Before the Tengu was a red-faced, long-nosed goblin of the Japanese mountains, it was the Tiangu, a flesh-eating heavenly dog from Chinese legend whose fall from the sky sounded like thunder and heralded war and famine. This episode follows its journey from the first recorded Japanese sighting in the Nihon Shoki around 720 CE, through its merger with Shinto bird demons and the Hindu eagle deity Garuda, to the 14th century shift that turned a predatory beak into the iconic long nose borrowed from a red-faced Shinto sun deity.

Along the way we look at why the Tengu adopted the exact wardrobe of the Yamabushi mountain monks, the Buddhist concept of the Tengu realm as a purgatory for arrogant priests, the tragic Emperor Sutoku who swore to become Japan's great demon king, and the martial arts legend of Sojobo training the young warrior Minamoto ...