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Put the head of one very ugly man on the body of a giant crow, and you have the tengu, an Asian demon that loves playing tricks on people. This mischievous monster of the mind supposedly uses magic to humiliate humans, and can become dangerously violent if someone makes it mad. Not even a person's dreams are safe from this devious creature.

Size Matters: The tengu is a sort of Asian bird-man and sometimes is described as having the wings, claws and black feathers of a crow, along with the head of a man. The creature always has a big nose; the bigger the nose, the more powerful the tengu.

Shape Shifters: They take the shape of old monks and offer to help travelers, only to carry them to the tops of mountains or strip them of clothing and drop them in unfamiliar places.

Magical Shapeshifter[]

Tengu Back Image

Some tengus are karate experts and teach humans how to fight.

In most stories, tengus are tricksters, and love to play pranks on people, especially Buddhist monks. The monsters influence the minds of monks so they feel greed and pride. Tengus also use magical powers to lift people in the air, and then threaten to drop the victims, or feed them plates of poop that are disguised to look like delicious meals. Sometimes, a tengu's pranks can be quite dangerous. In one story, a man dressed up like a tengu to frighten his friends, but when a real tengu found out, it created a magical sword that constantly hovered above the man's head and continually slashed at his neck.

Mind Over Matter: The tengu has several supernatural powers. This demon speaks to people telepathically, can appear and disappear anywhere at will, and can even invade a person's dreams, turning them quickly into nightmares.

Human Veal: The tengu has a habit of kidnapping children, and even today people blame this monster any time a kid goes missing. Rumor has it that the tengu may even eat the young ones it abducts.

Night of the Tengu[]

Legend has it that any time a shooting star falls to Earth or a comet appears in the sky, they carry a giant egg from which a tengu will hatch. If another tengu sees the star or comet, it just might fly to the egg and welcome the new tengu to a new life of pulling pranks. It's rare, but tengus have been known to team up to pull humiliating and even deadly tricks on human beings.

Trading Card[]

Trivia[]

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