Raijin
Raijin ( Japanese 雷神 thunder god ) is a Japanese Shinto god who is also important in Japanese folk beliefs .
other names
Other names for the god of thunder are Kaminari-sama ( 雷 様 ), Raiden-sama ( 雷電 樣 ), Narukami ( 鳴 神 Thunder God ) and Raikō ( 雷公 = 'Lord of Thunder'). The names Kaminari-sama = 'honorable thunder' and Raiden-sama = 'honorable thunder-and-lightning' are to be understood as direct personifications of thunder or thunderstorm. Sama ( 様 ) is a suffix that is added to a name for a very polite and respectful address , comparable to a German 'honorable gentleman' or 'honored ...'.
In Kojiki there are the eight thunder gods ( 八 雷神 , Yakusa no ikazuchi no kami ), which arise in the underworld during the decomposition and transformation of the primordial mother Izanami no mikoto:
- Oho-ikazuchi ( 大 雷 , "big thunder") from her head,
- Hono-ikazuchi ( 火 雷 , "fire thunder") from her chest,
- Kuro-ikazuchi ( 黒 雷 , "black thunder") from her belly,
- Saku-ikazuchi ( 折 雷 , "thunder bursting") from their genitals,
- Waka-ikazuchi ( 若 雷 , "young thunder") from her left hand,
- Tsuchi-ikazuchi ( 土 雷 , "earth thunder") from her right hand,
- Naru-ikazuchi ( 鳴雷 , "thunderous thunder") from her left leg and
- Fusu-ikazuchi ( 伏 雷 , "dormant thunder") from her right leg.
The god of thunder in folk tales
The folk Shinto says that Sugawara no Michizane , who was a leading scholar, poet and political figure of the Japanese Heian period , became the deity Tenjin ( 天神 ) after his death and ruled over thunder. At Takayama Matsuri, the story of the Raijin is depicted with dolls on one of the floats, as he falls from his cloud while curiously watching a peasant woman washing clothes. Raijin usually appears with Fūjin , the god of wind.
Representation in art
The most common representation of the thunder god Raijin in Japan follows the Fūjin-raijin-zu ( 風神 雷神 図 = 'Fūjin-Raijin picture', 'representation of the wind god and the thunder god') by the painter Tawaraya Sōtatsu . In this Raijin is shown as a horned demon who, dressed in a loincloth made of tiger skin , beats drums to unleash the thunder. In the Sanjūsangen-dō Temple in Kyoto, Fujin and Raijin are depicted as life-size figures from the Kamakura epoch in the middle of the 13th century. Both figures are national treasures and flank the long row of 1000 Kannon figures as protective figures.
literature
- Klaus Antoni (ed.): Kojiki - records of old incidents. translated by Klaus Antoni. Verlag der Weltreligionen, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-458-70036-4 .
- Nelly Naumann : The Myths of Ancient Japan. Anaconda, Cologne 2011, ISBN 978-3-86647-589-2 .
- Gerhardt Staufenbiel: How the god of thunder once fell into the well: Japanese fairy tales, legends and myths. Tredition, Hamburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-86850-627-3 .
Web links
- Suzuki Kentarō: "Raijin" . In: Encyclopedia of Shinto. Kokugaku-in , March 13, 2005 (English)
- Bernhard Scheid: god of wind and god of thunder . In Religion-in-Japan . Jan. 23, 2013.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kobori Keiko: "Yakusanoikazuchi" . In: Encyclopedia of Shinto. Kokugaku-in , May 13, 2005 (English)