Amida Light

Japanese: 阿弥陀光 - あみだのひかり

…In the Middle Ages, Confucius was read as Kuji, probably because Confucius, the founder of Confucianism, was recognized as having the same authority as a god or Buddha. He was also called Amida no Hikari, and people would draw a halo around Amida Buddha, and draw lots to see how long it was, to determine how much money people had to spend on food and drink. This is the origin of Amida and Amida Kuji, which are still used today. …

From 【Sacred Lottery】

…In the Middle Ages, it was common to use the character for Confucius on lotteries. There was also a method called Amida no Hikari, where a drawing of the halo of Amida Buddha was used as a lottery ticket to determine the amount of money spent on food and drink. Both Confucius and Amida were superior to ordinary people, and the fact that they were used as the name of a lottery ticket gives us an idea of the attitude of people at the time toward lotteries. …

*Some of the terminology explanations that mention "Amida Light" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

Japanese:

…中世では〈孔子〉を〈くじ〉と読んでいたが，これは儒教の祖である孔子に神仏同様の権威を認めていたためであろう。また阿弥陀光（あみだのひかり）といい，阿弥陀仏の後光を描き，その長短をくじとし，飲食の出銭高の高低を決する方法もなされていた。現在もみられる阿弥陀，阿弥陀くじの源流である。…

【神籤】より

…中世ではくじに孔子の字をあてることが広くみられた。また阿弥陀光（あみだのひかり）といい，阿弥陀仏の後光を描き，それをくじとして飲食の出銭高などを決める方法もあった。孔子，阿弥陀ともに常人よりすぐれた存在であり，これをくじの名称としていたことは，当時の人々のくじに対する心意をうかがわせるものである。…

※「阿弥陀光」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について | 情報

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