1 An abbreviation for *Daikokuten 大黒天 (Sk: Mahakala). Regarded by the Esoteric Buddhist mikkyō 密教 as an aspect of Jizaiten 自在天, the guardian deity of Buddhism. Initially a god of war and of anger in popular religion, from the medieval period Daikokuten became one of the seven gods of good fortune *Shichifukujin 七福神. In this aspect, he was conceived as a rotund figure wearing a cloth hat zukin 頭巾, with a bag slung over his left shoulder and a magic hammer uchide-no-kozuchi 打出の小槌 in his right hand, his feet resting on a sack of rice. He was also identified with the indigenous Japanese god Ōkuninushi no Mikoto 大国主命, the great deity of Izumo 出雲. Together with the god *Ebisu 恵比須, he came to be regarded as a tutelary deity of the kitchen and offerings were made to him there. See *daikokubashira 大黒柱.
2 The god of wealth, represented in kyōgen 狂言 plays by a masked figure *kyōgenmen 狂言面. The mask representing Daikoku has a wide, grinning face with a jovial expression. Eyebrows and mustache are painted; implanted tufts of horsehair are sometimes used for the beard. Daikoku can be distinguished from *Ebisu 恵比須, the god of commerce, by his chubby round cheeks, chin, and ears. Daikoku appears in the plays: The Shinto priest and the Warrior Priest Negi yamabushi 禰宜山伏, Daikoku and the Poets Daikoku renga 大黒連歌, and Ebisu and Daikoku Ebisu Daikoku 恵比須大黒.