A pictorial subject taken from the popular tale, Ōeyama Shuten dōji 大江山酒顛童子 (The Drunkard Boy of Mt. Ōe), also called Ōeyama onitaiji 大江山鬼退治 (The Subjugation of the Demon of Mt. Ōe). Handscrolls *emaki 絵巻 of the theme are also known as Ōeyama ekotoba 大江山絵詞.
The story tells how a famous warrior Minamoto no Raikō 源頼光 (also known as Yorimitsu, 948-1021) kills the giant ogre Shuten dōji. The ogre, nearly 20 feet tall with flaming red hair, presided over a cannibalistic band of demons on Mt. Ōe in Tango 丹後, northwest of Kyoto, from where they ravaged the countryside and abducted women from the capital. Raikō, specially chosen by the emperor, enlists five men to aid him and they prepare for their dangerous task by visiting the Shinto shrines of Iwashimizu Hachimangū 石清水八幡宮 in Kyoto, Sumiyoshi Taisha 住吉大社 in Osaka, and Kumano Jinja 熊野神社 in Wakayama Prefecture. The heroic band receive from the gods of the shrines three magical gifts: a wine to make Shuten dōji drunk and impotent, a cord, and a golden helmet. Raikō and his men are guided to Shuten dōji's grand mountain palace where they are served a feast of human flesh and blood by his beautiful captive maidens. In return, the men offer the demons the magic wine which puts Shuten dōji into a sound sleep and rendering his minions helplessly drunk. Shuten dōji is then bound with the cord, yet when Raikō slices off the demon's huge head it flies into the air and lands upon Raikō, who is saved by the magic helmet. The story ends happily with the release of the ladies and the return of peace and prosperity.
The exact origins of the tale are unknown, but apparently it was popular by the latter half of the 14th century when the earliest extant illustrated handscroll of the theme in the Itsuō 逸翁 Museum was produced. Another version of the story developed, this time set at Mt. Ibuki 伊吹 in Ōmi 近江 Province, and emphasizing Shuten dōji's debauched ancestry and his abandonment in childhood by his mother. This story was adapted into *Noh 能, jōruri 浄瑠璃, and *kabuki 歌舞伎 repertories, and by the 18th century, was one of the 23 most popular illustrated *otogi zōshi 御伽草紙.
The story was often painted by Edo period artists who typically depicted the entire narrative in emaki or across a pair of folding screens *byōbu 屏風 such as the one in Shin'enkan 心遠館 Museum, Los Angeles. *Kano-ha 狩野派 artists favored the Ibukiyama version, perhaps because school patriarch Kano Motonobu 狩野元信 (1476-1559) painted it on a handscroll (The Suntory サントリー Museum of Art, Tokyo). The theme was a favorite of the warrior caste, with a resulting visual emphasis on violent martial scenes. *Ukiyo-e 浮世絵 artists reworked the theme into farcical parodies, often substituting actors or beautiful women for the original characters.