TOMITA　Keisen

Usually, Hariti is depicted holding one child and carrying a pomegranate, but this work depicts the highly unusual Hariti holding two children.It is speculated that this statue may be the two Kishimojin statues from Jorin-ji Temple.According to legend, Saint Nichiren used the power of the Lotus Sutra to enable the spirits of Shiragiku Gozen, a Heike refugee who had died in childbirth in the village of Yatsushiro and her two unborn children, to attain Buddhahood.Shiragiku Gozen vowed to Nichiren that she would remain in this land forever as the twin goddesses Kishimojin and become the guardian deity of women.