Iwata

There've been around eight million gods and goddesses in Japan since tens of thousands of years ago. Of course, I just familiar with only a couple of them. Which mean, I often encounter the Third Kind. 'Iwata' is a kind of that I found most recently. It is in a shape of a dog, and is said to protect woman from hard labor. Dogs are supposed to have an easy delivery.

However, I'm not sure whether the word 'Iwata' is the name of the god/goddess. It can just represent the under ware for a pregnant woman. But I'm not going to seek his/her name.