DAIKOKU

This is a print of DAIKOKU from the Kyogen Play DAIKOKU.

He is one of the seven lucky Gods and is usually seen sitting or standing on two straw-wrapped rice bales, always carrying a sack on his shoulder and a hammer of prosperity along with a wonderful sense of humor.

He is considered to have originated in earlier times as a fertility God and can sometime appear quite phallic, this I will leave to your imagination. But never looks this way in a Kyogen Play.

Most of this paragaph was by Ms. Rebecca Teele of the International Noh Institute.

This Kyogen Play has various versions, here is one of them.

"Every year at the time of the Mouse Festival, a group of Villagers gathers at a Wealthy Man's house to celebrate and pray for good fortune for the coming year by composing poems. They are gathered together and are in the process of poem making when a stranger appears. When asked to identify himself, he explains that he is Daikoku, the god of the festival. He praises them for their faithful service to him and promises them all prosperity. Then he dances and sings the poems they have composed and gives them gifts."

Ths synopsis was take from: DAIKOKU RENGA, A Guide to Kyogen, by Don Kenny.

I would suggest, should you choose this print, compose a few poems for him and see if you get lucky. Also, he's lots of fun, laughs a lot and is intended to bring a good chuckle or two just by looking at him, well that's how I see him.