Landlord deity

Landlord deities (地主神) are a type of tutelary deity worshipped in the East Asian cultural sphere.^[1] Di (Chinese concept) is the first character.

They are low level deities that are considered below Sheshen and City Gods.

When people move into a new location they will ask the landlord deity for permission to move there.

Houtu is the overlord of all the Tudigongs ("Lord of Local Land"), Sheji ("the State"), Shan Shen ("God of Mountains"), City Gods ("God of Local City"), and landlord gods world wide.

In China

In China Dizhushen (地主神) are considered deities below Sheshen and City Gods

The Landlord God (Chinese: 地主神; pinyin: Dìzhǔ shén) is a deity worshipped in Chinese folk beliefs who is analogous but is not to be confused with Tudigong.

The tablet for the Landlord God is typically inscribed with two rows:

On the left: (in Singapore and Malaysia) "The Landlord Wealth God of the Overseas Tang People" (唐番地主財神) or (in Hong Kong and Chinese diaspora elsewhere) "The Landlord Wealth God from Front to Back" (前後地主財神)

On the right: The Dragon God of the Five Directions and Five Lands (五方五土龍神; fengshui).

The names are accompanied by a side couplet of various wordings that praise the virtues of the Landlord God. It is believed that the Landlord God has powers to help gather wealth, and the position of the tablet must be placed properly according to the laws of fengshui.^[2]

In Chinese Spirit houses are called 土地神屋 or Tudigong House, representing a link between the concept and the concept of an Earth Temple dedicated to a landlord deity or a Tudigong

In Taiwan

 

Taiwanese altar for a landlord god

Worship of Tē-ki-tsú (Chinese: 地基主; pinyin: Dìjīzhǔ; Wade–Giles: Ti⁴-chi¹-chu³; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tē-ki-tsú) is especially common in Taiwanese folk beliefs. Many institutions such as government agencies and companies will honor a Tē-ki-tsú when moving into a new building.

Household altars to Tē-ki-tsú are very common^[3]

Such deities are ambiguous in their nature sometimes ghosts and sometimes deities. Sometimes considered the souls of former occupants^[4] Sometimes rituals for such deities is seen as moving the building from the yin world to the yang world,^[4] see yin miao for more info on Taiwanese beliefs on the yin world

Such deities may be linked to Goryō or people who died without relatives

Alternatively the tradition may originate with Taiwanese indigenous peoples and their practice of indoor burial, or burying people inside buildings.

In Japan

 

Ōkuninushi the original owner of Japan sometimes described as a Jinushigami

Jinushigami (地主神), also known as jigami (地神), tochigami (土地神), chi no kami (地の神, also read as ji no kami), or jinushisama (地主様), are Shinto folk deities,^[5] or kami, of an area of land (the name literally means "land-master-kami"). Their history goes back to at least the 9th century and possibly earlier. Originally, jinushigami were associated with new areas of land opened up for settlement. New residents of the land created shrines to the local resident kami either to gain its blessing/permission, or to bind it within the land to prevent its interference with, or cursing of, nearby humans. Jinushigami may be either ancestors of the original settlers of an area, or ancestors of a clan.^[6] They are also known as Landlord deities^[7][8] and sometimes described as genius loci.^[9]

Ōkuninushi is sometimes considered a Jinushigami of Japan as a whole.

Hokora are often created for Jinushigami,^[10] natural objects like trees are also often seen to be yorishiro or shintai for them^[10]

The goal is to convince the cthonic deities of the ground to allow occupation^[10]

Shinra Myōjin is considered such a deity and to have originated in Korea^[11]

In Korea

Main article: Teojusin

Teojushin (Hangul: 터주신, Hanja: 터主神) is the patron of the ground on which the house is built in the Gashin cult of Korea. She is also known as Jishin (地神), or 'earth goddess'. She can be seen as analogous to a landlord deity, Tudigong or Houtu.

In Vietnam

 

Ông Địa statue at Pháp Giới Temple

Ông Địa (Hán-Nôm: 翁地), Thổ Địa (土地), Thổ Công (土公) or Thần Đất (神坦), is the god of the earth and patron of the land on which the houses is built. He is one of the most commonly worshiped deities in Vietnam.

Pop culture

In the manga series Kamisama Kiss by Julietta Suzuki, the heroine Nanami Momozono becomes the tochigami of a derelict shrine.

See also

• Sheshen
• City God (China)
• Yin miao

References

1. Dragon, Tin Yat. "Landlord Deity in Taoism 土地神明". Tin Yat Dragon. Retrieved 2023-04-08.
2. The Encyclopedia of Malaysia, vol. Religions & Beliefs, edited by Prof. Dr M. Kamal Hassan & Dr. Ghazali bin Basri. ISBN 981-3018-51-8
3. ChinaConnectU (2012-01-23). "Religion, Folk (Mínjiān zōngjiào 民間宗教)|Mínjiān zōngjiào 民間宗教 (Religion, Folk)". ChinaConnectU. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
4. 弘子, 植野 (1992-03-31). "台湾漢民族の死霊と土地 : 謝土儀礼と地基主をめぐって（IV. 祖先祭祀の諸形態）". 国立歴史民俗博物館研究報告 (in Japanese). 41: 377–411. ISSN 0286-7400.
5. Kamata, T. (2017). Myth and Deity in Japan: The Interplay of Kami and Buddhas: Vol. First edition. JPIC[出版文化産業振興財団].
6. . Archived from the original on 2011-05-18.
7. https://brill.com/downloadpdf/journals/jrj/10/1/article-p102_6.xml
8. https://archive.today/20230407201919/https://d-museum.kokugakuin.ac.jp/eos/detail/?id=9641
9. https://academic.oup.com/hawaii-scholarship-online/book/17762/chapter-abstract/175508683?redirectedFrom=fulltext
10. https://archive.today/20230407040316/https://d-museum.kokugakuin.ac.jp/eos/detail/?id=9956
11. Kim, Sujung (2019). Shinra Myōjin and Buddhist Networks of the East Asian "Mediterranean". University of Hawaii Press. p. 30. doi:10.1515/9780824881733. ISBN 978-0-8248-8173-3. S2CID 243035601. Retrieved 2023-02-20.