Sendai Shirō

Sendai Shirō (c. 1855 – c. 1902) was an intellectually disabled man who lived in what is now Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. He is worshipped as a hitogami associated with prosperity in business, especially in and around his hometown of Sendai.
In the 1870s and 1880s, a superstition spread via newspapers throughout the southern Tōhoku region that any store or restaurant that Shirō chose to visit would be blessed with financial prosperity, and have many customers. Business owners hoping to increase sales treated him well and served him free of charge to encourage him to visit regularly.
After his death, at some point in the early Taishō era (1912–1926), a photographic studio in Sendai started selling photographs of Shirō, claiming that they would likewise bring good fortune to any store they are displayed in. Merchandise depicting Shirō eventually became more popular in Sendai than more traditional good-luck charms, such as Daruma dolls, and a folk religion evolved around his worship, which eventually surpassed that of the commerce gods Inari Ōkami and Ebisu. Starting with the postwar depression that began in 1920, there have been frequent spikes in Shirō's popularity coinciding with economic recessions.
Sendai Shirō became well known throughout the rest of Japan after he was featured in an article in Asahigraph magazine in 1993. Since then, Sendai Shirō has also come to be used as a mascot for the city of Sendai itself. He is depicted in advertisements for the Sendai New Year's Sale [ja] and in other corporate advertisements. Japanese stage actors, comedians, and celebrities have used Shirō's appearance and stories from his life as the basis for their performances.
Much about his background remains unknown.
From the Edo period to the 1880s, there was a fire watchtower at the corner of Kitaichibancho street and Kotodai street in Sendai. The area across Kitaichibancho street to the north was called "Yagurashita" (櫓下), which means "Under the Watchtower", up to at least the 19th century. This "Yagurashita" area was home to the Haga family, who had historically served the Date clan (when they ruled the Sendai Domain) as gunners and gunsmiths from the time of Date Masamune in the Sengoku period. Shirō was purportedly born as the fourth son of this family. For this reason, he was also called Yagurashita Shirō (櫓下四郎).
There are two theories regarding Shirō's intellectual disability: one is that he was born with it, and the other is that it was caused by him accidentally falling into the Hirose River [ja] while watching fireworks at age 7, becoming unconscious and almost drowning. There are also two theories about his speaking ability: one is that he could only speak a limited number of words, such as "bayan" (meaning "baaya" (ばあや) or "grandmother"), the other is that he was able to speak normally.
As an adult, Shirō would roam freely around the city. He regularly received food and money from charitable people. He never harmed anyone and had a charming appearance, so he was generally well-liked by everyone. He loved children and was always in a good mood and laughing. Although he was sometimes called "Shirō the Idiot" behind his back, the stores he visited mysteriously became prosperous and attracted many people, so he was called a "god of fortune" and treated free of charge wherever he went, but in reality, his family would sometimes pay later. From the perspective of the stores, he was a valued customer who would always pay for the food or drink, no matter how expensive it was. Shirō was an honest man; he never went to a store that he didn't like, even if he was invited.
He seemed to be fond of trains, and when Sendai Station opened on the Tōhoku Main Line in 1887, he visited the station almost every day, riding the train to Shiroishi and Shirakawa. He may have also traveled as far as Fukushima and Yamagata. Sometimes people gave him money for tickets, but often he was unable to pay the fare when he got off at his destination, leading to trouble with the railway company.
Shirō is said to have died in Sukagawa around 1902 at the age of 47, however, there continued to be alleged sightings of him well into the Shōwa era, and as far away as the Port of Busan in Japanese-occupied Korea. The location of his grave is unknown.
Shirō had his picture taken by photographer Chiba Hajime in Fukushima around 1885, when he was about 30 years old. At the start of the Taishō era (1912–1926), Chiba Hajime moved from Fukushima to Sendai and opened a photography studio in the city. Chiba Hajime printed the photo of Shirō on postcards and other items and sold them under the name "Meiji God of Fortune (Sendai Shirō-kun)". From this time on, he came to be known as Sendai Shirō.
