毘沙門天

Japanese

Kanji in this term
毘	沙	門	天
び Jinmeiyō	しゃ Grade: S	もん Grade: 2	てん Grade: 1
on’yomi

毘沙門天

Etymology

Ultimately from Sanskrit वैश्रवण (vaiśravaṇa).

Appears to be 毘沙門 (Bishamon, “Vaiśravaṇa”) +‎ 天 (-ten, “deva”).

Alternatively, may have been borrowed from Chinese with the suffix already included.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) びしゃも​んてん [bìshámóꜜǹtèǹ] (Nakadaka – [3])
• IPA^(key): [bʲiɕa̠mõ̞ntẽ̞ɴ]

Proper noun

毘(び)沙(しゃ)門(もん)天(てん) • (Bishamonten) 

1. (Buddhism): the Japanese name for the Hindu god Vaiśravaṇa: a punisher of evildoers, and one of the seven gods of luck

Synonyms

• 多(た)聞(もん)天(てん) (Tamonten)

Coordinate terms

• 七福神 (Shichi Fukujin): The Seven Gods of Good Fortune.
• 福禄寿 (Fukurokuju): god of happiness, wealth and longevity.
• 大黒 / 大黒天 (Daikoku / Daikokuten): the god of wealth, commerce and trade. Ebisu and Daikoku are often paired and represented as carvings or masks on the walls of small retail shops.
• 寿老人 (Jurōjin): the god of longevity.
• 恵比須 / 恵比寿 / 夷 / 戎 (Ebisu): god of fishers or merchants, often depicted carrying a sea bream.
• 布袋 (Hotei): the fat and happy god of abundance and good health.
• 弁才天 / 弁財天 (Benzaiten): The Japanese name for the Hindu goddess Saraswati. The goddess of knowledge, art, beauty, music, language, wisdom, poetry and rivers.
• 吉祥天 (Kisshōten): the goddess of happiness, charm and beauty, of fertility, nature, and of human creativity, and the patronesses of joy, amusement and festivities.