JuroujinJuroujin, the Pure Sage of Longevity Accompanied by a Black Stag

Juroujin's true form is the South Pole Old Man Star (Canopus)^[1]. This is the alpha star of the constellation Carina—the second brightest star in the entire night sky after Sirius. Because it only appears low in the southern sky of the Northern Hemisphere, ancient Chinese lore passed down the saying, "The year it can be seen is a year of universal peace; the land where it can be seen is a land of longevity." Already registered as an astronomical deity in the 'Treatise on Astrology' of the *Records of the Grand Historian* and the 'Treatise on Astronomy' of the *Book of Jin*, it forms the core of Longevity Star worship in Chinese folk belief. Daoism personified this star as the Longevity Star or Longevity Sage, arranging auspicious items alongside him: a black stag^[2] said to live 1,500 years, the Peaches of Immortality of the Queen Mother of the West (which extend life by a thousand years with a single bite), and a gourd containing the elixir of immortality. Iconographically, he is depicted as a short old man with a long head and a long beard, tying a sutra scroll to the head of his staff. A "short body and long head" is a physical omen of longevity in Chinese physiognomy, a formative principle entirely identical to that of his counterpart, Fukurokuju^[3]. This is the reason the two have long been considered the same deity under different names. His arrival in Japan occurred in the late Muromachi period (15th century), routed through monks traveling to Song and Ming China and the importation of Daoist and Buddhist paintings by Zen monasteries. The prototype of the current Seven Lucky Gods was formed during the Higashiyama culture period^[4] when Zen monks and painters (such as Noami, Soami, and Sesshu) bundled the localized Ebisu, Daikokuten, Bishamonten, and Benzaiten with the imported deities Hotei, Fukurokuju, and Juroujin into the "Seven Gods of Fortune and Virtue." The overlap with Fukurokuju had been an old issue since before the Song dynasty. In Japan, this was resolved by dividing their roles: "Fukurokuju = a secular deity synthesizing happiness, wealth, and longevity," and "Juroujin = an ascetic longevity deity purified to the single virtue of longevity." During the Edo period, a significant number of variant Seven Lucky Gods groupings circulated that removed Juroujin to avoid duplication, replacing him with the sake-loving beast Shojo^[5], Kisshoten, or Fukusuke. Juroujin was loved by the common people for his appearance as an unpretentious, sake-loving sage, appearing frequently in the treasure ship pictures of Kyoden Santo (*Kottoshu*, 1813), Hokusai Katsushika, Kuniyoshi Utagawa, and Yoshitoshi Tsukioka. In the Seven Lucky Gods pilgrimages across Edo and Tokyo, his sites were often small halls belonging to Zen, Obaku, and Tendai sects, gathering prayers for longevity and health, especially from the elderly and the sick. In folk tradition, he also holds an important position as a main constituent deity of the "First Dream Treasure Ship" (established in the mid-Edo period), where placing a treasure ship picture containing Juroujin under one's pillow early on New Year's Day is said to grant an auspicious dream.

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