Nue (Monster Nue) : PhotoStory

A traveling monk meets a strange boatman who rows up to him at night on Yodogawa River in the village Ashiya in Settsu Province (present-day Ashiya City in Hyōgo Prefecture).

The boatman reveals he is the ghost of a monster called Nue.

He tells how he was shot and killed by master archer Minamoto no Yorimasa.

After asking for the prayers of the monk, the ghost of Nue rows off into the darkness and disappears.

It is the middle of the night. The ghost of Nue appears in its true form, with the head of a monkey, the legs of a tiger and the tail of a snake. It thanks the monk for his prayers.

I caused the illness of the emperor.

But the arrow of Yorimasa felled me.

Yorimasa made a name for himself, while I was shut in a dugout canoe and sent into the dark depths.

Asking the moon over the mountains to shine brightly and save one who died in darkness, Nue sinks back in the waters and disappears.