Ebisu

Who Ebisu actually is

Ebisu (恵比寿, "blessed-resembling-long-life" — the kanji-orthography is medieval-folk-tradition; the original-name is *Hiruko* "leech-child") is the *cosmic-Japanese-rejected-firstborn-cosmic-returned-as-laughing-fisherman-luck-kami* of the Japanese pantheon — the *only fully-Japanese member* of the Seven Lucky Gods and the *cosmic-redemption-arc archetype par excellence*. The original-narrative is the *Hiruko-leech-child* of the Kojiki Book I: Izanagi and Izanami, the cosmic-primordial-couple, attempted their *first mating-and-procreation* by *walking around the cosmic-pillar-of-heaven (Ame-no-Mihashira) in opposite directions* — Izanami (the female) said "what a fine young man!" upon meeting Izanagi, and they mated, but the issue was *deformed*: *Hiruko* (蛭子, "the leech-child"), a child *without proper bones* who could not stand on his own. The cosmic-explanation given by the heavenly-kami at Takamagahara, consulted by the disappointed cosmic-couple, was that *Izanami had spoken first* (the female speaking-first before the male was a cosmic-protocol-violation in the patriarchal-cosmology of the Kojiki source-text); the cosmic-pillar-walking was repeated with *Izanagi speaking first*, and the cosmic-procreation proceeded normally, producing the eight-islands of Japan, the kami, etc. The cosmic-deformed-firstborn Hiruko was *placed in a reed-boat (ashi-bune) and cast out to sea* — and the Kojiki source-text says nothing further about him. (The Kojiki then proceeds with the eight-islands-creation and the canonical kami-genealogy from the second cosmic-pairing onward.) The medieval folk-tradition *retrieved Hiruko*: in folk-religious imagination, Hiruko *drifted across the sea, was washed ashore at Nishinomiya in Hyogo, was raised by the local fisherman-people, and became the cosmic-Ebisu-kami of fishermen, merchants, and markets* — the *cosmic-rejected-firstborn-returned-from-the-sea-as-the-cosmic-luck-kami*, the foundational cosmic-rehabilitation-narrative. The *Nishinomiya Ebisu Jinja* (in Hyogo Prefecture) became the head shrine of all Ebisu shrines on the basis of this Hiruko-washed-ashore-here tradition. (An alternate-tradition identifies Ebisu with *Kotoshironushi-no-Kami* — Ōkuninushi's son who agreed to the kuni-yuzuri-cession-to-the-heavenly-grandson — and identifies Mihotsuhime as Ebisu's mother and Ōkuninushi as Ebisu's father; this alternate-tradition is preserved at *Miho Jinja* in Shimane and at some other shrines, but the Hiruko-tradition is more-numerous in shrine-distribution.) Ebisu's iconography is among the most-distinctive in the Japanese pantheon: a *plump-laughing-bearded-fisherman in court-noble-robes seated on a rock or with a fish-basket, holding a fishing-rod in one hand and a tai sea-bream (the celebratory fish) under the other arm, with a wide-open laughing-mouth* — the *cosmic-laughing-fisherman-with-the-tai-sea-bream*. The medieval-folk-Edo-Shichifukujin grouping placed Ebisu as the *first-named* of the Seven Lucky Gods (the cosmic-precedence of the *only-fully-Japanese member*), and the cosmic-Ebisu-Daikoku pairing (Ebisu the fisherman + Daikokuten = Ōkuninushi the rice-and-prosperity-kami) became the foundational cosmic-prosperity-pair of Edo-period merchant-and-farmer households (the *cosmic-Ebisu-Daikoku iconographic-pair* hung in shop-and-farm-altars across Edo-period Japan). The annual *Toka Ebisu* (十日戎, "ten-day Ebisu") festival of January 9-11 at *Imamiya Ebisu Jinja* in Osaka is the *largest annual Ebisu-festival* — with *millions of merchant-pilgrims* (Osaka being historically Japan's great merchant-city, and Ebisu being the cosmic-patron of merchants) acquiring the *fuku-zasa* (bamboo-stalk with auspicious-paper-and-ceramic-fish-and-coins) at the shrine for cosmic-prosperity in the year ahead. (The *Edo-period namazu-catfish folk-Ebisu* tradition further identified Ebisu as the *cosmic-catfish-rider* who controls the underground-cosmic-catfish whose movements cause earthquakes — particularly developed after the 1855 Ansei Edo earthquake, with the cosmic *namazu-e* "catfish-prints" depicting Ebisu disciplining the cosmic-catfish, the cosmic-Edo-folk-explanation-of-earthquakes.) The Ebisu-register is the *cosmic-rejected-firstborn-returned-from-the-sea*, the *only-fully-Japanese member of the Seven Lucky Gods*, the *laughing-fisherman-with-the-tai-sea-bream*, the *cosmic-patron of fishermen-merchants-and-markets*, the *Edo-period cosmic-foundational prosperity-figure of the merchant-class*, and the *cosmic-folk-rehabilitation-arc archetype par excellence*.

