Seven Lucky Gods of Zōshigaya

In Zōshigaya 雑司ヶ谷 one can visit a sanctuary for each of the Seven Lucky Gods in a so called Shichi Fuku-jin meguri 七福神巡り (Seven Lucky Gods tour or pilgrimage). However, the combination of members of the Seven Lucky Gods of Zōshigaya is slightly different from the common combination.1 In Zōshigaya, Benzai-ten 弁財天 is not the only female member of the Seven Lucky Gods as the South-Asian Kichijō-ten 吉祥天 (based on the Hindu deity Lakṣmī लक्ष्मी) replaces Jurōjin 寿老人.  

At the time of my visit I did not possess a map indicating the exact locations of all the temples and shrines so I was not able to visit all of them yet. Near the Kanjō-in (a sub-temple of the Hōmyō-ji 法明寺) there is a statue of Benzai-ten on which worshippers pour water before they pray.

The Daimoku 題目 (“Namu myōhōrenge-kyō” 南無妙法蓮華教) of the Nichiren-sect.

To my surprise, the place where Daikoku-ten 大黒天 is enshrined, is the Kishibojin-dō 鬼子母神堂 I have visited numerous times in the past. The small building that holds his statue is a shop that sells sweets at the same time and it was often closed during my previous visits. The fact that a deity is enshrined in a candy shop may appear strange at first, but the South Asian Mahākāla (Skt: महाकाल) turned into a deity of the dining hall in Chinese monasteries and was adopted as such by esoteric Buddhists in Japan. Consequently, Daikoku-ten is also often enshrined in the kitchen in certain areas (Miyamoto, 1987; pp35-37). In spite of his Hindu/Buddhist origin, the Daikoku-sama near the Kishibojin-dō is presented two heihaku (幣帛, offerings of cloth/paper) along with what appears to be sake. Offering heihaku is a Shintoist practice and presenting alcoholic beverages to a Buddhist deity is remarkable to say the least. This again proves how the Meiji-government’s efforts to separate Buddhism from Shintoism did not completely succeed in changing the inclinations of the people. Why would something that is considered to be an appropriate offer to one deity be inappropriate for another? Rather than following certain rules in an attempt to practise authentic religion, a lot of people seem to use their own sense of values when it comes to expressing their feelings towards a certain deity.

A similar offer was found in front of the temple grounds’ Inari 稲荷-shrine. Inari is/Foxes are believed to like fried tofu and as such offerings of Inari-zushi 稲荷寿司 (a bite-size bit of rice in a pouch of fried tōfu) are traditionally made at Inari-shrines. Here, however, some people simply made an offering of a package of fried tofu as can be typically found in the supermarket.

Footnotes:

1 Common combination: Ebisu, Daikoku-ten, Benzai-ten, Hotei, Bishamon-ten, Fukuroku-ju and Jurōju

Sources:

• Miyamoto, Kesao  (宮本袈裟雄). 『福神信仰』 (Fukujin shinkō).  Tokyo:  Yūsankaku (雄山閣), 1987.

• Tanaka, Yoshiyasu (田中義恭).『面白いほどよくわかる仏像の世界: 仏像の種類・歴史から鑑賞のポイントまで』(Omoshiroi hodo yoku wakaru butsuzō no sekai: butsuzō no shurui, rekishi kara kanshō made). Tokyo: Nihon bungeisha (日本文芸社), 2008.