Daikokuten: significance of sitting on bales vs standing on them?

[robin d. gill]

PMJSの皆様、

Has anyone studied how Daikokuten and his bales of rice have been pictured in various times and places?

Daikoku tends to either sit on his sacks of grain, where he seems relaxed and content, OR stand upon them, sometimes raising his magic gavil in a jolly manner or even looking triumphant as a big game hunter upon his trophy.

 

My question is whether one of these postures generally precede the other in time, or if the difference is geographic/cultural with, say, Kansai merchant culture sitting at ease and Kanto warrior culture boasting possession (or one location more likely to stand on grain to hull it, etc) ?

 

敬愚

--

"Rise, Ye Sea Slugs!"

[Siva Kalyan]

The Indian precursor of Daikokuten (I.e. Shiva) stands upon a vanquished demon. Also relevant may be the epithet "Pashu-pati" or "Lord of Beasts" (as in a hunter).

Siva

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[Lynne E. Riggs]

This MN article has something, I believe:

FIALLA, Donatella.
The God of Wealth in Western Garb: Kawanabe Kyôsai’s Portrait of Edoardo Chiossone as Daikokuten.
Volume 61:2 (2006), 193-218.

Lynne 

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Lynne E. Riggs
Center for Intercultural Communication
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[robin d. gill]

Thank you Mark, Siva and Lynn (though Mark might be off-list).

Siva, a glimpse of your name and I imagined pictures of Shiva I had seen at some site as a predecessor of Daikokuten, and sure enough! It makes me feel that maybe Daikokuten was first shown standing on the bales of grain, but I dare not guess. I do wonder which the Chinese in-between was.

Lynn,  I am more interested in the sitting vs standing -- prosperous and relaxed vs triumphant and exultant -- aspect, than rare varieties however interesting they may be (my favorite such remove his magic hammer and have his hand recall that of a maneki neko!); but IF the article answers my question and this Monumenta NIpponica article is accessible (just tried and got: You must be logged in through an institution that subscribes to this journal or book to access the full text.)  I'd love to see it.

Anyone -- If there is a pre-modern Far-East images group (in case questions such as mine do not interest what seems to me a primarily text-centered group, unless i am wrong about that) I should write for this and other image-centered things, please let me know . . . thank you.

"Rise, Ye Sea Slugs!"

[Nobumi Iyanaga]

Dear Colleagues,

Robin's question is very interesting, but I have never thought of such a question.

I wrote an extensive book (a book of two volumes), on Buddhist mythology in general, one centered on Daikoku-ten and another on Kannon, two of the most popular Buddhist deities (Daikokuten hensô 大黒天変相 and Kannon hen'yô-tan 觀音変容譚, Kyôto, Hôzôkan 法藏館, 2002), and I studied also aspects of iconography of these deities -- but as I have never had this particular question, I think you would find there very few elements of interest for you. You will find information on this book (with detailed Tables of Contents in English), here: <http://www.bekkoame.ne.jp/~n-iyanag/buddhism/mythbuddh/myth_bouddh_index.html>).

Anyway, I remember having read in an article by Kita Sadakichi that the number of Daikoku statues is extremely high: a collectionner in the Taishô era (??) could gather 1000 statues, or something like that. As my main interest was how Buddhist deity images were transformed from India to Japan, I have not extensively studied later Japanese forms. The only thing that I can say is that these laughing Daikoku are rather later creations in Japan, say from about the 14th century (or perhaps a little earlier). This kind of Daikoku iconography is special compared with other general Buddhist iconography, in the sense that there is (almost) no canonical text that defines its form (while for many of Buddhist deities, especially of esoteric kind, there are texts indicating the features that they must have...), so that artists could create almost every kind of fancy images at their will. This is perhaps one of the reasons why there are so many forms.

In 1997, there was an exhibition at INAX gallery at Kyôbashi (in Ginza) -- which no longer exists --, entitled Ebisu Daikoku-ten, with many little statues of Ebisu and Daikoku of later periods (probably mainly of Edo period, or even later...). There was no catalogue (only a sheet showing exhibited items...). But otherwise, I know nothing that focusing on this kind of statuary.

Best regard,

Nobumi Iyanaga

[robin d. gill]

Just got the pdf: thank you TJ! The images are fine and the added benefit of learning much about Kyousai! Re the dueling artist sidetrack, Harper's Magazine observed the same duel with press artists a decade earlier in the USA(may 26 1860)and called it "the Jappyknee Oppositioner" (see my Topsy-turvy 1585 at Google Books then search "Harper's")!  I put this here rather than personal response so no one else will do the same (we have so many kind people here, 感謝感謝!).

[raji.s...@aoi.uzh.ch]

Dear colleagues,

I have a question that is very loosely (via the association between Daikoku and Ebisu in Nobumi Iyanaga's mail) connected to the thread on Daikoku:
Sometime in the medieval period (or so I read in the literature), Ebisu became associated with Izanagi and Izanami's abandoned child Hiruko. There seems to be a story that Hiruko spent time at the palace of the Dragon king, where he transformed into Ebisu. But the literature I've perused so far doesn't mention a source for that myth. Should any of you have come across a pertinent primary source, please do let me know.

Best regards

Raji

Prof. Dr. Raji C. Steineck
Professor für Japanologie
Asien-Orient-Institut
Universität Zürich
Zürichbergstrasse 4
8032 Zürich

++41+44-634 3181

Neue Publikationen/new publications
Kritik der symbolischen Formen I: Symbolische Form und Funktion
http://www.frommann-holzboog.de/site/suche/detailansicht.php?wid=517000320

That Wonderful Composite Called Author: Authorship in East Asian Literatures from the Beginnings to the Seventeenth Century
http://www.brill.com/products/book/wonderful-composite-called-author

-----pm...@googlegroups.com schrieb: -----
An: pm...@googlegroups.com
Von: Nobumi Iyanaga
Gesendet von: pm...@googlegroups.com
Datum: 23.10.2015 02:28
Betreff: Re: [PMJS] Daikokuten: significance of sitting on bales vs standing on them?

[Nobumi Iyanaga]

Dear Raji,

> On Oct 23, 2015, at 4:00 PM, raji.s...@aoi.uzh.ch wrote:
>
> ...

>
> I have a question that is very loosely (via the association between Daikoku and Ebisu in Nobumi Iyanaga's mail) connected to the thread on Daikoku:
> Sometime in the medieval period (or so I read in the literature), Ebisu became associated with Izanagi and Izanami's abandoned child Hiruko. There seems to be a story that Hiruko spent time at the palace of the Dragon king, where he transformed into Ebisu. But the literature I've perused so far doesn't mention a source for that myth. Should any of you have come across a pertinent primary source, please do let me know.

I don't know that specific myth, but -- the association between Ebisu and Hiruko is well-known (the compound 蛭子 can be read Ebisu...). Ebisu is a deity who is not well-studied, it seems. There are some articles by Kita Sadakichi (rather old studies); another very interesting study is that of 真弓常忠, "エビス信仰の源流" incorporated in 宮本袈裟雄, ed., 福神信仰 (coll. 民衆宗教史叢書, 20), 雄山閣出版, 1987. In this paper, Mayumi discuss about the association between Ebisu and Hiruko. I read it very long time ago, and do not remember well its contents. Perhaps you would find there the myth that you are looking for...

Best regard,

Nobumi

[Unger, James]

In The Role of Contact in the Origins of the Korean and Japanese Languages (University of Hawai'i Press 2009, pp. 125-27), I compared Old Japanese piru 'leech' with the Middle Korean word for 'flea', and gave reasons for thinking that Piru-kwo represented the (red, blood) planet Mars.  Drifting in a boat is a metaphor for the way a planet appears to wander among the fixed stars, and Ebisu was a sailor.  But when the connection was made is another question.

