace, and includes carrying the mikoshi ( portable shrines ) of Emperors Kanmu and Kōmei to the Heian-jingū.

Fundoshi are often worn with a hanten or happi ( a short cotton jacket with straight sleeves ) during summer festivals by men who carry mikoshi ( portable shrines ) in Shinto processions.

This is a huge event held at the Gion geisha district in Kyoto, which involves large parades of portable shrines ( mikoshi ) and dances.

The portable shrines carried by faithful on poles during festivals ( matsuri ) and called mikoshi actually enshrine a kami and are therefore true shrines.

The shintai leaves the honden only during festivals ( matsuri ), when it is put in portable shrines ( mikoshi ) and carried around the streets among the faithful.

* Shinyo-Togyo Shinji ( May 5 ): A festival in which portable shrine ( mikoshi ) is carried in a formal procession to the Western Gate, where ceremonies and prayers for the security of the Imperial Palace are performed in the open air.

Sixty-six stylized and decorated halberds, one for each province in old Japan, were prepared and erected at Shinsen-en, a garden, along with the portable shrines ( mikoshi ) from Yasaka Shrine.

* July 10: Lantern parade to welcome mikoshi portable shrines

They bring the mikoshi from the shrine, carry it around the neighborhoods that worship at the shrine, and in many cases leave it in a designated area, resting on blocks called uma ( horse ), for a time before returning it to the shrine.

Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa provided a new mikoshi and a complete set of robes and other accouterments for this festival on the occasion of repairs to the shrine in the 1457-1459 ( Chōroku 1-3 ).

* Rei Sai ( June 5 ): Portable tabernacles ( mikoshi ) in various styles are carried along the approaches to the shrine ; and at night, groups of 365 lanterns ( makiwara ) appear lit at the gates.

Image: YasakaShrine3. jpg | The mikoshi of the Yasaka shrine.

In 869 the mikoshi ( divine palanquin ) of Gion Shrine were paraded through the streets of Kyoto to ward off an epidemic that had hit the city.

* July 17: Parade of mikoshi from Yasaka Shrine to the city

* July 24: Parade of mikoshi from the city to Yasaka Shrine