Yoshida Kanetomo said that Susanoo, the Shinto god of sea and storms, is the same as the Indian god Khumbīra. This god watches over Vulture Peak, a place in
Buddhist mythology... As time passed, people in Japan began to see Konpira as a guardian of their Buddhist religion. They placed Konpira in a shrine on Zōzusan mountain in
Shikoku. This mountain was very important for Shugendō followers by the end of the Heian period. Shugendō is a Japanese belief that combines mountain living, Shinto, and Buddhism. On this mountain, Konpira was given a new name, Konpira Gongen...
Associations Konpira is connected to gods of water, like dragons and nāga kings. These connections make him a protector of people at sea and the paths they take over the water. This is especially true for the waters inside Japan's coast. In a special part of Buddhism, people honor Konpira as one of twelve powerful spirit leaders. These leaders are linked to twelve directions and twelve animals from the Chinese calendar. Different stories match Konpira to different directions. But most often, he is linked to the north... Sometimes Konpira is identified with gods like Ōkuninushi or
Shinra Myōjin. ... But the most recent identification is with
Ōmononushi. His identification with
Ōmononushi may seem strange at first since
Ōmononushi is a deity of mountains and snakes, while he is a water and navigatonal deity, but the logic behind it is that mountains are often used for navigation in the sea, so mountain deities help sailors.
In Literature A Buddhist text "
Sange yōryakki" talks about Buddha placing twelve gods on Eagle Peak. One of these gods is Konpira. Here, Konpira is seen as a very important god in Japan. He is thought to be the divine child of Susanoo no Mikoto. People believed that a monk named Saichō came back safely from China because he prayed to Susanoo... In later books, like "Jindai no maki kaden kikigaki" by Koretari, there are more stories. They say Susanoo visited not just Japan but also China and India. These stories suggest that the Japanese gods could be versions of Indian gods. This idea turns the usual story around, with Japanese gods being seen in other countries' stories... ==Kotohira Shrines==