The Dragon in China and Japan

CHAPTER I.

THE DRAGON IN THE CHINESE CLASSICS. § 1. Yih king.

The oldest Chinese work which mentions the dragon is the Yih King’. We read there the following explanation of the lowest line of the first of the diagrams, which corresponds with Heaven: “First, nine: a dragon hidden in the water is useless” *, According to the commentators the meaning of this sentence is that the lowest line of this diagram, representing the dragon lying in the deep, is a sign that it is not the time for active doing. Therefore Leek *® translates: “In the first (or lowest) line, undivided (we see its subject as) the dragon lying hid (in the deep). It is not the time for active doing”. This translation is more explicative than true, for the text simply gives the words: “First, nine: a dragon hidden in the water is useless”. As to the word nine, this is explained by the commentary entitled “ Traditions of Cheng’ 4 to mean the “fullness of Yang”, because it is three times three, i.e. a multiplication of the undividable number which represents Yang. As the undivided strokes of the diagrams are symbols of Yang and the divided ones of Yin, the meaning of the two first words of the sentence is, as Lrees translates, that the lowest line is undivided. The characters 7 FA, however, do not mean: “it is not the time for active doing”, but simply: “useless” >. The dragon, symbolized by the lines of the diagram of Heaven, be-cause he is the Yang creature xar’ sEoynv, is represented by the

1 Book qin SAAS Dr FB. on. 1, Eb BG -2 30 Ju. 4 #ED AA. 3 Section I, p. 57. 4 fe fa.

5 Prof. De Groot kindly pointed out to me the simple and clear meaning of this and the following sentences.

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lowest line as still lying in the depth of the waters. In this condition the heavenly giver of fertilizing rains is still useless to mankind. This must be the original meaning of these words, but the diviners concluded from this usélessness of the hidden dragon that one had to abstain from active doing.

The second line of the same didgram’ is explained by the Yih king as follows: “Nine, second; a dragon is seen in the rice fields ; advantage; a great man will be seen” '. Laer translates: “It will be advantageous to meet with the great man”. Although this translation follows the commentators, the meaning is clearer if we divide the sentence as we have done above. The appearance of a dragon in the rice fields gives advantage, i.e. the fertilizing rain gives good crops. The original meaning of the character Fil}, which consists of rice and a knife, is apparently harvest, which was, of course, identical to advantage. Further, “a great man will be seen”. Here we see the dragon representing great (espe-cially holy) men, who are as full of Yang as the dragon himself. Even in those olden times his appearance apparently was con-sidered to be an omen of the birth of great and holy men, especially of Emperors, the holiest men on earth.

In the third line the dragon is not mentioned, but in the fourth we read that he is “perhaps leaping in the pool” (but not yet rising above the surface). “There will be no evil (44)’?. The word evil seems to be more logical in a divinatory sentence than “mistake”.

The fifth line is described as “A flying dragon in the sky; advantage; a great man will be seen” *. It is, of course, of the utmost benefit to mankind, if the rain-bringing dragon is soaring in the sky. At the same time it is an omen of the appearance of a great man.

Finally, the topmost line is explained as “The dragon exceeding the proper limits (i.e. flying too high). There will be regret’ 4. The simplest explanation of these words is that, if a dragon flies too high, he is too far from the earth to return and the rain does not reach it, a reason of regret to himself and to mankind. At the same time the great man, symbolized by the dragon, repents all exaggeration on his part.

172, RHEE. A. RKA, . 2 APY mK SE. eK. : Wu E.R EK. A. KA.

a. ab

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The Yeh king goes on as follows: “The number nine is used (in this diagram). If a herd of dragons is seen divesting themselves of their heads, this means good fortune’ *).

The lowest line of the second diagram, which represents Earth (SH, Kw‘'un), is explained as “Dragons fighting in the open field; their blood is dark (not purple, as Luceu translated) and yellow” *. Apparently a thunderstorm, with dark and yellow clouds flying through the sky, is described in this way. For in a passage of Appendix V of the Yih king’, ascribed to Confucius, we read: “Kien (Heaven) is a horse, Kwun (Earth) is a cow, Chen (Thunder) as a dragon” *. And, again, in the same Appendix®: “Chen is thunder, is a dragon, is dark and yellow” °. The same diagram represents also Spring and the Eastern quarter, which are identi-fied with the Azure Dragon’.

In Ch. 11 (p. 2) of the Veh king the words “A hehe lying in the deep is useless” are illustrated by * Yang is below’ *, which means: “The Sun is under the horizon, i.e. the dragon lying in the deep is as useless as the sun under the horizon.

In the same chapter (same page) we read: “A dragon is seen in the rice fields; blessing power ( fifi) is spread everywhere” °). This is a clear explanation of the word advantage.in the above passage on the fifth line of the first diagram.

As to the “Dragons fighting in the open field”, in this chapter these words are followed by: “Their way (tao) is exhausted” ', i.e. their blessing actions are completed to the last. As rain is~ the blessing conferred upon mankind by the dragons, this sen-tence may easily be explained by the fact that in a thunderstorm, when the dragons fight in the sky, the rain comes down in torrents.

1A. RMA. A 2 LX. MRSS. Ee Ht.

3 Shwoh-kwa chw'en, git £h {i (Ch. 17), p. 12. Lega, Appendix V, p. 429, Chapter VIII, 12.

4 8 Fy AG. dh Bm OF. tH

5 Ch. 17; Lace, p. 430, Ch. XI, ae

‘RBH. BE. BL

: Ch De Groot, Rel. Syst., Vol. I, p. K Ill, p. 964, 987.

i EZ) FA. We Ze TE th. > SL HE 22 BI fH ti 7 th . 10 WE RR EF. Ha He th.

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‘An Appendix of the Yih king' says: “The hibernating of dragons and snakes is done in order to preserve thewr bodies” *, Here we see dragons and snakes being closely connected and regarded as belonging to the same kind of animals. Also in later times the same fact is to be observed.

On considering the above passages of the Yih king we arrive & the conclusion that the ideas on the dragon prevailing in China at the present day are just the same as those of the remotest

times. It is a water animal, akin to the snake, which uses to sleep in pools during winter and arises in spring. It is the god of thunder, who brings good crops when he appears in the rice fields (as rain) or in the sky (as dark and yellow clouds), in other words, when he makes the rain fertilize the ground. But when he flies too high and cannot return, the thirsty earth must wait in vain for his blessings, and sorrow prevails. As this beneficient being is full of Yang, it symbolizes those among men who are fullest of Light, namely great men, and its appearance is considered to be an omen of their coming, i.e. of their birth. In the first place the greatest and fullest of Yang among them all, the Emperor, is, of course, symbolized by the dragon. He is, indeed, the representative of Imperial power, as we shall see later on.

When black and yellow clouds covered the sky, and thunder and lightning raged, the ancient Chinese said, like those of to-day : “The dragons are fighting; look at their blood spreading over the sky”. And at the same time the heavenly dragons caused the rain to pour down upon the grateful earth.

Even when the dragons were only leaping in their pools, no calamity was to be feared, and when a herd of them, even head-less, was seen in the sky, this was a felicitous sign. Winter, when they hibernate and sleep in pools, is the dry season in China. But in spring, in the third of the twenty four seasons into which the year was divided even in olden times, the “Resurrection of the hibernating animals”* takes place, and it begins to rain a little. In the “beginning of summer” ‘, however, i.e. in the first of the six summer seasons, “the winds arrive

4 ee ee PR (a (Ch. XV), p. 41. 2 HEREC BUT Ah.

3 4 ee. “Resurrection of hibernating animals”, is the name of this season; cf. De Groot, |.]., Vol. III, p. 968.

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and the dragons ascend to the sky”, for this is the time when the abundant rains come down, a blessing to mankind.

§ 2. Shu king.

In the Shu king? we read the following words of the Emperor Shun to Yu: “I wish to see the emblematic figures of the an-cients: the sun, the moon, the stars, the mountain, the dragon, and the variegated animals (pheasants) which are depicted (on the upper sacrificial yarment of the Emperor)”. So we see that even in the early times of Shun’s predecessors, i.e. in the days of Hwang Ti (who is said to have reigned in the 27th century B.C.) and Yao, the dragon belonged to the six symbolic figures painted on the upper garment of the Emperor. This was, no doubt, due to its blessing power as rain-giving god of thunder and clouds. :

§ 3. Li ki.

The Li ki* says: “What is called the four ling (Si)? The unicorn, the phoenix, the tortoise and the dragon, they are called the four ling. As the dragon is considered to be a domestic animal, fishes and sturgeons do not flee away” *. Couvreur trans-lates ling by: “animaux qui donnent des présages”, but it has a stronger meaning, as we may learn from Dz Groor’s Religious System *®. Therefore I should prefer to translate it by “spiritual beings”. The effective operation of the tsing ($j) or vital spirit of these four creatures is, indeed, enormously strong, and there-fore they may be justly called “the four spiritual animals par -excellence”. It is no wonder that their appearance was considered to.

re Yih wéi, By he " i £p Be quoted in the famous encyclopaedia entitled

Kin ting ku kin tu shu tsih ching, ER cE ns 4 | = 6 MK (published in

4725, cf. De Groot, 1.1. Vol. I, Introd. p. XXI), which we henceforth. shall quote as

T.S.; Sect. 45 ih. Ch. 127, He Th me p. 5b: i BOW mE

Ft K.- : = 2] RMA SR, H. A. Be, OW, BE Se 043 er. Sect. ya] fB. Yih Tsih; Leaes, Sacred Books of the East, Vol. Il, Part

II, Book IV, § 4, p. 58. 3 Ch. VII, Li un, ne E » art. 3, nr 10: Couvreur, Li ki, Vol. I, p. 524.

4 fe OB. RAGHEB COR RHEURE. we fA AF ie. 5 Vol. IY, p. 12

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be an omen, but this was only the conséquence of their “spirituality”.

Tn art. 4 of the same Chapter of the Zi ki', where the halcyon days of the holy emperors of antiquity are described, we read: “The male and female phoenixes, and the male and female unicorns were all in the marshes beyond the city ‘walls; the tortoise and the dragon were in the ponds of the Imperial Palace” ?, i. e. the four ling were all in the neighbourhood, spreading their blessings over the Palace and the country.

Further, in another passage of the Li ki, also devoted to the ancient sovereigns *, the following words are to be found: “They (the monarchs of old) chose (litt. followed, accommodated them-selves to) felicitous places in order to make sacrifices to the Emperor of Heaven in the suburbs. The sacrifices ascended and reached Heaven. Then phoenixes descended, and tortoises and dragons arrived” +.

Finally; in the first, second and third months of spring’, “the Emperor ascends his carriage adorned with bells, drawn by azure dragons ° and carrying a blue banner (ff, 4%, adorned with - dragons joined’)”. The azure dragon is, as we stated above, the symbol of Spring, the season when “thunder. resounds, lightning begins to flash, and the hibernating animals all move, open their doors (i.e. come out of their chrysalides) and begin to come out’’®.

a

§ 4, Cheu 1i.

We cae seen the dragon mentioned in the Shu king among the twelve symbolic ornaments of the ancient sacrificial robe of

4 Couvrevr, p. 536, nr 16.

_ 2 Jal Be BB 2 AM, ME

3 Ch. VII, Li ki, ne Be, art. 2; nr 12; Couvreur, Vol. - p. 563.

‘AR ELUATAM. FARK. MAAK, HE 1 .

5 Lt ki, Ch. XXI, Yueh ling, FY 4, “Monthly Precepts”; Couvreur, I, Ch. IV, pp. 332 (first month), 340 (second month), 347 (third month): K F- agers Fe it

Be. BABE. MO HF

6 Horses higher than eight ch‘ih, i.e. 41.60 meter, were called dragons (Couvreur, I, p. 333).

7 Cheu li, Jl ne Section Ch‘un kwan, Fe BEB: “Spring officials”, s. v. | ee Szé shang; Ch. XXVII, p. 24, gives the names of the nine banners ruled by the Szé

shang, “Banner rulers”. “Dragons joined form the h%, ix (the second banner)”,

BE HE Tht Wir

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the Emperor. Further, the Cheu li has taught us (above p. 40, note 7) that the banner called 2%, ii, was adorned with dragons joined (i.e. twisted about each other). The same work! states the following: “In general as tsieh® (official tablets) of the envoys of the Empire, in mountainous countries tiger tablets are used, in plain countries tablets painted with human figures, and in watery countries dragon tablets. The tablets are all made of metal’ *. It is clear why the ornaments of these official tablets were divided in this way. For, as the commentator Caine K‘ane-cu‘ine remarks on this passage, “in the mountains are many tigers, in the plains many men, and in the waters many dragons’*. Thus the dragon symbolized the water.

A third passage of the Cheu i*, which treats of the Winter officials, says that, in painting and embroidering, “Water is repre-sented by means of dragons” °. Caao P‘un’s’ commentary explains these words as follows: “The dragon is a divine being in the water. If one represents water without representing dragons, there is nothing to show the divinity of its phenomena’ *. As to Caine K*ane-cu'ine, he simply states: “The dragon is a water creature; it is (depicted or embroidered) on clothes” °.

§ 5.11.

A dragon banner is mentioned in the J hk", where Imperial hunting parties are described. We read there: “In the frontier

4 Section Ti kwan, Hh BE s.v. chang tsieh, ps fill » Ch. XIV, p. 39.

2 fil .

SLAM SHH UA. LA. AAR ih. Ae th.

4+P oh. WSR. PSA. BoE.

5 Section Tung kwan, x > Ch. XLII, x L au % = Ae (painting and

embroidering) 3 Hy , 4 Fr ffi, p. 50. 6 KWH. |

7 tf ya a commentator of the Sung dynasty. Although only his family name is mentioned, and there was another commentator of the same family name, namely CHao Kw*ane, isl fz. of the T'ang dynasty, probably we have here to do with the former.

8 HE ak AH ih by. SE aOR EE Ha AR A J SS tS

9 HE KW. HER. 10 42% Gl, Sect. SE St ne BU Ch. X, p. 48a: FA A. AE rH,

HE Hitt .

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regions: when a tiger is hit: dragon banner’. This is, at least, probably the meaning of the very short text. Caine K‘ane-cn‘ine explains it as follows: “‘In the frontier regions’ (Fi is used here for 4%) means shooting with the rulers of néighbouring countries. They paint a dragon on the banner'; moreover it is a variegated pattern. ‘Full silk’ forms the banner” *. In hunting parties with foreign rulers probably a signal was given with this dragon banner when a tiger (the dragon’s deadly enemy) was shot.

The ancient texts referred to in this chapter are short, but sufficient to give us the main conceptions of old China with regard to the dragon. He was in those early days, just like now, the god of water, thunder, clouds and rain, the harbinger of blessings, and the symbol of holy men. As the Emperors are the holy beings on earth, the idea of the dragon being the symbol of Imperial power is based upon this ancient conception.

For the sake of clearness the further texts will be treated in separate chapters according to the kind of information they give. In each chapter, however, chronological order will be observed.

1 he. chen, according to Wetuis WILLIAMS, Dict. s.v. p. 44: “a silken banner of,

a nar oer plain and triangular”.

2 RT. a Be 258 WF St AHERN. Hh. Bt a a if (Hi BA. tung poh, was, according to Cuine K‘ane-cu‘na, in the

same work, Ch. XXVII, p. 24b, ‘deep red, in accordance with the main colour of the Cheu dynasty”). -

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CHAPTER II. DIVINATION.

DIVINATION. § 1. Lucky omens.

The birth of great sages and Emperors was preceded by the appearance of deapons and phopnizes, In the night of Confucius’ birth (B.C. 551) two azure dragons descended from the sky “and came to his mother’s _ house.She. saw them in her dream and gave birth to the great sage'. The biography of the Emperor Wu *, the famous man of the Han dynasty (B.C. 140—87), con-tains the following passage in regard to his birth: “The Emperor Hiao Wu of the Han dynasty was the son of the Emperor King. Before he was born the Emperor King dreamt that a red hog descended from the clouds and straightly. entered the Ch‘ing fang koh (Exalted Fragance Corridor). The Emperor King awoke and sat down under the corridor. Actually there was a red dragon. It was like fog and in coming darkened the doors and windows. When the Imperial harem went to. look (what was happening), there was above the corridor a cinnabar coloured vapour which increased enormously and rose. After the vapour had dispersed they saw a red dragon coiling and revolving between the rafters. The Emperor King called a diviner, the Old Yao by name, and asked him about the matter. The old man said: ‘This is a lucky omen. This corridor certainly will produce a man who shall rule the world. He shall expel the barbarians and thus bring with him lucky omens. Therefore he shall be the most glorious ruler of the Liu family. But it (may mean) also a great prodigy’. The Emperor King ordered the Imperial Consort Wang to move to the Exalted Fragrance Corridor, wishing thereby to act in accordance with Old Yao’s words. Thereupon he changed the

4 Shih i ki, # 34 BU. written by Wane Kia, =F FA, probably in the 4th

century; Ch, III, JA ia +E: p. 4b,

2 Wu Ti néi chwen, “Inner traditions on the Emperor Wu”, nee if Ay 4 . ascribed to the famous historiographer Pan Ku, $}F [ij] . who died A.D. 92; p, 4a.

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name of the corridor into J lan’ tien, ‘Hall of the Florishing Orchid’'. After more than ten days the Emperor King dreamt that a divine woman held up the sun in both her hands and gave it to the Consort Wang. She swallowed it, and after fourteen months gave birth to the Emperor Wu. The Emperor King said: ‘I dreamt that a red vapour changed into a red dragon. The diviners considered this to be a lucky omen; (therefore) he (the new-born son) niust be called Lucky (47h)’”.

One of the ten lucky signs which were seen in the course of one day under the reign of Yao, one of the five holy Emperors of ancient times, was a dragon which appeared in the pond of his palace ?.

~ The appearance of yellow or azure dragons, often mentioned in the annals *, was nearly always considered to be a very good omen. Only if they came untimely or on wrong places they were harbingers of evil, as we shall see below. They were mostly seen in the night, spreading a brilliant light all over the neighbour-hood. Such a nightly apparition illuminated the palace of Kung Sun-shuh‘* under the reign of the Emperor Kwang Wu (25—57 A.D.). The former considered it such a good omen, that in 25 A.D. he proclaimed himself Emperor of Shu (White Emperor) and changed the name of the era into Lung-Hing’, “Dragon’s rise” °. A black, horned dragon was seen one night by Li Kwang *, who lived in the fourth century A. D. Its glittering eyes illumi-nated the whole vicinity, so that the huge monster was visible till it was enveloped by clouds which gathered from all sides. The next morning traces of its scales were to be seen over a distance of five miles, but soon were wiped out by the heavy

4 The orchid being the symbol of harmony, because the Shi king compares the dwelling together in harmony of brothers with the smell of orchids, the new name of the corridor was still more felicitous than the former.

2 Shuh i ki, lt #2 aU: written by Jen Fane, 4: Wy: in the earlier part of

the 6th century: zB EA. — H + Ht. HAIL BK. A BIER, mip BE OL POE. co. hop. 4 3 Cf. T.S., Ch. 128, BE Bh. #E Be —. p. 70, 8a, 9; Ch..129, 4A EE

pp. 1 sq. ;

4 2 HH it. > HE

6 Tung kwan han ki, Ft BH yee AE, Ch. XXII, written in 107 A.D. by Liu Cun, i) ¥), and continued in 172 A.D. by Ts‘at Yune, Be fs, .

7 FA X-%. cf. Gives. Chin. Bioar. Dict. s.v.. nv. BKK sa. Tn 296 he tank the ctwle

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rains. Then one of Lit Kwang's attendants said to him: “A dragon is a divine animal and an omen of a man’s rise to the position of a ruler. So you will attain this rank”. On hearing this, Li Kwang was very much rejoiced; and actually he became a ruler after some time'. The dragons being such important omens, it is no wonder that Imperial proclamations often were issued on account of their appearance °.

Finaly, we may quote a divinatory work * which says: ‘When the beginning rise of an Emperor or King is about to take place, a dragon appears in the Yellow River or in the Loh. All examine his head: if the head is black, men are correct; if white, the Earth is correct; if red, Heaven is correct” ‘.

§ 2. Bad omens. A. Fighting dragons.

From olden times high floods, tempests and thunderstorms have been ascribed by the Chinese to dragons fighting in rivers or in the air. Although, according to the Yih king®, “the tao of dragons, fighting in the open field, is exhausted”, i. e. their blessing power makes the rain pour down in torrents, on the other hand such severe thunderstorms often cause much damage and calamities. Therefore, however welcome a dragon fight in the air might be in times of drought, in ordinary circumstances the threatening armies in the sky were looked at with great fright. Moreover, the people believed the damage produced by dragon fights in rivers or in the air to be not limited to the actual calamities of the present, but to extend itself to the near future, in other words, they were considered to be very bad

—_—

4 Pao P'oh-tszé, Ke Ah ee written by Kou Hone, B YE, in the fourth cen-

tury; Ah $i Ch. IV ( fp BB).

2 The Emperor-Wen of the Han dynasty e.g. did so in B.C. 165, Books of the Early Han Dynasty, 54 if aN aU Ch. IV; comp. the Emperor Siien’s proclama-tion in the summer of B.C. 52 (ibidem, a if a 8U,. Ch. VII, p. 14a.

3 The Yih htien tsoh tu, $Y We, We RE, quoted in the T.S., Sect. Br ith, ch. 130, BE BK, FE Bf. p- 22. 1 Ei MR BHR. GRE. RHA

TE, AS AWE, OA RIE.

5 See above, p. 37.

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omens, foreboding inundations, disorder, war, nay even the dynasty’s fall. As gods of water, clouds and rain they caused high floods by their fights, and as representatives of the Imperial power their victory or defeat meant rebellion, war, and even the fall of the reigning House.

According to the Tso chw‘en' a high flood was ascribed to dragons fighting in a pool in the nineteenth year of the reign of Chao, Duke of Lu (523 B.C.). “There were great floods in Ch‘ing; and [some] dragons fought in the pool of Wei, outside the She gate. The people asked leave to sacrifice to them; but Tsze-ch‘an refused it, saying: “When we fight, the dragons do not look at us. Why should we look at them, when they are fighting? If we offer a deprecatory sacrifice to them, they will leave their abodes. If we do not seek the dragons, they also will not seek us”. Then the matter was given up.

The Yih lin® says: “If six dragons have angry fight with one another under an embankment, and the azure or yellow dragons do not conquer, the travellers will meet hardships and trouble” *. As we have seen above, the azure and yellow dragons especially were harbingers of felicity; so their defeat was a sign of coming trouble, probably caused by inundations.

In regard to impending war and ruin we may quote the follo-wing passages from the Histories.

In the Books of the Sui dynasty* we read: “In the Liang dynasty (A. D. 502—557), in the second year of the T‘ien kien era (508), there were dragons fighting in a pool in Northern Liang province. They squirted fog over a distance of:some miles. As to the evils of dragons and snakes the Hung fan wu hing chw‘en® says: ‘These are trouble and damage of dragons and beasts. That which be-longs to Heaven is symbol of the Ruler. If the Heavenly breath is injured, and the Tao of the Ruler is wounded, also the dragons are injured. Their fights are symbols of weapons and shields’.

1 LeaGe, Chinese Classics, Vol. V, Part II, pp. 674 sq. (Book X, year XIX).

2 By A , a work on divination, quoted by the T. S., Ch. 130, HE Gb Rite RK, p. 3a. 3K HE FE AR RAR RR. te AE

Key 3, Ch. XXII, nr 18, Fh. FF im ; as p. 17a.

5 yk 0 hh 4 4 . cf. Dr Groot, Vol. V, p. 494, note 1: “A work based on

a section of the Shu king entitled Hung fan or The Great Plan. It seems to have been held in great esteem in the sixth century as an expositor of prognostics. It was then composed of eleven chapters, with a commentarv bv Liu Hiano. en that it mnet

&

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Kine Fane! says in his Yih fei hew? («Flying observations on divination”): ‘When the hearts of the multitude are not quiet, dragon fights are the bad omens thereof’*. At that time the Emperor for the first time ascended the throne, and there was a riot of Ch‘en Poh-chi and Liu Li-lien. Danger and fear prevailed in the empire”. .

The same annals‘ contain the following passage: “In the sixth month of the fifth year of the P‘u t‘ung era (524 A.D.) dragons fought in the pond of the King of K‘th o (%). They went west-ward as far as Kien ling ch‘ing. In the places they passed all the trees were broken. The divination was the same as in the second year of the T‘ien kien era (503 A. D.), namely that their passing Kien ling and the trees being broken indicated that there would be calamity of war for the dynasty, and that it was a sign that the Imperial tombs would be destroyed. At that time the Emperor considered the holding of discussions to be his only task, and did not think of ploughing. His fighting generals were careless, his soldiers idle, and the Tao of the Ruler was injured. Therefore there was the corresponding fact of the dragons’. evil. The Emperor did uot at all become conscious (of the danger). In the first year of the T’ai Tsing era (547 A.D.) there was again a dragon fight in the waters of Li cheu. The waves seethed and bubbled up, and clouds and fog assembled from all sides. White dragons were seen running to the South, followed by black dragons. That year Heu King came with troops to submit, and the Emperor accepted his submission without taking precautions. The people of the realm were all frightened, and suddenly rebellion arose. The Emperor in consequence thereof had a sad death’.”He died in 549, and eight years later the Liang dynasty came to an end.

In A. D. 579 a black dragon was killed by a red one. Moreover, in the same year there was a fight of a white dragon with a black one, the result of which was that the white one ascended

1 p= FR a famous diviner of the first century of our era, author of the Yih

chw*en, By 48 (cf. De Groor, Rel. Syst., Vol. 1V, p. 204) and of the Yih yao, BB i (cf. below, Bad omens, D.).

