Japan Oni Exchange Museum (日本の鬼の交流博物館)

Quick Facts

Type

Museum

Prefecture

Kyoto · Fukuchiyama (Ōe)

Nearest station

Ōe Station (Kyoto Tango Railway Miyafuku Line)

From the station

City bus to the Ōeyama-no-ie stop and two minutes on foot; the bus does not run on weekends and holidays, when a reservation-only shared taxi serves the route

English signage

none

Opening hours and admission

See the official site · information checked on 2026-11-03

Hours, admission and closing days change, and this site does not list them. The link goes to the place's own page, with the date we last checked it.

What is there

The museum stands at the foot of Mount Ōe in the old town of Ōe, now part of Fukuchiyama. It opened in 1993 and collects oni from every tradition it can find: the masks of village rites across Japan, oni of the kabuki and the picture scrolls, and demons and ogres from other countries set beside them. The three oni legends of the mountain are laid out in order, from the ancient tale of the prince who drove out the monsters to Shuten-dōji. Outside stands a roof tile in the shape of an oni face, five metres high and made by tile-makers from all over the country.

Why here

The tale puts the oni king’s fortress on this mountain, and the museum is the point from which the road into the tale begins: the shrine of Onitake Inari higher up the slope, and the rocks and streams named for the hero’s climb. The tale itself, and the second mountain that claims it, are in the article.

Yokai you will meet

Shuten-dōji 酒呑童子 — The museum at the foot of the mountain where the oni king's fortress stood.
Oni 鬼 — Oni masks and figures from rites across Japan and from other countries.

Getting there

Ōe Station (Kyoto Tango Railway Miyafuku Line). City bus to the Ōeyama-no-ie stop and two minutes on foot; the bus does not run on weekends and holidays, when a reservation-only shared taxi serves the route.

Sources and further reading

Museum Japan Oni Exchange Museum Fukuchiyama City Official site of the museum at the foot of Mount Ōe.

Museum Japan Oni Exchange Museum: visitor information Fukuchiyama City Visiting information and access by the city bus and the shared taxi.

Database Japan Oni Exchange Museum (日本の鬼の交流博物館) Wikipedia (Japanese) Opened 1993; the collection of masks and the giant oni roof tile outside.

Other places with these yokai

Kubizuka Daimyōjin 首塚大明神 Shrine or temple Kyoto (Nishikyō, Oinosaka pass), Kyoto — Shuten-dōji, Oni

Onitake Inari Shrine on Mount Ōe 鬼嶽稲荷神社 Shrine or temple Fukuchiyama (Ōe), Kyoto — Shuten-dōji, Oni

Mitsuishi Shrine and the Oni's Handprints 三ツ石神社（鬼の手形） Shrine or temple Morioka, Iwate — Oni

Namahage Museum and Shinzan Folklore Museum なまはげ館・男鹿真山伝承館 Museum Oga, Akita — Oni

Kijin Shrine 鬼鎮神社 Shrine or temple Ranzan, Saitama — Oni

Kinasa Folk Museum and the Demon Woman Momiji 鬼無里ふるさと資料館と鬼女紅葉の里 Museum Nagano (Kinasa), Nagano — Oni

Seimei Shrine and Ichijō Modoribashi 晴明神社・一条戻橋 Shrine or temple Kyoto (Kamigyō), Kyoto — Oni

Gangōji 元興寺 Shrine or temple Nara, Nara — Oni

Kibitsu Shrine 吉備津神社 Shrine or temple Okayama, Okayama — Oni

Kinojō, the Oni's Castle 鬼ノ城 Site Sōja, Okayama — Oni

Other places in Kyoto

Seimei Shrine and Ichijō Modoribashi 晴明神社・一条戻橋 Shrine or temple Kyoto (Kamigyō), Kyoto — The shrine on the site of the court diviner's house and, a hundred metres south, the bridge where a warrior cut off an oni's arm.

Nue Pond and Nue Daimyōjin 鵺池・鵺大明神 Site Kyoto (Kamigyō), Kyoto — A small stone-edged pond in a city park north-west of Nijō Castle, where the arrow that killed the nue was said to have been washed.

Kurama-dera 鞍馬寺 Shrine or temple Kyoto (Sakyō), Kyoto — The mountain temple north of Kyoto where the king of the tengu taught a boy to fight, reached past a giant tengu head at the station.

Kubizuka Daimyōjin 首塚大明神 Shrine or temple Kyoto (Nishikyō, Oinosaka pass), Kyoto — A small shrine on the old road at the pass west of Kyoto, where the oni king's head was buried because it could not be carried into the capital.

Onitake Inari Shrine on Mount Ōe 鬼嶽稲荷神社 Shrine or temple Fukuchiyama (Ōe), Kyoto — A lone shrine at the eighth station of the oni's mountain, where the trail to Shuten-dōji's summit begins and the valley below fills with cloud at dawn.

Ichijō Yōkai Street and Daishōgun Hachi Shrine 一条妖怪ストリート（大将軍商店街）と大将軍八神社 Street Kyoto (Kamigyō), Kyoto — Four hundred metres of shops on the road the night parade once took, with yokai figures at their doors and the shrine of the direction god at the west end.