Kuebiko
God of wisdom
Member of the Kami
Kakashi2.jpg
A grouping of Japanese scarecrows similar to Kuebiko
Other namesYamada no sohodo

Kuebiko (久延毘古) is the Shinto kami ("god; deity") of folk wisdom, knowledge and agriculture, and is represented in Japanese mythology as a scarecrow who cannot walk but has comprehensive awareness.

Names

Kuebiko is the main name for this kami. There is also an alternate name of Yamada no sohodo (山田之曾富騰), mentioned in the Kojiki.

Mythology

The (c. 712) Kojiki ("Record of Ancient Matters") has the earliest reference to Kuebiko in the myth of Ōkuninushi ("Great Land Master"). When Ōkuninushi was at Cape Miho in Izumo, a small kami arrived in a boat. Nobody knew his name, but a toad suggested asking Kuebiko, who revealed the god was a scion of the goddess Kami-musubi (神産巣日) named Sukuna-bikona (少彦名神). In Basil Hall Chamberlain's translation,

Then the toad spoke, saying: "As for this, the Crumbling Prince will surely know it." Thereupon [the Deity Master-of-the-Great-Land] summoned and asked the Crumbling-Prince, who replied, saying: "This is the Little-Prince-the-Renowned-Deity, the august child of the Deity-Producing-Wondrous-Deity." ... So [the Deity here] called the Crumbling Prince, who revealed the Little-Prince-the-Renowned-Deity, is what is now [called] the scarecrow in the mountain fields. This Deity, though his legs do not walk, is a Deity who knows everything in the Empire.[6]

Modern worship

A shrine dedicated to Kuebiko
A shrine dedicated to Kuebiko

In the present day, Kuebiko is worshipped as the god of agriculture or scholarship and wisdom. The Kuebiko Shrine (Kuebiko jinja 久延彦神社), which is a subordinate shrine (massha) of Ōmiwa Shrine in Sakurai, Nara, is dedicated to this deity.[citation needed]

See also

References

  1. ^ Nihon Kokugo Daijiten, entry for Kuebiko available online here Archived 2023-02-25 at the Wayback Machine (in Japanese)
  2. ^ Daijirin, second edition, 1995
  3. ^ Digital Daijisen, entry for Kuebiko available online here Archived 2023-02-25 at the Wayback Machine (in Japanese)
  4. ^ Nihon Kokugo Daijiten, entry for Yamada no sohodo available online here Archived 2023-02-25 at the Wayback Machine (in Japanese)
  5. ^ 1988, 日本国語大辞典（新装版） (Nihon Kokugo Daijiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
  6. ^ Chamberlain, Basil Hall, 1919, The Kojiki: Records of Ancient Matters Archived 2017-07-21 at the Wayback Machine, The Asiatic Society of Japan, p. 103.
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