八幡神Hachiman

Hachiman (八幡神, Hachiman-shin; also read Hachiman no Kami) is a syncretic Japanese deity identified as the divine spirit of the semi-legendary Emperor Ōjin.

He is regarded as an ancestral kami of the Imperial House of Japan and is worshipped together with Empress Jingū and Hachiman's himegami as the Hachiman Mikami (八幡三神).

Through Shinto–Buddhist syncretism, Hachiman became incorporated into the Buddhist pantheon as Great Bodhisattva Hachiman (八幡大菩薩, Hachiman Daibosatsu) and was widely worshipped as the guardian deity of Buddhist temples.

Beginning in the Heian period, Hachiman became the tutelary kami of the Minamoto clan and was subsequently adopted by the samurai class more broadly. Hachiman worship spread throughout Japan, and about 2,500 shrines are dedicated to him, second in number only to those of Inari.

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