2 AH tk.

SER CMB BH. ROMA CK KAS, A BO. WHE. RRR CAH. RHARK A, RO RB. MIRE Bl.

4 Same chapter, section and page. a

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to the sky and the black one fell on the earth and died*. As. black was the colour of the Later (i.e. Northern) Cheu dynasty, these dragon fights. were forebodings of its approaching fall, which actually took place two years later.

As to inundations announced beforehand by dragon fights, we may refer to the History of the Sung dynasty?, where we read that in the fifth year of the K‘ien Tao era (A. D. 1169) such a battle in the air was seen amidst a heavy thunderstorm. “Two dragons fled and pearls like carriage wheels fell down on the ground, where they were found by herdsboys. In the following years inundations afflicted the country”.

Sometimes dragon fights are mentioned not as omens, but only as causing heavy storms which destroyed a large number of houses and government buildings and killed hundreds of people, carrying them into the air together with their domestic animals, trees and tiles, over a length of more than ten miles. Such a storm raged in the fourth month of the ninth year of the Hwang t‘ung era (1149) above the Yt lin river in Li cheu®.

Devastation caused by lightning was believed to be the result of sacred fire, sent by Heaven to stop dragon fights. “In the fifth month of the year yih-wei (probably 1295) on a place near the lake at I hing, all of a sudden there were two dragons which twisting around each other and fighting both fell into the lake. Their length had no sharp limits. In a short space of time a heavy wind came riding on the water, which reached a height of more than a chang (ten ch‘ih or feet). Then there fell from the sky more than ten fire balls, having the size of houses of ten divisions. The two dragons immediately ascended (to the sky), for Heaven, afraid that they might cause calamity, sent out

sacred fire to drive them away. Supposed that Heaven had been a little remiss for a moment, then within a hundred miles everything would have turned into gigantic torrents. When I recently passed by boat the Peachgarden of Teh Ts‘ing, those

4 Wang Shao chw‘en, TE a {i , “Biography of Wang Shao”, Books of the Sui dynasty, Ch. LXIX, Al {i . nr 34, p. 2a.

2 Sect. Hh FF aR (Ch O07: BEBE ZEA ae BR WE Bl TF 2 U8 A, De HB NY — BE AP BE, BR BE Hi, RHC. AEM RA KK.

3 Kin shi, >» a, History of the Kin Dynasty (A.D. 1206—1368), Ch. ‘XXIII,

ae es . —_ ss Fr. ~

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paddy fields were all scorched and black, some tens of acres in all. Then we moored the boat to the bank and asked those villagers (for the reason). They said: ‘Yesterday noon there was a big dragon which fell from the sky. Immediately he was burned by terrestial fire and flew away. For that what the dragons fear is fire’”’'.

B. Dead dragons.

When dragons, wounded in a battle, tumbled: down and died, this was believed to be a very bad omen. The Books of the Han dynasty” relate the following: “On the day jen-tszé of the sixth month of the seventh year of the Yen-hi era (A. D. 164), under the Emperor Hwan, there was a dragon which died on Mount Yé Wang in Ho néi (one of the districts of that time). Its length was about some tens of chang. Siang K‘iai was of the following opinion: ‘Taking into consideration that the dragon is a felicitous. symbol of an Emperor or King, and that the Yih lun ta jen says: “In the T'ien-feng era (A.D. 14—19) there was a dead dragon | in the Hwang-shan palace. The Han troops killed Mang (i. e. the Emperor Wang Mang, killed in A. D. 22), and Shi Tsu (i.e. Kwang Wu, the first Emperor of the Eastern Han dynasty) rose again (ascended the throne, in A.D. 25)”, this omen must be a sign of change (of the dynasty)’. In the 25th year of the Kien-ngan era (A.D. 220) the Emperor Wen of the Wéi dynasty replaced the House of Han” *.

1 Kwei sin tsah shih, HS ae Rite ak (cf. DE i Rel. Syst. Vol. 1, p. 399: ‘ “a collection of miscellanies written by Cheu Miu, Ae. in the earlier part of the

fourteenth century), quoted T. &., Sect. @r ga, Ch. 130, HE ih AE = p 8: Z, Fe we He A ee He a SH A — HE Nd A De. HE. AA AE OK ra KR ih MA KM. Amt ee +e. AR me. KH Bem t+. KRKRER MUKA SC. EPR Aa Geen HB Re. RB A ME a CHARGE, La. BAKA WE BAZ. EEA A BE BOK i BS TD BS EN HG Hh LK PT mR. BHC HRA KE.

2 Shuh Han shu, Ch. XVII, Sect. Fy 47, nv 5, BE WE BE, p. 20.

3 fl it HE KABA HEF oS El A

Verh, Kon. Akad. y. Wetensch. (Afd. Letterk.) N. R. Dl. XII, N° 2 Digitized by Microsoft®

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In the fifth year of the Kien-teh era (A. D. 576), under the Later Cheu dynasty, a black dragon fell from the sky and died. The dragon is the symbol of the Ruler, black was the colour of the dynasty, and falling and dying is a most unlucky omen '. So it was a foreboding of the-Emperor’s death, which happened two years later (A. D. 578), and of the dynasty’s fall (A. D. 581), which was announced also by the dragon fights mentioned above.

C. Dragons appearing at wrong times.

When dragons appeared at wrong times, they were forebodings of evil instead of omens of felicity. The time is wrong for a -dragon to appear, when the Son of Heaven himself does not walk in the Tao, thus throwing into disorder both the Tao of Heaven and men. So did the Emperor K‘ung Kiah of the ancient . Hia dynasty, twenty centuries before Christ. Szz-ma Ts‘Inn? says the following about this monarch: “The Emperor K‘ung Kiah having ascended the Throne, loved the matters of the kwéi and the shen and was disorderly (in his behaviour, i.e. he disturbed the Tao). As the virtue of the House of the Hia rulers was declining, the feudal lords rebelled against it. Heaven sent down two dragons, a female and a male. K‘ung Kiah could not feed them; he had not yet found the Dragon-rearer Family *. T'ang of Tao (i.e. the House of the Emperor Yao) having declined, one of his descendants was Liu Léi, who from the Dragon-rearer family learned to tame dragons, in order to serve K‘ung Kiah. K‘ung Kiah bestowed upon him the family name of Yu-lung 4

KikeTRt+ Li RUB KES Bit Ems

am A. FR JBL HE pe UL et A E.R ee FR it TE

ae WAKA. BEKO RPRN HR.

41 Books of the Sui dynasty, Sect. Fr 4F ae: eA Jil 32 (8 oh. 4E poe

HERR SW. HA CR. BAP mw . Bein.

Te A ee HE

2 Historical Records, Ch. II, B aK AE: Jap. ed. with commentaries and notes,

Bi ab Ea HK (NN B FAL), Vol. 1, Ch. I, p. 240, Cf. CHavannes’ translation,

Vol. I, p. 168.

3 Hwan-lung shi, E HE K F

7 Pha eee

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(Dragon-ruler), and he received the succession of Shi Wéi. The first of the dragons, the female, died, (whereupon) he took it and gave it the Emperor to eat. As His Majesty ordered to seek (the dragon), Liu Léi got afraid and fled. K‘ung Kiah died, and his son, the Emperor Kao, ascended the Throne” '.

A different form of the same legend, according to which K‘ung Kiah was presented by the Emperor of Heaven with two teams of dragons, which were reared by Liu Léi till one of them died and was given as food to His Majesty, is to be found in a passage of the Tso chw‘en, which we will partly quote in Chapter IV § 8, in regard to the Dragon-rearer family having been invested with this name by the Emperor Shun. As to our present subject, however, i.e. the evil omen of dragons appearing at a time when the Tao is violated, we may refer to another passage of the Historical Records, where the fall of the Hia dynasty, is apparently brought into connection with the appearance of two dragons. We read there the following. “In the third year (of his reign) (B.C. 779), King Yiu fell deeply in love with Pao Szé?. Pao Szé gave birth to a son, Poh Fub, and King Yiu wished to degrade the Crownprince. The mother of the Crownprince was the daughter of the Marquis of Chen and was queen. Afterwards, when King Yiu had got Pao Szé and loved her, he wished to degrade Queen Chen and at the same time send away the Crown-prince I Kiu, (in order to) make Pao 8zé queen and Poh Fuh Crown-prince. The great astrologer of Cheu, Poh Yang‘, after having read the historical records, said: “(The House of) Cheu is lost”.

Now follows the explanation why the astrologer had such pessimistic views. Caavannes* points out that the following is borrowed from the Kwok yit®, one of the many works used by

Tl FE BL. 2 a KR PRM. FRE HE ie RERER ERE ; pie Big HER Ne =

eel nae 7L FA 2 HE i. wa

4 Les Mémoires Historiques de Se-ma Ts‘ien, Vol. I, p. 284, cf Introduction, Chap. Ill, pp. CXLVII, sqq.

5 [ae aE, “Discourses concerning the States”, often called the “Exterior Com-mentary” on the Ch‘un ts‘iu, and ascribed to the author of the Tso chw*‘en.

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Szz-ma Ts‘ten. “In olden times, when the rulers of the Hia dynasty were declining (in virtue and power), there were two divine dragons which stopped at the palace of the Emperor and said: ‘We are two rulers of Pao’. The Emperor ttied to find out by divination whether he should kill them, send them away or keep them, but to none of these questions he received a favourable answer. When he cast lots, however, as to the question whether he should request (the dragons) to give him their foam to store it away, the answer was favourable. Then a piece of cloth was spread and a written communication was offered to them. The dragons disappeared and their foam remained; it was put in a case and stored away. When the Hia dynasty was lost, this case was transmitted to (the House of) Yin; when (the House of). Yin was lost, it was transmitted again.to (the House of) Cheu: During these three dynasties no one dared open it; but at the end of the reign of King Li it was opened and looked into. The foam flew through the palace and could not be removed. King Li ordered his wives to undress and to raise cries in unison (naked) against the foam. ‘The foam changed into a black lizard! and in this form entered the rear departments of the palace (the female departments). A young concubine of the seraglio, who had reached the age when one loses his milk-teeth (seven years), met it. When she had reached the age when young girls put a hair-pin in her hair (i.e. the age of fifteen, when they get marriageable), she was pregnant. Without having a husband she gave birth to a child, which she abandoned with fright. At the time of King Stien (King Li’s son) a little girl sung, saying: ‘A bow of wild mulberry wood and a quiver of reed are sure to destroy the dynasty of Cheu’. King Stien heard this, and as there were a married couple who sold these utensils, he ordered them to be seized and put to death. They escaped and being on the road saw lying there the child which the young con-cubine of the seraglio had just abandoned. They heard it crying in the night, pitied it and took it up. The man and his wife then fled to (the land of) Pao. The people of Pao, having committed some crime, asked for (permission to) present to the King the girl whom, the young concubine had abandoned, in order to atone therewith for their misdeed. (Thus) the girl came from Pao, and this became Pao Szé. In the third year of King Yiu’s reign the King went to the seraglio, saw Pao Szé and fell

41 K fe hiten yuen. CHAVANNES (p. 282, note 5) remarks that yen, which means

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in love with her. She gave birth to a son, Poh Fuh. Finally the King degraded Queen Chen and the Crownprince, and made Pao Szé queen and Poh Fuh crownprince. The Great: Astrologer Poh Yang said: “The misfortune is complete; there is no help for it’”. Then we read that the Emperor, who by all manner of devices tried to make the woman laugh, did not succeed until by a false sign of an enemy’s attack he caused the lords to come up in great haste. This made Pao Szé burst into laughter, but it was the cause of the King’s death and the ruin of the dynasty, for when the enemy actually came, the lords, whom the King had deluded several times by false alarms, did not come to the rescue. Thus the King was killed, Pao Szé was taken prisoner, and the treasures of the House of Cheu were all taken by force. Japanese legends teHl us that Pao Szé was reborn in the twelfth century as Tamamo no mae, the Emperor Konoe or Toba’s concubine, who changed into a fox'.

It is clear that in the above passages the dragons were harbingers of evil, because the Emperors did. not walk in the Tao.

In A.D. 553 a dragon was seen ascending near the Imperial Palace, and the next year a huge black serpent rose from the Palace moat to the sky, spreading a dazzling light and followed by a small snake. Calamity was predicted on account of these apparitions, and the Emperor tried to avert the evil by offerings of money’, magic, Buddhist prayers and philanthropy; but it was all in vain, for at the end of the same year he was killed’.

The History of the Liao dynasty* says: “[In the first year of the T‘ien-hien era (A. D. 926)] the Emperor (T‘ai-Tsu, 907—926) stopped at Fu-yi-fu and did not take any precautions. That evening a big star fell before his tent, and on the day sin-szé, when he captured the castle of Tan-tszé, the Emperor saw a yellow dragon coiling and winding, about one mile in length. The brightness of its light blinded the eye; it entered the Imperial

4 Of. my treatise on “The Fox and the Badger in Japanese Folklore”, Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, Vol. XXXVI, Part 3, pp. 51 sqq. 2 The dragons are fond of money, comp. the Japanese work Seiyuki, Py SH aU,

(written by TacutBana NANKEI, 1% Pa] BR, in 1795—1797), Zoku Teikoku Bunko, Vol. XX, Ch. II, p. 259. This has perhaps something to do with their liking for the vital spirit of copper (cf. below, Book I, Ch. TIT, § 3).

3 History of the South (Nanshi, e2] , written by YEN SHEU, JE =o who lived in the first half of the seventh century A.D.), Ch. VIII (Ha aL. “PR ).

4, Liao shi, Bg FH, (906—1168), Sect. K mH. AK HE. “Fe. Tai-Tsu pen ki,

“Fundamental history of (the Emperor) T‘ai-Tsu”, Ch. II, p. 6a.

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lodging house. There was a purple, black vapour which hid the sky, remained the whole day, and then dispersed. That very day the Emperor died” '.

Sometimes a dragon’s appearance was a sign of impending calamity in the form of inundations. Such was the case in A. D. 967, according to the Books of the Sung dynasty. We read there the following: “In the summer of the fifth year of the K‘ien-teh era (967) it rained in the capital, and a black dragon appeared. Its tail was on the border of the clouds, and it flew from North-west to Southeast. The diviners explained it to be (an omen of) big floods. The next year in twenty four prefectures the water destroyed the ricefields and the houses” *.

D. Dragons appearing in wrong places.

If a dragon, symbol of Imperial power, is born in a commoner’s house or comes out of his well, this is a very bad omen for the dynasty, the Emperor pérsonally, or one of his feudal lords, for it means degradation from the highest dignity to a common state, and death of the ruler or of one of his representatives.

The Books of the Tsin dynasty* contain the following passage: “Under the reign of Sun Hao of the Wu dynasty (the fourth and last Emperor of that dynasty, A. D. 242—283), in the T‘ien-ts‘eh era (A.D. 275—276), a dragon was hatched in (the house of) a family in Ch‘ang-sha, and ate the chickens. Kine Fane® says in his Y7h yao*: ‘If a dragon is hatched in a man’s house, a

ARS

TREN LAR. BIKER WE TW ELH REE. RB. REE, AA Be RR i H 79 wk. 2 AE fii. , Sung-shu (A.D. 960—1279), Sect. Fr FF a. : ERR, AHR. BEE. A Ww. AEA RK. WEN Mt Ke

Soy oi

at. BH o o SH

cy BF as ae

Med ee

(A.D. 265—420), Ch. XXIX, nr 19, Sect. He FP FR, Pr. p. 24a (ke 2 BS.

5 p= iE} , the famous diviner of the first century before our era, mentioned above, p. 47, note 4. 6 FL te

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king will become a commoner’. Afterwards Hao submitted to Chin (the Chin dynasty) }.

In the same section of this wore we read the following. “Under the Emperor Ming of the Wei dynasty (A. D. 227-—239), in the first year of the Ts‘ing-lung era (233), on the day kiah-shen of the first month, a blue dragon appeared in a well at Mo-p‘o (a place) in the suburbs. If only a lucky omen rises at a wrong time, it becomes an evil. How much more is this the case, when it (the dragon) is in straits in a well! This is not a felicitous omen!* It was wrong that Wei on account of it changed the name of the era. Yu Pao says: ‘From the end of the reign ef the Emperor Ming under the Wei dynasty the appearances of blue and yellow dragons were signs corresponding with the fall and rise of its rulers. As to the fate of the land of Wei, blue is the colour of wood and yet it does not conquer metal; it was a sign of yellow getting the throne and blue losing it. The frequent appearance of blue dragons means that the virtue of the sovereign and the fate of the dynasty are in inner conflict with each other *. Therefore Kao Kwei Hiang Kung* (Tsao Mao, A. D. 241—260, who in 254 became the fourth Emperor of the Wei dynasty) was utterly defeated in war.’”

“According to Liv Hiane’s ° explanation the dragon, the symbol of dignity, when being imprisoned in a well means calamity consisting in a feudal lord being about to be secretly seized. In the Wei dynasty there was no dragon which was not in a well. It was an omen of the oppressive measures of those men who occupied the highest ranks‘. The poem on the ‘Dragon lying in the deep’, written by Kao Kwei Hiang Kung, has this meaning”.

The Books of the Early Han dynasty® relate the following. “In

1 SE TR AG Fe OE PL A Be bb A ER A BE. By HRA HE FLA BR OE AE A. Ee IE

2 28 FE, Ch. XXIX, or 19, He FF AR, LE p. 23> (HERE SC BE).

3 A aig SL FE WF SY PR WK BE. Oe A PE OE Be TF ZR ‘HES ASA A AM Kee.

5 ha BB.

6 23) i] (B. C, 80—9), a famous author and minister, cf. GILEs, Biogr. Dict., p. 501, nr. 1800.

TRAMREHEAMAHHHAHAMwHS wid tts, HG ti HE BER ESE ae E938 Hl SO.

8 Ch. XXVII, Sect. Fr FF ie nr 7,

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the second year of the reign of the Emperor Hwei (B.C. 193), in the morning of the hwei-yiu day .of the first month, there were two dragons which appeared in a well at Li-wen-ling (a village), east of the palace of Lan-ling. They were seen till the evening of the yih-hai day; then they went away. Liu Hiang is of the following opinion: ‘If a dragon, a symbol of dignity, is in straits in the well of a commoner, this means calamity consisting in a feudal lord being about to be secretly seized’'. Afterwards the Empress-Dowager Lt secretly killed Ch'u, the king of San Chao ?, and also Li was finally murdered. Kina-rane says in his Yih chw‘en®: ‘When those who have virtue meet injuries (i.e. are put to death), the bad omens of this are that dragons appear in wells’. Further, he says: ‘In cases of execution or violent cruelty black dragons come out of wells’”’. *

The “Biography of Chang Wen-piao of Ch'u’’ ® gives the following tale. “When Wen-piao was going to plot his rebellion and, still being engaged in preparing it, had not yet settled (his plans), one of his followers dreamt at night that a dragon was coiling above Wen-piao’s chin. Wen-piao was very much rejoiced and said: ” ‘This is Heaven’s appointment’ (to the Throne, i.e. it is a sign that I shall ascend the Throne). Then he settled his plans, raised troops, and was defeated. Men of knowledge said: ‘As the dragon is a divine being and yet came out of his chin, this was an omen that calamity should be at work and that his shen (soul) should go away’”.° Here again the dragon appeared in a wrong place.

§ 3. Dragon horses.

The Li ki" says: “The Ho (river) sent forth the horse with

12) Dw HE AR i A ASE RR oh BF 7A Me $e

2 Cf. Gites, Ll. p. 553, nr 1442, s.v. Lit How: “To make the throne secure, she poisoned the Prince of Chao, another son of the late Emperor by a concubine”.

3 Fh fe.

‘HBACA, AME MR LI. LA, 479 Til 3% HR AR HE HE FE.

5 Fa PE AC FS fh, quoted T.S. Ch. 129, HE Hh AL Ox, p. 14a. Seer cal rn eRe cere Ik th.

7 Leace, Sacred Books of the East, Vol. XXVII, Book VII (Li yun), Sect. IV, nr 16, p. 392. Couvreur, Li ki, Vol. I, p. 536: Ypy HH iB A.

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the map (on his back)”. This was the “River Map” from which Fuh-Hi fashioned the eight kwa (/\ $p), the diagrams used in divination. The Shu king' mentions this map among the precious objects preserved at the Court in B.C. 1079. Lecax®? treats of it in his Introduction to the Yi king with regard to the well-known -passage of an Appendix of this Classic’, running as follows: “The Ho gave forth the scheme or map, and the Lo gave forth the writing, (both of) which the sages copied”. According to one of the commentators on the Yih king “the water of the Ho sent forth a dragon horse; on its back there was curly hair, like a map of starry dots. The water of the Lo sent forth a divine tortoise; on its back there were riven veins, like writing of character pictures” *. This conception, apparently based upon the above passage of the Zi ki, became common in later times, and the San ts‘at fu hwui*® gives a picture of this dragon horse. As to the appendix of the Y2h-king°, quoted by Szr-Ma Cuene in the “Annals of the three sovereigns’, there neither the river nor the horse are mentioned, but it is simply stated that Fuh-Hi was the first to trace the eight diagrams.

In the Shui ying tu* the following description of a dragon horse is given: “It is a benevolent horse, the vital spirit of river water. Its height is eight ch‘ih five ts‘un; its neck is long, and its body is covered with scales. It has wings at its shanks, and its hair hangs down its sides. Its cry consists of nine tones, and it walks on the water without sinking. It appears at the time of famous sovereigns”. This reminds us of the description given

-

4 Leeae, Sacred Books of the East, Vol. III, Shu king, Part V, Book XXII, p. 239. 2 Sacred Books of the East, Vol. XVI, Introduction, pp. 14 sqq.

3 Appendix III, Sect. I, Ch. 11, § 73; Leacr, |.l., p. 374; Ch. V, BR ae F fH, 4 Sp. ab: ay Nal. A

4 jay aR FH HWE HS. A eG, a Sl. He i is. AD YC, eH il SE

5 =7 ial &. written by Wane K4, UF at the time of the Ming

dynasty. 6 we By Ch. XV, p. 4, Leaae’s translation, p. 382.

7 San-hwang pen-ki, = =A aK #E ( 744 Ba aU): by il 5 == p. 1b;

CHAVANNES’ translation, Vol. I, p. 6. 8 Fig Ke kal» written before the Ch‘en dynasty (A.D. 557—589) by Sun Jeu-cut, roy

Hh x fi and quoted in the T‘ien chung ki, RK A ab (written under the Ming dynasty by Cu‘en Yao-wen, [if 72 47), Ch. LV.

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by K‘une Neay-xwou! in his commentary on the Shu king?, which runs as follows: “A dragon horse is the vital spirit of Heaven and Earth. As a being its shape consists of a horse’s body, yet it has dragon scales. Therefore it is called ‘dragon horse’. Its height is eight ch‘th five ts‘un. A true dragon horse has wings at its sides and walks upon the water without sinking. If a holy man is on the throne it comes out of the midst of the Ming river, carrying a map on its back” ’.

The Tung kien ts‘ten pien wai kit, which refers to this passage, says: “At the time of T‘ai Hao (i.e. Fuh-Hi) there was a lucky omen consisting of a dragon horse which carried a map on its back and came out of the Ho river. Therefore in giving titles to the officials he began to arrange them by means of the dragon, and called them ‘Dragon-officers’”®. As to these titles we read in the Annals of the Three sovereigns®: “He (Fuh-Hi) had the lucky omen of a dragon; by means of the dragon he arranged the officials and called them ‘Dragon-officers’”. The Tso-chw*‘en ? gives the same matter in an extensive passage regarding the titles of the officials of the first Emperors.. ~

The T<ai-p‘ing yii-lan* describes a dragon horse which appeared

4 FL Xe [etl » 4 famous scholar in the reign of the Han emperor Wu (B. C,

440—85), who in B.C. 97 transcribed the ancient tablets discovered in the wall of the house of the Confucian family, and made a commentary on the whole. Cf. LEGGE’s Introduction to his translation of the Shu king, Sacred books of the East, Vol. III, p. 8.

2 Sect. JZ (iy; quoted in the T.S., Sect. Br jh , Ch. 128, BE i LB —,

p. 1

b.

3 HE Hy HK Mh ta. aE tO i HE BR te 2 HES. AAR EY. A, BS AK OK i mh fe tL, Ala i mi CHR.

4 i gp iN aa Ah AL “Extra writings” belonging to the ‘‘Preceding part” of the Tszé-chi tSung kien kang-muh, Fy “Ga i ope a3 =| , “A chronological survey of the Mirror of History, composed to assist Government”, an imperial edition of 1707, based upon the Tszé-chi tung kien written by Scé-ma Kwang, ri & 3: , between

1065 and 1084. It consists of three parts: Jj }fj. from Yao’s time to B.C. 402; the main work (B.C. 402—A.D. 960); and the Supplement (A. D. 960—1367).

5 Bl i 6 a HE HE De Al BE Bi 6 P. 2a; Cuavannes, Vol. I, p. 7: AL BE Bin ie 4 3e BE Am

7 Book X, year XVII (47th year of Duke Chao); Lraar, Chinese Classics, Vol. V, Part II, pp. 666 sq.

8 Tk F vil , “The Work of Imperial Autopsy of the T‘ai p‘ing period”, composed by an Imperial committee of thirteen scholars under the presidency of the

fe Mie es e } A aces At me eo oak MN MOM Alea NE AR Ot Ne ee tee

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in A.D. 741 and was considered to be a good omen for the Emperor. It was spotted blue and red, and covered with scales. Its mane resembled that of a dragon, and its neighing was like the tone of a flute. It could cover three hundred. miles. Its mother was a common horse which had become pregnant by drinking water from a river in which it was bathed. This agrees with the statement of the Shui ying tu quoted above about the dragon horse being the vital spirit of river water. The same horse is described as follows in another work of much later date ': “A horse with dragon scales, the tail of a huge serpent, frizzy hair, round eyes and:a fleshy crest”. When the Emperor fled from the capital to the West, this horse entered a river, changed into a’ dragon and swam away. ;

Another dragon horse, which appeared in A.D. 622, had a scaly dragon’s body, spotted with five colours, and a horse’s head with two white horns. In its mouth it carried an object about three or four ch‘ih long. This horse was seen on ariver, marching about a hundred steps on the surface of the water, looking about and then disappearing °.

