1 Also called Kōjinsama 荒神様; Kōjinsan 荒神さん.
2 A god that protects against disaster and brings good fortune. He is a god of the hearth fire, a land god, and a protector of cattle and horses. He appears both in painting and sculpture in three forms: Sanbō Kōjin 三宝荒神, the most common form of Kōjin, an angry figure with eight heads and either six or eight arms; Nyorai Kōjin 如来荒神 who resembles Kongōsatta 金剛薩た (Sk: Vajrasatta); and Kojima Kōjin 子島荒神 who appears dressed in Japanese court costume, sokutai 束帯 wears a court hat, kanmuri 冠 and holds a jewel and a cakra. The cakra, rinpō 輪宝 is an ancient Indian wheel-symbol of royalty. Kojima Kōjin appeared in the dream of the 11th-century priest Shinkō 真興, the founder of Kojimadera 子島寺 in Nara.
3 His origin may predate the introduction of Buddhism to Japan because he appears in one apocryphal sutra but not in any genuine Buddhist texts.
4 Kōjin is a very important divinity worshipped by the shugendō 修験道 order, a mountain religion combining Shinto and Buddhism shinbutsu shūgō 神仏習合. Kōjin became widely adopted as one of the *kama-no-kami 釜の神 or tutelary deities of the cooking range *kamado 竃. The terms *kamadogami 竃神 and *kamaotoko 釜男 were prevalent in the Tōhoku 東北 region, but Kōjin or Kōjinsama was widely used in other areas. In some districts, such as Shizuoka Prefecture, the post nearest to the cooking range in a vernacular residence *minka 民家, was believed to embody the deity and was accordingly known as the Kōjin post, kōjinbashira 荒神柱. On the last day of each month a vase containing a pine-branch decoration, kōjinmatsu 荒神松, was placed on a shelf, kōjindana 荒神棚, erected on a pillar near the stove. In some districts, such as Saga Prefecture, a large cooking range mainly used for special occasions was called Kōjin's cooking, kōjinsan-no-kamado 荒神さんの竃 or kōjinsan hettsui 荒神さん竃.