Hiun

飛雲 The Demon Hiun

1 Source and/or Related Material

Unknown

2 Author

Unknown

3 Repertoire

Kanze, Hōshō, Kongō, Kita

4 Synopsis

A mountain ascetic (waki) from Kumano and a companion (wakitsure) are heading out to Mt. Haguro, when they meet a woodsman (maeshite) in the mountains of Kiso. They discuss famous places for autumn leaves, and then the woodsman gets up to leave, suggesting that they have a party that night, and he disappears into the foliage. A minor God (ai) from a subsidiary shrine to the Kumano Gongen comes to announce that an evil demon named Hiun is trying to kill them by appearing as a woodsman. Receiving this oracle in a dream, the mountain ascetics start chanting sutras and incantations to resist the demon. Dark clouds gather, the ground shakes, and Hiun (nochi-shite) appears in his final form. The ascetics continue their chanting, and the demon’s power gradually wanes, until at last he vanishes.