He is famous for the legends of his defeat of Shuten Doji, one of the most powerful oni (demons), at Mount Oe-yama and his slicing off the arm of the Rashomon Gate ogre on Ichijo-modori-bashi Bridge in Kyoto with the celebrated sword of the Genji, known as 'Higekiri.'
大江山の酒呑童子退治や、京都の一条戻り橋の上で羅城門の鬼の腕を源氏の名刀「髭切」で切り落とした逸話で有名。