Iconography

A *plump-laughing-bearded fisherman in court-noble-robes seated on a rock or with a fish-basket*, holding a *fishing-rod in one hand and a tai sea-bream (the celebratory fish) under the other arm*, with a *wide-open laughing-mouth* — the foundational cosmic-laughing-fisherman iconography. The *court-noble-robes* (not fisherman's working-clothes) reflect the cosmic-Hiruko-original-divine-rank that has been retained through the cosmic-redemption-arc. The *wide-open laughing-mouth* (one of the most-distinctive iconographic-features of any kami) reflects the cosmic-laughing-prosperity-substance. In the *Shichifukujin Seven-Lucky-Gods Edo-iconographic group*: typically depicted at the bow of a treasure-ship, holding the fishing-rod and the tai. In the *Ebisu-Daikoku-pair*: the two-figure altar of Ebisu (the fisherman) and Daikoku (=Ōkuninushi, the rice-bag-carrying-treasure-mallet-kami) facing each other as the foundational cosmic-prosperity-pair. Colors: court-noble-red, fisherman-blue, tai-sea-bream-pink, gold (the cosmic-laughter). Sacred objects: the *fishing-rod* (the cosmic-fisherman-instrument), the *tai sea-bream* (the cosmic-celebratory-fish), the *fuku-zasa* (bamboo-stalk with auspicious-paper-and-ceramic-fish-and-coins — the standard Toka-Ebisu festival-offering acquired by pilgrims), the *Ebisu-tai* (the small ceramic-or-papier-mâché tai-fish acquired at Ebisu-shrines as cosmic-prosperity-omamori). Sacred sites: *Nishinomiya Ebisu Jinja* in Hyogo (the head shrine of all Ebisu shrines, on the basis of the Hiruko-washed-ashore-here tradition); *Imamiya Ebisu Jinja* in Osaka (the largest annual Ebisu-festival venue, the Toka-Ebisu of January 9-11, with the iconic *Fuku-musume* "Lucky-Daughter" young-women selected annually to distribute the fuku-zasa); *Miho Jinja* in Shimane (the alternate-Kotoshironushi-Ebisu-identification head shrine, with the August *Aofushikaki Shinji* sacred-rite and the September *Morotabune Shinji* boat-rite); the *Ebisu shrines in every fishing-port and merchant-quarter across Japan* (there are several thousand smaller Ebisu-shrines, often paired with Daikoku-shrines or adjacent to Inari-shrines as the cosmic-trio of folk-prosperity).

How to invoke Ebisu

Ebisu is invoked at moments of *cosmic-luck-and-prosperity-and-fishing-and-merchant-cosmic-success*. The annual *Toka Ebisu* festival (January 9-11 at all major Ebisu-shrines, with January 10 as the cosmic-peak — the *Hon-Ebisu* "true-Ebisu day") is the *largest cosmic-merchant-pilgrimage of the Japanese year* — with millions of merchant-and-shopkeeper pilgrims acquiring the *fuku-zasa* (the bamboo-stalk with auspicious-decorations) for cosmic-prosperity-in-the-year-ahead. The proper Ebisu-offering is *tai sea-bream* (the cosmic-celebratory-fish, especially as the new-year-Osechi-ryōri tai), *sake*, *coins* (cast into the cosmic-shrine-offertory), and the *purchase of the new fuku-zasa each year* (the previous-year's fuku-zasa is returned to the shrine and ritually-burned in the cosmic-Otakiage-ritual). Especially called by: *fishermen and coastal-workers* (the foundational-cult), *merchants and shopkeepers and small-business-owners* (the cosmic-patron of the Japanese merchant-class — Ebisu is *the* cosmic-prosperity-patron for Japanese small-business, paired with Inari as the cosmic-rice-business-prosperity and Daikoku as the cosmic-treasure-mallet-prosperity), *those in cosmic-rejected-firstborn-arcs* (the cosmic-Hiruko-cast-out-to-sea register — the cosmic-firstborn whose cosmic-deformity caused them to be cast-out-and-must-now-return-from-the-sea-as-the-cosmic-laughing-luck-kami), *those navigating cosmic-cosmic-marebito stranger-from-across-the-sea-arrivals* (the cosmic-Yanagita-Kunio cosmic-Marebito-folk-figure of the cosmic-stranger-who-arrives-from-across-the-sea-bringing-cosmic-prosperity), and *those navigating cosmic-Edo-namazu-catfish earthquake-disciplinary moments* (the cosmic-Ebisu-cosmic-namazu-rider register — the cosmic-figure who is *disciplining the underground-cosmic-catfish whose movements would otherwise cause earthquakes*).