[McVey, Kuniko Yamada]

Dear list members,

I just let you know that Harvard-Yenching Library holds the "Ebisu and Daikoku" booklet published with the exhibition at the INAX Gallery in 2009. http://id.lib.harvard.edu/aleph/012250106/catalog

Also our Petzold scroll collection includes following images of "Okuninushi no mikoto," a.k.a. Daikokuten, although they are mostly Meiji productions.
[大国主神事代主神像] [Ōkuninushi no mikoto kotoshironushi no mikoto zō]
http://id.lib.harvard.edu/aleph/012659568/catalog
[大国主命像][Ōkuninushi no mikoto zō]
http://id.lib.harvard.edu/aleph/012723009/catalog
http://id.lib.harvard.edu/aleph/013013001/catalog

FYI, Another Meiji image of "Ebisu Daikoku" in kyogen scene from Tsukioka Kogyo's "Kyōgen gojūban" (月岡耕漁『狂言五十番』) is attached.
http://id.lib.harvard.edu/aleph/008264664/catalog

Best,

Kuniko Yamada McVey
Librarian for the Japanese Collection
Harvard-Yenching Library
v. 617-495-3395

[raji.s...@aoi.uzh.ch]

Dear Robin,

a quick search in the JBAE database (Japanese Buddhist Art in European Collections) at
http://aterui.i.hosei.ac.jp:8080/index.html resulted in a group of 56 items from various periods, among them a sculpture of Daikoku seated (as you like him):
http://aterui.i.hosei.ac.jp:8080/oguchi/index.php?CNT=144572354241&no=7116&action1=detail

Perhaps you can find some leads there?

Best,

Raji





Prof. Dr. Raji C. Steineck
Professor für Japanologie
Asien-Orient-Institut
Universität Zürich
Zürichbergstrasse 4
8032 Zürich

++41+44-634 3181

Neue Publikationen/new publications
Kritik der symbolischen Formen I: Symbolische Form und Funktion
http://www.frommann-holzboog.de/site/suche/detailansicht.php?wid=517000320

That Wonderful Composite Called Author: Authorship in East Asian Literatures from the Beginnings to the Seventeenth Century
http://www.brill.com/products/book/wonderful-composite-called-author

-----pm...@googlegroups.com schrieb: -----
An: pm...@googlegroups.com

Von: "Lynne E. Riggs"
Gesendet von: pm...@googlegroups.com
Datum: 22.10.2015 01:53
Betreff: Re: [PMJS] Daikokuten: significance of sitting on bales vs standing on them?

[Alexander Vovin]

Dear Jim and all,

Just a little side comment:

I trust that the comparison of Middle Korean pyelwok 'flea' LH with Old Japanese pi1ru 'leech' 2.5 was first made by John Whitman in his PhD dissertation THE PHONOLOGICAL BASIS FOR COMPARING OF JAPANESE AND KOREAN (1985: 212) 24 years earlier than your 2009 book.

All the best,

Sasha

Alexander Vovin
Membre d'Academia Europaea
Directeur d'études, linguistique historique du Japon et de l'Asie du Nord-Est

ECOLE DES HAUTES ETUDES EN SCIENCES SOCIALES

CENTRE DE RECHERCHES LINGUISTIQUES SUR L'ASIE ORIENTALE

105 Blvd Raspail, 75006 Paris

Adjunct Professor of Linguistics

Department of Linguistics

University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, Honolulu
HI 96822, USA

sasha...@gmail.com

On Fri, Oct 23, 2015 at 7:41 PM, Unger, James <unge...@osu.edu> wrote:

In The Role of Contact in the Origins of the Korean and Japanese Languages (University of Hawai'i Press 2009, pp. 125-27), I compared Old Japanese piru 'leech' with the Middle Korean word for 'flea', and gave reasons for thinking that Piru-kwo represented the (red, blood) planet Mars.  Drifting in a boat is a metaphor for the way a planet appears to wander among the fixed stars, and Ebisu was a sailor.  But when the connection was made is another question.

--

[Unger, James]

It was, on the basis of common blood-sucking, but not the connection with the planet Mars, which may explain the connection with Ebisu.

---

From: pm...@googlegroups.com [pm...@googlegroups.com] on behalf of Alexander Vovin [sasha...@gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, October 23, 2015 5:54 PM
To: pm...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [PMJS] Ebisu and Hiruko

[Alexander Vovin]

This etymology, as any other etymology, I humbly trust, rests on the comparisons of words, and not on the planet Mars (:-).

Alexander Vovin
Membre d'Academia Europaea
Directeur d'études, linguistique historique du Japon et de l'Asie du Nord-Est

ECOLE DES HAUTES ETUDES EN SCIENCES SOCIALES

CENTRE DE RECHERCHES LINGUISTIQUES SUR L'ASIE ORIENTALE

105 Blvd Raspail, 75006 Paris

Adjunct Professor of Linguistics

Department of Linguistics

University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, Honolulu
HI 96822, USA

sasha...@gmail.com

[Mark Schumacher]

Hello Robin and PMJS Members

Interesting question. I would not attach much significance to whether Daikoku is sitting or standing -- with one caveat, as explained at the end of this long-winded report.

Consider this. The oldest extant Japanese statues of Daikoku are dated to the mid-late Heian. The one at Kanzeon-ji Temple 観世音寺 (Fukuoka) shows a standing, fierce-faced deity (reminding us of Daikoku's Hindu origin as a war god) dressed in the simple clothes of a peasant/hunter, with a large treasure sack slung over his shoulder. The two at Kongōrinji Temple 金剛輪寺 (Shiga) show two stern-faced deities sitting,  wearing armor, and holding a sword and small treasure bag. Both statues are seated in the hankazō (half-leg) posture. There are other statues from the Nanboku-chō era (e.g., Saidaiji Temple 西大寺, Nara) that show Daikoku sitting, again in hankazō pose, wearing simple garb, sandals, peasant's hat, with treasure sack slung over his shoulder. None of these statues include rice bales or magic mallet (although the Kanzeon-ji statue has a small hole in Daikoku's clenched fist, suggesting that something was there).

Not until the early 15th century do we begin to see artwork of a cheerful and pudgy Daikoku standing/sitting atop rice bales and holding a magic mallet. Prior to then, Daikoku's main appearance in art/ritual was (1) as a six-armed, three-heated seated protector in the Womb World Mandala; and (2) as a seated three-headed deity installed in the kitchen at Enryaku-ji and in other monastery kitchens. We know also, from the work of Yijing 義淨 on Mahākāla 大黑天 in his Record of The Buddhist Religion as Practiced in India 南海寄歸内法傳, that Daikokuten is said to protect temples and nourish monks. In this work, which deeply influenced Japan's worship of Daikoku, Yijing reports that the great monasteries of India install Mahākāla in the kitchen. The deity holds a golden bag and is seated on a small chair, with one foot hanging down towards the ground. Its face is blackened because it is always being wiped with oil. Hence, the deity is called Mahākāla, or the Great Black Deity, aka Daikokuten 大黑天.

Three questions arise.

1. Why were rice bales added to Daikoku iconography?
2. Why did Daikoku get a magic mallet?
3. When did Daikoku shed his esoteric iconography to become the cheerful and pudgy character we know today?
   

Here is my theory. Daikoku entered Japan as a protective warrior deity from the Hindu pantheon. Saichō is generally attributed with introducing Daikoku to Japan and installing him in the kitchen, although some claim it was Kūkai. Daikoku was relatively unknown among the common people. BUT, sometime in the medieval period, Daikoku is linked to Ōkuninushi 大国主神 and Ōmononushi 大物主神, two Shintō kami of rice and agriculture. Once linked to the food crop, Daikoku sheds his esoteric warrior image to become a benevolent god of rice, farmers, wealth, and good fortune. It is this link to rice (food crop) that caused his popularity to skyrocket. By at least the early 15th century, Japanese artwork of Daikoku shows him as a cheerful and pudgy deity wearing a peasant’s hat (called Daikoku-zukin 大黒頭巾) and standing on bales of rice (tawara 俵), carrying a large sack of treasure slung over his shoulder and holding a magic mallet (uchide nokozuchi 打ち出の小槌). By the mid-17th century, Daikoku becomes a standard member of the Seven Lucky Gods. He has remained popular ever since.

STANDING OR SITTING -- CAVEAT
Statues and paintings of Daikoku became widespread in the Edo era. Prior to then, the vast majority of images of Daikoku portrayed him standing.
But in the Edo period, images of a seated Daikoku became equally prominent, and, in my mind, seated images are related to the following three themes:

1. The Kitchen. Statuary sets of Ebisu and Daikoku are installed in the kitchen in many households in Japan. They are usually seated images.
   Also, we know from Yijing's text that Mahākāla (Daikokuten) images in old India were seated images installed in the kitchen. The seated
   form of Daikokuten is therefore unequivocally associated with the kitchen.
   
