| Gagoze (元興寺), also gagoji, guwagoze, gangō, and gangōji no oni (元興寺の鬼, the oni of gangōji) is a yōkai said to have appeared at Gangō-ji in the Nara Prefecture around the Asuka period. It can also be found in the text of the Heian period Nihon Ryōiki (in the story, 雷の憙を得て生ま令めし子の強き力在る縁," On a Boy of Great Strength Who Was Born of the Thunder’s Rejoicing"), the Honchō Monzui, among others.[1] In classical yōkai drawings such as the Gazu Hyakki Yagyō by Toriyama Sekien, it is depicted as an oni with the appearance of a monk. |
