This is called “ Kage wo kuu (影を食う)” or sometimes ' Kage wo nomu (影を飲む)', which translates to “eating the shadow” or 'drinking the soul'. The person's soul or energy is drained and he or she dies. Legend says when a hiker or traveler makes eye contact with the ushi-oni, the person cannot avert his or her gaze. In Wakayama Prefecture, ushi-oni are mountain-dwelling beasts.

However, it is said that there is a rule that says that an ushi-oni who saves a human must leave this world in exchange, so as the ushi-oni was saving the young lad, from the ushi-oni's body sprang out deep red blood as the ushi-oni's body melted and disappeared. As a young lad was sharing his bentō with a woman, who was the shapeshifted master of the stream pool, the ushi-oni, and when this young lad was washed away by a flood 2 months later, he was saved by the woman who was the shapeshifted ushi-oni. The tale about the yōkai at Mio River pool is an extremely unusual story about an ushi-oni who would shapeshift into a human, and even help a human. It is said that there is an ushi-oni at the waterfall basin in Wado River, and people who have their shadows licked by one would get a high fever and die in a few days, and that to avoid this, one can provide the ushi-oni with its favorite thing, some alcohol, every year at new year's. The ushi-oni of this land a catlike body with a tail at a length of 1 shaku (about 3.3 meters) or more, and have springy bodies like a ball, and therefore do not make sound as they walk. It is said that by saying opposites like 'rocks flow, leaves sink, oxen neigh, and horses bellow,' one's life can be saved. The ushi-oni stream pool in Nishimuro District connects to the sea at its bottom, and when the water gets dirty, people would say 'the ushi-oni is there.' Just encountering this ushi-oni would result in catching an illness. Because of this, the seishitsu's parents, Kitabatake, came to have bad relations with the Aisu, and ended up ruining the Aisu.

Because of this, Shigeaki distanced himself from the seishitsu, and developed an infatuation for a shirabyōshi (dancer) who came from the capital. It is said that there was once an ushi-oni in the caves of Gokasho-ura, Minamiise, and when the lord of the Gokasho castle, Aisu Shigeaki shot it with a bow, the seishitsu (lord's wife) fell incurable illness due to the curse. The ushi-oni is considered to curse the Mie Prefecture. In the Hyakki Yagyō Emaki, a similar picture goes under the title of Tsuchigumo. In yōkai emaki of the Edo Period such as the Hyakkai Zukan, they are most often shown with the bovine head and a spider torso. They often appear in stream pools, and in the Kinki region and Shikoku among other places, there are many places names such as 'ushi-oni fuchi' (ushi-oni stream pool) or 'ushi-oni taki' (ushi-oni waterfall). They are said to appears in beaches, in mountains, in forests, in rivers, in swamps, and in lakes. Other ushi-oni have a reverse appearance, with an oni's head and an ox's body. Certain legends claim that they appear in front of temple gates in the mountains wearing human clothing, or flying with the wings of an insect.

In other descriptions, they have the head of an ox and an oni's torso. Their body is most commonly depicted as spider-like with six legs and long singular claws at the end of each appendage. They usually have an ox's head with sharp upward-curving horns, wicked fangs and a slender tongue, They spit poison and enjoy killing and eating humans. Their appearance varies, mainly based on geographical location. Ushi-oni have brutal, savage personalites.

2.11 Tokushima Prefecture, Shirokiyama Village (徳島県白木山).

2.9 Kagawa Prefecture, Takamatsu City (香川県高松市).

2.8 Shimane Prefecture, Iwami Area (島根県石見).

Shiga hime 10