‘OTAFUKU, is she beautiful?’
This is MIZONOKUCHI shrine in KAWASAKI city next to Tokyo.
These 2 faces are ‘ OTAFUKU’ which is the lucky symbol of Japan.
OTAFUKU( お多福)literary means ‘ many lucks’.
( It sometimes means the ugly
woman too…)
It represents the women’s lucky face. The shape is round , big cheek bones , full cheeked face .
They are not gorgeous , sexy nor beautiful but friendly and tender.
We Japanese think this kind of face
brings the luck and makes the happy family and life.
Furthermore , in Shinto religion the main God is AMATERASU , the female God represents the Sun Goddess.
It’s different from Zeus of Ancient Greek myth. Zeus is male God , almighty, strong and smart like American super hero.
But AMATERASU is not like that.
She just exists in the center of all God and Goddess without any presentation. ( there are 8 million God and Goddesses in Japan) .
She doesn’t present any power nor wisdom, just exists there.
Still everybody respects her.
If you want to see the typical Japanese lucky face of women, check out here!!
You will feel the completely different culture from you !!
I’m Nobu, one heart enjoy together!!!