This is the name of a treasured sword said to have been given to Minamoto no Yorimasa, who was active at the end of the Heian period (794-1185), for his distinguished service in defeating the Nue, a monster that threatened the capital.
Minamoto no Yorimasa was the only master archer to fight for the Heike clan in the Genpei war and was also famous as a poet.
According to the Tale of the Heike, Yorimasa was in charge of guarding the Imperial Court when a strange creature with the head of a monkey, the body of a tanuki, the tail of a snake, and the arms and legs of a tiger appeared and threatened the capital. Yorimasa, who was ordered by the emperor to exterminate the Nue, shot it down with his skill with a bow, and his subordinate Inosouta finished it off, thus successfully completing his mission.
For his efforts, he is said to have been given the treasured sword "King of Beasts".
Seven years later, when the mythical creature appeared again in the capital, Yorimasa was summoned in turn. The Nue, which hid its form and kept its voice low, was made to cry out in fright with a kaburaya whistle, said to harm evil beings by making sound, so that Yorimasa could detect its location and shoot it down with his bow. [A kaburaya whistle is actually an arrow, which has a whistle attached to it, so it can make a sound when shot.]
The kaburaya whistle used by Yorimasa at that time is said to have the power to exorcise foxes, one of which later possessed him, and the treasured sword "King of Beasts" is also said to have the power to harm evil.
In particular, the King of Beasts is believed to have had some power over fox spirits, as it is said in the "Tamamo no Mae Asahi no Tatomo (Tamamo-no-Mae on the Edge of the Horizon)", a Kabuki and Bunraku play, that the golden-furred nine-tailed fox desired it. Therefore, one of the spells to exorcise fox possession is to chant the name of the King of Beasts.
On a disk, the Kanji for "dog (犬)" is written in red 14 times in a circle, and "fox, lion, love, tiger, wolf (狐獅子愛虎狼)" is written vertically in Kanji below the circle. Then pour water drawn early in the morning, chant "Like the King of Beasts (如獅子王 or Goto Shishiou)" 33 times, and let the fox-possessed drink the water. It is said that this will exorcise the foxes that possessed them.
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