Ebisu also transliterated Yebisu (ゑびす – see historical kana orthography) or called Hiruko (蛭子) or Kotoshiro-nushi-no-kami (事代主神), is the Japanese

Japanese mythology

Japanese mythology is a system of beliefs that embraces Shinto and Buddhist traditions as well as agriculturally based folk religion. The Shinto pantheon comprises innumerable kami...

 god of fishermen, luck

Luck

Luck or fortuity is good fortune which occurs beyond one's control, without regard to one's will, intention, or desired result. There are at least two senses people usually mean when they use the term, the prescriptive sense and the descriptive sense...

, and workingmen, as well as the guardian of the health of small children. He is one of the Seven Gods of Fortune (七福神, Shichifukujin), and the only one of the seven to originate from Japan.

Origins as Hiruko

Ebisu was originally named Hiruko, meaning "leech child". He was the first child of Izanagi

Izanagi

is a deity born of the seven divine generations in Japanese mythology and Shinto, and is also referred to in the roughly translated Kojiki as "male-who-invites" or Izanagi-no-mikoto. It is also pronounced Izanaki-no-Okami....

 and Izanami

Izanami

In Japanese mythology, is a goddess of both creation and death, as well as the former wife of the god Izanagi-no-Mikoto. She is also referred to as Izanami-no-kami.-Goddess of Creation:...

, born without bones (or, in some stories, without arms and legs) due to his mother's transgression during the marriage ritual. Hiruko struggled to survive but, as he could not stand, he was cast to the sea in a boat of reeds before his third birthday. He eventually washed ashore—possibly in Ezo

Ezo

is a Japanese name which historically referred to the lands to the north of Japan. It was used in various senses, sometimes meaning the northern Japanese island of Hokkaidō, and sometimes meaning lands and waters further north in the Sea of Okhotsk, like Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands...

 (蝦夷, ancient Hokkaidō

Hokkaido

, formerly known as Ezo, Yezo, Yeso, or Yesso, is Japan's second largest island; it is also the largest and northernmost of Japan's 47 prefectural-level subdivisions. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaido from Honshu, although the two islands are connected by the underwater railway Seikan Tunnel...

)—and was cared for by the Ainu

Ainu people

The , also called Aynu, Aino , and in historical texts Ezo , are indigenous people or groups in Japan and Russia. Historically they spoke the Ainu language and related varieties and lived in Hokkaidō, the Kuril Islands, and much of Sakhalin...

 Ebisu Saburo (戎三郎).

Legend

The weak child overcame many hardships, grew legs (and, presumably, the rest of his skeletal structure) at the age of three, and became the god Ebisu. He remains slightly crippled and deaf, but mirthful and auspicious nonetheless (hence the title, "The Laughing God"). He is often depicted wearing a tall hat—the Kazaori Eboshi (風折烏帽子)—holding a rod and a large red bream or sea bass

Sea bass

-Family Serranidae:* Barred sand bass , lives mainly off the coast of California* Black sea bass , whose range is the eastern coast of the United States...

. Jellyfish

Jellyfish

Jellyfish are free-swimming members of the phylum Cnidaria. Medusa is another word for jellyfish, and refers to any free-swimming jellyfish stages in the phylum Cnidaria...

 are also associated with the god and the fugu

Fugu

is the Japanese word for pufferfish and the dish prepared from it, normally species of genus Takifugu, Lagocephalus, or Sphoeroides, or porcupinefish of the genus Diodon. Fugu can be lethally poisonous due to its tetrodotoxin; therefore, it must be carefully prepared to remove toxic parts and to...

 restaurants of Japan will often incorporate Ebisu in their motif.

Ebisu's festival is celebrated on the twentieth day of the tenth month, Kannazuki

Kannazuki

is a traditional name for the tenth month in the traditional Japanese calendar.The name can be translated literally as "the month when there are no gods". In Shinto tradition it was said that the eight million gods of Japan left their shrines and congregated annually at Izumo Taisha...

(the month without gods). While the other eight million members of the Japanese pantheon gather at The Grand Shrine of Izumo, Ebisu does not hear the summons and is thus still available for worship.

Ebisu is frequently paired with Daikokuten

Daikokuten

In Japan, Daikokuten , literally, god of great Darkness or Blackness, is one of the Seven Gods of Fortune. Daikokuten evolved from the Hindu deity, Shiva. The name is the Chinese and Japanese equivalent of Mahakala, another name for Shiva....

, another of the Seven Gods of Fortune, in displays of the twin patrons by small shopkeepers. In some versions of the myth

Mythology

The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...

 they are father and son (or master and apprentice). Also, these two are often joined by Fukurokuju

Fukurokuju

In Japan, Fukurokuju is one of the Seven Lucky Gods in Japanese mythology. It has been theorized that he is a Japanese assimilation of the Chinese Three Star Gods embodied in one deity. Most related in appearance to the Chinese star god Shou, he is the God of wisdom and longevity...

to be the "Three Gods of Good Fortune".