What is "kangiten"

Kangi-ten (, "God of Bliss") is a god ( deva or ten) in Shingon and Tendai schools of Japanese Buddhism. He is generally considered the Japanese Buddhist form of the Hindu elephant-headed god of wisdom, Ganesha and is sometimes also identified with the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. He is also known as Kanki-ten, Shō-ten (聖天, "sacred god" or "noble god"), Daishō-ten ("great noble god"), Daishō Kangi-ten , Tenson (天尊, "venerable god"), Kangi Jizai-ten , Shōden-sama, Vinayaka-ten, Binayaka-ten , Ganapatei and Zōbi-ten .

Kangiten has many aspects and names, associated with Vajrayana (Esoteric Buddhist, Tantric, mantrayana) schools, Shingon being one of them. Although Kangiten is depicted with an elephant's head like Ganesha as a single male deity, his most popular aspect is the Dual(-bodied) Kangiten or the Embracing Kangiten depicted as an elephant-headed male-female human couple standing in an embrace.