Finally, we may refer to a passage of the Shih i hi*, where we read that the Emperor Muh of the Cheu dynasty in the thirty second year of his reign drove around. the world in a carriage, drawn by eight winged dragon horses *.

§ 4. Geomancy.

The so-called fung-shui (jg 7, “wind and water”) is a geomantical system, prevalent throughout China from olden times down to the present age. The tiger and the dragon, the gods of wind and water, are the keystones of this doctrine. I deem it superfluous to treat of it in extenso, because Professor

Introd. p. X, this cyclopedia contains only what the Emperor (Tsai Tsung) reserved for direct publication, whereas the T“ai-p‘ing kwang ki, I p ia aU , “Ample Writings of the T‘ai-p‘ing period”, republished about 1566, consists merely of such parts of it as were ejected by the Emperor. Ch. 435, quoting the Siien shih chi, ‘a Re ie written in the ninth century by Cuane Tux, ifs in:

4 The Yuen kien lei han, rin $b A rey written in 1710 by Caane Yine,

ie BL, and others; Ch. 433.

2 Tai-p'ing yit-lan, Ch. 435. 3 $4 3H AU. written in A.D. 357 by Wane Kia, E Ea; Ch. Il, p. ta.

4 ERAGE CR... HAR A

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Dr Groor' has given already a full account of its origin, elements, meaning and influence. “It is”, says he, “a quasi-scientific system, supposed to teach men where and how to build graves, temples and dwellings, in order that the dead, the gods and the living may be located therein exclusively, or as far as possible, under the auspicious influences of Nature” * The dragon plays a most important part in this system, being “the chief spirit of water and rain” °®, and at the same time representing one of the four quarters of heaven (i.e. the East, called the Azure Dragon *, and the first of the seasons, spring)®. “The word Dragon comprises the high grounds in general, and the water-streams which have their sources therein or wind their way through them. Hence it is that books on Fung-shui commonly commence with a bulky set of dissertations, comprised under the heading: ‘Rules concerning the Dragon’ (#£ ji), in reality dealing with the doctrines about the situation and contours of mountains and hills and the direction of water-courses”’ °.

Finally, we may quote the following passage from the same work’: “Amoy is unanimously declared by all the wise men of the town to be indebted for its prosperity to two knolls flanking the inner harbour, and vulgarly styled Hé-t‘ad soa” (J% 3A [L]), or “Tiger-head Hill’, and Ling-t‘aéd soa” (#E 3A [lJ), or ‘Dragon-head Hill’. The latter, which is situated on the opposite shore, on the islet of Kulangsu, is crowned with huge boulders poised in a fantastic manner, upon which professors have had several blocks of granite arranged for the purpose of helping the imagination to discover the outlines of a dragon on the spot. The costs of these improvements were borne by some well-to-do citizens, anxious to promote their own prosperity and that of their fellow townsmen”. A “Dragon’s head Mountain” is mentioned in the Sin shi San Tsin ki*, where we read the following: “The Dragon’s head Mountain is 60 miles long; its head enters the water of the Wei (a large.tributary of the Yellow River), its tail reaches the Fan river. The height of its head is 20 chang, the tail goes

1 Religious System of China, Vol. III, Ch. XII, pp. 935—1056.

2 P. 935. 3 P. 949.

4 P, 949. The four quarters are called: the Azure Dragon (East), the Red or Ver-milion Bird (South), the White Tiger (West) and the Black Tortoise (North) (Dr Groot, 1.l., Vol. I, p. 316).

5 P, 951. 6 Ibidem. 7 Pp. 959 seq.

8 a2) K= as #0,’ “Annals of the three Ts‘in states written by Sin”, quoted

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gradually down to a height of five or six chang. It is said that in olden times there was a strange dragon which came from the southern side of the mountain in order to drink the water of the Wei. The course it followed shaped itself into a mountain of clay, and therefore (the mountain) was called after it” '.

As we shall see below? also in Japan a great number of names of mountains point to the same ideas concerning the connection between mountains and dragons.

| aieaaeaiaiaiaaes

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CHAPTER III. GENERAL INFORMATION.

§ 1. Enormous light-giving mountain gods.

The Shan hai king' describes the god of Mount Chung as follows: “The god of Mount Chung is called ‘Enlightener of the Darkness’. By looking (i.e. by opening his eyes) he creates day-light, and by closing his eyes he creates night. By blowing he makes winter, by exhaling he makes summer. He neither eats nor drinks nor does he rest. His breath causes wind. His length is a thousand miles. He is in the East of Wu-ki (‘Without bowels’). As a living being, he has a human face, the body of a snake and a red colour. He lives'at the foot of Mount Chung”. The commentator Kwon P‘ox® explains this passage in the following words: “‘Enlightener’ is a dragon; he enlightens the nine yin (darknesses, i.e. the nine points of the compass at the opposite, dark side of the earth, which is a flat disk; these nine points are North, South, East, West, North-east, North-west, South-east, South-west, and the Centre)”. According to the Hwai nan tszé it is “a god with a human face and a dragon’s body, but without legs’ 3,

We may quote here a passage from the T*ung ming ki+, a work of the beginning of our era, to which Dx Groor® refers as follows: “The Z‘ung ming ki says, that in the year 99 before our era the emperor Wu convoked a meeting of magicians and

4 yy HE HK a very old classic, Sect. Ha Ah At K (nr 8), p. 1b: $H iy ae en A a a | BQ. KFKARKA. BBM FRR. EMR S a HBA ke Yoke. BUD, 2 Bh Sa (who died in A. D. 322; author of the Shan hai king tu tsan, thy 4 De ee ae 3 aw A i Hi Fi HR AE Quoted in the commentary 1.1.

4 Wal 4 SH. Ch. II.

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learned men, at which Tung Fang-soh spoke as follows: ‘I made a journey to the north pole, and came to a mountain planted with fire, which neither the sun, nor the moon ever illumines, but which is lighted to its uttermost bounds by a blue dragon by means of a torch which it holds in its jaws’’’’.

The dragon being full of Yang, it is quite logical that he should diffose light, as we have also seen above (Ch. II, § 1, p. 44). The Yih lin? says: “A black dragon, vomits light and makes Darkness (Yin) turn into Light (Yang)”.

§ 2. Nature of the dragons.

In Kwan Cuune’s philosophical work entitled Kwan tszé?, “The philosopher Kwan”, we read the following: “Those who, hidden in the dark, can live or die, are shi (2, a plant the stalks of which are used in divination), tortoises and dragons. The tortoise is born in the water; she is caused to disclose (what she knows) in the fire, and then becomes the first of all creatures, the

regulator of calamity and felicity. A dragon in the water covers himself with five colours. Therefore ha iso cod-tderic IE de ‘desires to -become-small; he assumes a shape resembling that of a silkworm, and if he desires to become big, he lies hidden in the world. If he desires to ascend, he strives towards the clouds, and if he desires to descend, he enters a deep well. He whose transformations are not limited by days, and whose ascending and descending are not limited by time, is called a god (shen)”. The philosopher Han Fer1* says: “Ah, a dragon, as being an

1 Ap RESIS KVR WS Pte. 2 #, Pk an old divinatory oe quoted T.S., Sect. & ih» Ch. 130, HE ih Rite EK p. 3a. na)

3 4h -F-, ascribed to Kwan Cuune, 4B 4th, who died in B.C. 645. Ch. XV, p.

4 or 90, 7K Mi Ais 1K Te) AE TF i Ae ae Fl BE Zt

Kk. BEF RF ERB 5c . Fe id is IE

Bi He fH. BC. Hb HU) 4 en BE aK Bi PF. RKREMAFER. KEMAT RR. H. ER AR ae. BeOS mh.

Han Fei tszé, ie JE -- (4th century B. C.), Ch. IV, nr 12, at iE p. 9a:

HCR MBER. REK PAS

R. BAR RSCBMDEA.

FS oth on. REE St ne a RAR

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animal, is so mild, that one may approach him (be familiar with him, i.e. tame him) and ride on him. But under his throat he has scales, lying in a reverse direction, one ch‘ih (foot) in diameter. If a man touches them, the dragon is sure to kill him”.

The Classics have taught us that the dragon belongs to the four creatures that have the most ling (HR), ie. whose shen manifests itself in the most powerful way. The ’Rh ya yih' goes further and states that the dragon possesses the most ling of all creatures. According to the Shui ying fu? “the yellow dragon is the quintessence of shen, and the chief of the four dragons. If a king does not drain off ponds and lakes, their water can penetrate into deep pools, and the yellow dragons, following their nature, swim in ponds and lakes”.

Lt Pun-wer® relates the following: “Confucius said: ‘A dragon (Jung) eats what is pure and moves about in what is pure*. A chi (#4) eats what is pure and moves about in what is muddy. A fish eats what is muddy and moves about in what is muddy. Now I, in ascending do not reach the dragon (i.e. I am not such a high being as the dragon), and in descending do not reach the fishes (i.e. I am not such a low creature as the fishes); I am (like) the ch2’”.

Hwar NAN Tsze*> goes as far as to declare the dragon _to be the origin of all creatures, as Toe ae a following passage: “All creatures, tures, winged, hairy, scaly and

1 Be v3 Ha, the Appendix to the ’Rh ya (a vocabulary probably dating from pre-Christian times, cf. De Groot, Rel. es I, p. 302), “a broad elaboration of this ‘old dictionary by the hand of Lo Yuen, Ye ae who flourished in the latter half of the

42th century.” (De Groot, 1.1. IV, p. fg Section Je BE: Py z 2B Be % th. 2 Siti fe \a ail, written before the Ch‘en dynasty (A.D. 557— 589) by Sun Jev-cul, BSA a 2 SM ta BE. Yellow Dragon: a BE mh ZH DY HE Lh. EKA, KSA I, Be SR ih ie Hh YB. 3 re > es J, the reputed father of Shi Hwang, the founder of the Ts‘in dynasty (B.C. 249—206), in his work entitled: Lii-shi ch‘un-ts‘iu, Hz) K aR RK, “Annals

of Lit”, Section Sh ie. 4 HE BF vis i de F ie. 5 HE 22] F-: “The philosopher of Hwai-nan”, i.e. Liu Nean, 4) Ze, (who died

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mailed, find their origin in the dragon’. The yii-kia (AW 5) produced—the fying dragon, the Sying dragon gave birth to the phoenixes, and after them the lwan-niao (#% |B; ) and all birds, in general the winged beings, were born successively. The mao-tuh (6 HB, “hairy calf”) produced the ying-lung (}fé #f), the ying-lung gave birth to the ien-ma (#4 FG), and afterwards the £%-lin ( Hat HE) and all quadrupeds, in general the hairy beings, were born successively. The kiai-lin (Fp @) produced the kiao-lung (WE HE), the kiao-lung gave birth to the kwun-keng ( fai ffi), and aRarwanie the kien-sié (#4 46) and all fishes, in general the scaly beings, were born successively. The kiai-t'an (4} #8) produced the sien-lung ( Ft, HE), the sien-lung gave birth is the yuen-yuen (Ft FE.

“original tortoise”) and afterwards the ling-kwei (gm ff, “divine power manifesting tortoise’) and all tortoises, in general the mailed beings were born successively”. The same author says that “mankind cannot see the dragons rise; wind and rain assist them to ascend to a great: height” *.

The 7a tai li ki* states that “the essence of the scaly animals is called dragon”, and that “the dragon does not ascend if there is no wind”.

In the Historical Records* we read a quotation from Chwang iszé®, where Confucius after having talked with Lao tszé says: “As to the dragon, we cannot understand his riding on wind and clouds and his ascending to the aby To-day I saw Lao tszé; is he not like the dragon?”

According to the P% ya° none of the animals is so wise as the dragon. His blessing power is not a false one. He can be

1 By, AEA. i BR HE 2 Ch, XVII, ge AK alll. Cf Ch. 1X, = 45 alll : “The ying-lung ascends

riding on the clouds”. 8 kK Ry ne aU compiled by Tar Tex, RY fil, under the reign of the Emperor

Suen of the Han dynasty (B.C. 73—49); Ch. V, ‘& -F- FE [B], p. 7: AE aah CMHA...... EMH.

4 Oh. XU, Be HE HY BE Bi) AB v.20: BR PAE BE OK Ae J HE KAEMLA. SFA REF. HED.

5 Of -F- (4th cent. B.C), Section KK Yi» Ch. UL.

6 $A HE. composed by Lux TIEN, Bae fp (14042—1102); Ch. I, yee fal. nr 4 (BE). 1: Bh AE. HE SH ES.

Verh. Kon. Akad. v. Wetensch. (Afd. Letterk.) N. R. Dl XII, N°. 2. 5

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smaller than small, bigger than big, higher than than low. ing to the Yih king, Kien (i, the ok ee ee and Kw‘un (tt) by means of the horse rules the Earth; the dragon is a heavenly kind of being, the horse an earthly one”

Li Tao-yuen ', in his commentary on the Shui a states that the expression ‘fishes and dragons consider the autumn days as night’ means that “at the autumnal equinoctium the dragons descend and then hibernate and sleep in pools”.

The °Rh ya yih® quotes the following passage from a work of Wane Fvu* : «When rain is to be expected, the dragons scream

and_ their voices are like the sound made by striking copper basins. Their saliva can ee all iets of--perfume. Their

selves of the ‘douds in order ie cover their. bodies. _Therefore they are invisible. At the present day on rivers vs Smee

are sometimes people who seé one claw and the tail (of a dragon), but “the head is not io Ge Seoul Gammel, ater the Tearth month, the dragons divide the régi emselves and -each_of them Se hie tanita tsb ie reser Shy thie a distance of a couple of-acres_there-may—be quite different weather, rain and. a-clear "_sky. Further, there are often heavy

ri: ee nS = | AK, HY B45 ab. HE OWL. BARA.

4 ces + OT FU> who lived under the Northern Wei dynasty (A. D. 386—536), quoted

in the P% ya, Ch. I, nv 4 (HE), p. Qa: HE Wk H FB RK. ze Ft KOM URR A. ROKR REP, 2 Sect. ke HE: quoted in the T. S., Sect. 5 inh, Ch. 127, HE Th Fe %, p. 6b: HS Ai AU WAS, HE RE hn SE Sl AY. HE Ae BE Se aH HE oe Ree LALURHS RRA. Aw eA REO NARS. CRRA. BO LEHI SAR M KMS i ye A. LBZRMW READ. MIS RM. A HE th. HE LK Be ALK A, fet ER 3 YK eS A BE in HR DK

3 = iy who lived at the time of the Han dynasty. He is the author of the Tsien fu lun, YR = = Se but this passage is apparently quoted from another of

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rains, and those who speak about these rains say: ‘Fine moistening rain is heavenly rain, violent rain is dragon rain’. Dragon fire and human fire are opposite. If dragon fire comes into contact with wetness it flames, and if it meets water it burns. If one drives it away by means of fire, it stops burning and its flames are extinguished”.

The P% ya' states the same fact with regard to the dragon fire, referring to the Nez ten, and in the same passage says the

following*: “The dragons are also born from eggs, When_they intend to hatch, the male dragon’s cry makes the wind rise, and J thie seule aeagon's Gey miekea she wind late) and Wa ae —char anges....... According to popular belief the dragon’s vital

“spirit lies in his eyes, for this is the case because he is deaf. The “Discussions on the spontaneous—phenomena of Yin and Yang’ * say: ‘The Ui-lung’s* pupils see a mustard plant or a straw at a distance of a hundred miles’. Further they say ‘A dragon can make (litt. change) water, a man can make fire’. Further: ‘A dragon does not see stones, a man does not see the wind, fishes do not see the water, -demons—do—not—see—the~earth*—

Sun Cu‘on 18zz° says: ‘Kao Tsu (probably the Emperor of the Han dynasty, who reigned B.C. 206—159) drove in a dragon carriage, Kwang Wu (who reigned A. D. opiate drove in a tiger carriage’ ”’.

§ 3. What dragons like and dislike.

The °Rh ya yih, in the passage of Wane Fu above mentioned, says: “As to his character as a being the dragon’s nature is rough and fierce; yet he is afraid of iron and likes precious

1 Ob. 1 RE ff) or 1 GED: v.20: PY LZ HE IS FE AS TH I AAR F& AR it BK. 2 Ibidem, p. ta, 2a: HE Wp ON AE, AB HL HE AE EJ, de ES TS al 1 JL 40. ++ Ga. HMA A. BHR eR A ih. came ei El Be we CAE Sd A it SF. LAL. EAR SK A a OK. AE HO, AR SR, FR ok, SOR SL. ROA fi) HE SE Bh iD JR

3 The same work is quoted in the Pen-ts‘ao kang- utile Ch. 43, p. 40, with the title: Yin-yang pien-kwa lun, “Discussions on the phenomena of Yin and Yang”. The fact that it is quoted in the P% ya proves that it dates from the eleventh century or earlier.

4 Bee HE ‘ 5 A famous poet of the 4th century A. D.

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o o Ot

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stones and k‘ung-ts‘ing', and is fond of roasted swallow flesh. Therefore persons who have eaten swallows must not cross the sea. Further he (Wang Fu) says: “The kiao-lung* is afraid of leaves of the Melia Azedetach *, and of five-coloured silk thread. Therefore from the time of the Han dynasty (down to the present day) those who offered to K*ih Yuen* took five-coloured silk ~ thread and with this tied together the leaves of the Melia Azederach. Among the ancients there were the Dragon-rearer ® and the Dragon-ruler® families, who ruled the dragons only by means of their knowledge of what they desired and disliked” *. The Pen-ts‘ao kang-muh*, the famous standard work on Natural History and Materia Medica, written in the latter half of the 15th century by Lr Sui-cnzn®,-says: “The small writings (essays)

contain the following. The dragon’ 8 mpl is rough and fierce,

e is afraid of iron, of the wang plant '°, of

(roaste roastec) St swallows.

4 pss FA i.e. the Yin-shih, [2 Ay the “Stone of Darkness”. be

2 We HE. 3 f' , ‘a tree bearing lilac flowers, the ‘Melia Azederach’ or ‘pride of India’; the phoenix likes it, but the dragon abhors it” (WELLS WILLIAMS, Chin. Dict., p: 536, s. v.)

4 Kt Ji, ie. Keun Piva, ii B, a minister of the state of Ch‘u (A), who lived about B.C. 344, the maker of the famous poem entitled Li sao, Bite ER. As his

royal master would not follow his advise, he drowned himself in the Poh lo river. Every year, at the 5th of the 5th month, the anniversary of his death is celebrated and little dumplings wrapped in leaves are offered to him and eaten in his memory. Cf. DE GRoor,

Fétes annuelles & Emoui, Vol. I, pp. 343 sqq. The Japanese Tango no sekku, i /f- 7) fii ‘| , the “Exact moment of the opposition” (of Yin against Yang, i.e. the summer solstitium, with which it formerly must have been identical) is originally the same festival. It is a dragon -festival, at which the dragons by sympathetic magic in the form of dragon-boat races are called up to give fertilizing rains. The story about K‘tih Yuen is apparently a later explanation of this ancient festival.

5 Hwan-lung, E HE. Cf. above, p. 50. 6 Yi-lung, Fi) HE . Cf. above, p. 50. :

7 He PE ih Th. i He BL Be ER AR. Th BE Ay eS RIE HHL. LS, AH Fe PR BE He. a ee AEG. Fe HE Gi HE RK. GE WA EE GR HB tH FAT a ff ; “Collectanea of Plants”. h Tp Ch. 43, p. 4.

y

=p.

+ 4h St we Pee

annan bean nat mantinnod in tha Chinaca diatinnaviag of Wrorro VWlre era acer

= >

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centipedes ', of the leaves of the lien tree (Melia Aze ; of five-cotoured—sitk thread. e those who have eaten

rain) use the wang plant, and those who offer to Ktih Yuen use leaves of the Melia Azederach and coloured silk thread, wrapping dumplings in them which they throw into the river. Also when i particulars reds” *.

ec ae eset RAS gems remind us of the Indian dragons; the pearls of the sea were, of course, in India as well as in China and Japan, considered to be in the special possession of the dragon-shaped sea-gods. As to the sung-ts‘ing, this is explained to be a hollow stone with water inside, or the vital spirit (47, tsing) of copper. Swallows are also mentioned as food of the shen Cg)? *, The same~ particulars are to be found in the Nan pu sin shu *, where we read that the dragons are afraid of wax, -and_that_their_fat makes silk_garments impermeable to water.

In regard to the dragons’ fear of iron we- may mention a

use_iron, 1 ae ke ostir-up the dragons (636 ‘cause them to make

GILEs and CouvreuR, but found in the Japanese dictionary entitled Kanwa daijiten, pen Fu K ss Hh , p. £232, where we read: “Ty bd, mo, a special kind of plant resembling nat BE (“swallow-oats”, also called karasu-mugi, avena fatua), minogome -ee to BRINKLEY’s dict. “‘Beckmania erucaeformis”); its grains are used as food”. The fal k@, is described there as a special kind of plant with a red stalk and white flowers. Its leaves resemble those of the ¥E aot (hollyhock; Wetts WILLIAMS, p. 487: “the sunflower; a term for some malvaceous plants, as the Malva, Althea, and Hibiscus; it also includes other large leaved plants”)”. The A A. kang-ts‘ao, is described by

We ts Wittrams (Dict. p. 319, s.v.) as “a trailing plant, vitis ficifolia, which bears white flowers and small grapes that are said to remove stupidity”. But the Pen-ts‘ao

kang-muh gives re not fal 7 4 Pe wy, wu-kung. 2 LPR. HARE PRE. ARB, Bie

A RAR OM HE. ROR. KAS # ai FA i

v]

Vas ’ FARR. Sh ok BOA FAL, PA HE AY Bw, Se ee ARE BRAMAN. BA HE BO BEE SB ML.

3

4

Ch

oh , written by Ts‘ten Yin, 438 Fy in the later Sung dynasty;

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legefid to be found in the Ten chung ki', where we read the following. In A. D. 762 the dike of a river was broken, and each time when the repairs were nearly finished, it broke again. At last somebody told that in the time of the Emperor Wu of the Liang dynasty (who reigned from A.D. 502 to 549) in a similar case thousands of pounds of iron were buried under the dike, whereupon the work could be completed. On hearing these words the superintendent of the work ordered to do the same, and lo! the thundering noise under the ground was no longer heard on the spot where the iron was laid, but gradually went away, and the dike was soon repaired. “The reason may be”, says the author, “that the eyes of the dragons are hurt by the pungent nature ou taste) of iron or F gon, and that they flee to protect their eyes”. a

ae ~

§ 4. Shape of the dragons.

Wane Fu’ says: “The people paint the dragon's shape with a horse’s head and a snake’s tail. Further, there are expressions as ‘three joints’ and ‘nine resemblances’ (of the dragon), to wit: from head to shoulder, from shoulder to breast, from breast to tail. These are the joints; as to the ni the following: his horns

en called “ehh met ee as neo UE a 7 he e cannot_ascend to the sky”.

The P% ya* states that “the dragon’s 81 scales form a number Ne

4 See above, p. 57, note 8; Ch. LVI. 2 About this author see above, p. 66, note 3; this passage, quoted in the ’Rh ya

yih, Sect. J EF (T.S., Ch. 127, HE hes. p. 6b), is not to be found in Wane Fo’s To‘ien fu lun. {it 46 & FE 2 uf & =] be “ XA = PAWC RI HORA PERE Bee. eam Fh. AWS BOWE, AOR. ROR, A, BW. BEDE. ROE. BOR. AO. A Aw. BARA. HERR A RE SER.

3 Ch 1 CRE Bis or 4 HED: fa: He A. + — i Fu x

WR ool FA ae . e Aw ret . 8. cho - Moe

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consisting of nine times nine. Nine is Yang. The carp’s 36 scales _form_a number consisting of six times six. Six is Yin".

In the Yang kuh man luh' we read: “The dragon has five fingers”.

Finally, the Pen-ts‘ao kang-muh® teaches us that “a dragon has whiskers at the sides of his mouth and a bright pearl under his chin; under his throat he has scales lying in a reversed direction; upon his head he has a broad eminence called in writing ch‘th muh; if a dragon has no ch‘th muh, he cannot ascend to the sky. His breath turns into clouds, and then can change into water and into fire (rain and lightning)”........ “The Shih tien: says: ‘When dragons copulate they change into two small snakes’ ”.

§ 5. Male and female dragons.

i en male and female dra i i as follows: “The male dragon’s horn_i iting, concave,

steep; it is strong a e top, but becomes very thin below. The female dragon has a straight nose, a round mane, thin scal scales and a strong tail’ *.

