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Fūjin (風神;lit. "Wind God") orFūten (風天;lit. "Heavenly Wind"), sometimes also known as Ryobu, is theJapanese god of thewind and one of the eldestShinto andBuddhist gods.^[1][2] He is portrayed as a terrifying wizardlydemon, resembling a red-haired, green-skinned humanoid wearing atiger orleopard skinloincloth/kilt, carrying a large, inflated bag of winds (風袋; Kazebuko/Fūtai) on his shoulders. In Japanese art, the deity is often depicted together with his twin-brother,Raijin, the god oflightning &thunder, and together, along with their brother,Susanoo-no-Mikoto, they are the Shinto gods (Kami) ofstorms.

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According toKojiki, Fūjin and his brotherRaijin were born fromIzanami after she died.

When Izanagi went down toYomi to retrieve his wife, he saw her as a decaying corpse covered with demons. Izanagi rejected her, making Izanami furious, leading her and a few monsters to chase after Izanagi. Izanagi then blocked the entrance to Yomi. However, a few demons and oni escaped the underworld through a crack in theboulder, including Fūjin and his brother Raijin.^[3]

The iconography of Fūjin seems to have its origin in the cultural exchanges along theSilk Road. Starting with theHellenistic period whenGreece occupied parts ofCentral Asia andIndia, theGreek wind godBoreas became the god Wardo/Oado inBactrianGreco-Buddhist art, then a wind deity in China (as seen frescoes of theTarim Basin; usually namedFeng Bo/Feng Po—"Uncle Wind"—among various other names), and finally the Japanese Wind God Fūjin. The wind god kept its symbol, the windbag, and its disheveled appearance throughout this evolution.

• Aeolus (Odyssey)
• Rudra, the Vedic wind or storm God
• Vayu,Hindu god of wind

• Boardman, John (1994).The Diffusion of Classical Art in Antiquity. Princeton, NJ:Princeton University Press.ISBN 0-691-03680-2.
• Tokyo Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan; Hyogo Kenritsu Bijutsukan (2003).Alexander the Great : East-West cultural contacts from Greece to Japan. Tokyo: Tokyo Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan. OCLC 53886263.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Bopearachchi, Osmund (2003).De l'Indus à l'Oxus, Archéologie de l'Asie Centrale (in French). Lattes: Association imago-musée de Lattes.ISBN 2-9516679-2-2.
• Errington, Elizabeth; Joe Cribb; Maggie Claringbull;Ancient India and Iran Trust; Fitzwilliam Museum (1992).The Crossroads of Asia : transformation in image and symbol in the art of ancient Afghanistan and Pakistan. Cambridge: Ancient India and Iran Trust.ISBN 0-9518399-1-8.

1. ^ "The Japanese wind god images do not belong to a separate tradition apart from that of their Western counter-parts but share the same origins. ... One of the characteristics of these Far Eastern wind god images is the wind bag held by this god with both hands, the origin of which can be traced back to the shawl or mantle worn byBoreas/ Oado." (Katsumi Tanabe, "Alexander the Great, East-West cultural contacts from Greece to Japan", p21)

• Japanese gods
• Shinto kami
• Wind deities

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