Ebisu
the laughing fisher, the child cast upon the sea
waterEbisu was born without bones and set adrift, yet washed ashore to grow into the smiling god of fishermen and honest fortune; to dream of him is to be told that what was let go too soon may still return to you, whole and grinning.
Fragments
Cast into the reeds as an imperfect infant, he drifted for years on the tide until kind hands drew him ashore and taught him to smile.
Deaf to the summons of the other gods, he fishes alone with his rod and his great red sea-bream, laughing at a joke only the waves have heard.
fishingfortunelaughterseareturn