あまのじゃく

Japanese

For pronunciation and definitions of あまのじゃく – see the following entry.

【天邪鬼】 [noun] a kind of oni that appears in various folktales as the bad guy, who deliberately goes against what people say [noun] someone with a personality or behavior reminiscent of the folktale character: a crank, a perverse person [noun] (Buddhism) in Buddhist statuary, the small devil or demon being trampled under the feet of a 仁王 (Niō, “Deva king”) or one of the 四天王 (Shitennō, “four Deva warriors”) [noun] (Buddhism) in Buddhist statuary, the devil or demon face on the breastplate of 毘沙門天 (Bishamonten, “Vaiśravaṇa”) [noun] a grub (insect larva)

(This term, あまのじゃく, is the hiragana spelling of the above term.)