Landlord deity - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Landlord deities (地主神) are a type of tutelary deity worshipped in the East Asian cultural sphere.^[1]

They are minor gods who are considered to be of lower rank than Tudigongs and City Gods.

In some East Asian cultures, when people move to a new place, they ask for the permission of the landlord deity before settling in.

This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in Chinese. Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the Chinese article. Machine translation like DeepL or Google Translate is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the Simple English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary Content in this edit is translated from the existing Chinese Wikipedia article at [[:zh:地主神]]; see its history for attribution. You should also add the template {{Translated|zh|地主神}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Landlord Gods (Chinese: 地主神; pinyin: Dìzhǔ shén) are deities worshipped in Chinese folk beliefs, and is considered to be lower in rank compared to Sheshen and City Gods.

The Landlord God tablet usually has two inscriptions, one on the left for “The Landlord Wealth God of the Overseas Tang People” (唐番地主財神) in Singapore and Malaysia, or “The Landlord Wealth God from Front to Back” (前後地主財神) in Hong Kong and other Chinese diaspora. On the right, it is inscribed with the Dragon God of the Five Directions and Five Lands (五方五土龍神).

The Landlord God is believed to have the power to help people gather wealth, and the tablet's placement must follow fengshui laws.^[2] In Chinese tradition, Spirit houses are called 土地神屋 or Landlord God House, which symbolizes a connection between the concept and the idea of an Earth Temple [zh] dedicated to a Dizhushen or Sheshen.

This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in Chinese. Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the Chinese article. Machine translation like DeepL or Google Translate is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the Simple English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary Content in this edit is translated from the existing Chinese Wikipedia article at [[:zh:台灣地基主信仰]]; see its history for attribution. You should also add the template {{Translated|zh|台灣地基主信仰}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

In Taiwan honoring landlord deities is very important. Both government organizations and companies honor them when they enter a new building. Household altars for Dijizhu are also very common.^[3] People disagree on what landlord deities are. Some people say they are ghosts. Some people say they are gods. Sometimes, they are thought to be the souls of former occupants.^[4] This tradition may have originated from the Taiwanese indigenous peoples who practiced indoor burial, burying people inside buildings. Dijizhu may also be linked to Goryō or people who died without relatives.

Jinushigami (地主神) is the Japanese name for landlord deities.^[5][6]

Japanese people have honored them since at least the 9th century. People seek their blessing before they move to the land. Some people think they are ancestors.^[7]

Japanese people do a ritual called Jichinsai for Jinushigami.^[8]

Ōkuninushi is sometimes considered a Jinushigami of Japan as a whole.

Hokora are often created for Jinushigami,^[8] natural objects like trees are also often seen to be yorishiro or shintai for them^[8][8]

Shinra Myōjin is considered a landlord deity, but he originated in Korea^[9]

The manga series Kamisama Kiss, written by Julietta Suzuki, follows the story of Nanami Momozono, who becomes the guardian deity of an abandoned shrine.

• Sheshen
• City God
• Yin miao