Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

, Jurōjin (寿老人) is one of the

Seven Gods of Fortune In Japanese mythology, the Seven Lucky Gods or Seven Gods of Fortune (, shichifukujin in Japanese) are believed to grant good luck and are often represented in netsuke and in artworks. One of the seven (Jurōjin) is said to be based on a histori ...

or ''Shichifukujin'', according to

Taoist Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the '' Tao ...

beliefs. He is the god of

longevity The word " longevity" is sometimes used as a synonym for " life expectancy" in demography. However, the term ''longevity'' is sometimes meant to refer only to especially long-lived members of a population, whereas ''life expectancy'' is always ...

. Jurōjin originated from the Chinese

god, the

Old Man of the South Pole The Old Man of the South Pole (in or ja, 南極老人) is the Taoist deification of Canopus, the brightest star of the constellation Carina. It is the symbol of happiness and longevity in Far Eastern culture. Description The Old Man of the S ...

/Star of the Old Man. He is known as the immortal of the

Northern Song dynasty Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ...

(960–1127), and may have been a historical figure of the period. Jurōjin is identified as the personification of the Southern Polar Star. While paintings and statues of Jurōjin are considered auspicious, he never developed a following independent of the other Seven Gods of Fortune. People believe himself as the God of Wisdom and longevity had been live in the world for 1500 years. People respect to acquire safety and happy living.Schumacher, Mark. “God of Wisdom and Longevity.” Jurojin - Japanese Lucky God of Longevity, www.onmarkproductions.com/html/jurojin.shtml. Jurōjin is often identified with

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 ...

, another of the Seven Gods of Fortune. In some accounts, the two are said to inhabit the same body. As such, the two are often confused. Jurōjin walks with a staff and a fan. He is depicted as an old man of slight stature, and by tradition, less than 3

shaku Shaku may refer to: * Shaku (unit) * Shaku (ritual baton) * Buddhist surname In East Asian Buddhism, monks and nuns usually adopt a Buddhist surname and a Dharma name, which are combined in the surname-first East-Asian naming order. Since the 4th ...

(approximately ). He is depicted with a long white beard and often a very tall, bald head. He has a scroll tied to his staff, on which is written the lifespan of all living things. The scroll is sometimes identified as a

Buddhist sutra ''Sutra'' ( sa, सूत्र, translit=sūtra, translit-std=IAST, translation=string, thread)Monier Williams, ''Sanskrit English Dictionary'', Oxford University Press, Entry fo''sutra'' page 1241 in Indian literary traditions refers to an ap ...

. The

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the re ...

, a symbol of longevity, usually (but not always) accompanies him as a messenger, as do other long-lived animals such as the crane and the

tortoise Tortoises () are reptiles of the family Testudinidae of the order Testudines (Latin: ''tortoise''). Like other turtles, tortoises have a shell to protect from predation and other threats. The shell in tortoises is generally hard, and like oth ...

. Jurōjin is a popular subject of Japanese ink wash paintings. He was introduced into the Japanese art tradition by

Zen Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...

Buddhist painters, and depictions of Jurōjin span from the

Muromachi period The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by ...

(1337–1573) through the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was character ...

(1603–1868). Artists who depicted Jurōjin as a subject include Sesshū (1420–1506), Sesson Shukei (1504–1589), Kanō Tan'yū (1602–1674), and Maruyama Ōkyo (1733–1795).

References

Japanese gods Longevity myths {{Japan-myth-stub

See also

References