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In the Shaman King series, Hao (and later Anna) used to take control of two
beasts named Zenki and Goki (or Kouki), which look like this:

![Zenki and Goki from Shaman King](https://i.stack.imgur.com/uTkUb.jpg)

This immediately reminded me of Zenki and Goki from "Zenki":

![Zenki and Goki from "Zenki"](https://i.stack.imgur.com/eL7IT.jpg)

So: Is there a relation between both series? (perhaps authors were friends...)
Or is Zenki a japanese mythology character? Or... what's the reason behind the
reference?


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question
shaman-king kishin-douji-zenki
Is there a reference to Zenki in Japanese mythology? Or did Shaman King intentionally reference Zenki (anime/manga)?


I have no prior knowledge here, so I'm mostly summarizing Japanese articles
here. (English information on these beings exists, but is difficult to find
because it's mostly swamped by _Shaman King_ -related websites.)

[Zenki and
Goki](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%89%8D%E9%AC%BC%E3%83%BB%E5%BE%8C%E9%AC%BC)
are, respectively, a male [_oni_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oni) and a
female _oni_ ("ogres", if you will) who are married to one another. Their
names mean, respectively, " _oni_ of the fore" and " _oni_ of the rear".

They are said to have been attendants to [En-no-
Ozuno](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/En_no_Gy%C5%8Dja), who is the founder of
[Shugendō](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shugend%C5%8D), a syncretic
derivative of Buddhism that is indigenous to Japan. Depictions of En-no-Ozuno
very commonly feature these two _oni_ flanking him. See, for example, the
piece "En no Gyōja, Eight Boy Attendants & Two Demon Attendants (Zenki &
Goki)" shown in [this article on
Shugendō](http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/shugendou.html) (by the way,
that website is incredibly fascinating if you're interested in Buddhist
symbology and art, and is a true wonder of the internet) - Zenki appears to
the immediate bottom left of the central figure, and Goki to the immediate
bottom right. The linked article also includes some narratives about these
figures. See [the section titled "Two Demon Attendants / Servants of Enno
Gyōja"](http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/shugendou.html#twodemons).

I know nothing about _Shaman King_ or _Kishin Dōji Zenki_ ; anyone who does
should feel free to write an answer pointing out any pertinent details about
how either of those things relates to the mythological Zenki and Goki.


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answer