One night, Yorimasa was patrolling the garden of the Palace and saw black cloud spring up from the Ushi-tora direction (northeast) and a monster called 'nue' emerged from the cloud, which had the head of a monkey, the abdomen of a raccoon dog, the limbs of a tiger, and the tail of a snake.
そして深夜、頼政が御所の庭を警護していたところ、艮（うしとら）の方角（＝北東の方角）よりもくもくと黒雲が湧き上がり、その中から頭が猿、胴が狸、手足が虎、尾が蛇という「鵺」と呼ばれる怪物が現れる。