Page:The Mythology of All Races Vol 8 (Chinese and Japanese).djvu/359

Rh of the Japanese. That period was an age of eclecticism, and just as the Buddhists readily absorbed the Taoist ideals of life, so the Shintoists no longer clearly distinguished their own ideas and traditions from Buddhist conceptions. This tendency resulted in the establishment of a group of deities, or immortals, who were regarded as the patron genii of fortune and longevity, and were taken from all available sources. The group underwent several changes, but toward the end of the sixteenth century it fell into a definite arrangement and became known as the "Seven Deities of Good Fortune" (Shichi Fukujin). These deities are:

1. Ebisu, originally the miscarried son of the primeval deities, who was like a jelly fish, is modified to a merry patron of good fortune. He has a round white face with a perpetual smile. In his right hand he carries a fishing-rod with which he catches the sea-bream, the fish that is regarded as symbolic of good luck.

2. Daikoku, "the Great Black Deity," who was a modification of the Hindu Mahā-kala, was combined with the Japanese O-kuni-nushi, "the Great-Land-Master," whose name, written in Chinese ideograms, was pronounced like Daikoku. This deity is represented as a dark-skinned, stout man with a smiling face. He bears a bag on his shoulder and a mallet in his right hand. He stands on two rice bags, which, together with the bag on his shoulder, symbolize an inexhaustible source of wealth, and the mallet is also believed to produce anything wished for by his worshippers. The rat is the animal associated with Daikoku.

3. Bishamon, the Buddhist Vaiśravana, is the guardian of the north, who subjugates the devils and protects the righteous. In popular thought he is the giver of wealth, and the Buddhist shrine in his right hand is supposed to contain money. He is associated in pictures and folk-lore with the centipede.

4. Benten, whom we have seen as a fairy, is the only female