As Christmas approaches, children in many parts of the world look forward to a visit from the potbellied Santa Claus, who comes down chimneys carrying a sackful of gifts over his shoulder. In Japan, some children also wait for Hotei, a jolly Japanese god with a rotund frame who carries a similar bag full of treasures. Hotei’s visit, however, coincides with the new year.
As a scholar of East Asian religions who studies deities’ transformations over time, I’ll often explain to my students that cross-cultural encounters produce new understandings and images of gods.