The Shing i ki* relates of a painter, who was very skilled in painting dragons, but whose work one day was critisized by a man arid a woman. They said that he did not distinguish male from female dragons, although they were different in reality. When he got angry and asked them how they knew this, they

1 WA AE Yeh BR. Sect. PEE. quoted in the T.S., Sect. @r #4, Ch. 127, BF Ab He FF P80: HE Te te.

2 ch. 43, GR —, RE ete: OR BT LR RAW. BLAM U KARA. ERR At HR AE FE KK . way Sx SE PL HE SEK TL AE BBO... FE BE ZEW St — Ob hE,

3 Kwang poh wuh chi, 4 +i By re an “Enlarged Poh whu chi” of later times (1607), by TuNG Sze-cHaNG, Jf iy pfs (Cf. Wvute, p. 187). The Poh wuh chi

itself is a work of Cuanc Hwa, Be He who lived in the fourth century, at the time of the Tsin dynasty (A. D. 265—420). This passage is quoted in the Wakan sansat

ru, Ch, XLV, 676: HEE ME $8. ARE DAY AY EE Te BE A. SBR, Il x BA. Hk Ae th. 4 Fe FE Fp, written by Cuane Kiin-rane, 9S a Jy, in the Sung dynasty

(960—1280).

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answered that they were dragons themselves and were willing to show him their shapes, whereupon they changed into a male and a female dragon.

§ 6. Different kinds of dragons.

The Shuh i ki! says: “A water snake (7X JiR, shui yuen) after five hundred years changes into a kiao ( #8), a kiao after a thousand years changes into a lung (Ef), a lung after five hundred years

changes into a kioh-lung (44 #£, “horned dragon”) and after a thousand years into a ying-lung (fe HE)”. Quite different, however, is, as we have seen above (p. 65), Liv Nean’s statement in his work entitled Hwai nan tszé*, according to which the “j/lying dragons’ are the offspring of the bird yii-kia? (“the winged barbel”; this is the reason, says the commentary to this passage, why these dragons have wings); the ying-lung are the issue of a quadruped called poate *; the kiao-lung are the issue of a fish called kiai-lin *; the sien-lung ° are the issue of a mailed beast called kiai-an'; and the Kiih-lung® are produced by a sea plant called hai-lii®. When the yellow dragon, born from yellow gold a thousand years old, antar-a-teey place, a yellow spring dasies , and if from this spring some icles ese become -a yellow cloud. In the same way blue springs and blue clouds originate: from- blue. dragons born -from—blue-gold-eight hundred _years old; red, white and black springs and clouds from red, white and black dragons born~-from~gold-of the-same_—colours, a thousand __ years old. — The Poh ya" gives the following definition of the principal

1 jit He ZU, written by Jen Fane, 4. Hf, in the sixth century A.D. (another work of the same name dates from 1701), Ch. Fy p. 6a: I ye nA AF: Av, Ee eee A ee A ee 4b Fai HE HE

2 Ch. IV, WH FB zi. 3 WE.

4 =e PB, “hairy calf”. 5 4p &R.

0 Fe HE. in

8 RHE. i FD.

40 RK, fine dust.

11 HEE TE» Sect. HE Gt. Ch. X, p. 6b: 7A Bh AL Be HE 7

He Mee eH 4 Cl dl “ea fur 44, Cl hei “eb Alfhanah tha Dass 4.€

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dragons: “If a dragon has scales, he is called kiao-lung; if wings, ying-lung (fé HE); if a horn, kiu-lung (HL FE); and if he has no horn, he is called ch‘i-/ung (bE HE)”. In the Japanese Buddhist dictionary entitled Bukkyd iroha jiten' we find the same enume-ration with the additon of a fifth class, the p‘an-lung (4% HE), “coiled dragon”, which does not yet ascend to heaven. This dragon is also mentioned in the Fung yen, where we read: “Dragons which do not yet ascend to heaven are called p‘an-lung”.

In the same passage of the aforesaid Japanese dictionary

another divisi ly :_ crow-dragons, snake-dragons, toad-dragons, horse-dragons - *, This

enumeration is to be fo i lhist work, the Sii-men isang king*, where we read that from these five classes that of — the snake-dragons is the principal one; they are the “right kind

“of dragon”. ;

ge to the Wen-tszé tsih-lioh® the ch'i-lung (sei ¥)° is red, white and green, and the kiu-lung (bl HE) is blue. The ki is mentioned several times in the Pao Ptoh-iszeé': “If a pond inhabited by fishes and gavials is drained off, the divine A‘ go away’*’. “As to the flying to the sky of the kiu of the pools,

kang-muh, Ch. 43, fk a —, p. 6b, s.v. kiao-lung, quotes the text in this form

(without saying that it is borrowed from the Poh ya), the original text of the Poh ya gives different characters for the names of the two last dragons. These characters are

not to be found in the dictionaries, being the 205th radical under the 140th, and

B combined with Be: but the pronunciation added to them is hiu (Bo FB) and

ont (Spy 3. 4 See above, Introd., p. 22, note 1; Vol. II, p. 56, s.v. HE .-

2 + —s “Local Terms”, according to De Groot (Rel. Syst. Vol. III, p. 1073) * “a small vocabulary composed by Yane Hiune, B HE, an ethical philosopher and

statesman who died in A.D. 18.” Ch. XII, p. 7a: HE Bit K bE aH Zz ee HE. 3 BBE. PERE. MUR BE. IG RE. fi Bs wert, shetung,

hia-ma-lung, ma-lung, and yi-lung.

4 Al ae (Sumeru) Dek RK, quoted in the Ts‘ien-k‘ioh kit léi shu, ype He 72

za: | =, a cyclopaedia compiled in 1632 by Cu‘en Jen-siuy, [ist - B- Cf. WYLIE, Notes on Chinese literature (2nd ed.), p. 187.

5 54 + 4B BE, a vocabulary quoted in the Wakan sansai zue, Ch. XLV, p. 675. 6 Cf. below, Ch. V (Ornaments).

7 Fay Aip F-. written by Kon Huna, B vk , in the 4th century A.D. eb Rs ob 1 or 9.368 BR Os AE Ze BL

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this is his union with the clouds” '. “The ts‘uc A°u (‘kingfisher-Kiw’) has no wings and yet flies upwards to the sky” ’. “Place the shape (i.e. an image of this dragon) in a tray, and the kingfisher-£%w (shall) descend in a dark vapoury haze” *. The . last sentence points to sympathetic magic which we shall mention below (this Book, Ch. VI).

The Shui ying t‘u* says that the yellow dragon is the head of the four dragons, t 3 of divine manifesting power® that he can become big and small, appear,and disappear.in a

‘moment; the vital spirit of water. The azure

ae ee ee dragons as good or bad omens _and givers of light or rain are mentioned above.

The legend about the ying-lung, the winged’ dragon, which after having killed the rebel Chi Yiu (the first to raise rebellion in B.C. 2637) could not return to the Southern peak where he used to live, for which reason afterwards often drought prevailed, will be given below (Ch. VI).

A nine-headed, eighteen-tailed dragon is mentioned in a passage of the Lang hiien ki®, referred to by Dt Groor’. There a Taoist doctor is said to have recited this spell: “I came from the East and found a pond on the road; in its water lived a venerable dragon with nine heads and eighteen tails. I asked what it fed on; it ate nothing but fever-demons”.

Further, we read about the “little stone-dragon”, or “little mountain-dragon”, also called ‘“spring-dragon”*, the Japanese

1 Ibidem, nr 11 (ft BR), p. 28a: JH WM CRREEBS H

th, , 2. S. Sect. & die» Ch. 130, p. 4a, where this passage is quoted,. gives ye instead of Fe , which would mean: “this is a flight of stairs formed by the clouds and vapours”. But in the Pao P‘oh-tszé itself we read ica ‘

2 Sh FR, Ch. I, nr 38 (4 PRR), p. 29a: 32 WL, fe 3h KOK.

3 Ab Fe, Ch. IV, nr 30 ( RF BE), p. 3b: RRP BRB BL MRL.

4 Hig Kz ae see above p. 64, note 2; quoted in the Tien chung ki, th AU,» Ch. LV.

5 iH Sat 3H

6 FEB Ie au , “a collection of tales and legends, in three chapters, ascribed to one

I SuHI-cHEN, tft tH: x, who lived under the Yuen dynasty (Lang hiien is the Land

of Bliss)” (DE Groot, Rel. Syst. Vol. IV, p. 105). 7 Rel. Syst., Vol. VI, p. 1053.

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tokage or imori (lizard), which is born between stones in the mountains and has got the name of “little dragon” because it was (and is) believed to cause hail by its breath and to give rain to those who prayed to it'.

The connection between the snake and the dragon is evident from the description of the so-called ‘eng-shé, 4 We, a wingless serpent, “which can cause the clouds to rise, and, riding upon them, can_fly a thonsand miles. It can change into a dragon. Although there are malee—and—females, they do not -gopminte. Their cry forbode gnancy”*, And Koa Hone® states that “tortoises turn into tigers and snakes into dragons”. In the Yiu-yang tsah tsu* we read:. “Dragons and snakes are considered by the learned class to be related”.

The gavial® also belongs to the dragons. The Pen-ts‘ao kang-muh° describes it as follows: “There are numerous ‘gavials in rivers and lakes. They resemble the class of the ling-l*, and their length is one or two chang. Both their backs and tails are

_ covered with scales. By exhalin can. nd cause

ram, It is a kind of dragon. They live in deep holes and can fly only horizontally, not vertically. Their cries are like the

iy BE F-; or ts‘iten-lung, ae HE. Cf. WELLS WiLLtams, Chin.-Eng. Dict., pp. 803 and 1095: “The insect ( FH ) that changes (#): a small eft or chameleon common in

Hukwang, also called i=J HE or grass-dragon”’,

1 Pen-tsao kang-muh, Sect. fhe ff . or 4 (HE). Ch: 43, p. 12a: lig wy HE Wa. ak a. OT. BRT SH.

2 Pen-ts‘ao kang-muh, quoted in the Wakan sansai zue, Ch. XLV, p. 682. In Ch. 43, p. 40 of the Pen-ts‘ao kang-muh the text is a little different: “The t“eng-shé changes into a dragon. This divine snake can ride upon the clouds and fly about over a thousand miles. If it is heard, (this means) pregnancy. This is borrowed from the Pien-kwa lun (i.e. the Yin-Yang pien-kwa lun, mentioned above, p. 67). Further, the Pao P‘oh-tszé says: ‘The t‘eng-shé do not copulate’.”

3 Pao P'oh-tszt, Py fy, Oh. 1(g F}).

4 fui) iB te AY], written in the ninth century by Twan CH‘ING-sHIH, Be KK FU, quoted T.S., Ch. 130. Sect. Br Hh BE BR HE BY, p. 40: BE Bd ee Bil Ty BL BE -

5 fe. ef. WELLS Wittrams, |.1., p. 912, s.v. “A large triton, gavial, or water lizard, found to the South of China, ten feet long, of whose hard skin drumheads are made; its gruff voice is heard at night and indicates rain”. About gavials acting as demons, cf. De Groot, Rel, Syst. of China, Vol, V, pp. 625 sq.

6 Ch. 43, p. 8a; cf. Wakan sansai zue, Ch. XLV, p. 675,

7 fis fale, pangolins.

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sound of a drum, and when they cry at night, this is called ‘the Se About the shen (§), a huge clam, the same work' says the following: “It is a “‘wnil of kiao (#&). Its shape also resembles that of_a snake, but it is larger. It has a horn like a dragon, a red mane, and the scales under its ‘loins are all lying in a reversed direction. It eats. young swallows. When exhaling its breath assumes the form of towers and castles, which are seen when it is about to rain, and are called ‘clam-towers’’, or ‘sea-markets’*. Of its fat, mixed with wax, candles are made, which one may smell at a distance of about a hundred steps. Also in the flames of these candles the shapes of towers and steeples are to be seen. Lua Tren [the author of the P% ya, who lived during the reign of the Emperor Hwui Tsung (1101—1126)] says: ‘If a kiao copulates with a tortoise, they produce a tortoise, and when with a pheasant, a clam (shen) is produced’”’.

§ 7. Kiao lung (4 HE ).

The Shan hai king* describes the kiao as follows: “(Out of the Tao Kwo mountains) water comes forth in waves and flows to the South, where it flows into-the sea. In this water there are ‘tiger-kiao’. Their shapes consist of the body of a fish and the tail of a snake. Their voices are like those of mandarin ducks. Those who eat them, have no boils, and they (i.e. their flesh) may be used to cure piles”. In three other passages® of the same ancient work many kzao are said to live in special ee rivulets.

According to the Yang yii king, “Classic on the rearing of fishes” °, “if there are fully 360 fishes, the iao lung is made their chief, and leading the fishes flies away”.

4 Ch. 43, p. 7a. Cf. Wakan sansai zue, Ch. XLV, p. 675.

2 Shen leu, Fe RE, i. e.. mirages. 3 iE Th -

4) Sect. By [Ly #K. Ch. I, p. BN sain ae oe mm Weer se. HARK. HRA HH. # BME EE. RAB. TUR.

5 Sect. FH [Lf ¥K, Ch. XV, quoted T.S., Sect. Qe Hh, Ch. 132, WS BR at

ye p. 2a.

6 FS fil RK. ac By anata T.S. LL: ff m= BAF, Hi) Be

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From the ancient Taoist treatise designated by the name of Wen tszé' we learn the following. “As to him who accumulates the virtue of the Tao, phoenixes fly in his court-yard, k‘i-lin roam about in his suburbs, and siao-lung house in his pond”. Further, we read there: “On the highest tops of the mountains clouds and rain arise, and in the deepest depths of the water kiao-lung are born” *.

Kwan tszé* says: “The kiao-lung is the god of the water animals. If he rides on the water, his soul is in full vigour, but when he loses water (if he is deprived of it), his soul declines. Therefore I (or they) say: ‘If a kiao-lung gets water, his soul can be in full vigour’”. The same philosopher states that “when people drain marshes and catch fish, the kiao-lung do not dwell in those pools” 4.

Also Hwai nan tszé* mentions the kiao-lung with the following words: “The kzao-lung lie hidden and sleep in pools, and yet their eggs break up (i.e. the young ones come out of them) on the hills”. The commentator remarks: “The kiao-lung lay their eggs on hills and hide in pools. Their eggs get life spontaneously” °.

K‘ta Yuen’, the famous nobleman and poet of Ts‘u, who was banished by king Hwai towards the end of the fourth century B.C. and about 299 B.C. composed his celebrated poem entitled Li Sao*, in the ninth section of this poem describes his journey to the mysterious K‘wan-lun mountains in the West, in a car

(KF, BGM: BREEAM RE, OH HSB, RHE TH YA.

2 fb fi fi: UI eH im Be. KER hi HE AE HG .

8. ES im: leery He F KB WH ae, FoF AR i UE. Be AD. BE 4% A it PY at

Fr

ce BY LE SS 5 Sect. fe BH] Co-X, po: HEE HE GR HE HL OR A) BS. 0 WEE FL Pt DY Ta AR A, EON 2

7 qi A. who drowned himself: in the Poh-lo river in Hu-nan province, and whose ~

death is commemorated every year on the fifth day of the fifth month (the Festival of the Dragon Boats, cf. above, p. 68, note 4, and below, this Chapter, § 10).

8 fife HAR, “Dissipation of Sorrows”; Ch‘w ts'2é, A BRE, Ch. IL. Cf. Lecce, The Li Sao poem and its author, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, January, July and October 1895.

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in the form of a phoenix, drawn by a team of four dtu (BL) In the thirteenth section, when proceeding along the Red river, he says: “I motioned with my hand to the kiao-lung to bridge over the ford’.2 At that time his car was drawn by “flying dragons”. *

The Ja tai li ki* instructs us that the siao-lung is considered to be the head of the 360 scaly animals, and that “if water accumulates and becomes a river, the kiao-lung is born”. §

The Poh wuh chi® says: “If a man has eaten swallows [comp. this chapter, § 3, p. 68], he must not enter the water; (for if he does so), he will be swallowed by a kiao-lung”.

In the above texts, except in those of the Shan hai king, the words kiao and lung are combined to one term. The Shan hai king, however, speaks of the kiao only, and so do a large number of other works, which distinguish the diao from the Jung. Neither _ in the Shan hai king, nor in the Li ki", which says: “(In the last month of summer) the inspector of fishing is ordered to kill the kiao”’, these water animals are mentioned as divine creatures. The commentator of the former work, Kwon P‘ou *, however, states the following: “The kiao resembles a snake. It has four legs, and is akin to the Jung’.° As we have seen above '°, the Shuh i ki remarks that a water snake (shui-yuen), when five hundred years old, changes into a kzao, and a diao after a thousand years becomes a lung.

1 EE WLW Fe BE A, Locos, 11, pp. 844, 855, stanza 47. 2 foe WE BE WA YA vat AB | Leoce, 1.1, pp. 846, 863, stanza 89. 3 Fi poe "aa mits BE 4 . LEGGE, ibidem, stanza 86, 4 Ke BY gE FB (ist cont. Bc.) Ch. xu, nv 81, $4 Ay Gz. p 7: AT BR ZR=HATMMMBZE. 5 Ch. VII, nr 64, ey Bh, p. 7a: FR 7k ee II, BEBE 4E BB.

6 {8h Wy a -, @ little work written by Cuanc Hwa, ie Hf , a Minister of State, who lived in the fourth eee (cf. above, p. 71, note 3): A & Hh rt A

A A AK. Fe BR HE Ait H . 7 Sect. Ff 4}. Book IV, Ch. IV, nr 6: (2 IS SAL) a Wf Bi He BR

CouvreuR, Li ki, Vol. I, p. 367.

8 By 3 (A. D., 276—324), the famous Taoistic author and poet, who edited the *Rh ya and the Shan hai king.

9 WEY hE, Pe EB.

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The Shih i ki' (4th century) tells us that the Emperor Chao of the Han dynasty (B.C. 86—74), when angling in the Wei river, “caught a white kiao, three chang long, which resembled a big snake, but had no scaly armour. The Emperor said: ‘This is not _a lucky omen’, and ordered the Ta kwan to make a condiment of it. Its flesh was purple, its bones were blue, and its taste was very savoury and pleasant’.

The ancient Chinese apparently considered the kiao — some four-legged water animal — to be a common, dangerous creature, but afterwards it was believed to be akin to the dragon and called a dragon itself. Thus it became the principal god of rivers and brooks. ~ According to the Shuh i ki? “old tiger-fishes become kiao”, and the author of the Yiu-yang tsah-tsu* instructs us that * when fishes weigh two thousand kin (catty) they become /zao”. Another work, however, the Yuh hu ts‘ing hwa*, states that eggs left by snakes or pheasants, when having been a thousand years in the ground, become vao.

The P% ya® describes this animal as follows: “The kzao belongs to the same kind as the Jung. Its shape resembles that of a snake and yet it has four legs and a thin neck. Around its neck it has a white necklace. The big siao are several spans thick. They are born from eggs. Their eyebrows are united (2%), reason why they are called kiao (#)”.

The Mih koh hwui si®° says: “The kiao’s shape is like that of a snake, and its head is like that of a tiger. Its length reaches several chang. Many of them live in rivulets and pools and under rock caves. Their voices are like the bellowing of a cow. When people walk on the shore or in the valleys of brooks, they are

1 P38 BU. Ch. Vi, p. 30.

2 pt 2 ae (sixth century), Ch. fF, p. 190: RARBE#RRM. 3 Quoted T.S. Sect. @r #h, Ch. 132, WY BN Me Be, vp. 10: fA =F 4 ey ae if in quoted ibidem, p. 2a.

5 Sv. HY, Ch. 1, p. 9a: WS HE PB th. WR We i Pe S. WMA. KARE. OA. BRK CR.

6 A ya fi JR, according to De vinous (Rel. Syst. Vol. V, p. 864, note 2) “a work in ten chapters by P‘enG SHIne, BY FE , of the eleventh century’, quoted in

the T.S., Sect. & igh Ch. 132, Wye aK Rte BX, p. 10.

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troubled by the xiao. When they see a man, they first surround him with stinking saliva, and after having made him tumble into the water they suck his blood under his armpits. When he has no blood left, they stop sucking”.

In the Pen-ts‘ao kang-muh' Li Sui-cuzn quotes the following passage from the P°é& yuen kwang cheu ki?: “The kiao is over a chang long. It resembles a snake but has four feet and its shape is broader, resembling the beam of a railing. It has a small head and a thin neck. At its neck it has white tassels (a white necklace *), The upper part of its breast is reddish brown, the upper part of its back is spotted with blue, the sides of its ribs (flanks) are like brocade. Its tail has a fleshy ring. Big zao are several span thick, and their eggs are also larger (than those of other kiao). They can lead fishes anfl fly. If people catch turtles, the kiao can escape”.

As messengers from the River Lord (jay 4), the god of the Yellow River, the dao are mentioned in a story to be found in the Poh wuh chi (8rd century) 4. This god wished to deprive an official, who crossed the river’ with a jade badge of office, of this precious object, and sent two kiao to seize the vessel. But both were killed by the audacious: man, who after having thrice crossed the river threw the badge into the water as a present to the River Lord, who danced with joy and took it home.

‘Transformations of siao into human shapes are the subjects of several tales. The Wu ki* tells the following: “Under the Emperor Ta Ti of the Wu dynasty (A. D. 228—251), in the seventh month of the third year of the Chih-wu era (A.D. 240), there was a certain Wang Shuh who gathered medicinal herbs on T‘ien Tai mountain. At the hottest time of the day he took a rest under a bridge, when suddenly he saw a little blue boy, over a foot long, in the brook. The boy held a blue rush in his hand and rode on a red carp. The fish straightly entered a cloud and disappeared little by little. After a good while Shuh climbed upon a high mountain top and looked to all four sides. He saw wind and clouds arising above the sea, and in a moment a thunderstorm broke forth. Suddenly it was about to reach Shuh, who terrified hid himself in a hollow tree. When the sky cleared up, he again saw the red carp on which the boy rode and the

ee ae > 38 al BH AB 3 RR, probably the same as Ee or fe. 4 Ch. VII, p. 3a. KR DE So aantad in tha TQ Gant AN BR on 1900 Gh WY OBE OEE La

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little boy returning and entering the brook. It was a black kiao!”

In the Sheu shen heu ki! we read about a kiao, who in the shape of a man, about twenty years old, came to a farmer’s cottage. He rode on a white horse, under a state umbrella, and was escorted by four followers, all dressed in yellow robes. “They came from the East and arriving at the gate they called: ‘Child of Yin (the little son of the farmer, thirteen years old, who was alone at home), we come to sit down for a little while and rest’. Thus they entered the house and sat down on a couch in the lower part of the court-yard. One of them grasped the umbrella and turned it upside down. Yin’s child looked at their clothes and saw that they were entirely without a seam. The horse was spotted with five colours and looked as if it had a scaly armour and no hair. In a moment a rainy vapour -came, whereupon the man mounted the horse and rode away. Turning and looking back he said to the child: ‘Tomorrow I must come again’. Yin’s child looked where they went and saw them treading the air, turning westwards and gradually ascending. In a moment cloudy vapours assembled from all sides and the daylight was darkened by them. The next day a heavy rain came violently down; the water gushed over mountains and valleys, hills and ravines were overflown. When it was about to overflow the cottage of Yin’s child he suddenly saw a big kiao, over three chang long, which with its windings protectingly covered the cottage”.

The revenge of a kiao, transformed into a girl, is told in the I yuen*, A man who had hit a kiao with an arrow met a crying girl with the same arrow in her hand. When he asked her what this meant, she said that she came to return to him the burning pain it had caused her, after which she gave him the arrow and disappeared. Before he reached his house he got a hot fever and died on the road.

The passages mentioned above clearly show that the siao, just as the Jung, were believed to assume human shapes and to cause rain and thunderstorm. This is not astonishing, for we have seen that the kiao were called /ung themselves.

4 +8. mip ee) 2, written by Ts‘ao Tsien, [4 YE, in the fifth century. Ch. X, p. 4. The Sheu shen ki, +8 jh ZU. was written by Yo Pao, + eg , (or Kan Pao, ss # ) in the first decades of the fourth century.

2 Pi, written by Liu Kine-snvs, 32) dee ABL. in the first half of the fifth century; quoted T.S., 1.1, Ch. 132, Rh a p. 2d. Verh, Kon. Akad. v. Wetensch. (Afd. Letterk.) N. R. Di, XIU, N° 2. 6

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§ 8. Rearing and taming dragons.

In Chapter II (pp. 50 sqq.) we have referred to the Historical Records with regard to the Emperor K‘ung Kiah of the Hia dynasty, in whose service Liu Léi tamed two dragons, sent down by Heaven. This Liu Léi had learned the art from the Dragon-rearer family, and he himself obtained the family name of Yi lung, *“Dragon-ruler”. : | _ The so chw'en' gives the same legend in the following passage: “In autumn (of the 29th year of Chao kung, i.e. Chao, duke of Lu, who reigned B.C. 541—509) a dragon appeared: in the suburbs of Kiang. Wéi Hien tszé asked Ts‘ai Mih saying: ‘I have heard that none of the animals is the dragon’s equal in -knowledge, and that for this reason the dragon cannot be caught alive. Can we believe that it is right to ascribe this (his not being caught alive) to his knowledge “Mih replicd:~“Men- really do not. know; it is not that the dragon is really knowing. The ancients kept dragons; therefore the State had a Dragon-rearer family (Hwan-lung shi”) and a Dragon-ruler family (Yi-lung shi*y’. Hien tszé said: ‘I too have heard about those two families, but I do not know their origin; what is it said to be?’ The answer was: ‘In olden times there was Shuh Ngan of Liu, who had a distant descendant called Tung Fu, very fond of dragons and able to. find out ‘their tastes and likings, so as to supply them with drink and meat. Many dragons sought refuge with him and he reared the dragons according to their nature in order to serve the Emperor Shun, who gave him the surname of Tung, and the family name of Hwan-lung (Dragon-rearer). He was [also] invested with [the principality of] Tsung-chw‘en, and the family of Tsung I is of his posterity. Thus in the time of the Emperor Shun, and for generations after, dragons were reared. We come [then] to K‘ung Kiah of the Hia dynasty, who was so obedient and acceptable to the Emperor of Heaven, that the latter gave him riding dragons, two, a male and a female, from the Hwang-ho, and two from the Han river. K‘ung Kiah could not feed them, and had not yet found [members of the] Hwan lung family. T‘ao T‘ang (Yao)'s family having declined, one of his descendants was Liu Léi, who learned the art of rearing dragons from the ‘Dragon-rearer’ family. With this he undertook to serve K‘ung

’ 4° Leger, Chinese Classics, Vol. V, pp. 729 sqq.; Book X, year XXIX, par. 4: a

a0 4a VAR eet 9 4h WAH or.

