Hiruko
Japanese deity
Also known as: Hiru-ko
Learn about this topic in these articles:
Ebisu
- In Ebisu
…shrines Ebisu is identified with Hiru-ko (usually translated “Leech Child”), the misconceived firstborn son of the creator couple Izanami and Izanagi, who considered him inadequate and set him adrift in a reed boat. Ebisu is also sometimes associated with Koto-shiro-nushi (“Sign-Master”), a son of the mythological hero Ōkuninushi and associated…
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Izanagi and Izanami
- In Izanagi and Izanami
…resulted in a deformed child, Hiruko (“Leech Child,” known in later Shintō mythology as the god Ebisu), and they set him adrift in a boat. Attributing the mistake to a ritual error on the part of Izanami, who, as a woman, should never have spoken first, they began again and…
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