NOTEBOOK. The fusion (or confusion) of Daikokuten with Ōkuninushi.
Slide 27, Condensed Visual Classroom Guide to Daikokuten Iconography in Japan. Copyright Mark Schumacher. 2017.

Kūkai’s Spelling Error
Faure, p. 50-51. Pages 50 and 51
As the protector of Mount Hiei, Daikokuten wasidentified with Sannō Gongen 山王権現, that is, thegod of Miwa (Ōkuninushi 大国主), who was alsoworshiped at Ōmiya 大宮, the western main shrine(Nishi Hongū) of Hie Taisha 日吉大社, at the foot ofMount Hiei. The fusion (or confusion) of Daikokutenwith Ōkuninushi is traditionally attributed to a lapsus
calami, an error committed by Kūkai when he wrote
the Sino-Japanese name of Mahākāla, Daikoku 大黒 (Great Black One), as Daikoku 大国 (GreatCountry, also read as Ōkuni). FN 108
The alleged confusion took place much later,
however, during the medieval period. At any rate,
the fusion of the two figures would probably havetaken place without Kūkai's “error,” owing to thefunctional affinities shared by the two gods.
Deliberate or not, the play on words confirmed apreexisting situation. As the “original landlord” (jishūor jinushi 地主) of Japan, Ōkuninushi—also known
as Ōmononushi 大物主, a former demonic figure (asmaster of the mono ‘ghosts’)—was indeed
predisposed to merge with Daikokuten. Tendaimonks were familiar with such symbolic
associations, and they did not need the typo of a
Shingon priest to turn the perceived affinities
between two gods into an identity. Whatever thecase, certain features of Ōkuninushi passed toDaikokuten, reinforcing his character as a god of
the third function, that is, a purveyor of wealth andfecundity. FN 109

Footnote 108

Footnote 109

Faure, p. 366. This would nicely illustrate theproverb “Even Kōbō Daishi (i.e., Kūkai, the greatest
Japanese master of calligraphy) makes mistakeswith his brush” (Kōbō mo fude no ayamari). The
theory of Kūkai’s error goes back to the Chiribukuro
塵袋 (ca. 1264). On this point, see Iyanaga,“Daikokuten,” in Hōbōgirin 7: 912b. Daikokuten
probably inherited the rat as messenger
from his association with Ōkuninushi, a god whowas helped at one point by a rat, as well as from hisassociation with the north (which he protects
against demons, and which corresponds in Chinese
cosmology to the sign of the rat, the beginning ofthe sexagesimal cycle). The Shugendō Yōten 修験
要典 criticizes the assimilation of Daikokuten withŌkuninushi as a confusion on the part of ignorant
Buddhists. See Shugendō Yōten, 279. Thisconfusion is reminiscent of that between Chronos(Time) and Kronos (the Titan, father of Zeus)—seePanofsky 1967: 109–111.

Faure, p. 366. This aspect had already developed inIndia, as can be shown by the pairing of Mahākālaand Hārītī. Ōkuninushi is a typical civilizing hero,
who “created the land” (with the help of the tiny god
Sukunahikona), a land he would eventually have toyield to the descendants of Amaterasu. He is also
the master of agriculture and the inventor of sake.
As a healer, a feature deriving from his encounter
with the hare of Inaba in classical mythology, hecame to be identified with the buddha Yakushi. He
also represents beauty, love, and fecundity. As
Daikokuten, he forms conjugal ties, and becomes agod of wealth. The affinities between Daikokutenand Ōkuninushi are particularly evident atKiyomizudera, the temple of Kannon the giver ofchildren, where his massive wooden statue stands
in the Main Hall, adjacent to the Jishū Jinja, a shrine
dedicated to Ōkuninushi in his function as a god“who ties the knot” (en-musubi no kami).