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Kiah and could give the dragons drink and food. The Emperor praised him and gave him the family name of Dragon-ruler (Yt-lung)”.

§ 9. Dragons ridden by sien, or drawing the cars of gods and holy men.

The “Traditions on the Files of Immortals”, Lieh sien chw‘en', repeatedly mention sien who rode away on dragons through the air. We often read also of flying dragons or ying-lung drawing the cars of gods or holy men. As we shall see below (Ch. VID, Hwang Ti rode on a dragon, and Yu's carriage was drawn by two of these divine animals. In the Zz Sao, quoted above’, K‘tih Yuen’s car was drawn by four £%w or by flying dragons. The Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty (B. C. 140-86) once ascended the Yen ling tower and after the second night watch saw Si wang mu, the. “Royal Mother of the West”, arriving in a carriage of purple clouds, drawn by nine-coloured, spotted dragons °*. These ideas are, of course, closely connected with those about dragon-horses, winged and scaly horses of extraordinary size, treated above in Ch. I], § 3, pp. 56 sqq.

§ 10. Dragon-boats.

Dragon-boats are mentioned in the Hwai nan tszé*, where ff these ships are called “dragon-boatsand) yih-heads” (jE Fy at 4). This is explained as follows by the commentator: “Dragon-boats

are big ships adorned with carved dragon-ornaments (4); the Wis Tig Calpe of wheat tthe ips”. WxLLs tiams> describes the yih as “a—ki of seabird hat “flies high, whose figure is gaily painted on the sterns of junks, to denote their swift sailing; the descriptions

are contradictory, but its picture rudely resembles a heron”. On these boats, which were used by the Emperors for pleasure

4 4) ily 4s , written in the first century before our era by the famous philoso-

pher Liu Hane, 2] [A ; quoted T. S., Sect. & igh, Ch. 134, Ah Hy PP. 1a,

9b. Cf. the Shen sien ch‘wen, “Traditions on the divine sien”, quoted ibidem, p. 3a.

% This chapter, § 7, p. 77, note & 3 Han Wu-ti nei ch‘wen (attributed to Pan Ku, but probably written in the 3rd

century), quoted ibidem, p. 3a: = + zz FE we = z 4 Kis Ju ff, BE HE.

4 About 140 B,C.; Ch. VII (7X OK). 5 Chin. Engl. Dict. p. 1092, s.v. yih.

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trips, on which occasions music was made on board, the bird was painted, not to denote their swift sailing, but to suppress the water-gods, if we may believe the commentary to a pasSage of the Wen siien'. It seems that the ships Tepresented dragons with yih-heads, and that the ‘ dragon- ornaments’ were the dragon’s scales, ae on the sides of the vessels.

The Japanese courtiers of the eleventh century, however, who wanted to imitate all the customs prevailing at the Chinese court, did not understand the words of the Hwai nan tszé and had two kinds of ships made ahs they called in one term: “ Dragon-heads (and) Vih-heads”, #E BA it F4, “ Rydto-gekisu”. The combi-nation of these two cer reminds us of the term “ shishi-komainu’’s used at the Japanese Court in the same age to denote the images of the lion and the unicorn, not separately but as one name for both together *. ‘Therefore I would be inclined to think that the term yéto-gekisu originally denoted one kind of ships, adorned with a dragon-head in front and a yih-head behind, if a passage of the Jikkinsho® did not state that on the occasion of a pleasure trip in the Emperor Shirakawa’s time (1072—1086), “Koresue played the finte on board of the ‘dragon-head’, but there was no flute playing on board of the ‘yih-head’”. As to Murasaxt Suixisu’s Diary*, where we read that the new ships were very beautiful, and the Hamamatsu Chinagon Monogatari ®, these works of the beginning and the middle of the eleventh century, as well as the Kigwa monogatari® (about 1100), which states that the Emperor made a pleasure trip with “rydtd-gekisu”’, seem to speak of one kind of ships. The Kagakusha', however, which dates

1 al BE Sect. py Big rat. compiled in the first half of the sixth century of our era by Sr1ao T‘one, 7a we quoted in. the Kokushi daijiten, Bil K ay

HHL, p. 2338, s. v. bE BA inte a py, Ryjiizu (mistake instead of ry6td) gekisu no fune.

2 Cf. my treatise on “The Dog and the Cat in Japanese Superstition”, Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, Vol. XXXVII, Part I, pp. 54—62.

3 + Hl] 42>, written shortly after 1252; Ch. X, K. T. K, Vol. XV, p. 823. 4 Written from 1008 to 1010; Gunsho ruiju, nr 324, Vol. XI, p. 594. ; aux 7 pk a5 5 YA A rH mS Wy GE, written by Sucawara Konyo (73° JR % p's daughter (born in} 1008), consort of Fustwara No Tosuimitsu (Be 3, who died in 4058); Ch. I. ;

6 Bk af py 3z ay Ch. XX (Fi Fi), K. T. K. Vol. XV, p. 1344; Ch. VII, p. 1078. 7 oR oh. 4B. written in 1444 by the Buddhist priest Suaxu no Harrorsu,

32 mb Mh: ch. BE Bt.

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from 1444, says: “‘Dragon-head’ and ‘Yih-head’ are two different names of. ships”, which agrees with the words of the Jikkinsho'.

These Chinese ships are different from the “dragon-boats” used in China on the fifth day of the fifth month at the water festival. The latter are real boats used in regatta’s, or fancy dragon-boats, carried through the streets and burned at the sea-shore as sub-stitutes which take away all evil influences. No doubt Dz Groot’s ? explanation of this festival, as being based on sympathetic magic, is right. As we shall see below’, the Chinese used to make clay dragons to cause rain. In the same way their dragon-boat-races are certainly intended to represent fighting dragons, in order to cause a real dragon fight, which is always accompanied by heavy rains. The dragon-boats carried through .the streets may also serve to cause rain, although they are at the same time considered to be substitutes.

As to the enormous dragon, made of linen, bamboo and paper, and carried in procession through the streets on the 15th of the first month, a red ball being carried in front of him, this was formerly explained by Dz Groot? as an imitation of the Azure Dragon, the head of which (a star) in remotest ages in the beginning of spring rose and set at the same time as the sun (the fiery ball), as if it persecuted this celestial globe and finally succeeded in swallowing it®. As to his later explanation con-cerning the thunder, belched out by the dragon, we may refer to this Book, Ch. [IV (Ornaments), § 4.

§ 11, “Dragon-tail-road” and other words connected with the dragon.

The “Dragon-tail-road”, #E Fe 34, Lung-wéi-tao, was the road ascending straight southward to the Shé yuen tien, & 7c BY, a building belonging to the Chinese Emperor’s palace. Along this road the visitors came to be received in audience (4 [fy ) by His Majesty, who always faced the South (4% [f). In imitation the road before the Taikyokuden, a building belonging to the

1 Cf. the Nambako, if YH YT, written by Oxamoro Yasuraxa, fit] IN ty: zz, who lived 1798—1878; Ch. II, "Tsi Hyakka setsurin, Vol. eS aS —, p. 636.

2 Fétes annuelles & Emoui, Vol. I, pp. 372 sqq.

3 This Book, Ch. VI (causing rain).

4 Fétes annuelles, Vol. I, p. 369.

5 Cf. Scutecrt, Uranographie Chinoise, pp. 55 sqq.

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Japanese Palace, was also called Rywbido, “Dragon-tail-road” '.

Other words borrowed from China are the following: Ryzteki, He 4, “dragon-flute”; ryubin, #E A. “dragon’s whiskers”, a mat woven from rush’; according to the Pao P‘oh-tszé (Sect. S& pH, Ch. IV, nr 17) it is the name of a kind of grass produced by the whiskers of the dragon ridden by Hwang Ti. The officials who could not ascend the dragon got hold of its whiskers, but by their weight pulled them out. Where the whiskers fell down, the “Dragon’s whiskers herb” shot up (cf. below, Book I, Ch. VI; § 1); ryutan, #E BB, pronounced rinds, “Dragon’s liver”, a species of gentian; three of these flowers, together with five sasa (HE. a kind of small bamboo), formed the badge of the Minamoto Family (sasa-rindo). *

§ 12. Dragon-gate.

| ‘The Sin shi San Ts‘in ki! says: “Lung men (iE FA, “Dragon-gate”) is another name for Ho tsin (yay VE, “Ford of the Hwang Ho”). Several thousand he-Dragon-

ate without being able to ascend it (i.e. to swim against the “Garet) Tose whith suzadin-ssending it become. dragons; those whic main fishes” sh changing into a dragon. is represented on the altar table of the Yuh-Fuh-tien in the Fah-yti temple on P‘u t‘o shan (Borrscuvann, Die Baukunst und religiise Kultur, der Chinesen, Vol. I, p. 65), and dragons trying to grasp the mysterious fiery “pearl”, which is hanging in the Dragon-gate, are seen in the same temple (l.1, pp. 46, 87, cf. below, Book I, Ch. IV, § 4). As we shall see below (Book II, Ch. XI, § 2, B), there are in Japan several Dragon-gate waterfalls, and also, in the province of Kii, a Dragon-gate mountain. The latter reminds us. of the ©

Lung-men mountain between the rivers I and Lo, not far from the confluence of these rivers. °

ee Rytian zuihitsu, pi) & SF. Gi bs =e, written in 1819 by Kurtuara SHINJU (Nopumitsv), BS 4S Se: ch. 1x; faite setsurin, Vol. #3 Po —., p. 488.

2 Ra. lin; Kokushi daijiten, p. 2338, s. v. ryubin.

3 Ryuan: zuihitsu, }.1., pp. 485 sq.

4 2 K = aU: written by a certain SiN, 2 quoted T. S, Sect. & ih» Ch. 128, HE GR AE SH —, p. 130: fey EE REP. AK SRE PAB Bk ® $ £. 7 HE BL Hh.

RAMe Oe en ee

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§ 13. Dragon’s dens.

We read in the Sheu shen heu ki': “On mount K‘in in’ Wu--ch‘ang (in Hu-kwang province) there was a dragon’s den. Whenever. the inhabitants saw a divine kw (#1) fly out of and into the den, the year was dry, but when they prayed to this dragon it rained”.

Another dragon’s den is mentioned in the Cheh-kiang t‘ung-chi, “General Memoirs concerning Cheh-kiang”,? where we read: “On mount Pien in Hu-cheu there is a Yellow Dragon's Cavern. At the top there is a spring which dashes forth from the cave, called the ‘Golden Well spring’; the cave is also ‘called the ‘Golden Well cave’. The cavern is so deep that one cannot see its end. At the time of the Liang dynasty a yellow dragon appeared in it. For this reason King Yueh of Wu erected a shrine in order to sacrifice to the dragon”. Another dragon’s den, mentioned in the Kwah i chi, will be treated below in connection with the Indian Naga-kings (Ch. TX).

§ 14. Dragon herds.

According to the Shih cheu ki* herds of dragons assemble at Fang chang island in the centre of the Eastern sea. The Luh i ki* relates about a so-called “Blue smoke temple” situated on an island: During several days a cloud of smoke hung above the sanctuary. Suddenly one morning the waves leapt up violently, a herd of dragons appeared at the surface and entered the Han river. The big ones were several chang long, the small ones over a chang. Some were yellow, others black, red, white or blue, and

1 oR WL Ee. A A LT Bec eli.

2 a YL 3H ae = (cf. Wruin, 1.1, p. 45: 16th century, revised 1684 and 1736), quoted T.S,, 11. Ch. 199, ff Hy —., p. 130: rai WOR Wy AR ia FE Yel 1A AW . Ge, OSH. OR ER SHE REE AAM. REA Uae.

3 + pi BU, . written in the Han dynasty; p. 9a.

4 Be Bea Five “Writings on Recorded Wonders”, written by To Kwano- “Tix, a Taoist priest who lived in the latter part of the ninth century (cf. De Groot, Rel. Syst, Vol. V, p. 630, note 2), quoted T.S. 1.1. Ch. 129, AL y= =, p. 14a.

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they resembled cows, horses, donkeys or sheep. Forming a row of fifty they followed one another into the mouth of the Han river; then they returned to the temple. So they went to and back several miles, sometimes hidden sometimes visible. This lasted for three days and then stopped.

§ 15. Dragon’s pearls.

According to Chwang iszé' a “pearl of a thousand pieces of gold (ts‘ien kin)” is certainly to be found in a pool of nine layers. (i.e. very deep) under the throat of a Ui-lwng or “horse-dragon”. The Shuh i ki? (sixth century) states that so-called -pearl are spit out by dragons, like snake-pearls b é In the Lung. ching luh*® we read about a dragon which in the shape of a little child was playing with three pearls before the entrance of his den. When a man approached he fled into the cavern and, reassuming his dragon form, put the pearls in hig left ear. The man cut off the ear, in order to take possession of the pearls,. but they vanished together with the dragon himself. -

Another legend‘ tells us about a man who was very fond of wine and from a female sien in the mountains obtained a pearl which she said to be kept by the dragons in their mouths in order to replace wine. :

Dr Groor* mentions “Thunder-pearls” (#@ Bf, ldi-chu), “which dragons have dropped from their mouths, and which may thoroughly illuminate a whole house during the night”. “Perhaps”, says De Groot, “these objects may be the relics of an age of stone”.

§ 16. Dragon’s eggs.

Dragon’s eggs are beautiful stones picked_up in the mountains

or at the riverside, and ‘preserved till they split amidst thunder,

1 se KFS CARD EAH SH i ERE AiR.

ach. Fp. 30: JL PR A HE SK, BE Pr mk ye, ie Be a pay nk .

3 HE YR Be. written in the T'ang dynasty by Liv Tsune-yoen, fii) = st: Ch. II. :

4 Lang hiten ki, Hy Ie a, (see above p. 74, note 6), Ch. rH :

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rate” Aragon appears in the form of a very small snake, or water-lizard, which grows larger and larger’ in a few moments.’ An old woman, who

“had-fotnd five such eggs in the grass, took the little snakes to the river and let them go, whereupon the dragons gave her the faculty of foretelling the future. This “Dragon-mother”, as the people called her, because, when she was washing clothes in the river, fishes (the subjects of the dragons) used to dance before her, became so famous on account of her true prophecies, that even the Emperor wished to consult her. She died, however, on her way to the capital, and was buried on the eastern bank of the river; but the dragons made a violent storm arise and trans-ferred the grave to the opposite side of the stream. ?

The same story is told in the Nan yueh chi*, but there the dragons are said to-have several times drawn back the ship by which the old woman against her will was transported to the capital. At last the plan was given up for fear of the dragons. According to the Kwah i chi* there is always much wind and rain near the Dragon-mother’s grave; then people say: “The dragons wash the grave”.

In: the Shan-si tung-chi® we read about a dragon-woman who jumped out of a big egg, found at the side of a pool. She gave wealth to the house where she lived, but at last she ran away and in the form of a snake disappeared into the crack of a rock in the mountains.

The author of the Mung ki pih fan°® says that he often saw a dragon’s egg, preserved in a case in the Kin shan monastery in Jun cheu (an old name for Chin-kiang-fu in Kiang-su). It resembled a hen’s egg, but it was much larger. Its weight was

4 Tai-p*ing kwang ki, Ch. 424; Lang hiten ki, Ch. Bs Kwéi-sin tsah-shih suh-

tsih, ys 3 Rte Sef 4 46, written by Cnev Min, iil BB , who lived in the

second half of the thirteenth and in the beginning of the fourteenth century; Ch. aS ‘ p. 23. 2 T‘ai-p‘ing kwang ki, ibidem.

3 By aby GE. quoted T.S., 11, Ch. 128, ff BE —, p. da. 4 T.8., Ch. 130, p. 7a.

5 {ly pa HA quoted T.S., Ch. 134, Ah Ag» P- 17a.

6 os we = BK written about the middle of the eleventh century by Cu‘EN

Kwon, WK Ba (cf. BRETSCHNEIDER, Botanicon Sinicum, Journal of the North-China

branch of ‘the Royal Asiatic Society, 1881, New series, Nr XVI, Part I, pp. 137, 173, nr 510).

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very small, and it gave a hollow sound. This egg had been foun’ in the Tien shing era (1023—1032) in the midst of the Grea River, and by Imperial order had been presented to the monastery That very year, however, a great flood washed away a larg number of houses near by, and the people ascribed this to th dragon’s egg.

According to a work of the sixteenth century! of our era th dragon’s eggs are found in times of heavy rains. Further, w read there that in 1469 a fisherman picked up a big egg, a large as a human head, five-coloured, the lower end pointed anc the upper round. If one shook it, there was a sound as of wate inside the egg, which was very heavy and luke-warm. Thi people worshipped it, looking upon it as a supernatural thing A diviner declared it to be a dragon’s egg.

#11. ragon’s bones, ski 8, brains,livers; a

Among the nine ingredients of. spectre-killing pills, mentionec by Dz Groor?, we find “Dragon’s bones”, “certain fossil bones +6 be found in the shops of leading apothecaries”. There is, indeed an extensive medical literature on the curative power of these bones, which are probably remains of prehistoric animals.

The Pen-ts‘ao kang-muh* is, as in all medical matters, the best source of our knowledge about these bones and the use made o! them by the Chinese physicians. According to some of the authors referred to by Li Sur-cnen, the learned author of this medical standard work, dragon’s bones are cast-off skins of living dragons for these animals are said to cast off not only their skins. bul also their bones; according to others they are the remains o} dead dragons. Li Sui-caxen, on comparing all the different views and tales, arrives at the conclusion that the dragon, although a divine HEINE, ‘certainly dies like other animals, and that the Pen king *, one of his principal sources, is right in declaring the dragon’s bones to belong to dead dragons.

1 Suh ee hien tung kao, ae Bl ii #, written by Wane Ku, TE br who obtained official rank in 1561; Ch. 224. 2 Rel. Syst., Vol. VI, p. 1087.

3 Sect. fk fff, Ch. 43, p, 4 saq.

i AS AK. Under this abbreviated title the Shen Nung Pen ts‘ao-king, “Classica

work on Medicines of (the Emperor) Shen Nung”’, the oldest medical work, is quotec in the Pen-ts‘ao kana-muh. The work itself is lost. Cf. BRETSCHNEIDER. Botanicor

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As to the places where they are found, the Ming i pich luh} says: “They come from (litt. are produced in) the valleys of Tsin land (Shansi province) and from spots where dead dragons are lying in caverns on the steep water banks in Tai Shan. They are gathered at indefinite times” *. “Nowadays”, says the same author, “many bones are exported from the centre of Liang, Yih and Pa (Sz’'-ch‘wen province)”. ®

Ler H1ao* remarks: “Those from Yen chen, Tsang cheu and T‘ai yuen are the best. Among these bones those which are thin and have broad veins are of female dragons, those which are coarse and have narrow veins belong to male ones. Those which have five colours are the best, the white and the yellow ones belong to the middle kind, and the black ones are of the most inferior quality. As a rule those with veins lengthwise running are not DUES, and those which have been gathered by women are useless.”

In Wu P'v’s® opinion the blue and white ones are good, and Su Kune® says: “At the present day all (the bones) come from Tsin land. The fresh and hard ones are not good; those bearing

five colours are good. The blue, yellow, reds —-white-and-black “=eHes-ais0 according to their GaISaE vorreepomd—witir the viscera,

as the five chih (felicitous plants), the five crystals (shih ying)

and the five kinds of mineral bole (shih chi)’. The meaning of the last sentence is the following. The five colours (blue, white,

red, black and yellow) correspond to the five viscera (liver, lungs,

—_

1 fy Be $f written by Tsao Hune-xine, [MJ Bd, =a (451 -536). Cf. DE Groot, Rel. Syst., Vol. I, p. 274; BRETSCHNEIDER, LJ., p. 42; Gites, Bibliogr. Dict., p. 718,,s.v.: “one of the most celebrated adepts in the mysteries of Taoism”. Quoted in the Pen-ts‘ao kang-muh, 1.1, p. 10.

2 AE Hb I AP De De AL dee aR Ee EE BR

3 Pen-ts‘ao kang-muh, ibidem: AZ Hi Yh gS * 64, rH 4 G BY, the author of the chi lun, DAal KR mi: who lived A. D, 420—477.

Cf. BRETSCHNEIDER, 1.1, p. 41, nr 6: “A treatise in 3 books, explaining the medical virtues of 300 drugs and. giving directions for the preparation of medicines’. Quoted in the Pen-ts‘ao kang-muh, 1.1.

5 Ri an the author of the Wu shi Pen-ts‘ao, ue K AK ¥A. written in the first half of the third century. Quoted ibidem. Cf. Bretscunerver, 1|.1., p. 40, nr 5.

6 RS who with 23 other scholars in the middle of the seventh century A. D.

ayy > eeped and completed the T‘ang Pen-ts‘ao, j= A 5 A, thence called ihe Tang Sin Pen-ts‘ao, Fy $r A ¥., “New Pen-ts‘ao of the T'ang”. Cf. BRETSCHNEIDER, |. 1, p.

44, nv 11. Quoted in the Pen-ts‘ao kang-muh, ibidem.

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92 heart, kidneys and spleen) and to the so-called mansions (gall, small and great intestines, bladder and stomach), as we learn

from the list given by Dr Groor, Rel. Syst. Vol. IV, p. 26. For_ this reason probably the use of the dragon's bones as medicines

was different accordin ; regard tothe colour

of the organ to be cured

“~The preparation of the bones is described as follows by Lz Hao. “For using dragon’s bones first cook odorous plants; bathe the bones twice in hot water, pound them to powder and put this in bags of gaze. Take a couple of young swallows and, after having taken out their intestines and stomach, put the bags in the swallows and hang them over a well. After one night take the bags out of the swallows, rub the powder and mix it into medicines for strengthening the kidneys. The efficacy of such. a medicine is as it were divine!” } In Li Sai-cuxun’s * time, however, they were only roasted on the fire till they were red and then rubbed to powder, or fresh bones were used. In the same passage “he refers to an author of the Sung dynasty *, who says that the bones are to be soakéd in spirits for one night, then dried on the fire and rubbed to powder. Further, according to Cun K‘trn *, some are a little poisonous, and (in preparing and using them) fishes and iron utensils are to be avoided (dragons dislike iron, cf. above, this chapter, § 3, pp. 67 sqq.).

As to the illnesses cured by means of dragon’s bones, their ie SO ae el om age

of f babies, boils. in _the bowels and atte ee paralysis of

nose or ears is stanped” y er of dragon's bones into

1 Pen-ts‘ao kang-muh, 1.1., p. 2a: 6 &A. A RAE 3t A Bw BARE. HO RASC. AF EL Ee Bit, BRA A, BH LL Ha, aA i SSR, HL 2k Hanh

atbidem: jr fit Ty 25 1 A a OD. I A EA.

3 CuHen YUEN-TSING, ig Tt ia author of the Shi lin kwang ki, es ik ji4 ab (cf. De Groot, Rel. Syst., Vol. I, p. 713; BReTscHNetpER, 1.1., p. 186, nr 749).

Quoted in the Pen-ts‘ao kang-muh, ibidem.

4 bai fe. author of the Yoh sing pen-ts‘ao, eh PE a A, in the first. half

of the seventh century A. D. (cf. BRETSCHNEIDER, | 1., p. 44, nr 10). Quoted ibidem,

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them, and, when dried on the fire and ground, they are also used against navel abscesses of babies. In short, the strong Yang _power of these bones makes, of course, the Yin demons which have comfortably established themselves in the human body take ~t0 their heels as soon a8 medicine, prepared from the bones, arrives '. part from the medical works we may mention the following passages. The Shuh i ki? (6th century) says: “According to tradition a dragon, when a thousand years old, casts off his bones in the mountains. Now there are dragon mounds, out of which dragon brains are taken”. We read in the same work: “In P‘u-ning district (Kwantung province) there is a ‘Dragon-burial islet’. The elders say: ‘The dragons have cast off their bones on this islet. There are at the present day still many dragon's bones’. Thus on mountains and hills, on hillocks and cavernous cliffs, on all places where the dragons raise clouds and rain, dragon’s bones are found. There are many of them in the ground, sometimes deep, sometimes near to the surface; teeth, bones, spines and feet, all are there. The big ones are some tens of chang or fully ten chang long, the small ones only one or two chvh or three or four ¢ts‘un. The bodies are all complete. As they had been gathered, I saw them”. ® At the time of the T‘ang dynasty the tribute of the land of Ho-tung principality, Ho-chung department, in Ho-tung province, partly consisted of dragon’s bones. +

1 T.S., Sect. <r gh, Ch. 127, HE Oh et Hp. 9; Pen-ts‘ao kang-muh, .1., p. 2 sq.

2 Ch. Il, p. da: fa BEF 4E A oe WU ah A. A BE PH TH ae J

3 oF RR A HE EN. RET. HERE RE. + MS HE. RU A we SE A RE A wk aK. SEL WPA CHR. Ke FH RAK NSRB—-——R KREWMtT. RFE A 5B : = | RH FL rae We read the same in the Mao t‘ing koh hwa, PS BE HR written by Hwane Hiv-run, Fay fC Z@. in the Sung dynasty;

Ch. IX (quoted T.S., L.1, Ch. 430, id ge =, p. 7b), where it is said by a man, who sold dragon’s bones, teeth, horns, heads and spines on the market. “Some of them”, said he, “are five-coloured, others white like floss silk; some have withered or rotten in the long course of the years”.

