Myoken

   'Wondrous seeing' (Sanskrit: sudrshti); a deity widely revered in shrines before the Meiji period as myoken bosatsu the female divinised form of the Pole star and the Great Bear constellation who was believed to protect the country, avert disaster, lengthen the life-span and (because of the name) cure eye diseases. In Japanese she is also known as sonjo-o 'revered star ruler'. Myoken shrines were widely 'Shinto-ised' after the Meiji restoration and the deity replaced by the officially-favoured zoka no kami or with the name hoshi or pole-star as in the current Chichibu-yo-matsuri. The myoken-sai on November 17-18th at Yatsushiro jinja, Kumamoto features a kida, a six-meter long turtle's body with a snake's head.