is the

Shinto Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintois ...

kami are the deities, divinities, spirits, phenomena or "holy powers", that are venerated in the Shinto religion. They can be elements of the landscape, forces of nature, or beings and the qualities that these beings express; they can also be the sp ...

'' ("god; deity") of

folk wisdom Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging fr ...

knowledge Knowledge can be defined as awareness of facts or as practical skills, and may also refer to familiarity with objects or situations. Knowledge of facts, also called propositional knowledge, is often defined as true belief that is distinc ...

and

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

, and is represented in

Japanese mythology Japanese mythology is a collection of traditional stories, folktales, and beliefs that emerged in the islands of the Japanese archipelago. Shinto and Buddhist traditions are the cornerstones of Japanese mythology. The history of thousands of year ...

as a

scarecrow A scarecrow is a decoy or mannequin, often in the shape of a human. Humanoid scarecrows are usually dressed in old clothes and placed in open fields to discourage birds from disturbing and feeding on recently cast seed and growing crops.Lesley B ...

who cannot walk but has comprehensive awareness.

Names

''Kuebiko'' (久延毘古, literally "long stretch help old", "old long extending border", "long-reaching old helping hand"), had an alternate name of ''Yamada-no-sohodo'' (山田之曾富騰, literally, "mountain paddy-field's once wealth rise"), with ''sohodo'' transcribing '' sōdo'' ( 案山子 "scarecrow", also pronounced ''sōzu'' or ''kakashi''). The traditional etymological explanations are ''Kuebiko'' from ''kuzue-biko'' (崩え彦 "crumbling prince") and ''Yamada no Sohodo'' meaning "someone left soaking wet from standing guard over mountain rice fields", a euphemism for ''scarecrow".

Mythology

The (c. 712) ''

Kojiki The , also sometimes read as or , is an early Japanese chronicle of myths, legends, hymns, genealogies, oral traditions, and semi-historical accounts down to 641 concerning the origin of the Japanese archipelago, the , and the Japanese imperia ...

'' ("Record of Ancient Matters") has the earliest reference to Kuebiko in the myth of

Ōkuninushi Ōkuninushi ( historical orthography: ''Ohokuninushi''), also known as Ō(a)namuchi (''Oho(a)namuchi'') or Ō(a)namochi (''Oho(a)namochi'') among other variants, is a ''kami'' in Japanese mythology. He is one of the central deities in the cycle ...

("Great Land Master"). When Ōkuninushi was at Cape Miho in

Izumo Izumo (出雲) may refer to: Locations * Izumo Province, an old province of Japan * Izumo, Shimane, a city located in Shimane Prefecture ** Izumo Airport * Izumo-taisha, one of Japan's most ancient and important Shinto shrines Ships * ''Izumo ...

, a small ''kami'' arrived in a boat. Nobody knew his name, but a

toad Toad is a common name for certain frogs, especially of the family Bufonidae, that are characterized by dry, leathery skin, short legs, and large bumps covering the parotoid glands. A distinction between frogs and toads is not made in scientif ...

suggested asking Kuebiko, who revealed the god was a scion of the goddess Kami-musubi (神産巣日) named Sukuna-bikona (少彦名神). In

Basil Hall Chamberlain Basil Hall Chamberlain (18 October 1850 – 15 February 1935) was a British academic and Japanologist. He was a professor of the Japanese language at Tokyo Imperial University and one of the foremost British Japanologists active in Japan during th ...

's translation,

Then the toad spoke, saying: "As for this, the Crumbling Prince will surely know it." Thereupon he Deity Master-of-the-Great-Landsummoned and asked the Crumbling-Prince, who replied, saying: "This is the Little-Prince-the-Renowned-Deity, the august child of the Deity-Producing-Wondrous-Deity." ... So he Deity herecalled the Crumbling Prince, who revealed the Little-Prince-the-Renowned-Deity, is what is now alledthe scarecrow in the mountain fields. This Deity, though his legs do not walk, is a Deity who knows everything in the Empire.

Many cultures have

knowledge deity A knowledge deity is a deity in mythology associated with knowledge, wisdom, or intelligence. Ancient Egyptian mythology * Neith, goddess sometimes associated with wisdom * Thoth, originally a moon deity, later became the god of knowledge and w ...

myths. Kuebiko is paralleled by two other Japanese ''kami'' of wisdom:

Fukurokuju In Japan, Fukurokuju (; from Japanese ''fuku'', "happiness"; ''roku'', "wealth"; and ''ju'', "longevity") is one of the Seven Lucky Gods in Japanese mythology. It has been theorized that he is a Japanese assimilation of the Chinese Three Sta ...

and Omoikane.

Modern usages

In the present day, Kuebiko is worshipped as the god of agriculture or scholarship and wisdom. The Kuebiko Shrine (''Kuebiko jinja'' 久延彦神社), which is a subordinate shrine ('' massha'') of

Ōmiwa Shrine , also known as , is a Shinto shrine located in Sakurai, Nara Prefecture, Japan. The shrine is noted because it contains no sacred images or objects because it is believed to serve Mount Miwa, the mountain on which it stands. For the same reas ...

Sakurai, Nara is a city located in Nara Prefecture, Japan. As of March 31, 2017, the city has an estimated population of 58,386, and 24,629 households. The population density is , and the total area is . History Sakurai was briefly the capital of Japan during ...

, is dedicated to this deity. Kuebiko is a boss in the video game ''

Shin Megami Tensei IV is a Japanese post-apocalyptic role-playing video game developed by Atlus for the Nintendo 3DS. It is part of the ''Shin Megami Tensei'' series, the central series of the ''Megami Tensei'' franchise, though no direct story connection exists to ...

''. Appearing in the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office, he refuses to negotiate with humans, saying he has lived in

Shinjuku is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. It is a major commercial and administrative centre, housing the northern half of the busiest railway station in the world (Shinjuku Station) and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, the administration ...

long before humans arrived to 'rule' over it. Kuebiko is the name of a 2011 agricultural art exhibit, "Because he stands all day outdoors, he knows everything", held in

Kimito Kimito (; fi, Kemiö ) is a former municipality of Finland. On January 1, 2009, it was consolidated with Dragsfjärd and Västanfjärd to form the new municipality of Kimitoön. Prior to the consolidation, it was one of the four municipalities l ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

.Kuebiko Agri Art Project
. In

astronomical naming conventions In ancient times, only the Sun and Moon, a few stars, and the most easily visible planets had names. Over the last few hundred years, the number of identified astronomical objects has risen from hundreds to over a billion, and more are discovered ...

, 10725 Sukunabikona is an

asteroid belt The asteroid belt is a torus-shaped region in the Solar System, located roughly between the orbits of the planets Jupiter and Mars. It contains a great many solid, irregularly shaped bodies, of many sizes, but much smaller than planets, called ...

discovered in 1996.

References

{{Shinto shrine Japanese gods Knowledge gods Scarecrows Shinto kami Wisdom gods

Names

Mythology

Modern usages

See also

References