2. Daikoku-Ebisu Pairing. Ebisu is often paired with Daikoku. Indeed, in some traditions, Ebisu is considered the son of Daikoku. Statues of the
   pair can be found everywhere in modern Japan -- the two together are perhaps one of the most popular motifs of good luck nationwide.
   They are usually seated images.
3. Artwork of the Seven Lucky Gods. Often shows Daikoku seated.

the end.........sorry for the long ramble
photos of the above-mentioned statues can be found at http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/daikoku.shtml
mark in kamakura


MORE ON SEATED VS. STANDING FOR OTHER DEITIES
Scholar Yui Suzuki says that standing figures of certain Buddha and Bodhisattva
was meant to represent a "proactive" deity appearing in the worldly realm, rather than a
seated Buddha preaching or meditating in a heavenly pure land far removed from ordinary life.

This line of reasoning—that standing statues reinforce the image of “active” Buddhist deities bringing “this-worldy” benefits rather than immobile sitting deities removed from earthly concerns—is largely embraced by both Japanese and non-Japanese scholars. Hank Glassman, for instance, author of  The Face of Jizō: Image and Cult in Medieval Japanese Buddhism (Univ. of Hawaii Press, 2012), writes (pp. 25-26): “Art historian Mochizuki Shinjō shares Bernard Faure’s opinion that Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are usually immobile, but finds an exception in Jizō and says that his movement is an indication of an active intent to save sentient beings....... he notes that standing statues of Jizō typically have one foot placed in front of the other and that, in paintings, Jizō often has a lotus dais under each foot to accommodate his dynamism.” The lauded scholar John M. Rosenfield, in his Portraits of Chōgen: The Transformation of Buddhist Art in Early Medieval Japan (Brill, 2011), says much the same when talking about Amida statues. To paraphrase Rosenfield: “The left leg is imperceptibly advanced, subtly suggesting movement in the realm of the viewer.”  And then, when talking about another Amida statue, he says “the symmetry is broken by a slight contrapposto (the left leg supports the main weight of the body, and the right leg steps slightly forward)....these barely discernible touches of realism serve to link the divine realm to the visible realm of Everyman.” (pp. 162-163).

Above quoted from: http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/yakushi.shtml

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Greve Gabi]

Thanks for the update, Mark !!

Greetings from Okayama

Gabi
.

[Mark Schumacher]

Dear Prof. Steineck and PMJS Members

HIRUKO, THE LEACH CHILD (aka Ebisu)
In some traditions, Ebisu is considered the son of Shintō deity Ōkuninushi 大国主命 (aka Daikokuten; god of agriculture), and in this capacity is known as Kotoshironushi 事代主神. In others traditions, he is said to have been a real man, a member of the ruling class, one loved by the people but one who was passionate about fishing -- and thus needed to be found before court meetings. <Source: Chiba Reiko, pp. 17-20> There are other conflicting stories. The Kojiki (720 AD) and Nihongi (circa 797 AD), two of Japan's oldest chronicles, describe a deity named Hiruko 蛭子 (literally “Leach Child”). Hiruko was the son of the Shinto gods Izanagi 伊邪那岐命 and Izanami 伊邪那美命, the progenitors of the islands of Japan. Since he was born without any bones, Hiruko was set adrift in the ocean at age three. Somehow he returned to land and was cared for by one Ebisu Saburo. He overcame many hardships and later became the god Ebisu. He's also considered the god of the morning sun, and he guards the health of little children, as does Hotei (another member of Japan’s Seven Lucky Gods). Indeed, there are many patrons of children in Japanese traditions. Because he was born without bones, he is sometimes associated with jellyfish.

HIRUKO MYTHOLOGY (aka Ebisu)
Says Nishioka Kazuhiko at the Encyclopedia of Shinto (Kokugakuin University): “Hiruko was a deformed infant born to Izanagi and Izanami as a result of Izanami's mistake in speaking first to Izanagi during their courtship. The child was placed in a reed boat and set adrift. The meaning of the child's name is debated, although hiruko means "leach," and the name may suggest a child with arms and legs but without bones. The main text of Nihongi states that the child could not walk even after reaching three years of age, with the result that he was placed in the ’rock-camphor boat of heaven’ and set adrift to the mercy of the winds. In later times, Hiruko was identified with Ebisu, a maritime tutelary and one of the Seven Gods of Good Fortune.” <end quote>  

KOTOSHIRONUSHI (aka Ebisu)
Says Kadoya Atsushi at the Encyclopedia of Shinto (Kokugakuin University): “Kotoshironushi is the offspring of kami Ōkuninushi 大国主命 (aka Daikokuten; god of agriculture). As part of the pacification of the ’Central Land of Reed Plains,’ Takemikazuchi, envoy of the heavenly kami, confronted the earthly kami Ōkuninushi and asked him to relinquish the land. Ōkuninushi entrusted his son Kotoshironushi with his response, whereupon Kotoshironushi pledged allegiance to the heavenly kami, and ’hid himself away’ inside an enclosure of green leaves which he had made in the ocean. Based on this event, Kotoshironushi is viewed as an oracular deity transmitting the will of other kami. He also appears as an oracular deity in Nihongi's account of Empress Jingū and Emperor Tenmu. With the maid Mizokuhihime of Mishima (in Settsu Province), Kotoshironushi had a child named Himetataraisuzuhime, who later became the wife of Emperor Jinmu. Kotoshironushi is an object of worship (saijin 祭神) at shrines such as Miho Jinja in Shimane and Mishima Jinja in Shizuoka.” <end quote>

above information as it appears at:

http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/ebisu.shtml

bye now

mark in kamakura

[robin d. gill]

Thank you to all, especially for the forwarded pdf and offer for more and Mark's covering of much of the history. In short, more of a shift from stern to smiling than standing to sitting and difference due to location. I would wonder if perhaps the ubiquitous treasure ship since Ieyasu pushed it might have helped to encourage the sitting posture, too... A different toku is attributed to the seven respective gods but  Daikoku alone seems toku itself: 「有徳」which makes me think of the sometimes rectangular shape of his cap and wonder if someone had that high of a regard for merchants (via China?) and/or the peasant's (later, in Japan) hat which Mark mentioned means prosperity from actual production is at the base of all toku? 

I am grateful to all keeping tabs on these deities, but back to the old kyouka one of which goaded me to ask the question after reading of Daikoku standing on a komedawara  pivot-punning to a love-letter via the verb fumi, as I only knew the sitting image . . .  

敬愚

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[Nobumi Iyanaga]

Hello Mark and colleagues,

> On Oct 24, 2015, at 3:54 PM, Mark Schumacher <schumac...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> ...

>
> Consider this. The oldest extant Japanese statues of Daikoku are dated to the mid-late Heian. The one at Kanzeon-ji Temple 観世音寺 (Fukuoka) shows a standing, fierce-faced deity (reminding us of Daikoku's Hindu origin as a war god) dressed in the simple clothes of a peasant/hunter, with a large treasure sack slung over his shoulder. The two at Kongōrinji Temple 金剛輪寺 (Shiga) show two stern-faced deities sitting, wearing armor, and holding a sword and small treasure bag. Both statues are seated in the hankazō (half-leg) posture. There are other statues from the Nanboku-chō era (e.g., Saidaiji Temple 西大寺, Nara) that show Daikoku sitting, again in hankazō pose, wearing simple garb, sandals, peasant's hat, with treasure sack slung over his shoulder. None of these statues include rice bales or magic mallet (although the Kanzeon-ji statue has a small hole in Daikoku's clenched fist, suggesting that something was there).
>
> Not until the early 15th century do we begin to see artwork of a cheerful and pudgy Daikoku standing/sitting atop rice bales and holding a magic mallet. Prior to then, Daikoku's main appearance in art/ritual was (1) as a six-armed, three-heated seated protector in the Womb World Mandala; and (2) as a seated three-headed deity installed in the kitchen at Enryaku-ji and in other monastery kitchens. We know also, from the work of Yijing 義淨 on Mahākāla 大黑天 in his Record of The Buddhist Religion as Practiced in India 南海寄歸内法傳, that Daikokuten is said to protect temples and nourish monks. In this work, which deeply influenced Japan's worship of Daikoku, Yijing reports that the great monasteries of India install Mahākāla in the kitchen. The deity holds a golden bag and is seated on a small chair, with one foot hanging down towards the ground. Its face is blackened because it is always being wiped with oil. Hence, the deity is called Mahākāla, or the Great Black Deity, aka Daikokuten 大黑天.

