Shoten

Shoten East Asia
The Japanese version of Ganesa, the elephant-headed Hindu god of enterprise, who removes obstacles and vouchsafes wisdom. Incorporated into Buddhist mythology, the cult of this divinity flourished within various esoteric sects, arriving in Japan at the beginning of the ninth century. Shoten was associated with Tantric practices, one of his images being ‘double-bodied’, the sexual union of male and female. Shoten and Kwannon are thus joined in non-duality: they are the divine couple, the living image of the realization of enlightenment.