The Shichifukujin are a syncretic group: Ebisu (Shinto), Daikokuten, Bishamonten, Benzaiten, and Hotei (Buddhist), and Fukurokuju and Jurōjin (Taoist). They sail together on the treasure ship bringing good fortune at New Year.
Fukurokuju, Jurōjin, and Shouxing are forms of the same Taoist star deity of longevity — the Old Man of the South Pole, transmitted from China into Japanese popular worship where the figure divided into two distinct members of the Seven Lucky Gods.
⚠ Some Edo-period texts identify Fukurokuju and Jurōjin as the same deity inhabiting the same body, while others maintain they are distinct gods derived from separate aspects of the Chinese Shouxing.
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