One of the shichi-fuku-jin, Ebisu is an extremely popular deity of prosperity thought originally to have come from the sea bringing blessings from a distant country. He is closely linked with Daikoku and variously identified with the Buddhist Fudo, with Hiru-ko-no-kami and, especially since the Meiji separation of kami and buddhas (shinbutsu bunri), with Koto-shiro-nushi-no-kami who unlike Ebisu features in the Kojiki. In fishing communities Ebisu was associated with good catches while in the countryside he was the god of the rice fields (ta no kami) and in the city from about the twelfth century onwards the protector of markets and merchants. Ebisu is generally represented as a fat, smiling, bearded fisherman holding a fishing rod and a large sea bream. Being deaf, he does not hear the kami being summoned to Izumo for the 'kami-na-zuki' lunar month of October which is when his main festival takes place. See also toka ebisu.
A Popular Dictionary of Shinto. Brian Bocking.