Thunder Rider/Origin

Origin
The name "Thunder Rider" is Raishōdō 雷上動 in the original Japanese. According to the Zentaiheiki, Minamoto no Yorimitsu 源頼光 (944-1021) once met the famous bowyer Yang Youji 養由基 (?-559 BC) of the state of Chu and his daughter, Jiao Huanu 椒花女, in a dream. When Yorimitsu woke up, he found the bow Raishōdō and two arrows in his hands. The bow and arrows were later passed down to his descentdant, Minamoto no Yorimasa 源頼政 (1106-1180) and were used in the following story:

According to the Heike monogatari, in the closing years of the Heian period, at the place where the emperor lived, the Seiryō-den, there was black smoke that came along with an eerie resounding crying voice, and Emperor Nijō was quite fearful of this. Finally, the emperor fell into an illness, and neither medicine nor prayers had any effect.

A close associate finally used the precedent of Minamoto no Yoshiie 源義家 (1039-1106) using an arrow to put a stop to the mystery case of some bird's cry, and gave an order to a master of arrows, Minamoto no Yorimasa, to slay the monster. One night, Yorimasa brought along his retinue I no Hayata (written as 猪早太 or 井早太), and taking along the arrow he received from his ancestor Minamoto no Yorimitsu, he went out to slay the monster. In doing so, some eerie black smoke started to cover the Seiryō-den, and so when Yorimasa shot a sharp arrow made from a mountain bird's tail at it, there was the sound of a shriek, and a nue fell down around the northern parts of Nijō Castle, and without a moment's delay I no Hayata seized it and finished it off. At that time, in the skies above the imperial court, two or three voices of the cries of the common cuckoo could be heard, and it is thus said that peace has returned. From this, the emperor's health instantly recovered, and Yorimasa was given the sword, the Shishiō, as a reward.