Fūjin is the Japanese wind god and is one of the eldest Shinto gods. He is portrayed as a terrifying dark demon resembling a humanoid wearinga leopard skin, carrying a large bag of winds on his shoulders.
According to Kojiki, Fūjin was born from Izanami. The iconography of Fūjin seems to have it's origins with the cultural exchanges along the silk road. Starting with the Hellenistic period when Greece occupied parts of Central Asia, India and the Greek wind god Boreas became the wind god Wardo in Greco-Buddhist art, then a wind deity in China (frescoes of the Tamil Basin) and finally the Japanese wind god Fūjin. The Wind God kept his symbol, the windbag and it's dishevelled appearance throughout it's evolution.
Similarities
Fūjin is considered the male equivalent of the demoness Putna as they have much in common:
- They both are sorceror-like demons, associated with elements such as poison (Putna) and Wind (Fūjin).
- They both appear as frightening demons.
- The only difference in the two is that Fūjin has yet to be known for harming children whereas Putna has a reputation for kidnapping children and feeding them poisoned breast milk, something Fūjin himself would be against.