Ugajin

Ugajin (宇賀神) is harvest and fertility kami of Japanese Mythology.[1][2] Ugajin is represented both as a male and a female, and is often depicted with the body of a snake and the head of a bearded man, for the masculine variant,[1] or the head of a woman, for the female variant. In Tendai Buddhism Ugajin was syncretically fused with Buddhist goddess Benzaiten, which became known as Uga Benzaiten or Uga Benten.[3] The goddess sometimes carries on her head Ugajin's effigy.

Ugajin (宇賀神), masculine form.

In this limited sense, the kami is part of the Japanese Buddhist pantheon.

  • Ugajin's feminine form
    Ugajin's feminine form
  • Statue of Benzaiten, a torii and a male Ugajin visible on her head (whose coiled serpent body is barely visible behind her crown)
    Statue of Benzaiten, a torii and a male Ugajin visible on her head (whose coiled serpent body is barely visible behind her crown)
  • Wooden snake at Zeniarai Benzaiten Ugafuku Shrine
    Wooden snake at Zeniarai Benzaiten Ugafuku Shrine

Notes
  1. Watsky, Andrew Mark. (2004). Chikubushima: Deploying the Sacred Arts in Momoyama Japan, p. 233., p. 233, at Google Books
  2. Handbook of Japanese mythology by Michael Ashkenazi p.126
  3. Itō, Satoshi: "Ugajin". Encyclopedia of Shinto, Kokugakuin University, retrieved on August 15, 2011
  • Media related to Ugajin at Wikimedia Commons
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