harvest Harvesting is the process of gathering a ripe crop from the fields. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulse for harvest, typically using a scythe, sickle, or reaper. On smaller farms with minimal mechanization, harvesting is the most labor-i ...

and fertility ''

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

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 ...

.Watsky, Andrew Mark. (2004). 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, or the head of a woman, for the female variant. In

Tendai , also known as the Tendai Lotus School (天台法華宗 ''Tendai hokke shū,'' sometimes just "''hokke shū''") is a Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition (with significant esoteric elements) officially established in Japan in 806 by the Japanese m ...

Buddhism Ugajin was syncretically fused with Buddhist goddess

Benzaiten Benzaiten (''shinjitai'': 弁才天 or 弁財天; ''kyūjitai'': 辯才天, 辨才天, or 辨財天, lit. "goddess of eloquence"), also simply known as Benten (''shinjitai'': 弁天; ''kyūjitai'': 辯天 / 辨天), is a Japanese Buddhist god ...

, which became known as Uga Benzaiten or Uga Benten. The goddess sometimes carries on her head Ugajin's effigy. In this limited sense, the ''kami'' is part of the Japanese Buddhist pantheon.

Gallery

File:Ugajin_feminine_form.jpg, Ugajin's feminine form File:Hogonji13s3200.jpg, Statue of Benzaiten, a ''

torii A is a traditional Japanese gate most commonly found at the entrance of or within a Shinto shrine, where it symbolically marks the transition from the mundane to the sacred. The presence of a ''torii'' at the entrance is usually the simplest ...

'' and a male Ugajin visible on her head (whose coiled serpent body is barely visible behind her crown) File:Zeniarai Benzaiten Kamakura Snake.jpg, Wooden snake at

Zeniarai Benzaiten Ugafuku Shrine , popularly known simply as Zeniarai Benten, is a Shinto shrine in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Kanagawa prefecture, Japan. In spite of its small size, it is the second most popular spot in Kamakura, Kanagawa prefecture after Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū. Z ...

Notes

External links

* {{jmyth navbox long Japanese deities Shinbutsu shūgō Fertility deities Androgynous and hermaphroditic deities Harvest deities