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Raiju — Description
A Raijū, (Thunder Beast) is the embodiment of lightning into an animal form. They had long, sharp claws and ferocious faces. Generally, they were thought to look like wolves, dogs, tanuki, or even weasels or cats. Far more fanciful forms existed too.

Raijū live in the sky—a world which was totally off limits to humans before the 20th century. Because of this, almost nothing can be said about their true nature or behavior. They ride bolts of lightning to earth when thunder claps, and create mayhem wherever they land. For seemingly no reason at all they attack buildings, starting fires and causing mass destruction.

Because they were so scary, Raijū are usually presented in stories as beasts to be slain, like Oni. One legend involves the samurai, Tachibana Dōsetsu. One night he was taking shelter from a storm under a tree when lightning struck. He drew his sword just in time to strike the bolt. When the smoke had cleared, there was a dead raijū on the ground next to him. Afterwards, he named his sword Raikiri, or “lightning cutter.”

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