Month: January 2023

The Ainu god of the house. He resides in the northeast corner of the house, where the household treasures—swords, robes, lacquered boxes, and tubs of…

God of crossroads, highways, and footpaths, represented by a phallus. Chimata–no-kami is the child of Izanagi-no-mikoto, born of the trousers (hence, presumably,his phallic identity) Izanagi…

One of the Shichi Fukujin (seven gods of good fortune), Bishamon-ten is depicted as an armoured warrior in the Chinese style, carrying a Chinese halberd.…

One of the Buddha’s first disciples (rakan) who fell from grace and is usually not allowed into the hallowed company. Some say he came from…

The god of poverty. Bimbogami’s attentions will lead to poverty and misery, and people in some locations in Japan will carry out personal rituals to…

Monk-soldier during the period of the Gempei war (1180–1185) and devoted companion of Ushiwakamaru/Yoshitsune. Benkei was born to the daughter of a blacksmith near ShingΔ.…

The tutelary venerable of the bath in Zen monasteries. Battabara was an Indian monk who attained enlightenment in the bath. He was entering the bath…

The guardian deity of Mt. Atago, north of Kyoto, protective deity of fire and of protection from conflagration. Like many gongen, Atago-gongen is largely a…

The spirit of the threshold. An important Ainu kamui, Apasam Kamui is the protector of the passage from the wild outside to the tame inside…

The merciful Buddha of the Pure Land. The conceptualizations of Amida have always been very vague in Japanese myth. Like many other Buddhas and bodhisattvas,…