In the reign of Emperor Ichijo, the daughters of high-ranking families in the capital were vanishing one after another. When the daughter of the Ikeda Counselor also went missing, the yin-yang master Abe no Seimei was asked to divine, and he said, "It is the work of a demon who lives on Mount Oe in Tanba."
The emperor ordered Minamoto no Raiko to destroy the demon. Raiko set out with his four guardians, Watanabe no Tsuna, Sakata no Kintoki, Usui Sadamitsu and Urabe no Suetake, and with Fujiwara no Yasumasa. They prayed to the gods of Hachiman, Sumiyoshi and Kumano, disguised themselves as mountain ascetics so the demon would not suspect them, and made their way into Mount Oe.
In the mountains they met three old men. "This is a sake called jinben kidokushu," said the old men. "If a demon drinks it, he loses his strength; if a man drinks it, it is medicine." They gave the party the sake, and gave Raiko a star-studded helmet as well. The old men were in truth the gods the party had prayed to.
Going on, they found a girl weeping as she washed blood-stained clothes in a mountain stream. She was the daughter of the Hanazono Counselor, carried off from the capital. She told them the demons drank the girls' blood and ate their flesh, and showed them the way to the demons' castle.
Reaching the demons' castle with its iron gate, the party called themselves ascetics and asked for a night's lodging. The demon chief, Shuten Doji, welcomed them and held a banquet. He told them his story: he had been born in Echigo and lived on Mount Hiei, but was driven out and moved to this mountain.
"We have sake too," said Raiko, and offered the jinben kidokushu. Shuten Doji and the demons drank it down gladly, and soon fell into a drunken sleep.
The party took off their ascetics' robes, put on armor, and crept into Shuten Doji's bedchamber. He lay sleeping, returned to his true form, a terrible demon five jo (some fifteen meters) tall. Raiko brought his sword down and cut off the demon's head; the head flew up into the air and bit at Raiko's head. But protected by the star helmet, Raiko was unharmed.
The party destroyed the rest of the demons, rescued the captive princesses, and returned to the capital in triumph. People praised the valor of Raiko and his men, and the emperor rewarded them richly.