Nurarihyon stands as the primary antagonist in "Yo-kai Watch: Enma Daiō to Itsutsu no Monogatari da Nyan!". He leads the Yo-kai Council and serves as Lord Enma's right hand. Secretly imprisoning Lord Enma, Nurarihyon orchestrates a plot to sever all human-Yo-kai ties, spreading the false claim that Enma contracted a disease from the human world. This manipulation allows him to seize control as the de facto ruler of the Yo-kai World, imposing a strict ban on human-Yo-kai interactions.

Physically, Nurarihyon replaces the traditional elongated head and elderly appearance of his species with a relatively normal Yo-kai form. During the climax, he transforms into a tentacled terror, referencing Okayama Prefecture folklore that conflates Nurarihyon with sea-dwelling Yokai like the Umibōzu.

A deep-seated conviction that humans and Yo-kai must remain separate entities drives Nurarihyon, viewing their friendships as unnatural. This ideology fuels his betrayal of Lord Enma and subsequent authoritarian rule. Though the antagonists defeat him, they achieve this through forgiveness, leading to his redemption. His character arc concludes by abandoning his ambitions, accepting the restoration of Lord Enma's rightful authority, and implicitly embracing the value of human-Yo-kai coexistence.