Datsue-ba

right|thumb|167x167px|A statue of Datsue-ba in Kawaguchi, Saitama is often depicted sitting by the Sanzu River in literary, visual, and religious depictions of the Buddhist underworld. Although Buddhist hell is imagined in a great number of texts and images ranging from places such as China, India, and Tibet, Datsueba appears to be unique to Japanese iterations of Buddhist hell. Throughout these depictions, Datsueba is broadly imagined and illustrated as an old, frightening ogress who takes the clothes from the deceased as they cross the Sanzu River.

== Literary Depictions == The first mentions of Datsueba date back to eleventh-century Japanese scriptures and religious stories. The earliest of which is likely the Hokke genki, which was composed by Chingen the Tendai monk between 1040 and 1044. In "Renshū hōshi", one of the 129 tales within the Hokke genki, a Datsueba-like figure sits by the side of a river beneath a tree whose branches are draped in clothes. The woman is described as old and ugly, and demands Renshu, a Daigoji monk who died from illness, to strip off his clothes and cross the river. Similar iterations of this story can be found in other texts from this period, including Konjaku monogatari shū (Anthology of Tales from the Past) and the Kannon riyaku shū (Anthology of the Benefits of Kannon). In these texts, Datsueba is unnamed and referred to simply as oni (ogre) or ouna no oni (old female ogre), but the descriptions of the female ogre's physicality and locale by the Sanzu river are very similar, and also resemble future iterations of a more solidified, established notion of Datsueba.