All this is very true. One point which can be added is that the seated form is rather of Tendai temples, while the standing form, with the the sack is of Shingon temples (a 10th century Shingon text, Yôson dôjô-kan by Shun'yû (T. 78 2468) has a description of this form.

>
> Three questions arise.
> • Why were rice bales added to Daikoku iconography?
> • Why did Daikoku get a magic mallet?
> • When did Daikoku shed his esoteric iconography to become the cheerful and pudgy character we know today?
> Here is my theory. Daikoku entered Japan as a protective warrior deity from the Hindu pantheon. Saichō is generally attributed with introducing Daikoku to Japan and installing him in the kitchen, although some claim it was Kūkai. Daikoku was relatively unknown among the common people. BUT, sometime in the medieval period, Daikoku is linked to Ōkuninushi 大国主神 and Ōmononushi 大物主神, two Shintō kami of rice and agriculture.

I have doubts about this theory. 大国主 was almost not known in the medieval period in Japan. In Tendai tradition, it is certain that Daikoku was associated with Ômononushi, but this deity was a rather fearful deity...

My theory is more far-fetched: Daikoku is already associated with rat in the above mentioned Yôson-dôjô-kan (and one of Daikoku's Central Asian forms, which was very close with Bishamon-ten, was associated with rats). I would think that it was because Daikoku was first associated with rats that he came to be associated with rice...

I think when Daikoku was associated with rice, he came to be the core from which all the group of the seven deities of fortune could be formed...

Please have a look at my books that I mentioned in my earlier posting.

Best regards,

Nobumi Iyanaga

[Scheid, Bernhard]

Coming back to Raji's original question, a place to begin with would be Ebisu shinkô jiten, ed. Yoshii Yoshitaka, 1999. I used it partly for my introductory article on Ebisu: http://www.univie.ac.at/rel_jap/an/Ikonographie/Gluecksgoetter/Ebisu (but do not have it at hand now).
There is also an informative electronic article by Darren Ashmore at http://www.japanesestudies.org.uk/articles/2007/Ashmore.html, which contains a modern version of the Ebisu legend of Nishinomiya (oddly in a long footnote)

It seems quite clear that most Ebisu lore including the Hiruko connection can be traced back to the Nishinomiya Shrine probably in the late Heian period. Or rather the Hirota Shrine (the original "Shrine of the West"), which housed among others a shrine for Ebisu that later became Nishinomiya in its own right. At that time they started to send out puppeteers who performed with dolls called Ebisu Hyaku­dayū. This figure was seen as a fighter of epidemics (that were otherwise aroused by Ebisu/Hiruko). In this connection, the pairing with another god of health/illness, Okuninushi (Daikoku), makes sense, which may explain the early pairing of Ebisu and Daikoku, long before the 7 fukujin. (If one accepts the original Daikoku connection with Hiei, Ebisu and Daikoku are also kami who protect Kyoto from West and (North)East). In any event, the puppets are probably the original trigger for Ebisu as a god of luck. Gerald Groemer, specialist on Edo street culture, confirmed to me recently, that these Nishinomiya puppeteers (called ebisu kaki) were very popular and have to be regarded as the predecessors of Bunraku.

The original Hirota Shrine was, according to Nihon shoki (ch. on Jingū Kōgō), dedicated to the rough spirit of Amaterasu. This makes it quite plausible that Hiru-ko originally had nothing to do with leeches, but was just another "sun child", prob. a "sun boy" opposed to Hiru-me (Amaterasu).

On the other hand, the connection Ebisu-Hiruko is explained by folklorists with the frequent association of Ebisu with deformed, ugly, unlucky or otherwise negative items or aspects, which can still be found in rural areas. The logic is obviously to call these negative things "Ebisu" (i.e. stranger) and thereby turn them into something auspicious, something that also functions as a scapegoat.
I have not digged deep enough to look at engi of Nishinomiya, but I am sure that the Hiruko connection can be found there already very early. My guess is, that Nishinomiya/Hirota managed to connect a new, deformed health/illness deity with imperial mythology by way of pun, turning their sunchild into a leech child that miracously came back from where the original myths had sent it.

Best wishes

Bernhard

________________________________________
Von: pm...@googlegroups.com [pm...@googlegroups.com]&quot; im Auftrag von &quot;raji.s...@aoi.uzh.ch [raji.s...@aoi.uzh.ch]
Gesendet: Freitag, 23. Oktober 2015 09:00
An: pm...@googlegroups.com
Betreff: [PMJS] Ebisu and Hiruko

[Scheid, Bernhard]

Dear Iyanaga-san,

I am very convinced of your theory on Daikoku’s rats, which are, as you explain in your book, actually borrowed from Bishamonten and go back to the Indian mungoose, a symbol of wealth. Yet, as regards the modern iconography of Daikoku (our familiar Daikoku, so to speak), I am not sure whether the Indian connection is not overstressed. Looking at the first iconographic examples mentioned by Mark (the Kongōrinji and the Kanzeonji Daikokus, both Heian), there are no traces of the later Mahakala iconography, and even if Kongorinji Daikoku has attributes of a Pure Land figure (rock, hankazō) and a protector (armour, staff-->mallet), both figures have somehow the air of a native peasant. I could very well imagine that this is actually a native kami from a Buddhist (or rather either Tendai or Shingon) perception, probably the Miwa deity, where Okuninushi and Omononushi intersect. In this regard, I tend to believe the legend that connects Saichō’s Daikoku with Miwa. While both Daikokus have a stern expression, this is completely in line with other early kami figures. And already in the Kamakura period we encounter the jolly Daikoku, again a native peasant. Mahakala iconography is added only later and modifies this figure (Sanmen Daikoku) but these traits are mostly lost in the classic fukujin representation (“our” Daikoku). Thus, I would say that the fukujin Daikoku has its name in common with Mahakala but only a few details of its appearance. The identification “Daikoku=Mahakala, an Indian krodha deity” must be put into perspective, therefore, when we speak about the fukujin (as opposed to the rare full-scale mikkyo icons of Mahakala/Makakara). Rather, the native figure (indeed Okuninushi who is also venerated at the Hie Sannō Shrine) is probably the ancestor of the fukujin and must not be treated as a later interpretation. Or is this too much “Shintoized”?

As regards the original question, bales, we should not forget that this was money. Daikoku is standing or sitting on money ... money that could also be eaten.

Best

Bernhard

________________________________________
Von: pm...@googlegroups.com [pm...@googlegroups.com]&quot; im Auftrag von &quot;Nobumi Iyanaga [n-iy...@nifty.com]
Gesendet: Samstag, 24. Oktober 2015 18:11
An: pm...@googlegroups.com

Betreff: Re: [PMJS] Daikokuten: significance of sitting on bales vs standing on them?

--
PMJS is a scholarly forum.

[Nobumi Iyanaga]

Dear Scheid-san,

Thank you for your reply.

> On Oct 25, 2015, at 6:27 AM, Scheid, Bernhard <Bernhar...@oeaw.ac.at> wrote:
>
> Dear Iyanaga-san,
>
> I am very convinced of your theory on Daikoku’s rats, which are, as you explain in your book, actually borrowed from Bishamonten and go back to the Indian mungoose, a symbol of wealth. Yet, as regards the modern iconography of Daikoku (our familiar Daikoku, so to speak), I am not sure whether the Indian connection is not overstressed. Looking at the first iconographic examples mentioned by Mark (the Kongōrinji and the Kanzeonji Daikokus, both Heian), there are no traces of the later Mahakala iconography, and even if Kongorinji Daikoku has attributes of a Pure Land figure (rock, hankazō) and a protector (armour, staff-->mallet), both figures have somehow the air of a native peasant.

