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Toilet God
A toilet god is a deity associated with latrines and toilets. Belief in toilet gods – a type of household deity – has been known from both modern and ancient cultures, ranging from Japan to ancient Rome. Such deities have been associated with health, well-being and fertility (because of the association between human waste and agriculture) and have been propitiated in a wide variety of ways, including making offerings, invoking and appeasing them through prayers, meditating and carrying out ritual actions such as clearing one's throat before entering or even biting the latrine to transfer spiritual forces back to the god. Modern cultures In Japan, belief in the toilet god or ''kawaya kami'', most often depicted in the form of ''Ususama-myō-ō'' (烏枢沙摩明王), served a dual purpose. Most bodily wastes were collected and used as fertilizers, ensuring a higher overall level of sanitation than in other countries where wastes were stored in cesspits or otherwise disposed of. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deity
A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greater than those of ordinary humans, but who interacts with humans, positively or negatively, in ways that carry humans to new levels of consciousness, beyond the grounded preoccupations of ordinary life". Religions can be categorized by how many deities they worship. Monotheistic religions accept only one deity (predominantly referred to as " God"), whereas polytheistic religions accept multiple deities. Henotheistic religions accept one supreme deity without denying other deities, considering them as aspects of the same divine principle. Nontheistic religions deny any supreme eternal creator deity, but may accept a pantheon of deities which live, die and may be reborn like any other being. Although most monotheistic religions traditio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mochi
is a Japanese rice cake made of , a short-grain japonica glutinous rice, and sometimes other ingredients such as water, sugar, and cornstarch. The rice is pounded into paste and molded into the desired shape. In Japan, it is traditionally made in a ceremony called . While eaten year-round, mochi is a traditional food for the Japanese New Year, and is commonly sold and eaten during that time. Mochi is a multicomponent food consisting of polysaccharides, lipids, protein, and water. Mochi has a heterogeneous structure of amylopectin gel, starch grains, and air bubbles. The rice used for mochi has a negligible amylose content and a high amylopectin level, producing a gel-like consistency. The protein content of the japonica rice used to make mochi is higher than that of standard short-grain rice. Mochi is similar to , but is made by pounding grains of rice, while dango is made with rice flour. History The process of steaming glutinous rice and making it into a paste is co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Concubine
Concubinage is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between a man and a woman in which the couple does not want, or cannot enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar but mutually exclusive. Concubinage was a formal and institutionalized practice in China until the 20th century that upheld concubines' rights and obligations. A concubine could be freeborn or of slave origin, and their experience could vary tremendously according to their masters' whim. During the Mongol conquests, both foreign royals and captured women were taken as concubines. Concubinage was also common in Meiji Japan as a status symbol, and in Indian society, where the intermingling of castes and religions was frowned upon and a taboo, and concubinage could be practiced with women with whom marriage was considered undesirable, such as those from a lower caste and Muslim women who wouldn't be accepted in a Hindu household and Hindu women who wouldn't be accepted in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zigu
Zigu (), also known as Maogu, is a goddess representing toilets in Chinese folk religion. She was believed to be the spirit of a concubine who had been physically abused by a vengeful wife and died in the latrine. It is believed that her cult originated in the Shanxi region and spread across China by the Tang period. According to the legend, the true identity of Zigu is Consort Qi of the Han Dynasty, who was tortured and killed in the toilet by Empress Lü. The earliest record of Zigu is in the fifth volume of "Yiyuan" by Liu Jingshu or Liu Song of the Southern Dynasties (420-479). Other legends say that her real name is He Mingmei, and the word is Liqing, from Laiyang, Shandong. During the period of Empress Wu Zetian, the governor of Shouyang Li Jing killed He Mei's husband and regarded her as a concubine, which made He Mei jealous of Li Jing's chief wife. On the night of the fifteenth day of the first lunar month during the Lantern Festival, Li Jing's legitimate wife killed h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and borders fourteen countries by land, the most of any country in the world, tied with Russia. Covering an area of approximately , it is the world's third largest country by total land area. The country consists of 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four municipalities, and two Special Administrative Regions (Hong Kong and Macau). The national capital is Beijing, and the most populous city and financial center is Shanghai. Modern Chinese trace their origins to a cradle of civilization in the fertile basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. The semi-legendary Xia dynasty in the 21st century BCE and the well-attested Shang and Zhou dynasties developed a bureaucratic political system to serve hereditary monarchies, or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Korea
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic of Korea) comprising its southern half. Korea consists of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and several minor islands near the peninsula. The peninsula is bordered by China to the northwest and Russia to the northeast. It is separated from Japan to the east by the Korea Strait and the Sea of Japan (East Sea). During the first half of the 1st millennium, Korea was divided between three states, Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla, together known as the Three Kingdoms of Korea. In the second half of the 1st millennium, Silla defeated and conquered Baekje and Goguryeo, leading to the "Unified Silla" period. Meanwhile, Balhae formed in the north, superseding former Goguryeo. Unified Silla eventually collapsed into three separate states due to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cheukshin