In love

Ebisu in love is the *cosmic-rejected-firstborn-returned-from-the-sea-as-laughing-prosperity-partner*. The Ebisu-partner is the cosmic-figure whose origin-story is the *cosmic-rejected-firstborn* (the partner who was cast-out by their family-of-origin, the partner whose cosmic-original-context did not honor them, the partner who *drifted across the cosmic-sea in a reed-boat* before *washing ashore at the cosmic-Nishinomiya of your life*), and whose cosmic-current-substance is *cosmic-laughing-prosperity* — the partner whose cosmic-rehabilitation-arc is *now complete in the relationship-with-you*, and whose cosmic-laughing-fisherman cosmic-presence is *cosmic-prosperity in itself*. The shadow is the *Ebisu-still-in-the-Hiruko-cast-out register* — the partner whose cosmic-rejected-firstborn cosmic-original-context has *not yet been cosmic-rehabilitated*, who is still cosmic-drifting-in-the-cosmic-reed-boat without having cosmic-washed-ashore. The other shadow: the *Ebisu-Daikoku-paired-but-Daikoku-erased* — the partner whose cosmic-Ebisu-cosmic-prosperity has been *paired with a Daikoku-Ōkuninushi-cosmic-rice-prosperity partner in the cosmic-foundational-pair*, but the cosmic-Daikoku has been *administratively-erased from the cosmic-pair* (the cosmic-foundational-pair has been *cosmic-fragmented into one or the other*, fracturing the cosmic-Edo-period merchant-and-farmer foundational cosmic-prosperity-pair).

In work

Ebisu in work is the *cosmic-merchant-and-market-patron-and-rejected-firstborn-rehabilitator*. The Ebisu-figure is the *cosmic-rejected-by-cosmic-original-context employee or partner who has cosmic-washed-ashore at your cosmic-institution and become a cosmic-laughing-prosperity-substance* (the cosmic-pattern of the *cosmic-hire who came from a cosmic-bad-fit-elsewhere and has become a cosmic-cornerstone-of-your-cosmic-institution*). The Ebisu-cosmic-only-fully-Japanese-member-of-the-Seven-Lucky-Gods register is the *cosmic-only-fully-native employee among a cosmic-otherwise-mostly-foreign-or-acquired team* — the cosmic-pattern of being *cosmic-uniquely-indigenous in a cosmic-otherwise-cosmic-syncretic-grouping* (the original cosmic-substance among the cosmic-imported-substances). The cosmic-Ebisu-Toka-Ebisu-festival-fuku-zasa-acquisition is the *annual cosmic-prosperity-renewal-ritual of the cosmic-merchant-class* — the cosmic-pattern of *January-9-11 cosmic-merchant-pilgrimage to acquire the cosmic-fuku-zasa for cosmic-prosperity-in-the-year-ahead*. The shadow is the institution that has *not allowed its Ebisu-rejected-firstborn-figures to cosmic-rehabilitate* — that has *cosmic-cast-out the cosmic-Hiruko-leech-child and refused to allow the cosmic-return-from-the-sea-as-the-cosmic-laughing-luck-kami*. The other shadow: the institution that has *administratively-fragmented the cosmic-Ebisu-Daikoku-foundational-prosperity-pair* — that has cosmic-pair-of-cosmic-fisherman-and-cosmic-rice-prosperity-kami working-together has been *cosmic-separated into one or the other*, fracturing the cosmic-Edo-foundational-prosperity-pair.