Do you find thus? -- Well, in my view, the seated iconography seems to represent a warrior god, and similar to some kind of Bishamon-ten icons. By the way, the figure which is very like this seated icon of Daikoku is that of Daishôgun. On the other hand, the Kanzeon-ji statue is very strange in that it is representing a clearly Japanese figure, but it seems rather as a noble man in journey, or something like that (he has an eboshi, which would be a noble's hat? And he has shoes, and seems to be walking).

> I could very well imagine that this is actually a native kami from a Buddhist (or rather either Tendai or Shingon) perception, probably the Miwa deity, where Okuninushi and Omononushi intersect.

The Kanzeon-ji image *may seem* to represent a Shinto deity (although it seems to be a faithful image based on Yôson-dôjô-kan's iconography, which is a clearly Buddhist, esoteric, source). But how can we identify it with Ôkuninushi or Ômononushi? Is there any early medieval icon that can be surely identified as representing these deities? One point which seems very important in this regard is that early Shinto icons are generally very difficult to identify with any specific deities. Except Hachiman of monk style, what other deities are really represented...?? (in exhibitions, we have many 男神像, 女神像, etc., but very few with clear identifications).

On the other hand, as I said, Ôkuninushi seems to be very little known in the medieval period (probably because in the Nihon shoki, there is very few things told about him; and the Kojiki was almost not known in Middle Ages...). Izumo's deity in the Middle Ages is Susanoo...

> In this regard, I tend to believe the legend that connects Saichō’s Daikoku with Miwa. While both Daikokus have a stern expression, this is completely in line with other early kami figures. And already in the Kamakura period we encounter the jolly Daikoku, again a native peasant. Mahakala iconography is added only later and modifies this figure (Sanmen Daikoku) but these traits are mostly lost in the classic fukujin representation (“our” Daikoku). Thus, I would say that the fukujin Daikoku has its name in common with Mahakala but only a few details of its appearance. The identification “Daikoku=Mahakala, an Indian krodha deity” must be put into perspective, therefore, when we speak about the fukujin (as opposed to the rare full-scale mikkyo icons of Mahakala/Makakara). Rather, the native figure (indeed Okuninushi who is also venerated at the Hie Sannō Shrine) is probably the ancestor of the fukujin and must not be treated as a later interpretation. Or is this too much “Shintoized”?

Well, I think that the fukujin style Daikoku derives from a different kind of Indian figure than the Tantric Mahâkâla -- as Mark-san has rightly indicated, its direct "ancestor" is certainly the "Mahâhâla" described by Yijing, which is in turn a derived form of Indian Kubera (holds a sack...). But in early medieval forms of these fortune deities, we can discern some remaining of fearful deities (for example Matara-jin which is clearly a variant form of Sanmen Daikoku).

And are you sure that Ôkuninushi (not Ômononushi) was venerated at Hie Sannô shrine?

Best regard,

Nobumi Iyanaga

[guel...@waseda.jp]

Dear Bernhard,

the Mahakala/Makakara connection can be already seen in the late
Heian Daikoku koushiki (number [114] in my database) by Shinshou
(1098-1142). The good thing with koushiki is, that they describe their
objects.

10 years ago, I published an annotated edition of the text, the plain
text is in my database. Shinshou's work is remarkable and worth tolook
on it closely.

Best wishes

Niels

[Joseph Elacqua]

While I am certainly no expert, it certainly sounds like Yijing's "Mahākāla" is in reality a form of Kubera. After all, that would greatly explain the various connections to Bishamonten, as he is clearly related to Kubera.

However, none of that seems to relate to Mahākāla (i.e.: Śiva) as we know him in India. Was Yijing—or perhaps the Buddhists he visited—perhaps mistaken in identifying this deity? A simple misidentification could easily be responsible here, it seems.


Joseph P. Elacqua
Mohawk Valley Community College

Sent from my iPhone

[Nobumi Iyanaga]

Dear Joseph-san,

Thank you for your comment.

> On Oct 26, 2015, at 2:16 AM, Joseph Elacqua <joseph....@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> While I am certainly no expert, it certainly sounds like Yijing's "Mahākāla" is in reality a form of Kubera. After all, that would greatly explain the various connections to Bishamonten, as he is clearly related to Kubera.

Well, this was the theory of Alfred Foucher...

>
> However, none of that seems to relate to Mahākāla (i.e.: Śiva) as we know him in India. Was Yijing—or perhaps the Buddhists he visited—perhaps mistaken in identifying this deity? A simple misidentification could easily be responsible here, it seems.

I don't think so ; in India (I think) and/or Nepal, there are temples at the gates of which there are this kind of gate-keeping deities (dwarf like deities) called "Mahâkâla". And it is well-known that Kubera was closely associated with Śiva. So, Mahākāla could have two forms (at least in Buddhist context), one which could be associated with Kubera (with pot-belly, purse [which is an attribute of Pāñcika too]), and the other, probably later one, representing a clearly Śaiva wrathful deity. But the two were not completely separated...

Best regard,

Nobumi Iyanaga

[Mark Schumacher]

Hello Iyanaga-san, Scheid-san, and PMJS皆さん

This puzzle has many pieces. It is very fascinating. I'd like to add the following to this incredibly syncretic and complicated Hindu-Buddhist-Shinto story. I will also continue my search for old extant statuary and artwork depicting Daikoku and present it to the list in about one week.

1. The Rat
I did not know of Iyanaga's theory about the rat, but find it quite interesting and plausible -- that it was Daikoku's association with rats that came first; this then led to Daikoku's association with rice; this in turn led to Daikoku's great popularity. But I must say, I find it almost inconceivable that Mahakala would love rats that steal rice.

2. QUESTION FROM IYANAGA TO PROF. SCHEID

And are you sure that Ôkuninushi (not Ômononushi) was venerated at Hie Sannô shrine?

MARK'S RESPONSE. Traditionally, the protecting deity of Mt. Hiei is the deity of Mt. Miwa 三輪山, Miwa Daimyōjin 三輪大明神, who is Ōmononushi-no-mikoto 大物主尊 (cf. Hie Taisha 日吉大社 and Sannō Gongen 山王權現). [also known as Ō-Hiei Gongen, the 17th kami of the 30 Kami of the 30 Monthly Days.] There was an assimilation of Miwa Daimyōjin with Daikokuten according to the Miwa Daimyōjin Engi 三輪大明神緣起, which is dated from 1318, but based probably on a document written by Eison 叡尊 (1201-1290) in 1285. At the latest from this period onward, Daikokuten was believed as the protecting deity of Mt. Hiei. On the other hand, the idea of one deity with three faces can be traced back to the protecting yakṣa deity of the Shingon headquarters temple in Kyōto, the Tōji 東寺 (officially named Kyō-ō Gokoku-ji 教王護國寺), named Yashajin 夜叉神 or Matarajin 摩多羅神, who was constituted of Shōten 聖天 (Gaṇeśa) at the center, Ḍākinī 荼吉尼天 at the left, and Benzaiten (Sarasvatī) at the right, according to a work by Shukaku 守覺 (1150-1202). In the tradition of Tōji, this deity was connected to the Japanese deity Inari 稲荷, who was considered as the protecting deity of the whole temple. Thus, it is possible that the cult of Sanmen Daikoku was created in Mt. Hiei, on the basis and in competition with Yashajin of the Tōji. In the later medieval period and during the Edo period, the cult of Sanmen Daikoku as a god of fortune was very popular, and there exist many little statues of this deity in wood. [Bibliography: Hōbōgirin, 7.902b-905a; 彌永信美 (Nobumi IYANAGA), 大黒天変相 — 佛教神話学 I, Kyoto, Hōzōkan 法藏館, 2002, p. 547 [Iyanaga, Nakamura], Digital Dictionary of Buddhism [Charles Muller]"

