Hotei
Hotei, the God of Laughter and Contentment, is one of the most whimsical of the Japanese Gods. He is represented as extremely fat, carrying on his back a linen bag (ho-tei), from which he derives his name. In this bag he stows the Precious Things, but when in a particularly playful mood he uses it as a receptacle for merry and inquisitive children. Sometimes Hotei is represented in a broken-down and extremely shabby carriage drawn by boys, and is then known as the Waggon Priest. Again he is portrayed as carrying in one hand a Chinese fan and in the other his bag, or balancing at either end of a pole the bag of Precious Things and a boy.
[1] The title is not accurate, for in reality this form of Kwannon possesses only forty hands. No doubt the name is intended to suggest munificence on the part of this Goddess.
[2] "In imitation of the original Thirty-three Holy Places, thirty-three other places have been established in Eastern Japan, and also in the district of Chichibu."—Murray's Handbook for Japan, by Basil Hall Chamberlain and W. B. Mason.
[3] Compiled from Murray's Handbook for Japan.
[4] See Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan, by Lafcadio Hearn, vol. i. pp. 62-104.