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Средневековые японские гомункулы в историях «О том, как Сайгё сделал человека на горе Коя» и «Хасэо»
The publication presents Russian translation of two medieval Japanese stories. The story "How Saigyō Made a Man at Mountain Koya" is included in the setsuwa collection Senjūshō, dating from the second half of the 13th century. Haseo refers to the genre of otogi-zōshi, and dates from the beginning of the 14th century. The stories are united by the fact that in the course of the plot people created with the help of magic appear. The magic of creating people is owned by demons-oni. Oni are frequent heroes of Japanese folklore, literature, and religious texts. The genesis and existence of ideas about them are associated with Buddhism, Japanese mythology and folklore, Chinese mythology and folklore, onmyōdō (the doctrine of the Way of dark and light beginnings). The presented stories illustrate the ambiguity of understanding the essence of oni. In the story about Saigyō, they are an abstract concept that remains outside the text, and people are created by people. In the story about Haseo oni is a literary-folklore character, presented in an anthropomorphic form. In both stories, attempts to create a person turn out to be unsuccessful, because of obstacles prevented to endow them with soul.