Daikoku

   The Japanese god of wealth, who is usually depicted as armed with a magical hammer bearing the sign of the male and female spirit, thereby showing that he was a pre-Buddhist creative deity. His manifestation was a rat, which is often depicted as playing with the hammer. Once the Buddhist gods sent Shiro to get rid of him, but the rat drove Shiro away with a branch of holly. He was the father of Ebisu, the god of labour, and was one of the seven divinities of luck, the Shichi Fukujin.