3. Daikoku's link to Ōkuninushi and Ōmononushi
In his Wakan Sanzai Zue (1712), Terajima Ryoan 寺島良安 says that Ōkuninushi is also known by the name Ōmononushi. The Chinese reading of Ôkuni 大黒 is also the reading of the Chinese translation of Mahakala 大国天, so people started thinking Mahakala and Ômononushi were the same. He then calls this a "twisted" interpretation. The Japanese have associated many Shinto deities with Buddhist deities in this way. Terajima also discusses the two-handed pudgy Daikoku with hammer in one hand, treasure bag in the other, clad in Japanese dress and standing atop rice bales. He says he does not know who first conceived Mahakala like this. Old idols, he says, showed Mahakala seated on lotus leaves with right hand forming the "hammer mudra" (right hand made into fist, as though ready to strike). Elsewhere, according to the Nihongi, Ōmononushi was an alternate name for Ōkuninushi. The Nihongi also says Ōmononushi is another name for Ōnamuchi, whose true form is that of a snake. In the early 14th-century Japanese text Keiran Shūyōshū 渓嵐拾葉集, a section entitled Benzaiten Engi, or "The Miraculous Origins of Benzaiten," says Benzaiten is an important deity at Mt. Hiei and the mother of Ōnamuchi. [mark here: I'm started to get a bit "twisted around" myself !!!]. And still elsewhere, Amano Sadakage 天野信景 (1633-1733), in his Shiojiri 塩尻, V. 2, says that Mahakala has various forms, and one of them is the three-faced six-armed Matara [as mentioned in Item #2 above]. But he also goes on to describe the two-armed version (our cheerful and pudgy Daikokuten), saying this form wears a cap, has a hammer in right hand, and a treasure bag in his left hand. The idol was to be placed on a lotus leaf......and then, Amano says "it is not proper" to place the idol with the hammer on a straw bag, to put a Japanese hood on its head, and dress it with a commoner's dress. Amano was also amused to find that people of his time associated Mahakala with Ōkuninushi. He comments that "such things just make one laugh." 

4. Daikoku, Ebisu, and Ōkuninushi
Am I right in assuming the popularity of the Daikoku-Ebisu pairing is based primarily on the belief that (A) Daikoku = Ōkuninushi, and (B) Ōkuninushi is the father of Kotoshironushi and (C) Kotoshironushi = Ebisu?

5. Old Texts Describing Mahakala/Daikoku's Appearance
In addition to Yijing's work and the 10th-century Shingon text mentioned by Iyanaga-san (Yôson dôjô-kan by Shun'yû (T. 78 2468), here are a few more. I found most of them via Saroj Kumar Chaudhuri's book (2003) entitled "Hindu Gods and Goddesses in Japan."

• Daikoku shinkō 大黒信仰, a spurious text written at the end of Heian period. Gives specific heights for making the idol, which should have black skin, black court noble's cap, wear hunting dress, with right fist placed against waist, left hand holding treasure sack. And, Iyanaga-san will like this -- the color of the bag shall be that of rat's hair.
  
• Keiran Shūyōshū 渓嵐拾葉集 (1347). Says Daikoku's symbols are a bag, hammer, wish-granting jewel, sword of wisdom, jewel-studded staff, spear, and axe. It also says the idol installed in the Enryakuji temple does not conform to sutra rules.
  
• Daikokuten jinbō 大黒天神法, believed to be a fake sutra created in Tang-period China. This text virtually presents Daikoku as a Japanese deity, both as god of wealth and the kitchen, black in complexion, clad in hunter's dress, wearing eboshi (the formal cap for court nobles) and hakama with his right fist at his side and his left clutching a treasure bag slung over his shoulder.
• Shoson Kikigaki 諸尊聞書 by monk Yūkai (1345-1416). Left hand holds mallet, right hand holds treasure bag. Wears armor, black complexion, sitting. Left leg hangs down, and the right leg is spread in front.........Mark here. After searching for more artwork, I have discovered that most of the oldest extant statues of Daikoku are seated, with legs in hankazō pose.
  

enough for now, sorry again for the ramble
yours in the struggle to understand all this complexity..................
mark in kamakura

[Lewis Cook]

Two quibbles for mark of Kamakura’s post, from a naif:

1) _Daikoku shinko “a spurious text…” In what sense and how known to be spurious? Doesn’t this imply the existence of other more or less genuine texts of the same genre? 

2) _Daikokuten jinbo_ “believed to be a fake sutra” — I was under the impression that a sutra is, ideally, a transcript of the words spoken by the Buddha incarnate and that in reality no such things survive, so by definition an extant sutra is a fake. If you mean simply that there is no physical evidence of a Pali or Sanskrit ur-text, why not just say ‘invented sutra,' or 'not made in China'?

LCook

[Mark Schumacher]

Greetings Lord Cook

YOU WROTE

Two quibbles for mark of Kamakura’s post, from a naif:

1) Daikoku shinko “a spurious text…” In what sense and how known to be spurious? Doesn’t this imply the existence of other more or less genuine texts of the same genre? 

2) Daikokuten jinbo “believed to be a fake sutra” — I was under the impression that a sutra is, ideally, a transcript of the words spoken by the Buddha incarnate and that in reality no such things survive, so by definition an extant sutra is a fake. If you mean simply that there is no physical evidence of a Pali or Sanskrit ur-text, why not just say ‘invented sutra,' or 'not made in China'?

MARK HERE

What an appropriate name for a PMJS thread regarding the God of the Kitchen !!!
In China (less so Japan), there have been a very large number of works composed to "resemble" scriptures/sutras.
The Chinese even have lists of scriptures that they consider spurious or doubtful -- referring to texts of "non-Indian" origin.
I have no trouble saying "invented sutra." If I substituted the word "apocryphal" for spurious, would you have the same quibble?
I have seen many reference works and articles and books by modern scholars that use the term spurious when referring to period texts.
But in any case, my meaning is that these works are of doubtful authenticity, although they are widely circulated as being true.
For example, the Daikoku Shinko is considered spurious by scholars because it is attributed to a Chinese monk. But the contents
of the document strongly suggest Japanese authorship.

For example, see https://web.archive.org/web/20100707074549/http://www.shin-ibs.edu/documents/pwj3-3/11MC3.pdf
Pure Land Buddhism in China: Pure Land Buddhism in China: A Doctrinal History, Chapter Four: The Translation of Texts; Spurious Scriptures
Edited by Richard K. Payne, Institute of Buddhist Studies

[Nobumi Iyanaga]

Dear Mark-san and colleagues,

Thank you for your comment to my posting.

> On Oct 26, 2015, at 4:25 PM, Mark Schumacher <schumac...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> ...
>

> 1. The Rat
> I did not know of Iyanaga's theory about the rat, but find it quite interesting and plausible -- that it was Daikoku's association with rats that came first; this then led to Daikoku's association with rice; this in turn led to Daikoku's great popularity. But I must say, I find it almost inconceivable that Mahakala would love rats that steal rice.

Well, this does not (necessarily) mean that Mahākāla loves rats... As I wrote in other postings, it is not really the Śaiva Mahākāla (the terrible form of Śiva) which is connected with rats. It is rather Kubera (who is also an Indian god of fortune) who is associated with mangoose, which changed to rats in Central Asia (while Kubera changed to Vaiśravaṇa too) ; and this form seems to have arrived in Japan, to become the popular form of Daikoku...

On the other hand, Gaṇeśa, Śiva's "son," with whom Japanese later form of Daikoku shares some aspects (pot-belly, joyful apparence, etc.), is closely connected with a rat: this elephant god mounts on a big rat...!

>
> 2. QUESTION FROM IYANAGA TO PROF. SCHEID
> And are you sure that Ôkuninushi (not Ômononushi) was venerated at Hie Sannô shrine?
> MARK'S RESPONSE. Traditionally, the protecting deity of Mt. Hiei is the deity of Mt. Miwa 三輪山, Miwa Daimyōjin 三輪大明神, who is Ōmononushi-no-mikoto 大物主尊 (cf. Hie Taisha 日吉大社 and Sannō Gongen 山王權現). [also known as Ō-Hiei Gongen, the 17th kami of the 30 Kami of the 30 Monthly Days.] There was an assimilation of Miwa Daimyōjin with Daikokuten according to the Miwa Daimyōjin Engi 三輪大明神緣起, which is dated from 1318, but based probably on a document written by Eison 叡尊 (1201-1290) in 1285.

All this is true, but it seems that the relation between Miwa daimyōjin engi and Eison is not so direct. The Miwa daimyōjin engi has a very clear Tendai color... But Eison was certainly a worshipper of Daikoku (there are statues [?] that he venerated).

