The Chief Priest heads a mountain temple near a village afflicted by a demon. His parents surrendered him to the temple as a child, asserting that he “sowed the seeds of discord” at home. There, he pledged his life to the service of the Buddha.

That devotion wavered when he met a beautiful chigo, a servant boy used for sexual purposes, whom he called Byakoumaru. After the boy succumbed to illness, the priest refused to accept his death and remained with the corpse for many days. Villagers later found him consuming the body’s flesh, an act that transformed him into a demon.