Binbogami Poverty Legends

- BACK to the Daruma Museum -
. Japanese legends and tales 伝説　民話 昔話 - Introduction .
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Binbogami貧乏神と伝説　 legends about Bimbogami, Deity of Poverty



. Binbogami 貧乏神 Bimbogami, God of Poverty .
- Introduction -
The God of Poverty was quite common in the Edo period.

- His opponent is
. Fuku no Kami, Fukunokami 福の神 God of Good Luck .



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- - - - - ABC List of the prefectures :


.................................................................. Fukushima 福島県 ....................................................................

. Binbogami and Fuku no Kami 福の神 .




.................................................................. Hyogo 兵庫県 ....................................................................
養父郡 Yabu district 八鹿町 Yokacho town

. Driving out Binbogami on the last day of the year .
they eat food with vinegar and riceballs with Miso paste




.................................................................. Kyoto 京都府 ....................................................................

. 天狗兵衛 Tengubei，大黒天 Daikokuten，えびす三郎 Ebisu Saburo and 布袋 Hotei .
The 福の神 Gods of Good Luck held a banquet with music and dance.

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Fuku no Kami 福の神 Fukunokami, God of Good Luck

小籐太 Koto Futoshi was a very pious man, One day he helped carrying luggage and got some money for it. He went to a tea stall for a drink, where he met a small child which was quite exhausted. So he gave him the money. The child was very happy and said it would finish his visit to Kyoto and then go back home. He had come from 丹波 Tanba, but his family was so poor he had run away. When Koto came back home and looked into his money bag, he found that the coins he had given to the boy had come back.
It must have been Fukunokami.
When Binbogami, who lived in the home of poor Koto, heard this, he called his vassals from around Kyoto, more than 500 men, whe all looked pretty downtrodden.
After a while Fukunokami also came by and was astonished about the great number of vassals.
He went back to heaven and asked his own vassals to come and help get rid of them:
稲荷六明神 Inari Roku Myojin,
鞍馬の毘沙門 Kurama no Bishamon,
竹生島の財弁天 Chikubushima no Benten and
西宮のえびす Nishinomiya no Ebisu.
They got rid of the Binbogami and his fellows and gave presents to Koto Futoshi:
Inari gave him senryoo 千両 1000 gold coins.
Bishamonten gave him 十万貫 100000 coins.
Benten gave him 絹百疋 100 pieces of silk.
Ebisu gave him 酒の泉 a well with sake rice wine.
Koto Futoshi thus became daifuku choja 大福長者 a great lucky man.

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kamuro 禿 baldness
左近丞の家で、日ごろは目に見えなかった14、5歳ほどの禿たちが家のの隅々から出てきて、敵の襲来に際して仲間を呼ぼうと騒ぎ立てる。間もなく髪を肩の辺りで切り揃え、柿の帷子に団扇を持った貧乏神どもがやってきて、梅津の里に入る。貧乏神に対して西宮のえびす三郎は武装して戦うがかなわない。そこで15の童子を連れて稲荷がやってきて、さらに鞍馬の毘沙門天が眷属を具して悪魔降伏の相を現じて剣戟を飛ばすと、貧乏神はたちまち逃げていく。貧乏神の首領を捕えて攻めると、今後は立ち寄らないと約束する。






.................................................................. Miyagi 宮城県 ....................................................................

. Binbogami and Fukunokami 福の神 .




.................................................................. Niigata 新潟県 ....................................................................
吉川町（よしかわまち） Yoshikawa machi

1月7日に若木を山から迎えて、14日に燃やして小豆を煮る。昔貧乏な親爺が夜逃げをしたら、貧乏神が着いてきた。貧乏神が生木を燃して小豆を煮るのが嫌いだと言ったのでその通りにすると、貧乏神は「俺の嫌いな事をする」と言って銭を投げつけてよこした。それからこの行事をするようになった。

- and another version
On the second day of the New Year villagers got special wood out of the forest and offer it at the House Altar. On the 15th day it is used to cook rice gruel.
Once a poor grandfather used fresh wood for the cooking, but the Binbogami who lived in the kitchen ceiling did not like the smoke and got angry. He asked the old man: "Grandfather, what do you dislike most?"
"Well, I have no money." replied Grandfather. So the Binbogami threw three Senryobako at him and left the house for good. Since then people use old wood cut on the second day.

- - - - - a more detailed tale is told here
正月14日に貧乏神を煙で退散させる話
(How to get rid of Binbogami on the 14th day of the New Year)

- source : nihon.syoukoukai.com/modules/stories -


.................................................................. Saitama 埼玉県 ....................................................................
Sōka 草加市 Soka

kyuuki 窮鬼 Kyuki, Binbogami
文政4年の夏頃、番町のある武家の用人が、主用で下総の知行所までいく途中、草加の宿でみすぼらしい身なりの法師に会う。話を聞くと法師は貧乏神で、番町の武家から出て行くという。これまでは先代両主の遺徳によって家は滅びず、また他家に移るのでこれからは繁栄すると言った。実際にその家は豊かになり、貧乏神が移るといった家は衰えたという。

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- reference : nichibun yokai database 妖怪データベース -
42 to explore (01)

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. Legends about Kobo Daishi Kukai - 弘法大師　空海 - 伝説 .

. Japanese legends and tales 伝説　民話　昔話 - Introduction .

- Yookai 妖怪 Yokai Monsters of Japan -
- Introduction -

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