Who was Hachiman?
The characters around our motif are called "kanji" and in romanisation read "namu Hachiman dai bosatsu". This translates as a prayer or war cry before going into battle. Hachiman is a Shinto deity, a god of war. Hachiman was a real person long, long ago. His father was Emperor Chuai, the 14th sovereign of Japan, and his mother was Empress Jingu. Their son became Emperor Ojin.
Emperor Chuai died while at war with Korea and his wife, pregnant with Ojin, amassed an army and crossed the sea to Korea to avenge her husband. The legend tells that while at sea the baby was ready to be born, but the Empress spoke to her unborn child "If you are a prince, you must listen. I am crossing the sea to attack the enemy of your father. Since I am only a woman, I want you to act as my commander in chief. If you are destined to be sovereign of Japan you must remain unborn during the time of the battle and command the ten thousand horsemen of your army. If you do not heed these words and insist on being born at once I will cast you into the sea".
Ojin accordingly remained unborn and his mother waged a successful attack on Korea. He was born when she returned to Japan three years, six months and three days later.
He became emperor and died aged eighty. He became known as the Great Bodhisattva Hachiman. (A Bodhisattva is an enlightened one who chooses to remain with the living to help and enlighten others)
Hachiman protects honest people, just as he protected the honest early rulers of Japan.
There is a shrine to Hachiman built in 1063 by the Minamoto family in Kamakura, Japan.
Image of Hachiman