That photograph is the one pictured above. In this photo, Shirō is wearing a striped kimono, smiling with his hands in his sleeves, with his knees exposed.
There are four versions of the portrait in total: the original photograph, two works by portrait artists, and one pencil drawing. Because of minor differences arising during the reproduction process, several more version have been confirmed to exist. (The number increased even more after the boom in 1993.) Some of the reproductions show his kimono unbuttoned, while others show his penis clearly visible deep in his lap, providing clear evidence that he was revered as a god of fortune by people from all walks of life.
There is also a Sendai Shirō doll believed to date back to the early Shōwa Era, based on its appearance. (This is older than the Sendai Shirō dolls made by Komaya after 1975.)
Since the Edo period, Matsukawa Daruma (Sendai Daruma) dolls have been used a good-luck charm for financial prosperity. In reference to the Japanese proverb of "seven falls and eight rises" , eight daruma dolls were displayed side by side, and the custom was to burn one in a sacred fire at the Donto Festival [ja] or other events and purchase a new one each year. Matsukawa Daruma dolls were generally purchased at the New Years Market held in the city center. but around 1965, during the Japanese economic miracle, the New Years Market was no longer held, and the main sales channel shifted to stalls at festivals held at temples and shrines. In Sendai, retail stores in the central shopping district were converted into tenant buildings, and store chains based in Tokyo or overseas, who were unfamiliar with the Matsukawa Daruma tradition, began to open mainly street-front stores in the area, and the custom of Matsukawa Daruma began to decline.
This led to a big rise in the sale of Sendai Shirō merchandise, such as photographs and dolls. As a result, the position of good-luck charm for business prosperity in Sendai shifted from the Matsukawa Daruma dolls, which were placed on the Shinto altar and took up a lot of space, to Sendai Shirō imagery, which could be placed anywhere in the store and took up less space.
In stores and restaurants in Sendai today, pictures and figurines of Sendai Shirō can be seen on the altars and next to the cash register. In souvenir shops, various Shirō dolls can be found.
In April 1986, The "Sendai Shirō Festival" (Organized by the Saito Minoru Design Institute, Hozan Sake Brewery, Mitakiyama Fudoin Temple, and others) was held at the Sasaju Building (at the Corner of Chuo Street and Higashi Nabancho Street, Sendai). The main body of Sendai Shirō was dedicated to Mitakiyama Fudoin Temple.
The current nationwide familiarity with Sendai Shirō began with the "Sendai Shirō boom" of 1993. The legend of Sendai Shirō was known to Sendai locals even before that, but the boom led to a large rise in the production of Shirō merchandise. In the 7–14 May 1993 issue of Asahi Graph, Sendai Shirō was featured in "The Seven Wonders of Tōhoku". In this article, the reporter was curious about a photo of Sendai Shirō he saw in Kesennuma, so he investigated further, learning about the popularity of Shirō as a religious charm in stores, and the legend of his life. In response to the article, the tourism department of Sendai, and other local organizations, were inundated with inquiries about how to obtain photos of Sendai Shirō, and Mitakiyama Fudoin Temple, which had been manufacturing merchandise for some time, increased production. On 27 May of the same year, Kahoku Shimpo newspaper reported that Sendai Shirō products were becoming popular nationwide, with an article titled "Sendai Shirō, the 'God of Fortune' for Business Prosperity, is Booming Again".
These "booms" in the popularity of Sendai Shirō merchandise are usually attributed by local newspapers to economic recessions causing more people to seek Shirō's blessing of financial prosperity. For example, the 1993 boom was attributed to the collapse of the asset price bubble, and the boom in 1986 that coincided with the Sendai Shirō Festival was attributed to the Endaka recession brought about by the Plaza Accord.
Sendai Shirō has no Buddhist temples or Shinto shrines originally dedicated to him, since his worship arose as a folk religion, but there are some temples and shrines that enshrine both Sendai Shirō and a main deity.