Binbōgami


A binbōgami is a kami in Japanese folklore said to inhabit a person or their house, bringing poverty and misery. References to binbōgami appear in classic Japanese tales, essays, and rakugo performances.

Description

A binbōgami typically appears as a skinny, dirty old man with a pale complexion, often carrying a paper fan (shibu-uchiwa) and wearing a sad expression. Regardless of appearance, they are said to be fond of lazy people. When inhabiting a house, they reportedly prefer to live in closets. According to the poet Nakamura Kōgyō, binbōgami have a fondness for miso, and use their fans to waft and enjoy its aroma. Some descriptions add details like wielding a kendama and wearing only one broken geta.
Being a kami, a binbōgami cannot be killed, but methods to drive one away exist.

Folklore and Literature

Edo Period Tales

Beliefs and Practices

Driving Away:
  • In Niigata Prefecture, lighting a fire in the irori on Ōmisoka is said to drive away the binbōgami due to the heat. Conversely, the warmth is said to attract the Fukugami.
  • Several superstitions connect binbōgami to the irori. In Tsushima, Ehime, excessively poking the irori fire is said to summon a binbōgami.
  • The Senba ritual in Osaka involved using the smell of baked miso to lure binbōgami out of houses and into a folded miso plate, which was then discarded in a river. Those performing the ritual washed thoroughly afterward to avoid bringing the god back.Transformation: Hospitality towards a binbōgami might transform it into a fukugami, as suggested in Nippon Eidaigura.Proverb: The saying "柿団扇は貧乏神がつく" derives from the belief that binbōgami are attached to these types of fans.

Modern Shrines and Representations

  • The binbōgami from Nippon Eidaigura, capable of turning poverty into fortune, is enshrined at the Ōta Shrine, located within the grounds of the Ushi-Tenjin Kitano Shrine in Kasuga, Bunkyō, Tokyo. It is believed that by praying at the shrine, temporarily welcoming the binbōgami into one's home, and then respectfully sending it off after 21 days of veneration, one can sever ties with poverty.Myōsen-ji Temple in Taitō, Tokyo, enshrines a stone statue of a binbōgami. This statue is specifically modeled after the popular Binbōgami character designed by Takayuki Doi for the Hudson Soft game series Momotaro. The statue is named "貧乏が去る（猿）像", a pun meaning "Statue of Poverty Leaving," as saru means both "to leave" and "monkey". Consequently, the statue features a monkey riding on the binbōgami's head.
  • Similar "Binbō ga Saru Zō" statues based on the same game character have also been installed at Kino Station in Kagawa, Sasebo Station in Nagasaki, and Nakanomachi Station on the Choshi Electric Railway. The Choshi Electric Railway also features related statues: one at Kasagami-Kurohae Station with a pheasant on its head, punning on "貧乏を取り（鳥）", and another at Inuboh Station with a dog on its head, punning on "貧乏が去ぬ（犬）".