Landlord deities (地主神) are a type of

tutelary deity A tutelary () (also tutelar) is a deity or a spirit who is a guardian, patron, or protector of a particular place, geographic feature, person, lineage, nation, culture, or occupation. The etymology of "tutelary" expresses the concept of safety an ...

worshipped in the

East Asian cultural sphere The East Asian cultural sphere, also known as the Sinosphere, the Sinic world, the Sinitic world, the Chinese cultural sphere, the Chinese character sphere encompasses multiple countries in East Asia and Southeast Asia that were historically ...

Di (Chinese concept) ''Di'' () is one of the oldest Chinese terms for the earth and a key concept or figure in Chinese philosophy and religion, being one of three powers (', ) which are Heaven, Earth, and Humanity (, ), a phrase which originates from the Yijing. Et ...

is the first character. They are low level deities that are considered below Sheshen and City Gods. When people move into a new location they will ask the landlord deity for permission to move there.

Houtu Hòutǔ () or Hòutǔshén (), also Hòutǔ Niángniáng (in Chinese either or ), otherwise called Dimǔ () or Dimǔ Niángniáng (), is the deity of deep earth and soil in Chinese religion and mythology. Houtu is the overlord of all the Tu Di ...

is the overlord of all the Tudigongs ("Lord of Local Land"),

Sheji __NOTOC__ Soil and grain was a common political term in the Sinosphere for the state. Shejitan, the altars of soil and grain, were constructed alongside ancestral altars. Chinese monarchs of the Ming and Qing dynasties performed ceremonies of soil ...

("the State"), Shan Shen ("God of Mountains"), City Gods ("God of Local City"), and landlord gods world wide.

In China

In China Dizhushen (地主神) are considered deities below Sheshen and City Gods The Landlord God () is a deity worshipped in Chinese folk beliefs who is analogous but is not to be confused with

Tudigong Tudigong ( "Lord of the Soil and the Ground") or Tudishen ( "God of the Soil and the Ground"), also known simply as Tudi ( "Soil-Ground") is a tutelary deity of a locality and the human communities who inhabit it in Chinese folk religion and Tao ...

. The tablet for the Landlord God is typically inscribed with two rows: On the left: (in Singapore and Malaysia) "The Landlord Wealth God of the Overseas

Tang Tang or TANG most often refers to: * Tang dynasty * Tang (drink mix) Tang or TANG may also refer to: Chinese states and dynasties * Jin (Chinese state) (11th century – 376 BC), a state during the Spring and Autumn period, called Tang (唐) b ...

People" () or (in Hong Kong and Chinese diaspora elsewhere) "The Landlord Wealth God from Front to Back" () On the right: The Dragon God of the Five Directions and Five Lands (; fengshui). The names are accompanied by a side couplet of various wordings that praise the virtues of the Landlord God. It is believed that the Landlord God has powers to help gather wealth, and the position of the tablet must be placed properly according to the laws of fengshui.The Encyclopedia of Malaysia, vol. Religions & Beliefs, edited by Prof. Dr M. Kamal Hassan & Dr. Ghazali bin Basri. In Chinese Spirit houses are called 土地神屋 or

House, representing a link between the concept and the concept of an Earth Temple dedicated to a landlord deity or a

In Taiwan

Worship of Dijizhu (地基主) is especially common in Taiwanese folk beliefs. Many institutions such as government agencies and companies will honor a Dijizhu when moving into a new building. Household altars to Dijizhu are very common Such deities are ambiguous in their nature sometimes ghosts and sometimes deities. Sometimes considered the souls of former occupants Sometimes rituals for such deities is seen as moving the building from the yin world to the yang world, see

yin miao In Taiwanese folk religion, ''yin miao'' ( zh, t=陰廟, p=Yīnmiào, l= dark temple) are temples dedicated to wandering and homeless spirits, as opposed to ''yang miao'', which are dedicated to deities. According to local beliefs, ghosts withou ...

for more info on Taiwanese beliefs on the yin world Such deities may be linked to

Goryō are vengeful Japanese ghosts from the aristocratic classes, especially those who have been martyred. Description The name consists of two kanji, 御 (go) meaning honorable and 霊 (ryō) meaning soul or spirit. Arising mainly in the Heian ...

or people who died without relatives Alternatively the tradition may originate with

Taiwanese indigenous peoples Taiwanese indigenous peoples (formerly Taiwanese aborigines), also known as Formosan people, Austronesian Taiwanese, Yuanzhumin or Gaoshan people, are the indigenous peoples of Taiwan, with the nationally recognized subgroups numbering about 5 ...

and their practice of indoor burial, or burying people inside buildings.

In Japan

, also known as , , , or , are

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 ...

folk deities, or

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 ...

, of an area of land (the name literally means "land-master-kami"). Their history goes back to at least the 9th century and possibly earlier. Originally, jinushigami were associated with new areas of land opened up for settlement. New residents of the land created

shrine A shrine ( la, scrinium "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred or holy space dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, daemon, or similar figure of respect, wherein they ...

s to the local resident kami either to gain its blessing/permission, or to bind it within the land to prevent its interference with, or cursing of, nearby humans. Jinushigami may be either ancestors of the original settlers of an area, or ancestors of a clan. They are also known as Landlord deities and sometimes described as genius loci.

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 ...

is sometimes considered a Jinushigami of Japan as a whole.

Hokora is a miniature Shinto shrine either found on the precincts of a larger shrine and dedicated to folk ''kami'', or on a street side, enshrining ''kami'' not under the jurisdiction of any large shrine.Encyclopedia of ShintoHokora Accessed on Dec ...

are often created for Jinushigami,https://archive.today/20230407040316/https://d-museum.kokugakuin.ac.jp/eos/detail/?id=9956 natural objects like trees are also often seen to be

yorishiro A in Shinto terminology is an object capable of attracting spirits called , thus giving them a physical space to occupy during religious ceremonies. are used during ceremonies to call the for worship. The word itself literally means "approach ...

or shintai for them The goal is to convince the cthonic deities of the ground to allow occupation Shinra Myōjin is considered such a deity and to have originated in Korea

In Korea

Teojushin (

Hangul The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, . Hangul may also be written as following South Korea's standard Romanization. ( ) in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language. The le ...

: 터주신,

Hanja Hanja (Hangul: ; Hanja: , ), alternatively known as Hancha, are Chinese characters () used in the writing of Korean. Hanja was used as early as the Gojoseon period, the first ever Korean kingdom. (, ) refers to Sino-Korean vocabulary, ...

: 터主神) is the patron of the ground on which the house is built in the Gashin cult of

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 o ...

. She is also known as Jishin (地神), or 'earth goddess'. She can be seen as analogous to a landlord deity,

In Vietnam

Ông Địa ( Hán-Nôm: 翁地), Thổ Địa (土地), Thổ Công (土公) or Thần Đất (神坦), is the god of the earth and patron of the land on which the houses is built. He is one of the most commonly worshiped deities in Vietnam.

Pop culture

In the manga series ''

Kamisama Kiss is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Julietta Suzuki. It was serialized in Hakusensha's '' shōjo'' manga magazine ''Hana to Yume'' from February 2008 to May 2016, with the chapters collected in 25 ''tankōbon'' volumes. ...

'' by Julietta Suzuki, the heroine Nanami Momozono becomes the tochigami of a derelict shrine.

References

Japanese mythology Shinto terminology Shinto kami Tutelary deities Chinjusha Regional deities Chthonic beings Japanese folk religion Planned developments Taiwanese folk religion Formosan mythology East Asian folk religion Chinese folk religion in Hong Kong Deities in Taoism {{Religious Confucianism