Daikoku

Mayumi Oda depicts the traditionally male gods Daikoku and Ebisu as female goddesses. She explains: “I changed the gender of many male deities because all you see is male—you never see a female—so I thought why not have a female goddess instead.”

Daikoku, the god of wealth, and Ebisu, the god of merchants and fishermen, are two of the Seven Lucky Gods (Shichifukujin), and they form a pair. Daikoku sits on tawara, straw bales packed with rice. She carries a large white cloth bag slung over her left shoulder and a magic mallet of good fortune called uchide no kozuchi (“tap-appear mallet”) which can tap out anything she wishes for in her right hand. She wears a pair of pants gathered in at the ankles and a cloth hat (zukin). Ebisu carries a fishing rod and is riding a swimming sea bream, a symbol of good fortune. Ebisu also wears a similar pair of pants and a tall hat folded in the middle (kazaori eboshi). She holds her hands together in what looks like a prayer pose.