4 New Books of the T'ang dynasty, rr Fe, Ch. XXXIX, nr 29, Hh JH ie:

Jey ESE. yey FH OF, Jay BE BMP, p. 4 (anno 760 A.D).

-.

‘’

o

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Li Cao! says in his Kwoh shi pu (“Commentary to the Dynastic Histories”)?: “ When the spring water comes and the fishes ascend the Dragon-gate (comp. above, this chapter, § 12, p. 86), there are a great many of cast-off bones, which are gathered by the people to make medicines from them. Some of them are five-coloured. The Dragon-gate is Tsin land, which agrees with the statement of the Pen king (comp. above). Are the dragon’s bones perhaps the bones of these fishes?” Su Sune*, who quotes this passage, instructs us that in his time these bones were found in many districts of Ho tung province.

Another work of the eleventh century * tells us about a man

who in a dark night saw a branch of a tree which spread a bril-liant light. He broke it off and used it as a torch. The next morning he discovered that the light was due to a cast-off skin of a dragon, in size resembling a new shell of a cicada, and consisting of head, horns, claws, and tail. Inside it was hollow, yet it was solid, and when he knocked against it, it produced a sound like precious stones. The brightness of its light blinded the eye, and-in the dark it was a shining torch. He preserved it as a treasure in his house.

The strong light spread by the cast-off dragon’s skins is, of course, due to the strong Yang power of the dragons.

In 1553, when, the water being very low, a dragon’s skeleton was discovered on a small island in a river, the people were all very anxious to get one of the bones. °

Also dragon’s teeth were considered to be a good medicine. The Pen-ts‘ao kang-muh® quotes St Car-Ts s a rule

1 RE,

2 a op aH » written in the beginning of the ninth century. T.S., 1.1., Ch. 127,

se “‘ A, author ‘of the Sin i siang fah yao, Hr mE RR ie we, an astronomic

work written at the close of the eleventh century (cf. Wvy.iz, p. 107); quoted ibidem.

4 The Chun chu ki wen, Es er AL fal. ten chapters of miscellanies written by Ho WEI, Ay jer who lived in the eleventh eons (cf. DE. Groot, Rel. Syst. Vol. si p. 1410); Ch. II, p. 44.

5 Shang han lun tiao pien, Es ge i es HF. written in 1589 by Fane Yru-oun, Jp Af Bes St 2 HE. 6 L.1., p. 4a. 7 aa 2 re a famous physician who lived in the second half of the sixth cen-tury, author of the Lei kung yoh tui, ie rN ooh a (cf. BRETSOHNEIDER, 1..1., p.

nA _ eS aed = J Z wm oF as ee

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95 they are good when getting (i. e. being mixed with) jen-tsan (ginseng) and cow-yellow (cow-bezoar), but they fear (i.e. it is not good to mix or prepare them with) gypsum and iron utensils”. The illnesses which are cured by means of dragon’s teeth are

enumerated as follows in the Shen Nung Pen-ts‘ao king’: “Beings that kill the vital spirit; when adults have spasms or epileptic

fits, convulsions or madness, when they run as madmen and their _ breath is tied under their heart, so that they cannot breathe

(i.e. when they are asthmatic); further, the five (kinds of) fits andthe twetve (kinds of) convulsions of babies”.

According to CHen K‘ten’ they “quiet the heart and calm down the souls (the hwun and the p‘oh)”. Coen Jun-nwa * declares them to cure head-ache, melancholy, hot fever, madness, and (possession of) Awe: and mez (demons). They also cure liver diseases, for “as the hwun which is stored away in the liver can change itself, those whose Awun is erring about and is not fixed are cured by means of dragon’s teeth”. * Li Sui-cnzn gives the fol-lowing explanation: “Because the dragon is the god of the Eastern quarter, his bones, horns and teeth all conquer Tver diseases” >.

Dragon’ s Lorne. are used_for enn ee ae

Der S ees were eine to_stop panliorer and the liver

of this divine animal, sometimes of a living one, aie meabed

by some physicians in difficult.cases, Sometimes a royal patient for this reason even ordered to kill the dragon of a pond, which

used to hear the people’s prayers for rain in times of drought

4° Quoted ibidem: Rx ts Wy, Kk A € JB as 1 TA FR 4¥ #£ AOD ee SOR HE tig A. bd eX

2 Quoted ibidem: $i XN, a rad AF . ‘About the Awun and the poh see DE Groot, Rel. Syst., Vol. IV, Part. I, Ch. I, pp. 4 sqq., p. 23.

3 [sie H if, who lived in the Sung dynasty and wrote the King yen fang,

KK ba Ff (BRETSCHNEIDER, 1.1., p. 164, nr 338). Guoted 4uidenis 1G KA pil TE Fh We

-4 Hé Snus-wet, at A Th who lived in the time of the Sung dynasty and wrote the Pen shi fang, As Ee Ff (BRETSCHNEIDER, 1.1., p. 179, nr 588). Quoted ibidem: AF Jat BE AE SAL. de SEWER EH a CUE.

5 Ll: BES Re Sil, eH SE.

6 Pen-ts‘aa kang- -muh, 1.1, p. 4b. 7 Tao HUNG-KING, quoted ibidem. The “brain of a dragon a thousand years old” is mentioned among a huridred medicines in the Shuh i ki, Ch. II, p. 5a.°

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and guarded the castle of the prince. That very day a terrible thunderstorm broke forth and the dragon flew away; the castle, no longer guarded by its tutelary god, soon fell a prey to the enemy who stormed and destroyed it like in former days’. Another time we read about a dragon which by the mighty charm of a Taoist doctor was forced to descend into a jar of water. After having cut out the liver of the living animal he gave it a patient, the wife of a prefect, to eat, and she recovered *.

Placentae oelus of dragens, found: in Pa and Shuh (Sz’-ch‘wen province), were said to cure diseases of the blood and those of women after delivery.® 99 =~ aa alana Bo

§ 18. Dragon’s blood, fat and saliva.

The Yiu-yang tsah tsu* says: “When dragon’s blood enters the earth it becomes hu-poh, amber.

As to dragon’s fat, we learn from the Shih i ki* that a tower, lighted by means of it, spread such a brilliant light that it was seen at a distance of a hundred miles. This light was said by some people to be a lucky omen and was worshipped by them from far. The wick was made of “fire-washed cloth” (asbestos cloth which can be cleaned by fire), twined into a rope.

_ With regard to the dragon’s saliva we read the following in the Pen-ts‘ao kang-muh*: “Wane Kr" says: ‘From the saliva spit out by dragon is made’. Li Sui-cuzn (the author hiim-self) says: ‘Dragon’s saliva is seldom used as a medicine; it is only mixed into perfumes. It is said that it can bind camphor

4 Mih Koh hwui si, & xe if Ee , written in the eleventh century by P‘ene SHING, w fe (cf. De Groot, Rel. Syst., Vol. IV, p. 864, note 2). Quoted T.S., Sect.

Be ih, Ch. 130, $F BE =, p. 30.

2 Chao yé ts‘ien tsai, i] Ey Sy R. “Record of all matters relating to the Court

and abroad”, ascribed to CHANG SHOH, ARR, who probably lived in the first half ‘e Pp y

’

of the 8th century. T.S., Sect. jl Fi, Ch. 306, quoted by De Groor, Rel. Syst.,

Vol. VI, p. 1034, note 4. 3 Pen-tsao kang-muh, 1.1., p. 5a.

4 Pa BB HE AM (ninth century), Ch. XI ( BE At), p. 6b: BE yf A Hb oy HE 3H ° 5 # 3H BU, (fourth century), Ch. X, Sect. Ff ne ily ) p. 3b.

6 L. 1, p. 5a. 7 VE 43% , a celebrated physician of the 16th-century, author of the Pen-ts‘ao hui-

1. tHe AWARE pen 5 4 we aN

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and musk for several tens of years without evaporating. Further, it is said that, when it is burned, a blue smoke floats ‘through the air. ........ Last spring the saliva spit out by a herd of dragons appeared floating (on the sea). The abori-gines gathered, obtained and sold it, each time for two thousand copper coins.”

The Yiu hwan ki wen' instructs us that the most precious of all perfumes is dragon’s spittle, and that the inhabitants of Ta-shih land used to watch the vapours arising for half a year or even two or three years from the same spot of the sea. When they vanished, this was a token that the dragons which had been sleeping there all the time had gone away. Then the people went to the spot in order to gather the saliva of those dragons. Accor-ding to another explanation, found in the same passage, the dragons lived in whirlpools in the open sea. The spittle which they emitted was hardened by the sun, and these hard pieces were blown ashore by the wind. When fresh it was white, gradually it became purple, and finally black (amber, generally considered to be the excrements of cachalots, i. e. sperm whales, is yellowish).

This perfume reminds us of the “Dragon-fight perfume”, mentioned in the Tsu ting shi yuen?, which is said to be pro-duced by fighting dragons. One pill of it makes a large cloud of perfume arise.

According to the Lang hiien ki? the Emperor Shun used the saliva of a purple dragon as ink in writing the names of holy ministers on tablets of jade, those of sages on tablets of gold and those of talentful ministers on tablets of quartz-crystal; those of ordinary ministers were written with ordinary ink on tablets of wood. In order to obtain the saliva he ordered Yu Hu to rear a purple dragon. The latter daily made the animal drop saliva by holding a swallow, which he had cooked (the favourite food of the dragons, cf. above, p. 68) before it without immediately giving it to eat. This made the dragon’s mouth water, and a large quantity of saliva dripped down. Then Yu Hu filled a vessel with it, whereupon he gave the swallow to the

4 Ni ra AE Fal , written by Cane Sut-nan, Be Ti: > in the Sung dynasty;

Ch. VII; quoted T.S., 1.1, Ch. 130, 46 BR, p. 5a. 2 ih jie wy Bu: quoted in the Japanese Buddhist dictionary entitled Bukkyo iroha jilen, Vol. Il, p. 63, s.v. Ryt-t, 7 [BH

3 FBG He BE» written by 1 Sur-cnen, 4Ft tH: 3B. in the Yuen dynasty; T. S. l1., Ch. 131, p. 10. Verh. Kon. Akad. v. Wetensch. (Afd. Letterk.) N. R, Dl XIII, N° 2. q

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dragon. In this way he daily got one koh (a gill) of saliva, which was mixed with hwui shih ($4 $F, the “Herb of the Sten”, {il] Hi). In the time of Yao this herb grew before the audientve hall. It wore flowers in all four seasons. If one rabbed its fruit and mixed it with a purple dragon’s saliva, a liquid of a genuine red colour was produced, which penetrated into gold and jade and thus could be used in writing names on the tablets mentioned above.

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CHAPTER IV. ORNAMENTS.

§ 1.8 ial dignity and fertilizing rain, r ted on garments, honorary gates, coffins etc. A

As we have seen above (Ch. I, § 2, p. 39), the Shu king states

that the dragon ee to the sonnei figures depicted_o the upper sacrifi arme It is not to be ace pee at that this diving giver of rain, at

the same time symbol of a good sovereign and his blissful government, should be represented among the Imperial ornaments. “The so-called shah (34) are described by De Groor' as square boards of wood covered with white linen, with handles five feet. Tong, which in ancient —times were carried_behind_the funeral cars_of grandees, and were planted inside the pit when the coffin had been lowered into the grave. These shah _displayed_the_rank _of the grandees by emblematical_figures.‘The Kien-lung edition of the Three Rituals suggests that the two shah which the Son of Heaven had in addition to the six of a feudal prince, were painted with a dragon, the characteristic symbol of the imperial dignity” *. i _ Four pedestals_of the quinquepartite decorative gate at the Imperial Ming tombs—‘display, on every face, an Imperial Dragon, soaring in the midst-ofthe-wsual emblems accompanying—this— divine distributor of fructifying rains, namely clouds and stars” *. “ahe shaft of each (of the-fonr-columns-in the prolongation of the erie e wiyitiel git a yigutie Adon, cology eet Ming Tombs) is sculptured with a gigantic dragon, coiling itself ~~~

around it as if climbing the skies” +.

With regard—te—henorary—gates. De Groot remarks that the tablet placed perpendicularly underneath their highest roof,

4 Rel. Syst., Vol. I, pp. 185 sqq.

2 P. 187, fig. 20, a picture of a shah adorned with a dragon.

3 De Groot, 1.1., Vol. III, p. 1193, plate XL. Z 4 P. 1194.

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displaying the characters 7f) [j , “By Imperial Decree”, or #2 |G, “By decree of the Holy One”, is supported by a couple of dragons, “the symbols of the blessed reign of the Son of Heaven” '.

- The azure dragon, symbol of quarter in ancient

_ China, wa be seen on the left side of nus of grandees in _ _ the Han dynasty, while on the right side a white tiger represented_

the West. We learn this from a passage of oks of the ~Early Han dynasty ?, quoted by Ds Groor*, who also refers to

J the Books of the Later Han Dynasty ‘, which state tha ‘imperial coffins “used to be decorated and painted with a sun,

“a moon, a-bird;-atortoise, a dragon and a tiger”. This was also

the case in T'ang dynasty ® At the present day the use of omma-_ mental dragons is not limited to the funerals of Emperors or grandees, but also common SSOpISTTS-aIIGHEL by enjoy thair Dlessing power. “On the front curtain * (of the catafalque) are’ a couple of dragons rising out of the waves, surrounded by clouds and with a sun between them; the back displays a tiger or unicorn, the top exhibits dragons, sundry ornamental flowers, and figures representing clouds. Thanks to these clouds and to the dragons which produce the same in their quality of watergods, the greatest blessings which the Universe can bestow, viz. ferti-lizing rains causing crops to grow and so giving food, raiment and wealth, surround the dead” *. The grave-clothes for women in Amoy, called “dragon-petticoat” *, “dragon-mantle”®, and _ “clouds-mantilla”’ '°, are adorned with embroidered dragons amidst clouds, bats, phenixes, stags, tortoises and cranes, emblems of ‘Tertilizing_rains, old-age, joy, pecuniary profits-and-happiness"". The Li ki™ says that at the great sacrifice to the Duke of Chao in the last month of summer “the ruler (of Lu), in his dragon-figured robe and cap with pendants, stood at the eastern

\

\

4 Rel, Syst., Vol. Ill, p. 4201. 2 Ch. 93.

3 Vol. I, pp. 315 sq., cf. Vol. II, p. 699. 4 Ch. 16, p. 2.

5 T.S., Sect. ne 4# , Ch. 56; De Groot, 1.1., Vol. I, p. 317.

6 According to the Li ki (Ch, 58, p. 39, quoted by De Groot, Vol. I, p. 182) in ancient times on the side curtains of the catafalque of a Ruler dragons were depicted. Cf. DE Groot, 1.1., p. 183, Fig. 18.

7 Der Groot, Vol. I, p. 181.

8 is 4B bong-kin. 9 IE 7A, béng-6. 10 Bs ip. hé-poe. 41 De Groot, Vol I, p. 53, Fig. HI, IV and V.

42 Couvreur, Li ki, Vol. 1, p. 732, Chap. XII, Ming Tang wei, HA Ww DL, “pana. Ee Ae EB ke TE Ue pecan Gaannd Ranke Wal VVUNT n 99

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steps”. A little further’ we read: “For ‘ladles they (the rulers of Lu) had that of Hia, with the handle ending in a dragon’s head” and “they had the music-stand of Hia, with its face-board and posts, on which dragons were carved” ?; “they had knee-covers of Cheu, with dragons” °.

- i “Sy

< § . Nine di inds of dragons, used as ornaments. —

A well-known work of the end of the sixteenth century, the

Wuh tsah tsu*, informs us about the > nine different _young of the Are USE ng to their

nature. The p‘u-lao*, dragons which like to er represented on the tops of bells, serving as handles. The szé-niu°, which like _ music, are used to adorn musical_instruments. The ch‘i-wen " which like swallowing, are placed on both ends of the ridgepoles of ro z all evil influences). The chao-fung *, Tion-like

beast ich_ like precipices, are placed on the four corners of

Toots. The ai-hwa°, which like to kill, serve as ornaments of Sword-grips—The hi-pi°, which have the shape-of-the-ch%i-lung',

and are fond_of literature, are represented on the sides of grave-monuments. The p%-han ”, which like litigation, are placed over ‘prison gates (in order to keep guard). The swan-i'", which like-to_sit down, are represented upon the ba dhist_ idols

(under the Buddhas’ or Bodhisattvas’ feet). The pa-hia", finally,

__big tortoises which like to carry heavy objects, are placed under _grave-monuments,? _

4 Couvreur, 1.1, p. 736, § 20: mem AS. B BAW EH A} . ‘Lecce,

IL, p. 35.

2 Couvrsur, 1.1, p. 739, § 26: BS pe & BE BE fe , Lecer, 1.1, p. 37. 3 Couvreur, 1.1. p. 740, § 29: al HE Bz, Leacg, J.1., p. 38. at. Rite AW], written about 1592 by Sié Cuao-cnr, nt EE; 7H} 3 ine. 6p AE. 7 BW). 8 wi] IA. 9 WE 10 Jat 41 be GE, represented in the T. S., Sect. es ih» Ch. 127, and in the Wakan sansai .zue, Ch. XLV, p. 674. Cf. De Groor, Rel. Syst., Vol. III, p. 1142, Fig. 37, a ch‘i (or li)

ihe, carved in the border crowning a sepulchral tablet of stone. It is mentioned al-

ready in the third century before our era (in the Lii-shi ch‘un-ts‘iu), and described in the Shwoh wen as a yellow animal, resembling a dragon, or as a hornless dragon.

12 BE FP. 13 FB%i. oa

15 The same facts are to be found in the Wakan sansai zue, Ch. XLV, p. 674, and are further explained in the dictionary entitled Ching tszé t‘ung QE + i,

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Further, the same author enumerates nine other kinds of dragons — there are so many, says he, because the dragon’s nature is very lewd, so that he copulates with all animals ' —, which are represented as ornaments of different objects or buildings according to their liking prisons, water, the rank smell of newly caught fish or newly killed meat, wind and rain, ornaments, smoke, shutting the mouth (used for adorning key-holes), standing on steep places (placed on roofs), and fire.

§ 3. Ornaments used by Wu-ist priests and mediums.

Dr Groort’s description of the religious dress of the Wu-ist priests (the sai kong’ of Amoy) contains the following passage. “On the left and right (of the pile of mountains, representing the continent of the world, embroidered on the back of the principal vestment of the sai kong), a large dragon rises high

above the billows, in an eae ere oe eee towards the contin eee Sas ye ee eee “rains, and are therefore sur? y go read figures whic

and some which resemble spirals and denote

aroun ck, sti 0 ascendiny dragons which are belching out_a ball, probably representing thunder

A similar, secondary vestment of a sai kong is adorned with

“an oblong piece of blue silk, embroidered with two dragons which 4, “It is then obvious, that the sacerdotal dress of the sat kong is a magical dress. The priest, who wears it, i _the_power of the Order of the World itself, and thus enabled _to_restorethat—Order_whenever, by means of sacrifiees-and magi-es ceremonies, he is averting unseasonable and calamitousevents, .

~sach_as_drought, untimely aad superabundant, rainfall, or eclipses,

Besides, since the Tao is the mightiest power against the demon

XY SE aS HST: p. 60; written in the Tsing dynasty by Yao WEN-yING, Ex Bl Fe ).

In many respects the Japanese lave followed these Chinese rules of ornamentation.

4 According to the same work (Ch. IX), a cross-breed of a dragon ad a cow is a lin ( He. a female unicorn); that of a dragon ad a pig is an elephant; and if a dragon copulates with a horse, a dragon-horse (cf. above, pp. 56 sqq.) is born.

2 fn A. 3 Rel. Syst. VI, p. 1265, Plate XVIII

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world, the vestment endows: the wearer with irresistable exor-cising power” '.

On the so-called “embroidered belly”,? a piece of red cloth or silk, suspended on the stomach of the hi téng*, the “divining youths” used as mediums, possessed by gods, “two dragons are stitched with gold thread; for dragons are emblems of imperial dignity, and consequently also those of the Emperor of Heaven, in whose employ the indwelling spirit of the ki tong is, as well as all other shen” *.

“The Ai (KL, an instrument for spirit- mtn) of a fashionable club is as a rule clad in red silk or broadcloth, on which dragons are stitched with gold thread; for it is clear that, having to harbour so often the spirit of a god, the instrument deserves, just as well as his image, to wear the dress of divinity, which is a mantle embroidered with the said imperial animals. Of such a ki°of higher order, the end below the vertex is also nicely carved and gilded, representing the head and scaly neck of a dragon or snake” °.

_ “Tf the litter (of a ki téng deity, whose image is carried about in it) is fitted out completely, there are inserted behind the back five thin staffs, to each of which a triangular flag is fastened, embroidered with the emblem of imperal dignity, viz. an ascending dragon which vomits a ball”.

§ 4. The dragons and the ball.

As to the ball, “belched out by the two dragons”’, this reminds us at once of the Dragon festival on the 15th day of the first month; the ball carried in front of the dragon on that day might be also explained in the same way, i.e. as thunder belched out by the dragon, and not as the sun, pursued by him. This fact was orally pointed out to me by Prof. Dz Groor himself’. The | ball between the two dragons is often delineated as a spiral, and in an ancient charm represented in Koa Hune’s Pao P'oh-tsz& (1%th section) “a spiral denotes the rolling of thunder from which issues a flash of lightning’”*. “In the sign expressing lightning, the projecting stroke signifies the flash; therefore its effect as a charm is indefinitely increased by lengthening that

3 aL.

~ © Sap: a

De Gndamp lol Vol. VI, p. 1275. L.L, p. 4297. 6 L.1, p. 1316. See above, this Book, Ch. IV, § 10. 8 Rel. Syst., VI, p. 1036, Fig. 3.

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stroke so that it looks like a spiral which at the same time represents the rolling of thunder”. '

This theory agrees with Hirta’s explanation of the “ Triquetrum ” in connection with the dragon in Chinese and Japanese orna-ments *. Hirra identifies the “Triquetrum”, i.e. the well-known three-comma-shaped figure, the Japanese mitsu-tomoe, with the ancient spiral, representing thunder, and gives a Japanese picture of the thundergod with his drums, all emitting flames and adorned with the mitsu-timoe. But this ornament is not at all limited to the drums of the thundergod*®; it is, on the contrary, very . frequently seen even on the drums beaten by children at the Nichiren festival in October. At many Japanese temple festivals which have no connection whatever with the thundergod or the dragon, the same ornament is seen on lanterns and flags. Hirta explains its frequent appearance on tiles as a means of warding off lightning, based on the rule “similia similibus”. This is contrary to the use of. “sympathetic magic”, very common in the Far East *, according to which the symbol of thunder would not avert thunder but attract it, thus destroying and driving away evil influences. Apparently both ideas are found side by side, for images of dragons were used to attract them, thus causing rain and thunder, but at the same time the thundergod of Mount Atago (with whom Shogun. Jizd was identified as Atago Gongen) was wor-shipped as the principal protector against fire. But the symbol of thunder on the tiles may also serve to drive away all evil influences from the buildings, like the dragons represented on both ends of the ridgepoles, mentioned above (p. 101).

Hirta gives a picture from a Japanese work on ornaments, entitled Nairyu kira ga ésa, but the ancient Chinese ‘Triquetrums”, nrs 23, 25, 26, 27, are different from the Japanese forms, as the former have a circle in the centre and five or eight comma’s, all placed separately, and turned towards the centre (except in nr 23, where they issue from the centre), while the latter consist of two or three black comma’s interlaced with white and often united in the centre. Yet the turning motion is evident in all,

4 L.1, p. 1040.

2, Chinesische Studien, Vol. I, pp. 234 sqq. (Verhandlungen der Berl. Anthr. Ges., Sitzung vom 22 Juni 1889), “Ueber den Maander und das Triquetrum in der chinesischen und japanischen Ornamentik”.

3 It is not represented on his drums in the picture of the Wakan sansai zue, Ch, Ill, p. 44.

naw onan

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and the more I reflect upon it, the more I feel inclined to accept Hiera’s explanation of the mitsu-tomoe and futatsu-tomoe (two comma’s) as the rolling thunder. Its frequent appearance on lanterns, flags, tiles, and, in olden times, on the tomo or leather shield worn around the wrist by archers, and its frequent use as a badge of arms may be explained by its magic power, averting evil and, in some cases, bringing fertilizing rains. I formerly believed it to be the Yang and Yin symbol, the third comma being the Jai. Kih (fx fm, the primordium, from which Yang and Yin emanate). This primordium,. which in China is repre-sented by the whole figure, should by mistake have been represented by the Japanese by means ofa third comma‘. Yang and Yin, Light and Darkness, however, are represented by one white and one black figure, somewhat resembling comma’s and forming together a circle. It would be very strange if the ancient Japanese, who closely imitated the Chinese models, had altered this symbol in such a way that its fundamental meaning got lost; for replacing the two white and black comma’s with two or three black ones would have had this effect. Moreover, in Japanese divination, based on the Chinese diagrams, the original Chinese symbol of Yang and Yin is always used and placed in the midst of the eight diagrams. Thus the futatsu-tomoe and mitsu-tomoe are apparently quite different from this symbol, and Hirra rightly identifies them with the ancient Chinese spiral, representing thunder. Moreover, I found the same explanation of the tomoe in the Japanese work Shiojirt?, which gives a picture of two kinds of spirals, ancient symbols of thunder and clouds. Finally, on Japanese prints the dragon ist often accompanied by a huge spiral, repre-senting the thunderstorm caused by him.

