School (1) * Omamori blessed by monks, Kyoto * For wallet

Omamori SCHOOL (for students, school/entrance exams, etc.) for wallet

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IMAGE: Fūjin

Fūjin is the Japanese god of the wind and one of the eldest Shinto gods.

He is portrayed as a terrifying dark demon, resembling a red headed black humanoid wearing a leopard skin, carrying a large bag of winds on his shoulders.

In Japanese art, the deity is often depicted together with Raijin, the god of lightning, thunder and storms.

The iconography of Fūjin seems to have its origin in the cultural exchanges along the Silk Road. Starting with the Hellenistic period when Greece occupied parts of Central Asia and India, the Greek wind god Boreas became the god Wardo in Greco-Buddhist art, then a wind deity in China (frescoes of the Tarim Basin), and finally the Japanese Wind God Fūjin.

The wind god kept its symbol, the windbag, and its dishevelled appearance throughout this evolution.