Wind God and Thunder God

Japanese: 風神･雷神 - ふうじんらいじん

Of the natural phenomena that show such great power that they inspire fear in humans, the strong winds and thunder are the deities that occur most familiarly and are the most representative. They were originally revered separately from early times, and in China they are depicted on stone statues from the Han dynasty. In Japan, there are shrines dedicated to the male and female wind gods Shinatsuhiko and Shinatsuhime, as well as shrines dedicated to thunder gods such as Narutoki, Naruizukachi, and Wakeikazuchi, but no statues were made. As a pair of gods, they are often depicted next to the 28 deities who are the associates of the Thousand-Armed Kannon in Buddhism, in which case the wind god is depicted as a naked sumo wrestler holding a wind bag above his shoulders or above his head, and the thunder god as well, holding several small drums above his head.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

人間が怖れを抱くほどの偉大な力を見せる天然現象のうち，最も身近に起こり最も代表的な強風と雷鳴とをそれぞれ神格化したもの。元来，別個に早くから尊崇され，中国では漢代の画像石に表される。日本でも級長津彦（しなつひこ）命と級長津比売（しなつひめ）命の男女の風神をまつる神社，霹靂（なるとき）神，鳴雷（なるいかずち）神，別雷（わけいかずち）神など，雷神をまつる神社が各地に見られるが，その像は造られなかった。一対の神々としては，仏教における千手観音の眷属である二十八部衆の傍らに表現される場合が多く，この場合，風神は風袋を，雷神は数個の小太鼓をそれぞれ肩より上方，あるいは頭上にささげる裸の力士形に表される。

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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