res or are
painted on shop signs or found in picture books. They are a jolly company
and make a happy family. On New Year's eve a picture of the Treasure-ship
(Takare-bune) laden with shipp[=o] (the seven jewels) and all the good
things of life which men most desire is hung up in houses. The ship is
coming into port and the passengers are the seven happy fairies who will
make gifts to the people. These seven jewels are the same as those which
Momotaro brought back from the oni's island.

First there is Fukoruku Jin the patron of Long Life or Length of Days. He
has an enormously high forehead rounded at the top which makes his head
look like a sugar-loaf. It is bald and shiny. A few stray white hairs
sometimes sprout up, and the barber to reach them has to prop a ladder
against his head to climb up and apply his razor. This big head comes
from thinking so much. His eyebrows are cotton-white, and a long snowy
beard falls down over his breast.

Once in a while in a good humor he ties a handkerchief over his high
slippery crown and allows little boys to climb up on top--that is if
they are good and can write well.

When he wants to show how strong and lively he is even though so old, he
lets Daikoku the fat fellow ride on top of his head, while he smokes his
pipe and wades across a river. Daikoku has to hold on tightly or he will
slip down and get a ducking.

Usually the old shiny head is a very solemn gentleman, and walks slowly
along with his staff in one hand while with the other he strokes his long
eyebrows. The tortoise and the crane are always with him, for these are
his pets. Sometimes a stag with hair white with age, walks behind him.
Every body likes Fukoruku Jin because every one wants to get his favor
and live long; until, like a lobster, their backs are bent with age. At a
wedding you will always see a picture of white-bearded and shiny-pated
Fukoruku Jin.

Daikoku is a short chubby fellow with eyes half sunk in fat but twinkling
with fun. He has a flat cap set on his head like the kind which babies
wear, a loose sack over his shoulders, and big boots on his feet. His
throne is two straw bags of rice, and his badge of office is a mallet or
hammer, which makes people rich when he shakes it. The hammer is the
symbol of labor, showing that people may expect to get rich only by hard
work. One end of it is carved to represent the jewel of the ebbing and
the flowing tides, because merchants get rich by commerce o