Japanese mythology Japanese mythology is a collection of traditional stories, folktales, and beliefs that emerged in the islands of the Japanese archipelago. Shinto traditions are the cornerstones of Japanese mythology. The history of thousands of years of contac ...

and fantasy, are supernatural beings, normally evil ones such as devils or demons. A or maou is a ruler of mazoku, or in fiction more generically a

dark lord In fiction and mythology, a dark lord (sometimes capitalized as Dark Lord or referred to as an evil overlord, evil emperor etc. depending on the work) is an antagonistic archetype, acting as the pinnacle of villainy and evil within a typically h ...

or powerful monster.

Etymology

The name ''ma'' ( –

devil A devil is the mythical personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conce ...

) suggests that they are meant to threaten human existence or defy the gods, while - zoku ( – tribe, clan, family) indicates that they are a family. Maō () is a term derived from mazoku, suggesting a king ( ''Ō'' – king, ruler) that rules the mazoku.

In mythology and folklore

The term "mazoku" was used to describe the

asura Asuras () are a class of beings in Indian religions, and later Persian and Turkic mythology. They are described as power-seeking beings related to the more benevolent Devas (also known as Suras) in Hinduism. In its Buddhist context, the wor ...

and

yaksha The Yakshas (, , ) in Mythology are a broad class of nature spirits, usually benevolent, but sometimes mischievous or capricious, connected with water, fertility, trees, the forest, treasure and wilderness. They appear in Hindu, Jain and Bud ...

Hindu mythology Hindu mythology refers to the collection of myths associated with Hinduism, derived from various Hindu texts and traditions. These myths are found in sacred texts such as the Vedas, the Itihasas (the ''Mahabharata'' and the ''Ramayan ...

, as well as

Zoroastrianism Zoroastrianism ( ), also called Mazdayasnā () or Beh-dīn (), is an Iranian religions, Iranian religion centred on the Avesta and the teachings of Zoroaster, Zarathushtra Spitama, who is more commonly referred to by the Greek translation, ...

daeva A daeva (Avestan: 𐬛𐬀𐬉𐬎𐬎𐬀 ''daēuua'') is a Zoroastrian supernatural entity with disagreeable characteristics. In the Gathas, the oldest texts of the Zoroastrian canon, the ''daeva''s are " gods that are (to be) rejected". T ...

. It is a general term for devils, demons and evil beings. In Japanese

polytheism Polytheism is the belief in or worship of more than one god. According to Oxford Reference, it is not easy to count gods, and so not always obvious whether an apparently polytheistic religion, such as Chinese folk religions, is really so, or whet ...

, it is an antonym of (shinzoku), "the tribe of gods". A maō is a king or ruler over mazoku. For instance, in Bible translations,

Satan Satan, also known as the Devil, is a devilish entity in Abrahamic religions who seduces humans into sin (or falsehood). In Judaism, Satan is seen as an agent subservient to God, typically regarded as a metaphor for the '' yetzer hara'', or ' ...

is a maō. In polytheism, the counterpart of maō is (shin'ō), "the king of gods". The Japanese feudal lord

Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods. He was the and regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. He is sometimes referred as the "Demon Daimyō" and "Demo ...

also called himself a maō in a letter to

Takeda Shingen was daimyō, daimyo of Kai Province during the Sengoku period of Japan. Known as "the Tiger of Kai", he was one of the most powerful daimyo of the late Sengoku period, and credited with exceptional military prestige. Shingen was based in a p ...

, signing it with ("the demon king of the sixth heaven").

In fiction

In Japanese fantasy, the meaning of "mazoku" differs from work to work. Some works use the term for all evil beings that are enemies of humans or good beings, while others use it to specify a certain group of beings (not necessarily evil). The term ( akumazoku) may be used to designate evil mazoku specifically (the word , aku, means "evil"). A maō may be a king of the mazoku, or more generally a king of demons, overlord,

, archenemy of the hero or

video game boss In video games, a boss is a significantly powerful non-player character and computer-controlled enemy created as an opponent to players. A fight with a boss character is referred to as a boss battle or boss fight. Bosses are generally far stro ...

. The term is not gender-specific. For instance, "

Erlkönig "Erlkönig" is a German poetry, poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. It depicts the death of a child assailed by a supernatural being, the Erlking, a king of the fairy, fairies. It was originally written by Goethe as part of a 1782 ''Singspiel' ...

", by

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

, widely translated as "Elf King" in English, was translated as "maō" in Japanese. The term daimaō or daimaou ( – great demon king) is sometimes used to describe a very high-ranking or powerful maō. An example is Piccolo Daimaō, a villain from the ''

Dragon Ball is a Japanese media franchise created by Akira Toriyama in 1984. The Dragon Ball (manga), initial manga, written and illustrated by Toriyama, was Serial (literature), serialized in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from 1984 to 1995, with the 519 indi ...

'' manga.

References

{{Japanese folklore long Japanese demons Yōkai Dark lords