Tengu ( TENG-goo, Japanese pronunciation: [teŋgɯ]) are a type of legendary creature found in Shinto belief. They are considered a type of yōkai or Shinto kami. The Tengu were originally thought to take the forms of birds of prey and a monkey deity, and they were traditionally depicted with human, monkey, and avian characteristics. Sarutahiko Ōkami is considered to be the original model of Konoha-Tengu, which today is widely considered the Tengu's defining characteristic in the popular imagination. He is the Shinto monkey deity who is said to shed light on Heaven and Earth. Some experts theorize that Sarutahiko was a sun god worshiped in the Ise region prior to the popularization of Amaterasu.

Yōkai are a class of supernatural entities and spirits in Japanese folklore. The word yōkai is composed of two kanji characters that both mean "suspicious, doubtful", and while it may be regarded as a loanword from the Chinese term yaoguai, the word yōkai has taken on multiple different meanings particular to a Japanese context.