What is the itsumade?
The itsumade is a monstrous bird yokai that cries in an eerie voice, “itsumade, itsumade.” It is said to have had a human-like face, a curved beak, saw-like teeth, a snake-like body and sharp claws, with a wingspan of about 5 meters.
The monstrous bird in the Taiheiki
The Nanboku-cho-period war chronicle Taiheiki records that in 1334, a year when an epidemic killed many people, a monstrous bird appeared every night above the Shishinden hall of the imperial palace, crying “itsumade, itsumade” and terrifying everyone. The master archer Oki no Jirozaemon Hiroari was ordered to shoot it, and he brought the bird down with a single arrow, it is said.
The meaning of “itsumade”
In the Edo period, Toriyama Sekien named this bird “Itsumade” and drew it. Its cry is interpreted as the voices of those who died in epidemics and wars, left without proper funeral rites, asking “until when will you leave us like this?” It is a legend of slaying a monster at the palace closely resembling the Heian-period tale of the nue.
