| relig. |
Renowned-little-prince kami. According to the myths, the helper of O-kuni-nushi in his "animating" of the land. He is worshipped as the deity of medicine and curative springs and identified as Yakushi- bosatsu-myojin Yakushi is the healing Buddha. As a kami who helped O-kuni-nushi "make" the land and who also protects maritime and other trade he was installed as a main kami in shrines built in several areas conquered by the Japanese before 1945 such as Hokkaido, Sakhalin and Taiwan A Popular Dictionary of Shinto (Brian Bocking) |
