Kurama-Tengu 鞍馬天狗
Act.1
"Chery blossams in Mt Kurama is now in full bloom. Please
come to see them." Invitation letteres were sent to all temples
in the vicinity and many Buddhist priests, together with boys
of the Heike clan, came to Mt. Kurama. But to a visiting priest
who stayed in Sojogatani, the invitation letter had not reached.
Without the invitation, he went to see the flowers and found he
was the only stranger among the flower-watchers. Other watchers,
who did not want to see the flowers with a stranger, left him
alone and moved to some other place.
The priest found that there was a boy remaining with him. The
boy behaved very friendly. This boy is Shanaou (Ushiwaka), a son
of Minamoto-no-Yoshitomo, the previous leader of the Genji clan.
He said, "All boys but me are the members of the Heike clan.
I am in a considerably miserable situation in the temple."
He asked to the priest,"Who are you?" The priest answered,
"I am the leader of the TENGU." (Tengu is not human.
It has ability of flght. Often Tengu is a enemy of Buddhism, but
in Kurama-Tengu, it is cooperative with Buddhism.) And he continued,
"If you have a strong desire to defeat the Heike clan in
future, I'll teach you the essence of the military skill. Come
here again tomorrow to see me." Then he flew up the sky and
went somewhere by driving a cloud.
Act.2
The next day, Ushiwaka came to the promised place. The leader of Tengu, with fellow tengus from all over the country, appeared. He taught essence of military skill to Ushiwaka, and promised that he would support Ushiwaka throughout the future. Then Tengus disappeared.