Is the ball, so often seen in connection with the dragon, and often represented as a spiral emitting flames or as a ball upon which something like a spiral is delineated, identical with the spiral, denoting thunder? Hirata and De Groot suppose so. The latter, considering the dragon’s nature of a thundergod, arrived at the conclusion that the dragon must belch out the ball instead of swallowing it, for why should he, who causes thunder, persecute it and try to swallow it? Hirta® speaks about a dragon which with his claw is putting the thunder into rotation. This is,

4 Cf. FLorenz, Jap. Mythologie, p. 78, note 7.

2 a Fil», written by Amano Nopuxace, RK By 4B er: who lived 1660—1733;

new edition (1907), Ch. XXXI, p. 497, 3 L.L p. 233,

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however, not the ordinary way of representing the dragon with the ball or spiral. Zwo dragons flying with open mouths towards a ball or spiral between them — this is the most frequent and apparently the most ancient representation. The artists, especially those of later times, often varied this subject, so that we some-times see more than two dragons rushing upon one ball, or one dragon trying to swallow it or having caught it with his claw; sometimes there are even two balls and only one dragon. But nowhere they make the impression of belching out the ball; their whole attitude, on the contrary, indicates their eagerness in trying to catch and swallow it. Moreover, how can two dragons belch out one ball? And the dragon of the festival constantly follows the ball with his mouth, apparently in order to swallow it. Yet I was inclined to accept Dz Groor’s theory, although it was very difficult to make it agree with the eager attitude of the dragons, when Mr Kramp had the kindness of pointing out to me his own opinion on this subject. After having drawn my attention to Hirtu’s paper, mentioned above, he showed me a little Chinese picture, represented in Buacxer’s Chats on Oriental China (London, 1908), on p. 54, where we see two dragons, rushing upon a fiery, spiral-shaped ball, under which the following characters are to be read: ff my HH Fl, “A couple of dragons © facing the moon”. The moon! These were the first written characters I ever saw with regard to this interesting subject, for the sea of texts concerning the dragon, ancient and modern, did not give a single word. Leaving aside the character i, which is apparently not well chosen to denote the aggressive attitude of the dragons, we have only to consider the character F.

Would it be absurd to represent dragons trying to swallow the moon? Not in the least, for the dragons are, as we have seen above, the clouds, and the ancient Chinese may easily have fancied that these dragons, quickly approaching and covering the moon, actually devoured it. When they did so, the fertilizing rain soon trickled down upon the thirsty earth, a great blessing to mankind. For this reason they might be represented so often trying to swallow the moon, namely as a symbol of fertilizing rains. Owing to the close connection between the moon and the water, the moon, having been swallowed by the dragon, might have been believed to strengthen the rain-giving power of the latter. The dragon of the festival, persecuting the moon, might be carried along the streets in order to cause rain by sympa-thetic magic.

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The Chinese themselves, however, mostly call the ball a “pre-cious pearl”. We find it explained in this way in Borrscumann’s highly interesting work on P'u fo shan', where a gilt ball of glass is said to hang from the centre of the roof of the Great Hall of the Buddhist temple Fa(h)-yu-sze (#5 Wj =, «Temple of the Rain of the Law”), while eight dragons, carved around the surrounding “hanging pillars’, eagerly stretch their claws towards the “pearl of perfection” *. This term sounds Buddhistic and is appropriate to the Buddhist surroundings, as well as the number eight of the dragons, which is, indeed, fixed by the form of the roof, but is also found on the staircase of the Yu(h)-fo(h)-tien (p. 57). Dragons trying to seize a fiery “pearl’’ which is hanging in a gate (the Dragon-gate, cf. above, p. 86) are represented twice in the same temple (pp. 46, 87). Leaving aside Borrscumann’s fantastic ideas about the “dragons playing with the pearl” (p. 43), we may be sure that the Chinese Buddhists, identifying the dragon with the Naga, also identified the ball with their cintamani or precious pearl which grants all desires. The question rises: “Was the ball originally also a pearl, not of Buddhism but of Taoism?”

Mr Kramp pointed out to me, that the character £ , combined from jewel and moon, though not found in the dictionaries of Weis Wituams, Gites or Covuvreur, is given in the K‘ang-hi dictionary. I found it also in the Japanese lexicon entitled Kanwa daijiten (p. 852), explained as a “divine pearl” (ji! Bk), and with the Japanese-Chinese pronunciations getsw, gwachi. This is evidently based upon the K‘ang-hi dictionary, where we read s. v.:

ff BR UY), = Al. ih BE th, . The same pronunciation and meaning are given in the lexicon entitled 7szé-wei. This sacred yueh pearb

probably dues its holiness to its connection with the ; moon, for the second part of the character $H may not only form the phonetic element, but it may indicate that this is “the pearl of the moon”, as there is also a “pearl of the bright moon” (WY A Bk, Covvrzur’s Dictionary s. v. Ff ). It is possible that

in the little sentence mentioned above: ff mm HY A, the last

‘character has taken the place of the fuller form $f, in which case the two dragons would be said to “face the moon-pearl”’.

4 Ernst BorrscHMann, Die Baukunst und religiése Kultur der Chinesen. Band I: P% to. shan.

2 Dragons and pearl: pp. 18, 35, 57, 59, 77, 124. One dragon with the pearl in his claw, other dragons flying from both sides to the spot, p. 35.

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Difficult points in the moon theory are the red colour of the ball and its spiral-shaped form. If it is a pearl, however, repre-senting the moon or at least closely connected with it, the red colour may mean the lustre of this brilliant, fiery gem, which in the temple on P‘u t‘o shan, mentioned above, is represented by a glass ball covered with gold. The red ball, carried by the Dragon girl in the Hall of the Law of the same temple (Borrscx-MANN, 1.1., p. 122, nr 7) is evidently also a pearl. The spiral is much used in delineating the sacred pearls of Buddhism, so that it might have served also to design those of Taoism; although I must acknowledge that the spiral of the Buddhist pearl goes upwards, while the spiral of the dragon is flat.

We know the close connection of dragons and pearls in both religions. This connection is quite logical, for the masters of the sea are, of course, the possessors and guardians of its treasures. When the clouds approached and covered the moon, the ancient Chinese may have thought that the dragons had seized and swallowed this pearl, more brilliant than all their pearls of the sea.

These are, however, all mere suppositions. The only facts we know are: the eager attitude of the dragons, ready to grasp and swallow the ball; the ideas of the Chinese themselves as to the ball being the moon or a pearl; the existence of a kind of sacred “moon-pearl”’; the red colour of the ball, its emitting flames and its spiral-like form. As the three last facts are in favour of the thunder theory, I should be inclined to prefer the latter. Yet Iam convinced that the dragons do not belch owt the thunder. If their trying to grasp or swallow the thunder could be explained, I should immediately accept the theory concerning the thunder-spiral, especially on account of the flames it emits. But I do not see the reason why the god of thunder should persecute thunder itself. Therefore, after having given the above facts that the reader may take them into consideration, I feel obliged to say:

“non liquet”.

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CHAPTER V. CAUSING RAIN, THUNDER AND STORM.

§ 1. ds of thunder, clouds and rain.

The Classics have taught us that the dragon is thunder, and at the same time that he is a water animal, akin to the snake, sleeping in pools during winter and arising in spring. When autumn comes with its dry weather, the dragon descends and dives into the water to remain there till spring arrives again. When in the first.month of the year now and then thunderclaps were heard and a little rain came down, the ancients were convinced that this was the work of the dragons, who in the form of dark clouds appeared in the sky. If our interpretation of the words of the Yeh king is right, the “advantage” given by them when they were seen soaring over the rice fields, and the “blessing power then, spreal by them everywhere”, was nothing but the fertilizing rain they poured down upon the earth. In later texts, at any rate, we have seen them clearly qualified as the gods of clouds and rain, whose breath turned into clouds ' and whose power manifested itself in heavy rains. Kon Hune ?, e.g., in the Pao Poh tszé states the following: “If on a yin day there is in the mountains a being who calls himself a “forester”, it is a tiger,..... and if on a ch‘en day a being calls himself “ Rain-master”, it is a dragon..... If one only knows these their animal names, they cannot do him any harm’. The tiger, indeed, is the god of the mountains and woods, as the dragon is the

divinity of water and rain.

4 Cf the "Rh ya yih, quoting Wane Fu, above, Book I, Ch. IIT, § 2, p. 66; Han Yo, H& AJ, (A.D. 768-824), quoted T.S., Sect. er igh, Ch. 127, p. 8b, says

the same: HE ie a4 si =.

2 Ch. IV, Sect. ¥% Oe quoted by De Groor, Rel. Syst., Vol. V, p. 601: [I]

Ht AOA BA ESR th. Be OA Bi HE 4h... 4 Ft Ey OOF BE Fs Ft.

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According to the Kwoh yii', Confucius stated that “apparitions QR, “strange beings”) in the water are called lung (ff) and wang-siang (fj) ¥F), while apparitions between trees and rocks

are called khwei (s#8) and wang-liang (Hq kj)". As to these chwer, we learn from De Groot”, who quotes the Shwoh wen* and the Shan hai king *, that this is a class of one-legged beasts or dragons with human countenances, which were fancied in ancient China to be amphibious and to cause wind and rain. The Shan hai king, as quoted by Ds Groor, describes them as follows: “In the Eastern seas is a Land of rolling Waves, extending seaward over seven thousand miles. There certain animals live, shaped as cows with blue bodies, but hornless and one-legged. Whenever they leave or enter the waters, winds are sure to blow, and rains to fall. Their glare is that of the sun and the moon, their voice is that. of thunder. They are named kshwei. Hwang the emperor caught some and made drums of their hides, which, when beaten wich bones of the ‘thunderbeast’, resounded over a distance of five hundred miles, and thus struck, the world under heaven with awe”. “In this description”, says Ds Groot, “we immediately recognize the /ung or Dragon, China’s god of Water and Rain”.

Further, De Groor® quotes the Tszé puh yii*, which states the following: “There are three species of drought-causing pah ( 54 Mt). Some are like quadrupeds; an other ‘kind are transformations of kiang shi ({ JP, corpse-spectres), and both these species are able to produce drought and stop wind and rain. But the princi-pal, superior drought-demons, called’ koh (or koh-tsze, #4. 4% -F-), cause still more damage; they resemble men but are ‘taller, and have one eye on the top of the lead. They devour dragons, and all the Rain-masters (fj fii) fear them much, for when they

4 aa , ascribed to Tso K‘iu-mine, EE Bp HF , the alleged author of the Tso chwen. Ch. V, @ oe quoted by De Groot, Rel. Syst. Vol. V, p. 495: gE fal ZAG CEA BM oh, Kk CMA HER.

21.1, pp. 496 sq. :

3 ae a a dictionary composed in the first century of our era by Ht SHEN,

af TB; Ch. V, 2.

Tt 4 Ch. XIV, K FE HE KK. p. 60. 5 Rel. Syst., Vol. V, p. 764. 6 -F- aS Ee. , written in the second half of the 18th century by Sur YurN,

[ke [F9-~ Sunnlement Ch TT

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(the koh) see clouds arise, they raise their heads and disperse them (the clouds) in all directions by blowing, the sun thus increasing in intensity. No man can conquer them. Some say, that when it is Heaven's will that there shall be a drought, the vapours of the becks ({L] Ji <Z 3%) condense and become these demons. When the latter suddenly vanish, it will rain”.

The term “Rain-master” (yii-shi, ij fii) for dragon is also mentioned by Wu Suvn'. The Japanese applied it especially to one of their dragon-shaped river gods, most famous for his rain bestowing power ?.

"Ascending deagons—oause—rain, but if they descend from the Se at Hee ee oe “Various divi-nations of farmers” *, when dlack dragons descend this means drought or at least not much rain, hence a proverb says: ,Many dragons much drought”. The The descending of white dragons, however,

was explained to be a sure ire sign of coming rain,

§ 2. Violent rains accompanied by heavy winds | and thunderstorms.

In a passage from the History of the Sung dynasty, mentioned above* with regard to the dragon omens, the appearance of a black dragon above the capital was said to be-an omen of big

~ floods which in the next year destroyed the fields and houses in

Qf prefectures. We also read there that a dragon;-which-in the —

“fourth month of the sixth year of the K’ai Pao era (973) rose_ from_a_well, caused violent rains to destroy a large number of _ houses and trees and—sweep—away the inhabitants. And in the ixt of the next year, when the tower of a castle gate. was_ struck by lightning, this accident is described as follows: “In Ti cheu there fell a fire from the air upon the tower of the Northern gate of the castle.. There was a creature which embraced the eastern oe It had the shape of a dragon and

1 us BL (A. D. 947—1002), avfamous scholar, placed upon the commissions which produced the T‘ai-p’ing yi lan and the Wen yuen ying hwa, and author of the Shi léi fu, EA KA Hot (GILES, Biogr. Dict., nr 2345); Lung-fu, BE Fit. T.S., same section, Ch. 127, p. 11a. :

2 See below, Book II, Ch. III.

3 HW Be Rite 5: Tien kia tsah chen, T.S., same section, Ch. 130, p. 6d.

4 Ch. th FF A: see above, p. 54.

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a golden colour; its legs were about three ch‘ih long, and its breath smelled very bad. In the morning, when people looked for it, there were on the upper part of the wall thirty six smoky stains, the traces of. claws”.

Such traces were also seen, much to the astonishment of the people, after a heavy storm accompanied by thunder, which lifted up the tablet of a gate and threw it down at some distance, destroying one of the characters of the inscription. !

Another time a white dragon brought heavy wind and rain. The sky was black and it was pitchdark. More than five hundred houses were destroyed; big trees were uprooted and lifted up into the air, from where they fell down quite broken. ?

According to the Yiu-yang tsah tsu*, wind, rain and thunder were caused by a dragon, which in the shape of a white reptile had wound itself around one of the legs of a horse, when this was bathed in a river. The creature had coiled itself so tightly, that the horse lost much blood when the monster was loosened. The general who possessed the horse took the reptile and pre-served it in a box. One day some guests advised him to examine its nature by means of water. It was laid in a hollow, dug in the earth, and some water was sprinkled over it. After a little while the animal began to wriggle and seemed to grow. In the hollow a well bubbled up, and all of a sudden a black vapour like incense smoke rose and went straight out of the eaves. The crowd beyond was afraid and ran home, convinced that it was a dragon. But before they were some miles away suddenly the wind arose, the rain come down, and several heavy thunderclaps were heard.

Especially the whirlwinds, called in Japan “tatsu-maki” or “dragon-rolls” *, which form waterspouts and carry heavy objects into the air, were looked upon as dragons winding their way to the sky amidst thunder and rain. Holes in the ground, due to volcanic eruptions and emitting smoke, were thought to .be the

4 Lao hioh ngan pih ki, + Sh. ia = aU. according to De Groot (Rel. Syst., Vol. IV, p. 220, note 1) ‘‘a collection of notices on miscellaneous subjects, in ten chap-ters, by Luu Yiu, [ae HE, also named Wu-Kwan, ¥ Ba a high officer who lived from 1125—1209”. T.S., same section, Ch. 130, p. 7b.

2 Choh keng luh, WO EE Be, by Tsao Tsunc-1, [iy 2 42%, alias Kiv-cnna, © Ju BK. published in 1366 (cf. DE Groot, 1.]., Vol. 1V, p. 346). T.S., same section, Ch. 130, p. 10a.

3 Yiu-yang tsah tsu, Ch, XV (3 FA Sp OD), p. 2a.

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spots from where dragons which had been lying in the earth had dashed forth and flown to heaven. !

Two boys, born from the marriage of a man with a dragon who first assumed the shape of a snake and then of a woman, suddenly caused a heavy thunderstorm to arise, changed into dragons and flew away. ”

When in the year 1156 a thunderstorm raged and darkness prevailed, suddenly a cry was heard over an extent of several miles, which repeated itself for more than a month. The people ascribed it to the dragon of a neighbouring pond. *

Another time a little snake, which crept out of a small crack of the unplastered wall of a house, became bigger and bigger, changed into a dragon and flew away amidst storm and rain. *

How a kiao brought heavy rains and inundations was seen above *, as well as the fact that tempests often were ascribed to dragons fighting in the air. °

§ 3. Rain magic and prayers.

The dragon being the god of rain, from remote ages his images

were used in times of drought in order to cause_him to ascend by sympathetic magic. The Shan hat king‘ says: “In the north-eastern corner of-the-Great-Desert (Ta hwang) there is a moun-tain called Hiung-li earth mound; a ying lung (according to the commentator a winged dragon *) inhabited its southern extremity.

4 Cf. the I kien chi, RR BX Re written in the twelfth century by Hung Mat, yk 3 T.S., same section, Ch. 130, p. 9b; Lung ch‘ing luh, GE HR BK (Wy ug, p. 197: “A record of incidents during the earlier part of the T'ang, professing to be written by Liv TsuNnG-YUEN, Ao st: of that dynasty. It is generally understood, however, that it is a spurious production of Wane Cutn, - $F. of the 12th cen-tury”); Ch. I.

2 Hoh lin yuh lu, He Hk *# Fem written by Lo Ta-Kina, 2¢e K Ky alias KING-LUN, c= ia , who probably lived in the 12th century (cf. De Groot, Rel. Syst.,

Vol. IV, p. 251, note 1). T.S., same section, Ch. 131, p. 16a. 8 Kiang-si t‘ung-chi, quoted T.S., same section, Cb. 130, p. 60.

4 Fei siteh luh, a = RK quoted T.S, same section, Ch. 130, p. 12a.

5 Book I, Ch. Ill, § 7, p. 81. 6 Book I, Ch. II, § 2, A, p. 48.

7 Sect. Ke FE HA RK. ch. x1v, p. 6d: KE HAG BS A 4A) 22 + BB. HE OH ak, eT S, PHRBRCROAAR.

8 Cf. above, this Book, Ch. IV, § 6, p. 72 sqq. Verh. Kon. Akad. v. Wetensch. (Afd. Letterk.) N. R. Dl. XII, N° 2. 8

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After having killed Ch‘i Yiu (the first rebel) and Kw‘a Fu(?), he (the dragon) could not ascend again, and for this reason often drought prevails on earth. In time of drought an image of a ying lung is made and then a heavy rain is obtained”. The com-mentator Kwon P‘on’ (A. D. 276—824) adds: “The earthen dragons of the present day find their origin in this” ?.

Wane Cu‘une® of the Later Han dynasty, who in his work entitled Lun Heng* severely criticises the superstitions of his time, refers to Tone Cuune-suu’s* following statement: “At the

° —_— rain_sacrificesin spring and autumn earthen dragons are set up in_order The idea of this_is this

means clouds_and dragons are caused to come. The Yih king says: ‘Clouds follow thevdragon, wind follows the tiger’. They —

_are invited to-come—by-means of their likenesses, therefore-when_ ee es and clouds and rain arrive on their_own account’

Also the Lii shi ch°un-ts‘iu® states that “by means of dragons rain is made”, and Liv Nean’ says: “Earthen dragons cause the rain to come”. According to a commentary on this passage “the Emperor T‘ang (the founder of the Shang dynasty, B.C. 1766) in time of drought made an earthen dragon in order to symbolize the dragon being followed by the clouds” ’. “The du Jheh in_the land of Chu”, says Wane Cu‘una®, “liked dragons and had

_“them—painted_on_all_his walls and trays, certainty considering _

1 BR.

2S HEA.

3 TE FE (A. D. 27-97). 4 Be 6G.

5 fee rf af. who lived in the second century B, C., author of the Ch‘un-ts‘iu fan lu, oi AK es ee T.S., same section, Ch. 127, BE Th Be Bh tw, p- 3b: Bb at HH, SK CBPREEUBH. RRS WR. AA, LRH. MEE. MR SC. eet HE. EGR. ZW.

6 Ha) K # BK (last half of third century B. = Ch. XX, under the heading #3 Ki.

7 Hwai nan tszé, Ch. IV, dh FB Fil: + BE RG ;

weve pete + te

9 98 BE ORE HE. tet BE AR a ey a HE eR TH

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their pictures to be like real dragons. Thus there was always rain (i.e. there never was a drought) in the countr oT This duke”.

In the Supplement of the Books of the Han Dynasty' a description is given of the ceremonies performed when praying for rain; an extensive commentary explains the words: “The underlings raise the earthen dragons”. In the first place the passage from the Shan hai king, mentioned above, is quoted, and Kwon P‘ou’s commentary with regard to the earthen dragons of his days. Then follows a long description of rain ceremonies found in the Ch‘un-istu fan lu? of Tune Cuuna-suu, the author of the second century B.C. quoted above.

In this passage the rain ceremonies of spring, summer, the last month of summer, autumn and winter/ are described. The details all agree with the Taoistic system, pointed out by De Groot in his Religious System®, ahd wu-ist priests were the performers of the rites. In the ceremonies of spring, summer, the last month of summer, autumn—and winter accordingly the eastern, southern (twice), western ail Honan cae ee

ae and villages are mentioned, ne the co lours_of the-silken

tla ee

were Azure, red,. yollow, white ond. BGK: Puvther, the the numbers eight, seven, five, nine and six were used with regard to the square altars erected at the five different ceremonies and to the tanks in which shrimps or frogs were placed, as well as to the days during which the different preparations were made +. As_to—the—carthen—dragons, mentioned in this description, the

days on which they were made, their sizes, colours, numbers,

the directions in which they were placed_and the sides on_which-

they stood, as well as the colours of the robes of th brandished an ete em, numbers and ages of the.

former, all agreed with the same Taoisti

“On kiah_and wh days > Gn snoring)—one

1 UR Ho pts A Bb EE

2 # RR %K FB. Ch. XVI, nv 74 (He BN)» pp. 3—6.

3 Vol. I, p. 3417; Vol. IV, p. 26.

4 Prayers took place on a day of the Water Ci H ); it was forbidden to cut

down famous trees or trees of the wood; the sacrifices consisted of cocks and pigs, three years old; further, the people roasted pig tails, buried human bones, opened mountain pools, burned firewood, etc., “in order to open Yin (the water) and close

Yang (the sun)” ( | en FA B p. 4b); for the same reason men were forbidden to visit markets.

SMU HRA WMH. RAK, BR, BA

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eight chang, is made-and stands - in the centre; seven small one each four ¢ chang long, are made (and placed) on the east sid _They are all directed towards the Hust, with a distance of eig ch‘th between each other. Hight little boys, who all have observe religious abstinence for three days and are clad in blue robe _brandish the dragons. The Tien—seh—/u+—(Superintendent . harvesting), who also for three days has observed religiot abstinence and is clad in blue robes, erects them”. —

In the ee big re dragon was made, seven chang long, and placed in the centr while six small dragons, each three chang five ch‘ih long, stoc on the south’ side; they were all directed to the south, with distan ft ween each other. Seven fullgrown mei who for three days had observed religi Stinence and wei clad in red robes, brandi é dragons, and the Szé kung s¢ fu? ' (Superintenden of works), who likewise for three daj “had observed religious abstinence and was clad in red robe erected them. ___When-the—mountains and hills - were prayed to in the la month of summer, on wu and szé days, one big yellow dragon jive chang long, was placed in the centre, and four? small one: long two chang five ch‘ih, stood on the south side; they wer all directed to the South, with a distance of jive ch‘ih betwee each other. Five elders, after three days religious abstinence, an clad in yellow robes, brandished the dragons, and five men (co a senior *) in yellow robes erected them. = . . . .

In autumn, on keng and sin days, one big white dragon wa made, nine chang long, and placed in the centre; eight sma ones, long four chang five ch‘ih, were placed on the west side They were all directed to the West, and the distance betwee them was nine ch‘ih; nine old unmarried men (or widowers ' in white robes brandished them, and the Szé& ma® (Inspector horses), also clad in white garments, erected them.

Eet.SRYUK RRA FRA HAMEAR PBANA, FBHjAALRBKMHES. BPSK HR Be

1K. 2 Wat.

3 The main text wrongly says five, but the quotation gives the right namber of fou: 4 The main text gives “five men”, the quotation “a senior”, x & -

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Finally, in winter, when prayers were made to famous moun-tains, one big black dragon, made on jen and kwéi days, and six chang long, was placed in the centre, and five small ones, each three chang long, stood on the north side; they were all directed to the North and the distance between them was six ch‘ih. Six old men, all clad in black robes, brandished the dragon, and a wéi' (military officer), also wearing black garments, erected them?

In the ceremonies, used for stopping rain, no dragons are mentioned. We learn from the Swng-ch‘ao shi shih® that in the Sung dynasty the same magic was performed; the dragons were sprinkled with water, and, after the ceremony, thrown into the water.

De Groot * treats of this custom in order to show that, this kind of -

rain magic being very common in ancient China, the dragon processions on the 15th day of The Hist-uunth-and the dragon _boats on the fifth day of the fifth month may be easily explained in these way. He aD rete torr preg Tom the Tiv-yng

tsah tsu°, where a Buddhist priest, who in the K‘ai-yuen era (A. D. 713—%742) was ordered by the Emperor to pray for rain, said that he wanted a utensil engraved with the figure of a dragon. Nothing of the kind could be found, till after two or three days an old mirror, the handle of which had the form of a dragon, was discovered in the Emperor’s store-house. The priest took it into the chapel and prayed; and behold, that very evening the rain poured down!

The same sympathetic magic is mentioned in the Pih ki man chi®, where a mirror, adorned on the backside with a “coiled dragon”, p‘an lung, #¥ HE, is said to have been worshipped (rather used in a magical way) in order to cause rain‘.

