daikoku　大黒

KEY WORD :　1 architecture / folk dwellings, 2 art history / sculptures

1　An abbreviation for *Daikokuten 大黒天 (Sk: Mahakala). Regarded by the Esoteric Buddhist mikkyou 密教 as an aspect of Jizaiten 自在天, the guardian deity of Buddhism. Initially a god of war and of anger in popular religion, but from the medieval period became one of the seven gods of good fortune *shichifukujin 七福神. In this aspect he was conceived as a rotund figure wearing a cloth hat zukin 頭巾, with a bag slung over his left shoulder and a magic hammer uchide-no-kozuchi 打出の小槌 in his right hand, his feet resting on a sack of rice. He was also identified with the indigenous Japanese god Ookuninushi no Mikoto 大国主命, the great deity of Izumo 出雲. Together with the god *Ebisu 恵比須, he came to be regarded as a tutelary deity of the kitchen and offerings were made to him there.　See *daikokubashira 大黒柱. 2　The god of wealth, represented in kyougen 狂言 plays by a masked figure *kyougenmen 狂言面. The mask representing daikoku has a wide, grinning face with a jovial expression. Eyebrows and moustache are painted; implanted tufts of horsehair are sometimes used for the beard. Daikoku can be distinguished from *Ebisu 恵比須, the god of commerce, by his chubby round cheeks, chin and ears. Daikoku appears in the plays: The Shinto priest and the Warrior Priest NEGI YAMABUSHI 禰宜山伏, Daikoku and the Poets DAIKOKU RENGA 大黒連歌, and Ebisu and Daikoku EBISU DAIKOKU 恵比須大黒.

REFERENCES:

EXTERNAL LINKS:

NOTES:

(C)2001 Japanese Architecture and Art Net Users System.　No reproduction or republication without written permission. 掲載のテキスト・写真・イラストなど、全てのコンテンツの無断複製・転載を禁じます。