Cheuksin (Hangul: 측신, Hanja: 廁神) is the toilet goddess of Korean mythology. Unlike better-known household deities such as Jowangshin, god of the hearth, her worship forms a minor part of the Gasin cult. She is believed to reside in the outhouse. Mythology Worship Cheukshin was believed to appear as a young virgin with hair. The goddess, infuriated at her exile to the outhouse by the supreme deity Cheonjiwang and kitchen goddess Jowangshin, was said to spend time counting her hairs. The goddess was believed to appear in the three days containing the number six; Koreans avoided the outhouse in these three days in order not to accidentally provoke her rage. Thus, Koreans held ''jesas'', or rituals, to her in the sixth, sixteenth, and twenty-sixth days in the lunar calendar, or when a shoe or a child fell in the pit toilet. ''Jesas'' were also done for her when a pig contracted disease and died, when a prophecy warned of the anger of the goddess, or when the outh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Akaname
The is a Japanese ''yōkai'' depicted in Toriyama Sekien's 1776 book ''Gazu Hyakki Yagyō'', with its precursor or equivalent documented earlier in 1686. These beings presumably lick the filth and scum that collect in bathtubs and bathrooms. Terminology The word ''aka'' refers to dead skin on a person's body, alongside the dirt, grime, or sweat that may be scrubbed or washed off; the ''aka'' can also refer to scum that accumulates at the bathhouse as a result, including perhaps mildew. Hence the name ''akaname'' means 'scum-licker' or 'filth-licker". There is speculation whether ''aka'' alludes to impurities or defilements of the soul, or negative thoughts known in Buddhism as ''bonnō'' (Sankskrit: '' kleshas''), and the ''yōkai'' may serve as warning not to be so preoccupied with such thoughts as to be derelict in the chores of cleansing the bath of such filth. Another speculation is a possible connection to the sacred water used as offering in Buddhism, known as wate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pig Toilet
A pig toilet (sometimes called a "pig sty latrine") is a simple type of dry toilet consisting of an outhouse mounted over a pigsty, with a chute or hole connecting the two. The pigs consume the feces of the users of the toilet, as well as other food. History Pig toilets ( ''zhūquānmáokēng'') were once common in rural China, where a single Chinese ideogram () signifies both "pigsty" and "privy". Funerary models of pig toilets from the Han dynasty (206 BC to AD 220) prove that it was an ancient custom. These arrangements have been strongly discouraged by the Chinese authorities in recent years, although as late as 2005 they could still be found in remote northern provinces. Chinese influence may have spread the use of pig toilets to Okinawa (Okinawan: ふーる (''fūru'') / 風呂) before World War II, and also to the Manchu people during the Qing Dynasty period. Pig toilets were also used in parts of India such as Goa. A 2003 survey of sanitary arrangements in Goa and Ker ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ryukyuan Religion
The Ryukyuan religion (琉球信仰), Ryūkyū Shintō (琉球神道), Nirai Kanai Shinkō (ニライカナイ信仰), or Utaki Shinkō (御嶽信仰) is the indigenous belief system of the Ryukyu Islands. While specific legends and traditions may vary slightly from place to place and island to island, the Ryukyuan religion is generally characterized by ancestor worship and the respecting of relationships between the living, the dead, and the gods and spirits of the natural world. Some of its beliefs, such as those concerning ''genius loci'' spirits and many other beings classified between gods and humans, are indicative of its ancient animistic roots, as is its concern with , or life essence. Over time, Ryukyuan religious practice has been influenced by Japanese Shinto and Chinese religions (White Lotus, Manichaeism, Taoism, Confucianism, and folk beliefs) along with Christianity and Buddhism. One of its most ancient features is the belief , the spiritual superiority of wom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Okinawa Islands
The Okinawa Islands ( or ) are an island group in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan and are the principal island group of the prefecture. The Okinawa Islands are part of the larger Ryukyu Islands group and are located between the Amami Islands of Kagoshima Prefecture to the northeast and the Sakishima Islands of Okinawa Prefecture to the southwest. The Okinawa Islands, apart from the main island, contain three smaller island groups: the Kerama, Yokatsu and Iheya-Izena island groups. The Okinawa Islands are the political, cultural and population center of Okinawa Prefecture. The prefectural capital of Naha is within the island group. 90% of the population of the prefecture reside within the Okinawa Islands, primarily on the largest island of the group, Okinawa Island. Access to the various Okinawa Islands is primarily via small airports which connect to Naha Airport. Additionally, the islands are connected via ferry service to the Port of Naha in the prefectural capital. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ryukyu Islands
The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands (further divided into the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands), with Yonaguni the westernmost. The larger are mostly high islands and the smaller mostly coral. The largest is Okinawa Island. The climate of the islands ranges from humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification ''Cfa'') in the north to tropical rainforest climate (Köppen climate classification ''Af'') in the south. Precipitation is very high and is affected by the rainy season and typhoons. Except the outlying Daitō Islands, the island chain has two major geologic boundaries, the Tokara Strait (between the Tokara and Amami Islands) and the Kerama Gap (between the Okinawa and Miyako Islands). The islands beyond the Tokara Strait are characterized by their coral reefs. The Ōsumi and Tokara Islands, the northernmost of the isla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
