Watanabe No Tsuna - in Legend

In Legend

Watanabe features in many of Yorimitsu's legendary adventures, and aids him in fighting many monsters, beasts and demons.

In one such tale, Tsuna accompanies Raikō to the hut of Yamamba, a man-eating hag. There they find a boy known as Kaidomaru, who had been brought up among animals and endowed with superhuman strength. The boy requests that Raikō allow him to become one of his retainers, and Raikō accepts, giving the boy the name Sakata no Kintoki, often shortened to Kintoki.

Some of Watanabe no Tsuna's other comrades in legend are Urabe no Suetake and Usui Sadamitsu. Together, the four are collectively known as the Four Guardian Kings, an allusion to the Buddhist Shitennō.

Watanabe is also said to have assisted Raikō in slaying Tsuchigumo, the demonic ground spider. His most famous feat is most likely the defeat of the demon Ibaraki Oni, the principal follower of Shutendoji. He fought Ibaraki single-handedly at the Rashomon gate at the southern end of Suzaku-oji, the central North-South street in the old capital Heian-kyo (now Kyoto).

At the end of the intense battle Watanabe no Tsuna cut off the demon's arm before it fled. Tsuna put the demon's arm away in a Chinese case (唐櫃). The demon later returned to claim the lost arm, and tricked Tsuna to release the arm. This legend is continued in a Japanese tale known as Ooeyama.