Nue

Overview

The nue is a composite monster: the head of a monkey, the body of a tanuki (raccoon dog), the tail of a serpent, and the limbs of a tiger. Its cry resembles that of a White's thrush (Zoothera aurea) — an eerie, fluting call that gives it an alternative name in some texts. The nue stands among Japan's oldest documented yokai, named in texts from the Heian period (794–1185).

The Tale of the Heike

The most famous nue legend appears in The Tale of the Heike, the great medieval war chronicle. Emperor Konoe fell mysteriously and gravely ill, and each night a black cloud gathered over the imperial palace. The warrior Minamoto no Yorimasa was summoned and fired an arrow into the cloud. A creature fell — the nue — and was finished off with a dagger by Yorimasa's attendant. The emperor recovered. Yorimasa was awarded the prized sword Shishi-Ō ("Lion King") for the feat. The nue's body was placed in a boat and cast adrift on the river.

"Nue-Like" as a Concept

The word nue-teki ("nue-like") entered Japanese as an adjective for anything that is uncategorizable, ambiguous, or impossible to pin down. A politician who is hard to read, an artistic movement that defies genre, a scandal that resists simple explanation — all may be called nue-teki. The chimeric yokai became a metaphor for the fundamentally unclassifiable.

In Later Culture

The nue appears as the protagonist of a Noh play in which Yorimasa's victim, unable to rest, narrates its own story. Toriyama Sekien illustrated it in his encyclopedias, and it remains a staple of modern games and anime as the archetypal composite monster.