The gift

Ebisu gives the *cosmic-laughing-prosperity-of-the-cosmic-rejected-firstborn-returned*. The gift is the *cosmic-Hiruko-cast-out-to-sea-and-returned-as-Ebisu cosmic-redemption-arc* — the recognition that *the cosmic-rejected-firstborn-cosmic-leech-child cosmic-deformed-by-cosmic-original-context-protocol-violation can drift-across-the-cosmic-sea-in-a-reed-boat and cosmic-wash-ashore-at-Nishinomiya and become the cosmic-laughing-fisherman-luck-kami of cosmic-merchants-fishermen-and-markets*. The gift is the *cosmic-only-fully-Japanese member of the Seven Lucky Gods* — the recognition that *cosmic-fully-indigenous-cosmic-substance is cosmic-distinctively-cosmic-positioned in a cosmic-otherwise-mostly-cosmic-foreign-imported cosmic-pantheon*, and that this cosmic-uniqueness is itself a cosmic-prosperity-substance. The gift is the *cosmic-Toka-Ebisu annual-fuku-zasa-acquisition* — the recognition that *the cosmic-annual-merchant-class-prosperity-renewal is properly ritualized at January-9-11*, that the cosmic-cosmic-bamboo-stalk-with-auspicious-decorations is the *cosmic-prosperity-substance for the year ahead*. The gift is the *cosmic-laughing-mouth-itself* — the recognition that *the cosmic-laughter is the cosmic-prosperity-substance*, that the cosmic-figure whose cosmic-iconography is the *wide-open laughing-mouth* is cosmic-prosperity-in-its-most-direct-cosmic-substance.

The shadow

Ebisu has been *progressively-flattened by the cosmic-Edo-and-modern-commodification*. The cosmic-Edo-period grouping of Ebisu into the *Shichifukujin Seven-Lucky-Gods* iconographic-set produced a cosmic-merchandising-tradition (the cosmic-treasure-ship paper-prints, the cosmic-Seven-Lucky-Gods statuettes, the cosmic-New-Year-decorations) that has *substantially-displaced the cosmic-Hiruko-rejected-firstborn cosmic-original-substance* — most contemporary Japanese (and especially most-foreign-Japan-tourists) know Ebisu *only as the laughing-fisherman of the cosmic-good-luck-pantheon*, with the cosmic-Hiruko-leech-child-cast-out-by-Izanagi-and-Izanami cosmic-original-narrative substantially-erased. The 1868 Shinbutsu-bunri did not directly attack Ebisu (as a fully-Japanese kami without Buddhist-syncretic register, he was administratively-protected), but the cosmic-Edo-folk-Ebisu-Daikoku-pair was complicated by the forcible-separation of Daikoku (=Ōkuninushi) from Daikokuten (the Indian-Buddhist Mahākāla) — Ebisu was institutionally-clearly-Shinto, but his Daikoku-pair-partner became cosmic-institutionally-ambiguous. The further shadow: the cosmic-modern-Japanese-corporate-marketing has *appropriated Ebisu as a generic cosmic-good-luck-mascot* (the Yebisu beer brand of Sapporo Breweries, founded 1890, has made Ebisu's laughing-face the most-recognizable Ebisu-image in contemporary Japan — most Japanese under-30 know "Yebisu" as a beer-brand and only-secondarily as a cosmic-kami). The cosmic-Ebisu-namazu-catfish earthquake-disciplinary folk-tradition (developed after the 1855 Ansei Edo earthquake, with cosmic-namazu-e folk-prints depicting Ebisu disciplining the cosmic-underground-catfish) has been *almost-entirely-forgotten in modern Japan* — the cosmic-folk-explanation of earthquakes has been substantially-replaced by scientific-seismology, and the cosmic-Ebisu-namazu-disciplinary register survives only in cosmic-folklore-museums-and-academic-research. The deepest shadow: the *cosmic-Hiruko-original-narrative* (the cosmic-failed-first-mating-of-Izanagi-and-Izanami-because-the-female-spoke-first, producing the cosmic-deformed-leech-child) has *cosmic-uncomfortable cosmic-gender-protocol-violation cosmic-content* that contemporary readings struggle-with — the cosmic-narrative explicitly-attributes the cosmic-deformed-firstborn to the cosmic-female-speaking-first (a cosmic-patriarchal-cosmology) and the cosmic-rehabilitation requires the cosmic-male-speaking-first (a cosmic-protocol-correction), which is a cosmic-narrative-feature that the 20th-21st-century-Japanese-and-Western feminist-readings have necessarily-flagged-as-cosmic-uncomfortable.

Pair with