Ugajin
Ugajin (宇賀神) is harvest and fertility kami of Japanese Mythology.[1][2] Ugajin is represented both as a male and a female, and is often depicted with the body of a snake and the head of a bearded man, for the masculine variant,[1] or the head of a woman, for the female variant. In Tendai Buddhism Ugajin was syncretically fused with Buddhist goddess Benzaiten, which became known as Uga Benzaiten or Uga Benten.[3] The goddess sometimes carries on her head Ugajin's effigy.
In this limited sense, the kami is part of the Japanese Buddhist pantheon.
Gallery[]
Ugajin's feminine form
Statue of Benzaiten, a torii and a male Ugajin visible on her head (whose coiled serpent body is barely visible behind her crown)
Wooden snake at Zeniarai Benzaiten Ugafuku Shrine
Notes[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b Watsky, Andrew Mark. (2004). Chikubushima: Deploying the Sacred Arts in Momoyama Japan, p. 233., p. 233, at Google Books
- ^ Handbook of Japanese mythology by Michael Ashkenazi p.126
- ^ Itō, Satoshi: "Ugajin". Encyclopedia of Shinto, Kokugakuin University, retrieved on August 15, 2011
External links[]
Media related to Ugajin at Wikimedia Commons
- Japanese deities
- Shinbutsu shūgō
- Fertility deities
- Androgynous and hermaphroditic deities
- Harvest deities