Taishan Fukun

An ancient name for the god of Mount Taishan in Dongyue, Shandong Province, China. In the Han dynasty, the governors of local prefectures and counties were given the honorific title of Fujun, so this name means His Excellency the Governor of Mount Taishan. According to popular belief, this god is in charge of human life and death, lifespan, official rank, and posthumous judgment, and is believed to punish those who committed crimes in life by arresting their souls and casting them into an underground prison, making him a god of the underworld equivalent to King Enma in Buddhism. In Japan, he was enshrined at Mount Hiei by the monk Jikaku Daishi Ennin (794-864), who traveled to China, and was worshiped as a guardian deity in charge of longevity and good fortune. However, in China, Mount Tai was revered by successive dynasties as the first of the Five Mountains, and a deity was enshrined there, Emperor Dasheng Rensheng of Dongyue Tianqi (Dasheng Rensheng Jinseitei), who became known to the public as the Great Emperor of Dongyue. As a result, the ancient title of Lord Taishan, which was limited to the region, disappeared, and his name only remained in ancient legends from the Jin and Tang dynasties.

[Sawada Mizuho]

"Hell Transformation - The Chinese Theory of the Underworld" by Mizuho Sawada (included in Religious Culture of Asia 3, 1968, Hozokan)" ▽ "China's Mount Tai" edited by Mizuho Sawada (included in Sacred Places of the World, Supplementary Volume 1, 1982, Kodansha)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国、山東省の東岳泰山の神に対する古称。漢代では地方州郡の太守を府君と敬称したから、泰山太守閣下の意。俗説では、この神は人間の生死、寿命、官位および死後の審判をつかさどり、生前に罪を犯した者はその魂を拘引し、地底の獄に投じて懲罰すると考えられたから、仏教の閻魔(えんま)王に相当する冥府(めいふ)の神である。日本にも入唐(にっとう)僧の慈覚(じかく)大師円仁(えんにん)（794―864）によって比叡山(ひえいざん)に勧請(かんじょう)せられ、延命をつかさどる守護神、福徳神として祀(まつ)られた。しかし中国では、泰山が五岳の第一として歴代王朝の尊崇を受け、神も東岳天斉大生仁聖帝(てんせいだいせいじんせいてい)に封ぜられ、世間にも東岳大帝とよばれるに及んで、地域の限られた泰山府君の古称は消え、わずかに晋(しん)・唐時代の古伝説にその名をとどめるに至った。

［澤田瑞穂］

『澤田瑞穂著『地獄変――中国の冥界説』（『アジアの宗教文化3』所収・1968・法蔵館）』▽『澤田瑞穂編『中国の泰山』（『世界の聖域　別巻1』所収・1982・講談社）』

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