> At the latest from this period onward, Daikokuten was believed as the protecting deity of Mt. Hiei. On the other hand, the idea of one deity with three faces can be traced back to the protecting yakṣa deity of the Shingon headquarters temple in Kyōto, the Tōji 東寺 (officially named Kyō-ō Gokoku-ji 教王護國寺), named Yashajin 夜叉神 or Matarajin 摩多羅神, who was constituted of Shōten 聖天 (Gaṇeśa) at the center, Ḍākinī 荼吉尼天 at the left, and Benzaiten (Sarasvatī) at the right, according to a work by Shukaku 守覺 (1150-1202).

This is true too, but it is very probably a later work attributed to Shūkaku (御記, T. 78 2493). It was rather composed around the end of the 13th century (or even later...??).

> In the tradition of Tōji, this deity was connected to the Japanese deity Inari 稲荷, who was considered as the protecting deity of the whole temple. Thus, it is possible that the cult of Sanmen Daikoku was created in Mt. Hiei, on the basis and in competition with Yashajin of the Tōji. In the later medieval period and during the Edo period, the cult of Sanmen Daikoku as a god of fortune was very popular, and there exist many little statues of this deity in wood. [Bibliography: Hōbōgirin, 7.902b-905a; 彌永信美 (Nobumi IYANAGA), 大黒天変相 — 佛教神話学 I, Kyoto, Hōzōkan 法藏館, 2002, p. 547 [Iyanaga, Nakamura], Digital Dictionary of Buddhism [Charles Muller]"
>
> 3. Daikoku's link to Ōkuninushi and Ōmononushi
> In his Wakan Sanzai Zue (1712), Terajima Ryoan 寺島良安 says that Ōkuninushi is also known by the name Ōmononushi. The Chinese reading of Ôkuni 大黒 is also the reading of the Chinese translation of Mahakala 大国天, so people started thinking Mahakala and Ômononushi were the same.

I think you have mistaken between 大黒 and 大国...

> He then calls this a "twisted" interpretation. The Japanese have associated many Shinto deities with Buddhist deities in this way. Terajima also discusses the two-handed pudgy Daikoku with hammer in one hand, treasure bag in the other, clad in Japanese dress and standing atop rice bales. He says he does not know who first conceived Mahakala like this. Old idols, he says, showed Mahakala seated on lotus leaves with right hand forming the "hammer mudra" (right hand made into fist, as though ready to strike). Elsewhere, according to the Nihongi, Ōmononushi was an alternate name for Ōkuninushi. The Nihongi also says Ōmononushi is another name for Ōnamuchi, whose true form is that of a snake.

I did not know... Ōnamuchi is another name of Ōkuninushi, meaning "the noble one" or something like this. And the snake is the "true form" of Ōmononushi. Although Ōkuninushi and Ōmononushi are associated early in Japanese mythology, they are different deities, and should not be simply identified...

> In the early 14th-century Japanese text Keiran Shūyōshū 渓嵐拾葉集, a section entitled Benzaiten Engi, or "The Miraculous Origins of Benzaiten," says Benzaiten is an important deity at Mt. Hiei and the mother of Ōnamuchi. [mark here: I'm started to get a bit "twisted around" myself !!!].

That is new to me too. Could you please give me the reference?

> And still elsewhere, Amano Sadakage 天野信景 (1633-1733), in his Shiojiri 塩尻, V. 2, says that Mahakala has various forms, and one of them is the three-faced six-armed Matara [as mentioned in Item #2 above]. But he also goes on to describe the two-armed version (our cheerful and pudgy Daikokuten), saying this form wears a cap, has a hammer in right hand, and a treasure bag in his left hand. The idol was to be placed on a lotus leaf......and then, Amano says "it is not proper" to place the idol with the hammer on a straw bag, to put a Japanese hood on its head, and dress it with a commoner's dress. Amano was also amused to find that people of his time associated Mahakala with Ōkuninushi. He comments that "such things just make one laugh."

Yes, in the Edo period, this association between Ōkuninushi and Daikoku becomes very clear and popular. It is interesting to notice, however, that it was before the "discovery" of Kojiki by Motoori Norinaga. So Ōkuninushi seems to re-emerge in people's mind before Norinaga...

>
> 4. Daikoku, Ebisu, and Ōkuninushi
> Am I right in assuming the popularity of the Daikoku-Ebisu pairing is based primarily on the belief that (A) Daikoku = Ōkuninushi, and (B) Ōkuninushi is the father of Kotoshironushi and (C) Kotoshironushi = Ebisu?

This was the theory of Kita Sadakichi. But I am not convinced, because this pairing is earlier than the period in which Ōkuninushi becomes popular. But then how can we explain this association? I really don't know... (although I proposed some hypothesis in my book) !

>
> 5. Old Texts Describing Mahakala/Daikoku's Appearance
> In addition to Yijing's work and the 10th-century Shingon text mentioned by Iyanaga-san (Yôson dôjô-kan by Shun'yû (T. 78 2468), here are a few more. I found most of them via Saroj Kumar Chaudhuri's book (2003) entitled "Hindu Gods and Goddesses in Japan."
> • Daikoku shinkō 大黒信仰, a spurious text written at the end of Heian period. Gives specific heights for making the idol, which should have black skin, black court noble's cap, wear hunting dress, with right fist placed against waist, left hand holding treasure sack. And, Iyanaga-san will like this -- the color of the bag shall be that of rat's hair.

The exact title of this book is Daikoku tenjin hō 大黒天神法, T. 21 1287 -- which is a Japanese compilation of the 10th-11th century. It quotes the iconography by Shunyū, the Yōson-dōjō-kan...

> • Keiran Shūyōshū 渓嵐拾葉集 (1347). Says Daikoku's symbols are a bag, hammer, wish-granting jewel, sword of wisdom, jewel-studded staff, spear, and axe. It also says the idol installed in the Enryakuji temple does not conform to sutra rules.

> • Daikokuten jinbō 大黒天神法, believed to be a fake sutra created in Tang-period China. This text virtually presents Daikoku as a Japanese deity, both as god of wealth and the kitchen, black in complexion, clad in hunter's dress, wearing eboshi (the formal cap for court nobles) and hakama with his right fist at his side and his left clutching a treasure bag slung over his shoulder.

I think there is some confusion...

> • Shoson Kikigaki 諸尊聞書 by monk Yūkai (1345-1416). Left hand holds mallet, right hand holds treasure bag. Wears armor, black complexion, sitting. Left leg hangs down, and the right leg is spread in front.........

Could you give me the reference of this work, that I did not know...

Thank you very much...

Best regards,

Nobumi Iyanaga

[Lewis Cook]

(Thanks Mark for your generous reply. 

Just to clarify, i meant to type 

not ‘made in China’

not 

‘not made in China’)

LC

[Scheid, Bernhard]

Dear Iyanaga-san and others,

Well, this discussion turns into the direction "what is a kami"? Obviously, a name and an icon are not always identical: different icons go by the same name, similar icons receive different names, as in Buddhism for that matter. The situation is especially difficult in the case of Ōkuninushi. As Mark Schumacher has detailed for us, many different deities were subsumed under this name, which may also be interpreted as a title: Great-Land-Lord (a title that the god Ō[a]namuchi in one Kojiki episode receives from Susanoo, when fleeing his realm in the underworld). Personally I regard the figure of Ōkuninushi as an inclusivistic device from the beginning (i.e. kiki mythology). Figures like Ōmononushi, Ōnamuchi, etc. seem to have been identified with Ōkuninushi as a deity that connects Izumo and Miwa in the kiki, but this does not mean that the respective shrines were always happy with this identification. Same may be true for Hie. But as soon as Ōkininushi or one of his aliases appear in the sources, we can presume that there were at least attempts to connect the various centers with one another. Therefore, I would not say "Ōkuninushi = Ōnamuchi = Ōmononushi= ..." in all cases, but obviously there were attempts to identify them.

I think that the situation in the case of Daikoku is similar. There is obviously an early (Heian) identification with Mahakala (thanks to Niels Gülberg for his hint to kōshiki), but if I understand Iyanaga-san right, there are different Mahakalas at work. My initial problem was with the Daikoku=Mahakala-identification that it is often only associated with the fierce esoteric icon by that name with three heads, six arms, an elephant skin, … (the Shaiva Mahakala according to Iyanaga-san's latest post).

