Ebisu-dana in “Yōshūfushi”

Ebisu-dana in “Yōshūfushi”

In “Shintō dai-jiten” I found a quote concerning the Ebisu-dana. The quote was taken out of Yōshūfushi 『雍州府志』, apparently a guidebook to Kyōto dating from the Edo-period (1684 to be precise)

 “

凡倭俗惠比須天大黑天爲 二一雙一民家戸々作二小像一安二置棚頭一祭レ之、是謂二惠美須棚 一、凡自レ外所レ入二家内一之金銀絹帛並酒茶肴核之類、先供二斯棚一言又祈レ得レ之也、故與二福神惠美須一併二祭之一者乎

”

According to this quote, in general every folk dwelling had a shelf called “Ebisu-dana” on which a pair of statuettes of Ebisu-ten and Daikoku-ten was enshrined. Offerings of gold, silver, silk, but also sake, tea, food, fruit seeds and the like were put in front of them and people prayed to acquire more of the offered items.

While virtually absent in Buddhism (worldly desires are not encouraged) and Christianity, the presenting of small amounts of a certain desired good seems to be quite common in polytheistic societies (cf. previous post on kamidana in Yamanashi). There are numerous similar examples within Japanese religion like the offering of rice to Inatama 稲魂, the deity of foodstuffs (cf. ‘Amami-gaku’ Kankōiinkai), but the practice is far from unique. In ancient Rome, the ceremonies of the so-called Equus October (October Horse) to honour Mars were held on October 15. The horse that was to be offered was decided by a race. The one that proved to be the fastest and the strongest was slaughtered, whereupon the horse’s severed head was decorated with loaves of bread. Knowing that Mars played the dual role of deity of war on the one hand and deity of agriculture on the other hand, we can see the similarity with the ceremony of offering gold and the like to Ebisu and Daikoku-ten: a strong horse is sacrificed to ask for strength, loaves of bread are offered to secure a good harvest.  

Sources:

• ‘Amami-gaku’ Kankōiinkai (「奄美学」刊行委員会). 『奄美学その地平と彼方』(Amami-gaku sono chihei to kanata). Nanpōshinsha (南方新社), 2005.

•  Dunstan, William E. Ancient Rome. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2010.

•  Kobayashi, Giryō (小林義亮).  『笠置寺激動の1300年: ある山寺の歴史』(Kasagi-dera gekidō no 1300-nen: aru yamadera no rekishi) . Tōkyō: Bungeisha (文芸社), 2002. (p210).

• Rinsen-shoten (臨川書店).『神道大辭典　一巻』(Shintō dai-jiten ikkan). Tokyo: Heibonsha edition (平凡社版), 1969.