- Fūjin
:"For the Mortal Kombat character, see
Fujin (Mortal Kombat) ." "Fujin is also the name of a UK IT services company and a character inFinal Fantasy VIII "nihongo|Fūjin|風神 is theJapan ese god of thewind and one of the eldestShinto gods. He was present at thecreation of the world and when he first let the winds out of his bag, they cleared the morning mists and filled the Gate between heaven and earth so the sun shone.He is portrayed as a terrifying dark
demon , resembling a red headed black leopard humanoid wearing aleopard skin, carrying a large bag of winds on his shoulders.A legend of Chinese
Buddhism states that Fūjin andRaijin , the god of thunder, were both originally evil demons who opposed Buddha. They were captured in battle with Buddha's army of heaven, and have worked as gods since thenFact|date=September 2008.Origins
[
thumb|401px|Iconographical_evolution_of_the_Wind_God.
Left: Greek Wind God (Greco-Buddhist art ofGandhara ),Hadda , 2nd century.
Middle: Wind God fromKizil ,Tarim Basin , 7th century.
Right: Japanese Wind God Fujin, 17th century.] The iconography of Fujin seems to have its origin in the cultural exchanges along theSilk Road . Starting with theHellenistic period when Greece occupied parts ofCentral Asia andIndia , the Greek wind godBoreas became the godWardo inGreco-Buddhist art , then a wind deity in China (frescoes of theTarim Basin , and finally the Japanese Wind God Fujin ref|Fujin.The Wind God kept its symbol, the windbag, and its disheveled appearance throughout this evolution.
Other media
The name "Fujin" has appeared as characters in several
video games ,manga , andanime , including "Mortal Kombat", "Kenyu Densetsu Yaiba", "Naruto ", "", and "Final Fantasy VIII ". He (or she) is always associated with the element of wind, and have ties to the god of thunder (at least in name) in their respective incarnations.Notes
# "The Japanese wind god images do not belong to a separate tradition apart from that of their Western counter-parts but share the same origins. (...) One of the characteristics of these Far Eastern wind god images is the wind bag held by this god with both hands, the origin of which can be traced back to the shawl or mantle worn by
Boreas / Oado." (Katsumi Tanabe, "Alexander the Great, East-West cultural contacts from Greece to Japan", p21)References
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