Enma Daio

Enma Daio (Great King Enma) is a frightening and demonic entity from ancient Buddhist mythology as well as Far Eastern beliefs, due to such a wide-reaching influence his appearance and traits may differ from region to region but in general he is seen as one of the thirteen judges of Hell, as such he is one of the most important deities in relation to humanity and while a strict, extremely vicious being he is also the alter-ego of the god known as Jizō Bosats - who is beloved for his role as guardian of the Underworld, protector of children and god of travellers.

It is well known that Jizō Bosats made a solemn oath to never obtain full deity-status until every soul was saved from the torments of Hell and thus Enma, as feared and powerful a demon as he is, actually holds a more benevolent goal under his fearsome exterior and deeply wishes to see humans saved from Hell, this is why Enma and his fellow judges are so cruel and demanding in regards to the tasks they put forth and while many souls will inevitably fail these tests and be damned to Hell it is Enma who is most concerned with giving these souls as many chances as possible to avoid further suffering.

This concept of Enma being both a tyrannical demon and a loving deity is common and all the judges of Hell share Enma's dualistic nature as alter-egoes of gods - thus they are all working, in some way, as divine retribution and learning (albeit a brutal form of said learning).

Enma is served by all manner of demons and Oni, the most fearsome of which are Gozu and Mezu - gigantic and terrible Oni with the heads of an ox and horse, who act both as guardians of Hell and as enforcers of Enma who shall pursue any who manage to escape Hell and bring them back for proper punishment and trails.