Asian Goddesses [Excerpted from the wonderfully detailed list at oocities.org]
In the tales of Europeans, Asia was always a land of the exotic: perfumes, silks, dragons, spices, fantastically wealthy empires, grand palaces, barbarians and scholars and sorcerers. It was a land unknown to Europeans and many Muslims, and so adventures great and fantastic were set there. Folktales and adventure tales are filled with accounts of heroes and heras traveling to "the East" in search of wealth, fame, land and love. Only a miniscule sampling of that rich heritage is presented here. The Goddesses profiled are shamanic, Taoist, Buddhist, Shinto and Ainu. Their stories tell of creation, love, enlightenment, war, and nature. Some are purely mythical tales, some are of political origin, some phenomenological, while others appear to be based on historic persons and incidents; many are an ambiguous mixture of all of these. Amaterasu, Mistress Sun Her full name is Ama-terasu-o-mi-kami and She is the much-loved, benevolent Goddess of the Sun. She is the highest Deity of the ancient Shinto faith of Japan. Her worship flourished prior to 1945, at which time it was attacked by the occupying American force as too nativistic and nationalistic. Amaterasu, highest expression of the Spirit of Nature, would serve well as Matron of a Japanese environmental movement. Benten, Lady Fortune Benten, also known as Benzaiten, is the beloved Goddess of Luck of the Shinto faith. Of the Seven Deities of Luck (or Happiness), She is the only female. Bixia Yuanjin, Princess of Clouds This Chinese Taoist Goddess is Matron of dawn and childbirth, as well as destiny. Dawn and childbirth are two concepts often, and quite understandably, linked in world mythology: the rising of the sun, the bringing of light to the earth, is equated with the child emerging from the darkness of the womb to the light of the world. Fuji, Mother Mountain Fuji the mountain is well-known in the West, often pictured in travel guides and on post cards. But Fuji (or Fujiyama) is also an ancient fire Goddess of the Ainu, the indigenous people of Japan. Following the arrival of modern Japanese people, the Ainu were decimated and driven north; they now reside on the northern island of Hokkaido. Inari, Lady Vixen This Shinto Goddess is often personified as a vixen, or female fox. She is responsible for smithcraft and rice, as well as love and prosperity. Curiously, some myths present Inari as a God, rather than a Goddess.
Artist unknown
Mo Ye, Sword Smith This heroic saga comes to us from China. Mo Ye may have been a real woman, since some elements of Her story are historical; others, though, are quite fantastical and transport the tale into the realm of fantasy and myth.
Jiutinan Xuannu, Dark Maiden This charming love story comes from China. It is also revealing of the traditional role of Chinese women.
Mulhalmoni, Healing Waters This Korean Goddess is the special Matron of women shamans. She is called on especially to heal ailments of the eye . Nugua, Lady Dragon Ancient China was a Goddess-worshipping culture, perhaps even a matriarchal (mother-ruled) culture. This story of creation comes from that ancient age.
Kamui-fuchi, Lady Hearth This Hearth Goddess of the Ainu people of Japan is known as the Supreme Ancestress. She may be a deified tribal mother, or the spirit of female reproductivity and the home.
Onne-chip-kamui, Grandmother Tree Her name means "Old Boat Goddess" and Her tale comes from the native Ainu of Japan. This is a beautiful story of maturation and exploration.
Kuan-Yin, Merciful One After Amaterasu, Kuan-Yin is the most well-known Asian Goddess in the West. She is worshipped primarily in China, but also in India, Japan (under the name Kwannon), Korea (as Kwanseieun) and South-East Asia. Kuan-Yin is more correctly a Buddhist boddhisattva, rather than a Goddess; however, in scholar analyses of Goddesses (such as David Kinsley's THE GODDESSES' MIRROR), Kuan-Yin is included alongside more recognizable Divine Women, and so She is included here.
Tatsu-ta-hime, Lady Wind This Shinto Goddess oversees the wind and the season of autumn. Along with the God Tatsua-hiko, faithful pray to Her for an abundant harvest. Xi Hou, Lady of Ten Suns This Chinese Goddess is the Mother of Ten Suns. The idea of many suns, rather than one, each shining on a different day, is rare but not unheard of.
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