FUKUSUKE BANKS
TOM STODDARD
Fukusuke means, "man of good fortune" in Japanese. He is not one of the seven gods of good fortune like 0aikoku, Ebisu, Hotei or Jurojin. Instead he is symbol for a venerated merchant of Kyoto who lived in the last half of the 18th century. This merchant, named Daimonjiya, was very rich, but also very generous. He was noted for always giving rice and money to the suffering poor. Many of those helped by Daimonjiya began to worship him. They made little dolls representing him and hoped their worship would make them as rich and generous as 0aimonjiya.
The veneration and worship of Daimonjiya grew rapidly throughout Japan and he bacame known as Fukusuke, a symbol instead of an individual. A possible reason for the rapid growth and veneration of Daimonjiya is that merchants have no specific god as do other Japanese classes: farmers (Daikoku), fishers (Ebisu), artists (Benzaiten) and warriors (Bishamon). Merchants and tradesmen are the lowest of the four Japanese classes because they do not produce anything but merely trade on the efforts of others. Thus a vener� ated merchant may be more appropriate for their class. It would, on the other hand, be impossible for a god to be created for them. Most Japanese merchants keep a small statue of Fukusuke in their businesses. Daimonjiya was very short, had an enormous head and walked in a funny rolling way. He always had a smile on his face and was pleasant to everyone. He is always depicted in feudal Japanese costume with a large head, c.ompressed 1egs and body, and there is always a central tuft of hair running through the center of his forehead. He always has a benevolent countenance and a pleasant smile on his lips.
There are four known coin banks of Fukusuke:
1. The one most seen is in Moore's "The Penny Bank Book", number 69, circa l930's, painted pre-World War II green.
2. Porcelain Fukusuke. 3-1/211 high, made of high fired porcelain and colorfully painted in green or blue with gold, orange and black highlights. The predominate color is the natural porcelain white of the face.
3. Large Fukusuke. 5-3/411 high and 5-1/4 11 wide. The one pictured is from my collection and is a low fired, red pot type clay dating from 1920-1930. It is fully painted red, blue, orange, flesh color, white, gray and blue with an orange rising sun decorating the chest This bank is fairly rare.
