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In the famous manga of Lone Wolf and Cub (子連れ狼), the protagonist walks the
path of meifumadō (冥府魔道), the road of hell, symbolized by the twin demons of
the bull and the horse, in his quest for revenge.

To what extent, if any, was meifumadō an element of Japanese Buddhism or
culture? Was this invented by the authors or is it a real philosophy?
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culture
To what extent, if any, was meifumadō an element of Japanese Buddhism or culture?
Completely invented. Meifu and madō are both real words (meaning, roughly,
"land of the dead" [= hell] and "way of evil", so not in conflict with the
movie/manga) but I'd be surprised if it could be shown that anyone had put
them together before that story.
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2016-08-04T04:57:49.160
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I did some more research on this and apparently the mythology is pre-existing
in Buddhism and is pretty well known. Here is a description from a Buddhism
mythology web site:

**Rasetsu 羅刹天**  
... Bishamonten, the god who protects all places where the Buddha preaches, is
guardian of the north, and he is accompanied by two classes of demons called
Yaksha and Rasetsu. The Beasts of Buddhist Hell are also known in Japan as
"Gozu-Mezu" -- short for Gozu Rasetsu 牛頭羅刹 and Mezu Rasetsu 馬頭羅刹. With heads
resembling those of ox / cows (Gozu 牛頭) and horses (Mezu 馬頭), they are said to
torture and feed upon the flesh of the deceased (those who have committed sins
and are thus in hell). The Rasetsu might be particularly monstrous Yaksha, or
alternatively, the Yaksha might be Rasetsu who have pledged to serve the Deva
as guardians of forests, villages, and towns. The iconography is unclear.

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/vSCiS.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/vSCiS.jpg)

Gozu and Mezu torture people in hell; from Taizong's Hell (1735), a Chinese
Buddhist scroll.
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2016-08-04T11:55:08.850
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The specific combination 冥府魔道 is almost certainly a coinage of the 子連れ狼's
scriptwriter, 小池一夫. [He said it himself on
Twitter](https://twitter.com/koikekazuo/status/71909126044790784). It can be
broken down to two words.

  * 冥府  
Literally means "dead man's land" or what you call _underworld_ or
_netherworld_. It is a general term in the Chinese folklore and has different
imaginations between Daoist and Buddhist mythologies. The hell-ish association
is apparently Buddhist, where it includes the
[Yama](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yama_\(Buddhism\))'s court and a
boundless purgatory. This is also where two [Ox- and Horse-headed
Guardians](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%89%9B%E9%A0%AD%E9%A6%AC%E9%A0%AD)
are said to reside.

  * 魔道  
This word is highly ambiguous (in actual usage, too) as both kanji are. 魔
could have [a bunch of interrelated connotations from "devil" to
"magical"](https://legendsoflocalization.com/tricky-translations-1-maou-
daimaou/), while
[道](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/%E9%81%93_%28%E3%81%BF%E3%81%A1%29/)
also "road" to "practice". In the light of the original context, this
[魔道](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/209053/meaning/m1u/%E9%AD%94%E9%81%93/)
would be understood as "heretical/demonic conducts/realm", typically that in
Buddhist terminology.

In summary, both 冥府 and 魔道 are concepts that has much relation to Japanese
Buddhist culture, but the compound is somewhat creative, especially since 冥府
does not equal to so-called "hell" itself even in Buddhism. Although the idea
putting them together indeed sounds catchy, it does not come from the
technically correct Buddhist tradition.
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