The Ushi-Oni (literaly “Cow Demon”), sometimes called Gyūki is a mythical creature that can be found in various parts of Japan. Despite its name, it doesn’t really have a definite shape. Sometimes it will have the body of a crab or a spider, some other times it will actually

    Today is Setsubun, so make sure you don’t have any Oni in your house, or kick them out by throwing some beans at them!    

  You may already know that Megijima is far from being my favorite island of the area, but that’s not a reason to completely snub it on this blog (although the fact I rarely visit it has for consequence that I don’t have much to share about it).    

  Let me introduce you to Ao Oni-kun. One can poorly translate this into “Mr. Blue Oni.”     You most likely have already seen this statue if you’ve been to Takamatsu. It is a Oni and it is located right next to the Takamatsu Station in the Sunport. As

  Megijima. As previously mentioned, I’m not too crazy about Ogijima‘s sister island, although to its defense I’ve never been during summer time where it is said to be more lively. But the fact that it is my least favorite island of the area is no reason to shun it.

Last Spring, we visited Megijima, Ogijima’s sister island and I had been quite disappointed. As I had never been disappointed by an island of the Seto Inland Sea before, I assumed that I hadn’t visited under the right conditions (although nothing special happened). So the Setouchi International Art Festival was