Bubby and Sissy Take the East Coast: Seven Lucky Gods

With New Years being the largest holiday in Japan, January is always packed full of all kinds of celebrations and rituals. This year we went on a Seven Lucky Gods Tour. These occur all over the country, in nearly every city, and is a great way to see different temples and get really neat keepsakes. Some tours are by car, and some are walking. During the tour, you travel to 7 different Buddhist temples. At the first one, you can buy either a bamboo branch or a stamp board, or both. The board is used to get decorative stamps at each temple (kind of like a fancy passport), and the branch is used to hang tiny god figures that you get at each temple. Since there are 7 lucky gods, then you tour 7 temples, and collect them all.

The 7 gods come during the new year to bestow luck and prosperity to people. Interestingly enough, only one of the 7 gods originated in Japan; the others come from other cultures that have invaded Japan over the millennia and the Japanese have adopted them into their beliefs. Here are the different gods:

1. Ebisu - The only one that originated in Japan. He is the god of fishing and merchants and represents the virtue of honesty.

2. Daikokuten - Originated in India, and came to Japan in the 9th century. He is the god of wealth and represents fortune.

3. Benzaiten - Originated in India and came to Japan in the 5th century. She is the only goddess of the bunch. She is the goddess of art, music, and knowledge, and represents joy.

4. Bishamonten - Originated in India. He is the god of warriors, and represents dignity. He often guards treasure and punishes evil people.

5. Fukurokuju - Originated in China, and came to Japan in the 13th century. He is the god of happiness and health and represents longevity. He also has the ability to revive the dead.

6. Jurojin - Originated in China, and came to Japan in the 14th century. He is the god of wisdom and represents knowledge.

7. Hotei - Originated in China. He is the god of abundance and represents happiness. According to Chinese lore, Hotei is actually modeled after a Chinese man named Qieci, who lived in the 10th century. He was a very loving and good-natured fellow, and adored by his community.

Instead of the stamps, we got the branch with the figures. They are so cute! Each figure is less than 1 inch tall. During our time at one of the temples, we were invited in to have tea with a Buddhist monk! He was young, probably in his early 30s, and he let his 2 year old son join us. We had green tea and rice crackers, then went on our way to the next temple.