Kishimojin (鬼子母神)
Hariti, a child-stealing demon in the Indian story who repented and became a protector of children and of followers of the Lotus Sutra.
Kishimojin is the Japanese name of Hariti, who appears in the Lotus Sutra as one of its protectors. The story told about her is that she had a thousand children of her own and still carried off and ate the children of a nearby city, until the Buddha hid her youngest and let her feel what the parents felt. She repented, and became a deity who protects children and those who follow the teaching. Nichiren temples enshrine her as a guardian of the sutra, and people come to her halls to ask for a child, for an easy birth, and for a child already born to grow up well.
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