Utsu no Miko

During the upheaval of the Jinshin-no-Ran civil war in 762, a baby boy was born with a small horn on his forehead. His mother, believing him to be an oni, abandoned him. An old shūgenja woman took him in and named him Utsunomiko, calling him the "Divine Child of the Heavens." She explained that his horn represented the connection between heaven and earth. Raised in the wild, Miko learned the teachings of Shugendō and eventually began visiting nearby villages out of curiosity. There, he saw the harsh lives of the poor and suffering, and he used his spiritual gifts to aid them. But as he witnessed the greed and infighting of those in power, his frustration turned to defiance, leading him to clash with the Imperial Court. This marked the beginning of Miko’s lifelong struggle as a defender of the oppressed.