Watanabe no Tsuna
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. This article has been tagged since January 2007. |
 |
This article lacks historical information. Please add it if you can. For more information, see Wikipedia:WikiProject Historical information. Please remove this message once the article has been expanded. |
Watanabe no Tsuna (渡辺綱?) (953-1025) was a Japanese samurai, a retainer of Minamoto no Yorimitsu (also known as Raikō), one of the earliest samurai to be famed for his military exploits.
[edit] In Legend
Watanabe features in many of Yorimitsu's legendary adventures, and aids him in fighting many monsters, beasts and demons.
In one such tale, Tsuna accompanies Raikō to the hut of Yamamba, a man-eating hag. There they find a boy known as Kaidomaru, who had been brought up among animals and endowed with superhuman strength. The boy requests that Raikō allow him to become one of his retainers, and Raikō accepts, giving the boy the name Sakata no Kintoki, often shortened to Kintoki.
Some of Watanabe no Tsuna's other comrades in legend are Urabe no Suetake and Usui Sadamitsu. Together, the four are collectively known as the Four Guardian Kings, an allusion to the Buddhist Shitennō.
Watanabe is also said to have assisted Raikō in slaying Shuten Doji, the demonic ground spider. His most famous feat is most likely the defeat of the demoness Ibaragi Oni, the principal follower of Shutendoji. He fought and killed her single-handedly at the Rashomon gate at the southern end of Suzaku-oji, the central North-South street in the old capital Heian-kyo (now Kyoto).
At the end of the intense battle Watanabe no Tsuna cut off the demoness' arm before she fled. Tsuna imprisoned the demoness' arm within a holy talisman, which only he had the ability to release. The demoness later returned to claim the lost arm, and tricked Tsuna to release the arm from its binding. Later, Tsuna accompanied Raikō to Shuten Doji's lair. This legend is continued in a Japanese tale known as Ooeyama.
[edit] In Popular Culture
- Watanabe no Tsuna, is a character in the anime Otogi Zoshi.
- Watanabe, along with Raikō, Usui Sadamitsu, Sakata no Kintoki, Urabe no Suetake, Abe no Seimei, and several other well known figures in Japanese history, is featured in the Xbox video game, Otogi 2: Immortal Warriors. In the game, he has a wolf-like appearance and wields a dual-sided curved sword.
