This spectacular statue inside the Kanda Myojin shrine in Tokyo is related to a legend about one of the most important Shinto gods (kami), Ebisu.

The story says that the first child of Izanagi and Izanami, the central kami in the Japanese creation myth, was born without bones. The child was put on a boat and left adrift. After a while, the boat run aground on the Hokkaido island, and the child was saved and raised by an Ainu named Ebisu Saburo. The bones of the child started to grow, and in the end he became the kami Ebisu, known as a protector of small children.

Ebisu child statue, Kanda Myojin Shrine, Tokyo

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Yesterday’s Japan Photo: Inokashira Pond