Watanabe no Tsuna cutting off the demon's arm at the Rashōmon Gate, 1887 (woodcut)

The warrior Watanabe Tsuna (953-1025), confronts the demon Ibaraki during a furious rainstorm at the Rashomon Gate of the Imperial palace in Kyoto. Ibaraki looms above the warrior, encircling one of the massive vermilion pillars as she prepares to launch her attack. Tsuna steadies his horse, which is bucking in alarm, and twists his torso to look skyward at the menacing demon. In one hand he holds a signpost inscribed Watanabe which had fallen in the tempest. Soon he will discard it for the more useful sword at his side, and cut off the demon's arm-earning the moniker Onikiri maru (lit. 'Demon cutter') for the sword. The tales of the 11th-century Raiko and his lieutenants, set in a time of lawlessness and disorder, often elevate the human criminals and bandits they fought to demons and monsters. The monster, attempting to attack Tsuna from the upper sheet, could be seen as a metaphor for such nefarious, though human, characters.