What Are the Demons of Hell — The True Nature and Origins of the Tormenting Wardens

The demon driven off at Setsubun, the demon of old folk tales — the oni wears many faces, but among the most feared is the demon that torments the dead in hell. This article traces what the demons of hell are, from their true nature and origins, in a Buddhist and folkloric view.

What are the demons of hell

The demons of hell are beings said to torment, on King Enma's command, the dead who have fallen into hell. Also called wardens (gokusotsu), they have been drawn with fearsome faces and great bodies. Horned, an iron staff in hand, their figures stand out even in the picture-scrolls of hell.

The demons are like the hands and feet that carry out Enma's judgment. Enma decides where the soul will go, and the demons bear out its recompense — this division has shaped the tale of hell. On Enma, who does the judging, see also Who Is the Great King Enma.

Gozu and Mezu — the best-known wardens

Among the many demons, the best known are Gozu and Mezu. Gozu, with an ox's head, and Mezu, with a horse's head, are often drawn as a pair, said to bear the role of driving the dead on and dealing out punishment.

Their names, traced back, arrive at Sanskrit. Gozu is gosirsa (gośīrṣa), Mezu is asvasirsa (aśvaśīrṣa); translated into Chinese, these became "Gozu-Mezu." In China they are also called "ox-head, horse-face." Their form — neither human nor beast, but on the border of both — symbolizes the fathomless depth of the world of delusion. For Gozu and Mezu alone in detail, see What Are Gozu and Mezu. On the layers of hell, see also What Are the Eight Great Hells.

The demons in scripture and scroll — from the Konjaku Monogatari to the Jigoku Zoshi

The demons of hell were not born of folk imagination alone. They appear in scriptures such as the Suramgama Sutra and the Sutra of the Ten Kings, under names like "ox-head warden, horse-head rakshasa." They are beings clearly placed within Buddhist teaching.

In Japan, demons appear again and again in the Heian-era Konjaku Monogatari and the later Taiheiki. Further, in paintings such as the Jigoku Zoshi (Hell Scrolls) and diagrams of the six realms, the figure of the demon tormenting the dead has been drawn as a fixed type. To those who could not read, the pictures conveyed, in vivid form, the teaching that "do evil, and this awaits you."

Demon and rakshasa — the breadth of the word "oni"

As the scriptures' frequent naming of wardens as "rakshasa" shows, the word "oni" (demon) is not of one piece. It originally referred broadly to fearsome demon-gods, and the wardens of hell were one such kind.

As the idea traveled into Japan, the image of the oni branched out in many directions — the demon of Setsubun, monsters like Shuten-doji, vengeful spirits that curse. The demon of hell is, among these, an oni strongly cast in the role of "the one who carries out judgment." Hold onto this, and you step past the rough understanding of "oni equals mere monster."

The meaning of "recompense" the demons bear, and the hand of rescue

The demons' fearsome forms are not merely to frighten people. They are thought to give visible shape to a recompense matching one's deeds in life. "What you have done returns to you one day" — the demons are beings that press that reason upon us as pain.

Here it is worth clearing up a misreading. Hell is not a world of no salvation, ruled by demons. In many tales, a being like the bodhisattva Jizo is said to extend a hand of rescue even to the dead being tormented by demons. What the demons bear is "recompense," yet within that recompense, room for rescue still remains — and in this lies the quiet grace of this worldview.

Yurusen's world and the demons of hell

Yurusen is a private app for filing "the people you cannot forgive" into a ledger of judgment and passing verdicts. That one who has trampled others without a qualm might someday meet their recompense — such a wish is by no means unusual, nor anything to be ashamed of.

You need not force that wish away. To put a troubled feeling into words and file it, as though entrusting it to the demons — this differs from actually harming anyone; it is a quiet act that gently calms your own heart.

The forms of those living the worlds of hell and the six realms are gathered on the Wraith Codex page. Go and find, there, the "type" tormented by the demons.