Going from the very common unicorn, now we’re heading into Japanese lore and something the average person may never have heard about: the tengu.
Tengu are a type of youkai, or supernatural beings—but also sometimes kami, or gods. They have evolved a lot in form and function through the centuries. But in broad strokes, they are usually humanoid, usually winged, usually masked, and usually very powerful.
Originally, tengu were depicted as more humanoid birds, including with a beak. Nowadays, they are usually seen with more human faces, but with very long noses, to mimic the beak. Sometimes, those are masks they wear, sometimes they’re just their face. Common accessories include fans (to help control the wind), very fashionable sandals, and also can be seen with staffs (also because they tend to take the form of priests).
Like many youkai, tengu have a wide range of behaviors. They used to be more aggressive and hostile, seen as harbingers of war or violence, but now are more tied into naturalistic views. They can be seen as spirits of forests or mountains (or even the skies, as their kanji reading 天狗 says—the first character, “ten” (天) means “heaven”). They will still attack or trick humans. But they can also be seen as wise protector spirits; they have the range, darling.
They feature heavily in my urban fantasy series, Your Local Guides To The Supernatural (YLG for short!). They are individual characters, and have a lot more in-story lore attached to them than the unicorn, or other creatures like dragons I use. They are still Japanese and have Japanese names, but since I’m writing the story in English, we’re going to say all spirits are fluent because magic. “Because magic” is a thing I get to use a lot for my reasoning, and it rocks.
Tengu are higher spirits, associated most closely with wind and flight magic, but are capable of many forms. As with many other youkai, they were banished from the human realm ~300 years prior to the story start, so only the oldest remember what it was like Back In The Day. Just like humans.
I’ve taken many liberties with their physical design, however. They still have masks and have fans, but the masks are more reminiscent of the birds they are—they are separated into familial clans, according to type of bird; i.e., songbird clan, crow clan, owl clan.
They are still humanoid, but from the waist-down it’s all bird, and they have arm-wings instead of separate limbs. They have largely human faces, but pointed ears, and far sharper teeth than any human ought to have.
Their plumage matches the bird type and is reflected in their skin and hair color, too. Example: the magpie tengu, Mirai, is the most heavily featured tengu. They’re described with predominately black hair and feathers, darker skin, but streaks of white hair near their temples, and white plumage on the underside of their wings.
Design-wise, I went with something closer to what people imagine harpies to be like, and that’s just personal preference. (I especially love the harpy designs from Tales of Symphonia.) They definitely check all the boxes of Bird Person Spirit Thing.
Like the tengu source material, they are very proud and very powerful. Many in-the-know human characters are afraid of them at first meeting, because tengu have talons the length of your forearm, and they aren’t too shy about using them. They lay eggs, potentially with the aid of magic, because no one in the main cast is going to ask how they do it. Tengu eggs are very valuable for their magical uses. (A prominent plot point is tracking down an egg thief.)
I’ve decided in my story that tengu don’t ascribe to human genders, so they all use neutral pronouns. Do they have genders amongst themselves? Who knows! But they deal with things their own way, and big scary birds are allowed to do what they want and be called what they want. (There are other nonbinary characters, so this isn’t just a “ooh, weird nonhuman character has weird nonhuman gender!” thing. But tengu are pretty weird.)
Due to their nonhuman status and perspective, I adore writing the tengu. I haven’t kept with many Japanese-language speaking customs—because again, I am writing in English and many don’t translate well, plus I am far from fluent—but the names and how they treat others are an echo. It has been a very fun exercise writing characters, human and not, from cultures spanning the globe. Would recommend!