Best wishes

Bernhard

________________________________________
Von: pm...@googlegroups.com [pm...@googlegroups.com]&quot; im Auftrag von &quot;Nobumi Iyanaga [n-iy...@nifty.com]

Gesendet: Sonntag, 25. Oktober 2015 05:30

An: pm...@googlegroups.com
Betreff: Re: [PMJS] Daikokuten: significance of sitting on bales vs standing on them?

[raji.s...@aoi.uzh.ch]

Dear Bernhard and Nobumi

thank you for your helpful responses. Before I could follow up on them, I came across my story in the Shintō yūrai no koto chapter of the Shintōshū. Interestingly enough, here, it is said that Izanagi and Izanami have three male children (the Sun god, Amaterasu, the moon god, and Susanoo) and one female child (Hiruko). Hiruko arrives in her boat at the palace of the Dragon king, who raises the child for some years and then sends it back; but because the Dragon king has no domain on land, he assigns the high waters of Sumiyoshi as the domain of Hiruko. The Shintōshū concludes the passage with a note that this is the deity venerated in Nishinomiya, and celebrated in an autumn festival of fishermen under the name of Ebisu. See Sakamoto Tarō. Shintōshū. Vol. 1. Shintō taikei. Bungakuhen. Tōkyō: Shintō taikei hensankai, 1988, pp. 2-3.

Thank you again, and hello and thanks to Mikael Bauer for co-moderating this list!

[Mark Schumacher]

Dear PMJS Members

As many of you know, I am a self-taught independent researcher of art history living in Kamakura (for the past 20 years).
Today I spent hours and hours looking for material using well-known resources such as Charles Muller's DDB and
the equivalent effort CBETA in Taiwan, and also referencing the SAT database 大正新脩大藏經テキストデータベ.

I was unsuccessful. Perhaps it is my fault, as I'm not quite sure of my ability to navigate SAT's search functions.
YET, it appears to me that SAT does "not offer" the full Buddhist canon.  I am looking for resources from the Taishō Tripiṭaka
that are found in T86–97 and are known as Zuzō-bu 圖像部. I am specifically looking for the:

1. Besson Zakki 別尊雑記, a Japanese Buddhist text compiled by Shingon monk Shinkaku 心覚 (1116-1180)
2. Zuzō-bu 圖像部,  T86 through T97 -- especially T89.3022.832 (where I hope to find images of Daikokuten/Mahakala)
   
3. Info and images from the Womb World Mandala's Taizō Zuzō 胎蔵図像 version and Taizō Kyūzuyō 胎蔵旧図様 version.
   

Does anyone know if these resources are digitized and available online? If they are online, please send me the links.
I would greatly appreciate any guidance.

yours in the struggle,
sincerely and gassho
mark in kamakura

 

[Avery M.]

Hello Mark,

The SAT project goes up to T85, according to their website. T86-T97 are heavily illustrated, including 別尊雑記 which is contained in the first volumes. To give you a rough idea, they are closer to an illustrated museum catalog written by monks than a book of scriptures. I am not privy to what the SAT people are up to but I think it not unreasonable to guess that these books are on the back burner, because of technical limitations -- they already had to manually code dozens of special characters for the siddham books -- and there may be copyright issues as well. I would not be surprised if CBETA made a similar decision.

I hope you can find a university willing to let you see the print edition, because I am certain your valuable collection of information about pre-modern imagery could gain from paging through these classic reference texts.

Yours,
Avery Morrow
Research student, U. Tokyo

平成27年11月9日(月) 18:30 Mark Schumacher
schumac...@gmail.com>:

[Nobumi Iyanaga]

Dear Mark-san,
Dear Avery-san,
Dear Colleagues,

Yes, as Avery-san says, SAT covers only T vol. 1 to 85. But I heard some years ago (not so many years) that the SAT team is now working to input the other volumes too. So you can expect that sometime soon, you will have access to all the 100 volumes of the Canon... Don't forget that the last three volumes 98, 99 and 100, containing catalogue materials, are very interesting too.

Best regard,

Nobumi Iyanaga
Tokyo,
Japan

[Joseph P. Elacqua]

Mark & Esteemed Colleagues,

Please forgive the lack of diacritics; I presently have little time to reply.

Indeed the SAT does plan to eventually publish the entire Taisho Zuzo-bu online, but it will take a number of years to do so.  I enquired about this awhile back and received that response.

Unfortunately, I do not have the Besson Zakki on hand, but I do have the opportunity to speak on images relating to the Mahakaruna-garbhodbhava-mandala (Taizokai).  As far as I am aware, Mahakala in these works is only represented in the "Tantric" sense (as alluded to in earlier messages), though very early vestiges of this manifestation can be found.

The Taizo Zuzo and Taizo Kyuzuyo images are nearly identical.  In each, Mahakala sits cross-legged on a lotus.  He bears a sword upright in his right hand and his left holds a bowl.  His neck, ears, and head are adorned.  The Taizo Kyuzuyo image seems to be less detailed and might derive from an earlier tradition.  In the Taizo Zuzo image, Mahakala's countenance is similar to a standard Fudo-Myoo (i.e. with wrinkled brow and fangs).  In addition, his bowl is not empty (though I am not in a position to comment on what it might contain).

The Genzu mandala image is extremely different.  This is what I might call a properly "Tantric" image of Mahakala, by which I mean that it seems to represent Tantric traditions independent the texts that became the cornerstones of Shingon Buddhism in Japan (i.e. the Mahavairocanabhisambodhi and the first chapter of the Sarvatathagatatattvasangraha—neither of which seem to have been originally titled "Tantras").  Instead, this Mahakala seems to derive from a different iconographic tradition that was both transmitted to China and popularized by the time the Genzu version of the mandala was completed (i.e. before 806).  I have little familiarity with other Tantras, so I cannot directly comment on the origins of this image.  However, it seems to fit very well alongside standard Tibetan images of the "Tantric" Mahakala.

In the Genzu version of the mandala, Mahakala has three heads and six arms.  Two brandish his sword (the hilt of which ends in a three-pronged vajra or a trident)  One holds I believe a goat by the antlers, and another holds a human by the hair.  The back two hands hold perhaps a cloth or a skin over his shoulders.  Each of the three faces are wrathful, like a vidyaraja, and the central face contains the Saiva third eye.  His image is also decorated with skulls (one on a necklace, and others in headdresses).

Either way, in the Garbhodbhava-mandala tradition, the "Japanese" Daikokuten (if I may)—meaning the happy luck deity with the hammer and rice bales—seems to be wholly absent.  If he is represented in this tradition, it is NOT under the name Mahakala.

By the way, I believe the Besson Zakki is located in the third volume of the Taisho Zuzo-bu if you happen to locate a copy.  It should be the second text in that volume.

Hope that helps!

Joseph P. Elacqua

Adjunct Professor

Mohawk Valley Community College

[Joseph P. Elacqua]

Esteemed Colleagues,

A quick addendum:  I forgot that the extant version of the Taizo Kyuzuyo often has some trouble attributing the correct names to deities, as examined in Ishida Hisatoyo's 2-volume "Mandala no Kenkyu."  Ishida finds two versions of Mahakala (vol.1, p. 156) present in the Taizo Kyuzuyo, both under different names.  One is the "tame" version that I referenced earlier.  The second looks similar to the Taizo Zuzo image except the bowl is empty, the figure is more detailed in adornment, and his sword is also on fire.

Ishida also includes an image from the Shishu Goma Honzon Oyobi Kenzoku Zuzo (TZ. V. 1, No. 37), the icons of which supposedly date from 821.  This image is similar to the Genzu mandala version except Mahakala's foremost arms hold a trident, the person held by the hair is substituted for an upright sword.  The goat held by the antlers also moves to the middle-left arm instead of the middle-right.  Further, this Mahakala has only one head with a skull in his headdress.  There are no other skulls to be seen.

At any rate, each of the images contained within the Taizo Zuzo and Taizo Kyuzuyo images are both two-armed, and—while pictured with wrathful countenances—their hair/headdresses and clothing match non-wrathful figures in those same collections.  We do not seem to see a properly wrathful deity (that is, with standard "Tantric" [or potentially Saiva] elements such as wild hair, multiple arms, a third eye, a trident, etc.) until the Genzu mandala.

Joseph P. Elacqua

Adjunct Professor

Mohawk Valley Community College