Takayama Torakichi

was a Japanese street urchin who became known in early 19th century Edo for claiming that he had visited the and received training in the ways of the tengu.

He also used the name and was sometimes called .

Biography Takayama Torakichi was the son of , the poor shopkeeper of the tobacconist in Shitaya. While he was still a boy, he left home and was eventually discovered by Hirata Atsutane in 1820. Torakichi had previously stayed with Yamazaki Yoshishige, a Buddhist essayist.

Torakichi already had a reputation for his stories, and Atsutane asked him a great many questions about his journey into the spirit world. Torakichi said that in 1811, when he was 5 years old, he was abducted outside the Kan'ei-ji by a high-ranking tengu called . This Sugiyama flew with him in a magical jar to in Hitachi Province and Torakichi had lived there for several years as his apprentice. Torakichi had also flown around the world to places including Ihara Saikaku's and even the Moon.

Later life

Torakichi appears again more than 30 years later in an 1859 letter sent by Atsutane's successor Hirata Kanetane to Tsuruya Ariyo of Hirosaki, a local leader of kokugaku students in the Tsugaru Domain.

The date and circumstances of Torakichi's death are unknown.