1 fet

2 The Shen-nung k‘iu-yi shu, mh = He iw Ze, quoted: in the Koh chi king, yuen, RS RX $A ii , an extensive cyclopaedia compiled by Cu‘en YUEN-LUNG, Bai IL HE, and published in 1735, Ch. LV, Sect. wr iy: p. 5a, gives the same with less details.

3 7 af] es =e quoted in the same chapter of the Ch‘un-ts‘iu fan lu, nr 75

pp. 6 seq.; cf. the same chapter, section and page of the Koh chi king yuen. 4 Fétes annuelles a Emoui, Vol. I, pp. 375 sqq. 5 Ch. Il.

6 #8 Re ve ie written in the Sung dynasty by Wane Cuon, EF JX). T.S.,

same section, Ch. 131, p. 410. 7 With regard to painted dragons being as powerful as real ones we may refer to

the Yun kih ts‘ih ts‘ien, = Re +4 a Taoistic work of the end of the 10th

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-The aim of this magic was to force the dragons to follow their images and to ascend from their pools. It is no wonder that sometimes drastic measures were taken to cause them to obey this human command, when it failed to have success. Thus in the tenth century of our era the head of two districts did not hesitate to have an earthen dragon flogged in order to force the unwilling dragons to oul and he was right, for that very day a sufficient rain came down '.

As we have seen above, also Buddhist priests used images of dragons in making rain. It is again a story from the K‘ai-yuen era, to be found in the same work’, which teaches us how they sometimes employed them to stop rain. An Indian bonze was requested by the Emperor to put a stop to the incessant rains, caused by one of his Chinese colleagues, who by order of the sovereign had prayed for rain and had fulfilled, his task with so much success that several people were drowned in consequence of the inundations. The Indian priest made five or six dragons of clay, placed them in water and scolded them in his mother-tongue. Then he took them out of the water and laid them somewhere else, laughing loudly. After a little while the rain stopped. The meaning of this magic was apparently different from the ancient Chinese ideas. By placing the dragons in their element, the water, he gave them life, just like a Buddhist priest of the fourth century did with a dead dragon which he had dug up. The latter, however, after having thus made the dragon revive, by means of incantations caused him to ascend to the sky and put a stop to a heavy drought. * His Indian colleague of the K‘ai-yuen era, on the contrary, with a scornful laugh removed the dragons after having given them life, in order to cause their counterparts to go away also. We may compare this with several instances of a

or the beginning of the 11th century (cf. De Groot, Rel. Syst., Vol. IV, p. 74), where we read about a dragon painted on a wall, with a well before it, which was prayed to for rain by people from far and near, and used to hear their prayings. Once in a time of drought a drunken fellow had the audacity to rail at the dragon. He cried over the balustrade of the well: ‘If Heaven sends a drought like this, what is the use of you?”, and with a big stone hit one of the painted dragon’s feet. The mark was still visible in the author’s time. When the man came home he suddenly got an un-bearable pain in his foot. Although he sent a messenger to burn incense before the dragon and to apologize, it was all in vain, and he died within a few days. T.S., same Section, Ch. 129, p. 110.

1 History of the five Dynasties, fy AR Bi (907—960); Koh chi king yuen, 1.1.. 2 Yiu-yang tsah tsu, Ch. III.

3 Tai-p‘ing yi lan, Ch. 930. The same priest by his prayers caused two white dragons to descend and to pour down rain over a district. of a thousand miles.

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similar magic, mentioned by Frazer in his Golden Bough'. We read there of plagues, caused by vermin, scorpions or serpents, which were stopped by burying or removing the images of these noxious creatures.

A .curious prescription for making rain is given in the Yiu-yang tsah tsu*, where we read the following: “Take four water-lizards, and after having filled two earthen jugs with water, put two of the lizards in each. Then cover the jugs with wooden covers, place them on two different quiet spots, prepare seats before and behind them, and burn incense. If you then have more than ten boys, ten years old or younger, day and night incessantly strike pate jars with small green bamboo sticks, it certainly will.rain”. This advice was followed, and after one day and two nights the rain came down. “Tradition says”, adds the author, “that dragons and water-lizards belong to the same species’. The idea of annoying the dragons by noise and thus stirring them up is also to be found in Japan, where, as we shall see below *, the Court: officials made music and danced on a dragon boat on the pond of the Sacred-Spring-Park, in order to force the dragon to arise and give rain.

Another way of making rain is to arouse the dragons’ anger by throwing poisonous plants *, or ashes°*, or pieces of wood, or stones °, or tiger bones’ — the tiger being the dragon’s deadly enemy — into their pools, or by pulling a tiger’s head by means

4 Vol. Il (sec. ed.), pp. 426 sq. Cf Vol. I, pp. 9 sqq.; making rain by magical means, I, pp. 82—114.

2 Ch. XI (ninth century).

3 Ch. V. It reminds us of the enormous bronze drums, decorated with frogs, the demons of rain, which probably were beaten by the Man tribes in the South of China, when drought prevailed. Cf. De Groot, Die -antiken Bronzepauken im Ostindischen Archipel und auf dem Festlande von Siidostasien, Mitth. des Seminars f. Orient. Spr. zu Berlin, Jahrg. IV, Abth. I, pp. 76—113.

4 Tai-p‘ing yi lan, Ch. 930.

5 Weng yuen hien chi, B Wi IBS a quoted in the Japanese work Shobutsu

ruizan, bia wy A B., Section HE. 6 -Mao ting koh hwa, Pp =P ya aa quoted T.S., same section, Ch. 130, p. 8a:

“If one throws a piece ‘of wood or a stone into the dragon pond, this at once causes black vapours to arise, followed by thunder and lightning, rain and hail”. On clear days the surface of the water of this pond was five-coloured, a sign of a dragon’s dwelling. In time of drought offerings were made and prayers said to him.

7 Chen chu chw'en, yy ER fy, written by Cx‘en Kial-KuNe, et ii BH: in the Ming dynasty; Ch. I.

é

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of a rope through a river inhabited by a dragon '. As we shall see below’, the Japanese, following the same methods, threw horse dung, old sandals and other dirty things into dragon-ponds, or stirred the dragons up by means of iron utensils or metal-shaving, for, as we saw above’, these animals were believed to detest and fear iron.

The Wu tsah tsu* describes the remarkable way in which the people o_lung-nan_ganead_rain. As dragons are very lewd and fond of women, a naked woman a lated on. 2 ale i ai in order to attract a dragon. As soon as there came one and flew ‘around her, he was. _magically prevented from approaching her, so.that_his anger was aroused _and_heavy rains came down. The same work’ says that in the beginning of summer the dragons are divided, so that each of them has his special territory, which he does not exceed. This is the reason_why in summer time it “Yains very much at one place and not at all a little further on.

Apart from these m means—of-stirring up the—dragons—we-often read about prayers recited to them, that they might give fertilizing vaing, This wae Sune Ta sirines or at ponds inhabited by dragons, or at the entrances of their dens. The Mao ting koh hwa, e.g.,

mentions a Dragon-woman’s shrine, dedicated to a female dragon which in A.D. 740 appeared in a dream and promised to give

1 Shang shu ku shih, fa = we =& written in the ninth century by Lr Cu‘ou,

As fa “In the South, when there is a long drought, a tiger’s head bone is tied at a long rope and thrown into the water on a spot where a dragon is living. Then several men pull in an irregular way. Suddenly clouds arise from the middle of the pond, and thereupon also rain comes down. The dragon being the tiger’s enemy, even

the latter’s dried bones still stir up the dragon like this”. ez] rH JN A ell YU Fe i SR OR BA, Be HE AA ok, 8 Be A HH HE. 4% Ol Se ke aE. A IP BE. RE We th. Me A

Bh Bh an JEL, Cf Kwah i chi (13th cent.), quoted T.S., same section, Ch. 130, p. 7a: In the Shun-hi era (1174—1190) a tiger bone, attached to a long rope, was let down in a ‘‘White dragon’s pond”, near a “White dragon's den” before a Buddhist temple. Soon it rained, and as they were slow in pulling the bone out of the pond, a severe thunderstorm menaced the government office, but stopped when the bone was removed.

The date shows that we have here a’ passage from the Hien ch°wang kwah i chi,

BA GS 5 2G RH? written by Lu Yina-Lune, @ Ke ii , who lived about the

middle of the thirteenth century (cf. De Groot, Rel. Syst., Vol. 1V, p. 347, note 4), and not with the Kwah i chi, written in the second half of the eleventh century by

Cuane Sui-cuine, pF Biff VE, alias.Pou-1, DR Sf (De Groor, 1.1., 1V, p. 210, note 1).

2 Book II, Ch. II. 3 Book I, Ch. Ill, § 3, pp. 67 sqq. 4 Fe. BE A (Ming-dynasty), Ch. TX, 5 Ch. IX,

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rain whenever prayers were made to her in time of drought’. And in the Sheu shen ki we read of a sick dragon, which in consequence of prayers recited before his den, gave a badly smelling rain, which would have spoiled the crops, if a diviner had not discovered it in time and cured the dragon at the latter's request. Thereupon a fertilizing rain fell and a very clear spring dashed forth from a rock ?.

§ 4. Buddhist rain ceremonies.

“

In the Introduction (§ 4, pp. 25 sqq.) we have dealt with the Buddhist rain ceremonies prescribed in the Mahamegha sitra and those described by Ds Groor in his Code du Mahayana. As we “will see below (Book II, Ch. III), also in Japan the Buddhist priests gradually conquered this field, formerly the domain of the Shintoists. They used the same siitras as the Chinese Buddhists. The latter had a good time in the T’ang dynasty, when sometimes, as we read in the 7uh i chi*, eleven hundred Buddhist priests read siitras in order to cause rain. As to these ceremonies we may refer the reader to the Introduction.

1 Ch. 130, p. 2a. 2 Ch. VI; cf. Ch. X.

3 fay Fe HA» ascribed to Lr Yiu, a Ye» ov Li Kane, 4 JU» of the T’ang dynasty. T.S., same section, Ch. 134, p. 100.

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CHAPTER VI. ~

~ EMPERORS CONNECT DRAGONS.

§ 1. Hwang Ti rode on a dragon.

The dragon being the symbol of the Empei d_his blissfi reign, a large number of legendspoint to the close connectic

between this divine animal and the Son of Heaven. In the fir: ‘place, of course, the holy Emperors of the oldest times a mentioned in this respect.

The Historical Records: contain the following passage. “TI Emperor Hwang gathered copper of Mount Sheu and cast tripod at the foot of Mount King. When the tripod was read) there was a dragon which dropping its whiskers came down t meet Hwang Ti. The latter ascended the dragon and rode on i after which the ministers did the same, more then seventy me in all. Then the dragon ascended and flew away. The remainin lower ministers had no opportunity to climb upon the dragor and all at a time got hold of its whiskers, which (by their weight were pulled out and fell down”.

According to the Ku kin chu® Hwang Ti was melting cinnaba (in order to prepare the liquor of immortality) in the Tsoh ye mountains, when he became a sien and rode on a dragon to th sky. When the ministers clung to the animal’s whiskers, th whiskers fell down. To the question whether they produced th so called “Dragon’s whiskers herb” the answer is given that thi is a false tradition caused by the other name of the same herl “Red clouds herb”. The same monarch made a winged drago (ying lung) attack and ward off the troops of the rebel Chi Yiu

4 Sect. $} ye #E, Ch. XXVIII, nr 6, p. 30a (CHAVANNES, Mémoires Historique Vol. If, a

2 44 7-£ , written about the middle of the 4th century by Ts‘ur Pao, #¢ % (cf. Wy1iE, p. 159, De Groot, Rel. Syst., Vol. IV, p. 84, note 1), quoted T.S, Se

Be ih, Ch. 130, HE Gh HE ER. p. 4b.

3 Shan hai.king, Sect. XVIH, nr 44, K Fit bin HK, p. 6b: Bamboo Anna “cht sf shu ki sil 3 = au, 4F ), Ch. I, Lecer, Chinese Classics, Vol. II, Part

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§ 2. Yao and Kao Tsu were sons of dragons.

The Emperor Yao was said _ to be the son of a red dragon, who came to ig mother, heading_on his back the-inserption You also receive Heaven’s protection”. Darkness and wind arose on all sides, and the dragon touched her, whereupon she became

pregnant—and after 14-months gave birth to Yao in-Tan—tng". Toitar i . C. 206-—195), the

founder of the Han dynasty. Tai kong, his father, saw a kiao lung above his wife amidst thunder and lightning and black darkness, while she was asleep on the bank of a lange pond: She dreamt that she had intercourse with a god, and afterwards gave birth to Kao Tsu. This Emperor, who was very fond of wine, was always protected by a dragon, when he was drunk’.

ae § 3. shun was visited by a yellow dragon.

The Emperor Shun ’s famous successor, was visited by a yellow_dragon ich_came i

armour the inscription: “Shun shall ascend _the Throne” was visible *. As we have the same holy sovereign insti-

tuted_the “ ily”’, whose members had the task of rearing dragons for the Emperor. _

—o

f

§ 4. Yii drove in a carriage drawn by dragons, and was assisted by a ying lung.

Yu, the celebrated founder of the Hia dynasty, drove in a carriage drawn by two dragons, which had descended in his court-yard, because with him the virtuous power of Hia was at its highest point *+* When he had completed the regulation of the waters, blue dragons stopped in the suburbs of the capital °. According to a later tradition a ying lung assisted Yt at the work by marking the ground with its tail°.

4 Bamboo Annals, Ch. II, Leaer, 1.1., p. 142.

2 Historical Records, Ch. VIII Ga mel) p. 2; CHavannes, |.1., Vol. II, pp. 325 sq. 3 Yuh fu shui tu, 44 Fi fel; T.S., same section, Ch. 128, AE Ea cae p. 2b. 4 Poh wuh chi, Ch. II, p. 2a.

5 Bamboo Annals, Ch. Ill, Leace, 1.1, p. 147: FR HE Ik FM.

6 San tsai iu hwui, = nn e, in the Wakan sansai zue, Ch. XLV, p.

675. According to the Bamboo Annals (Ch. II, |. 1.) the spirit of the Ho river, a man with a fish body, gave him a chart of the Ho,

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§ 5. Ming Hwang’s vessel was moved forward by a dragon.

Also in later times dragons were said to assist Emperors, as was the case in the Tien pao era (742—755), when a small dragon arose from a pond the evening before the Emperor Ming Hwang, conquered by the rebel Ngan Luh-shan, left the capital and fled to the South. The dragon went in the same direction and, when the Emperor crossed a river, the animal appeared in the water and carried the ship forward on its back. His Majesty, deeply moved by the dragon’s loyalty, thanked it and gave it wine’.

. § 6. Two yellow dragons threatened to upset Yii's vessel.

Sometimes, however, the dragons of rivers and seas caused trouble even to Emperors. Thus two yellow dragons threatened to upset Yu's vessel by taking it on its back, when His Majesty crossed the Yang-tszé -kiang; but Yu, not in the least frightened, laughed and said: “I received my appointment from Heaven and do my utmost to nourish men. To be born is the course of nature; to die is by Heaven's decree. Why be troubled by the dragons?” The dragons, on hearing these words, fled, dragging their tails *. ,

§ 7. Shi Hwang died on account of having killed a dragon.

Another Emperor was severely punished for having killed a dragon. This was Shi Hwang, the founder of the Ts‘in dynasty (246—210 B.C.), who was so anxious to have a long life, that he was highly rejoiced when two sien came, pretending to know

1 Ts‘é-liu shi kiu wen, R Aa) K £ Fay» written in the Tfang dynasty by Li TEH-yi, AS iif i. In the same way the vessel of Wu Suh, king of Wu and

Yueh (i.e. Tstien Liu, A.D. 854—932), which in 909 ran on a rock and could not advance, was carried forward by two dragons, amidst heavy rain, thunder and lightning

(Shih-kwoh Ch'un-ts‘iu, + te HK: written in the latter half of the 417th century by Wu Jey-cu‘en, us AF: BE according to De Groot, Rel. Syst., Vol. IV, p- 327,. “a rather apocryphical history” (of ten small states which existed between the Tang and Sung dynasties) (Wyte, p. 41). T.S., same section, Ch. 129, AE Le a p. 14a.

aes ae Annals, Ch, III, Leen, 1.1., p. 118; cf, Hwai nan tszé, Ch. VII, i mth hl on a

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with high dignities and salaries, they set sail with a crowd of.

six thousand girls and boys, not older than fifteen years, to seek the island of the blessed?, but although they sought for it a long time, it was all in vain. The sien, who were afraid of punishment on account of their lies, now invented a new scheme. On returning to the Court they advised the Emperor to go on board himself and set out with a large army. Again the foolish monarch believed them, and put to sea with not less than three millions of soldiers, who made a terrible noise by crying in chorus and beating drums (in order to frighten the sea-gods and thus be able to reach the island of the blessed). The dragon-god, aroused by the din, appeared at the surface of the sea in the shape of an enormous shark, five hundred ch‘th (feet) long, with a head like that of a lion. He was immediately surrounded by the fleet and killed with poisonous arrows, so that his blood coloured the sea over a distance of ten thousand miles. That night the Emperor dreamt that he had a battle with the dragon-god; and the next day he fell ill and died within seven days *.

4 Cf. DE Groot, Rel. Syst. of China, Vol. IV, pp. 307 seqq.: the chi, 2 , a branched fungus, which was said to grow on the isle of Tsu in the Eastern Ocean. According to the Shih cheu ki (-F pi 8U,: “Description of the Ten Islands”, “an account of

fabulous countries which were believed to exist in several regions beyond the oceans, probably written in the earlier part of the Christian era” [Dr Groot, 1.1, Vol. I, p. 272]) the Emperor heard about the existence of this herb on the Tsu island from a Taoist ascetic philosopher, and then sent an envoy to the island with five hundred young people of both sexes. They put to sea to seek the island, but never came back.

2 Peng Lai, ¥ AK “fairy land, an elysium far from man’s abode; some regard it as denoting Kyishu in Japan” (WELLs WiLLiams, Chin.-Eng. Dict., p. 661 s. v.). 3 This version of the tale is to be found in the Taiheiki, Kk a 4U, > Ch. XXVI,

pp. 115 seqq.

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CHAPTER VII. TRANSFORMATIONS.

§ 1. The dragon’s transformations are unlimited.

From Kwan tzé and the P% ya, quoted above', we have learned that the_dragen’stransformations are unlimited. Therefore it is no wonder that Chinese literature abounds with stories about dragons which had assumed the shape of men, animals or objects. When they transformed themselves into human beings, they __mostly appeared -as-old_men or beautiful women ; the latter remind us of the Naga maidens of Indian tales. Sometimes fishes, which, when being cooked, spread a five-coloured light, or spoke with human voices, were recognized to be dragons; but also quadrupeds, as dogs, rats or cows, sometimes proved to be the temporary shapes of these divine animals. Snakes, of course, closely akin to the dragons, often served them as metamorphoses to hide their real nature, and new-born dragons were said to creep out of the eggs in this form. Finally, trunks of trees or other objects floating in the water sometimes suddenly resumed their real dragon shapes. One passage * says that dragons can always transform themselves except at the time of their birth, when they sleep, or when they are angry or lustful, but this stands alone among the innumerable other statements with regard to their nature and capacities.

§ 2. Appearing as old men or beautiful women.

As to their appearing as old men we may refer to the Siien shih chi*, where a yellow dragon is said to have come to a house

1 Pp. 63 and 65. 2 Chen chu chw'en, y PR By (cf. above, pp. 119, note 7), quoted T. S., same

section, Ch. 130, HE ah Rte EK: p. 6b.

3 fe Es 7K. written by Coane Tun, BE ZB, in the ninth century. Quoted

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in the mountains in the shape of an old man with a yellow robe. The Kwang-sin-fu chi! contains a story about a wu-sorcerer, who in the beginning of the Sung dynasty was praying for rain above a well, when he fell into it in trying to catch the white cow horn on which he had blown and which suddenly dropped out of his hands. At the bottom of the well he saw a majestic old man, sitting in a tower in the water, with the horn in his hands. This was the dragon of the well, who for this time allowed him to return and gave him back the horn on condition that he never should make noise near the well again. But at the next drought the man forgot his promise and blew on the horn above the well like before. This was too much for the dragon, who made both horn and man tumble into the water, and this time the sorcerer was drowned. Afterwards he appeared to one of the villagers in a dream and at his advice a shrine was erected in honour of the dragon, who thenceforward heard their prayers for rain.

Also the Yiu-yang tsah tsu? mentions dragons which assumed the shapes of old men, as well as of beautiful women*. Liv Tsune-yuen* tells how a dragon which was punished by the Emperor of Heaven fell down upon the earth in the shape of a woman, spreading a brilliant light. She had to stay there for seven days, and then, after having drunk some water, her breath became a cloudy vapour, she changed into a white dragon, and flew up to Heaven.

§ 3. Appearing as fishes.

Transformations of dragons into fishes are to be found as well

1 B 4H Vay ie “Memoirs of the department of Kwang-sin (in Kiang-si pro-vince)”, quoted T.S. 1.1. p. 16a.

2 Ch. II and VI; T.S., same section, Ch. 431, BE mi Ah > p. 12a.

3 Ch. VI.

4 pip — It (A. D. 773—819), one of the most celebrated poets and essayists of the T'ang dynasty. a4 BE ae T.S., same section, Ch. 127, aie D4 —, p. 8b. Another punishment of a dragon is mentioned-in the Yun sien tsah ki (= ily Kitt aU about which work Dre Groot (Rel. Syst., Vol. IV, p. 289) says: “Ten chapters of miscellanies of doubtful authenticity, ascribed to one T‘une Cut, his ee. of whom nothing is known but the name. More likely, perhaps, the author was the learned Wane Cum, =F $F also named SING-CHI, PE al , who flourished in the middle

part of the 12th century”), where a disobedient dragon is said to have had his ears cut off by Heaven’s punishment; the blood which dripped upon the earth produced a plum

tree with fleshy fruits without kernels. T. S., same section, Ch. 129, # wy —., p. 12a.

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in the Dynastic Histories' as in books of tales and legends like the Lang hiien ki? (Yuen dynasty) and even in a geographical work as the Yih tung chi*, where we read about a white eel which was caught by some villagers. They were about to cook it when an old man said: “This is a dragon from the Siang River. I am afraid of calamity.” But the others considered this to be foolish prattle and did not listen to his words. The next day the whole village collapsed.

In the Shwoh yuen* a white dragon is said to have assumed the shape of a fish and to have been hit with an arrow in its eye by a fisherman. The dragon accused the man before the Emperor of Heaven, but the latter remarked that it was his own fault because he had been foolish enough to change himself into a fish. The fisherman was not to be blamed for having treated him like other fishes. This story is often referred to in Japanese literature, e.g. in the Zoku kojidan*, where the fish is said to have fallen into the fisherman’s net, and to have lodged a complaint with the Dragon king (an Indian conception, cf. the Introduction and the next chapter), who gave him a similar answer and advised him not to do such a foolish thing again. In the Taiheiki® Nitta Yoshisada, who died in battle, is compared to the dragon of this legend, which, instead of hiding itself in the depths of a pool, came to a shallow place and was caught in the net.

As we have seen above’, fishes were believed to become dragons when they succeeded. in ascending the Dragon-gate (apparently a waterfall), and that old tiger-fishes or fishes weighing two thousand kin became kiao *.

4 Books of the Tsin dynasty, 4) {i Ch. VI, ie Ere i (the fish spread a

five-coloured light when being cooked). 2 Ch. I (the fish spoke with a human Voice).

3 — Oe ne ie’ “Memoirs concerning the whole Empire” (1647); T.S., same section,

Ch. 129, FE BR #E Hy =, p. 130.

4 ae Pe written by Liv Hianc, 4] [A] (who lived B.C. 80—9), the famous author of the Lieh sien chw‘en (Fal iy 88); Sect. Bh.

5 ae ns Lo aR Ch. II, Gunsho ruijii, Vol. XVII, p. 664.

6 Ch. XX, p. 9a. The same comparison is to be found in Ch. XXXI, p. 12, of the same work.

7 Book I, Ch. Ill, § 12, p. 86.

8 Book I, Ch. Ill, § 7, p. 79.

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§ 4. Appearing as snakes, dogs, or rats.

The Poh mung so yen’ relates about a child which in the T’ong-kwang era (923-926) met a white snake on the,road, tied it with a rope and swayed its head to and fro till it fell down. Tn a moment a thunderstorm arose and the child was carried into the air, where it was struck by lightning and dropped dead on the ground. On its back vermilion writing was to be read, announcing that Heaven had punished it for having killed a Celestial dragon.

Two dragons in the shape of mao dogs (3 3fy), ridden through the air by sven, are mentioned in the Lieh sien chw‘en?. A sien _ brought them to a diviner, more than 100 years old, and invited him to ride on them together with an old woman. According to the Lang hiien ki* two guardian gods of a cave palace were dragons. The Kiang-si ftung-chi* speaks about a very deep “Dragon-rearing pond” near the castle of Kwang ch‘ang district in Kien chang fu, inhabited by a dragon. Over the pond there was a stone tray, in which remains of food were always laid for the animal, which used to change into a black dog and eat the food. This pond was still there in the author’s time, and a “Dragon-well temple” had been built on the spot.

In the seventh year of the Kia-yiu era (1062) an enormous white rat was. seen smelling the sacrificial dishes offered in the temple on the Great White Mountain in Fu fung district (Shen-si province), a mountain with much ling, i.e. where the divine power of its god as clearly manifested itself in hearing the prayers of the believers as was the case on the Japanese moun-tain of the same name (Hakusan). Old people declared the rat, which only smelled the dishes but did not eat them, to be a dragon °.

§ 5. A cow transformed into a dragon.

The author of the Awai-ngan-fu chi® tells us how a cow

4 fy a A = , ascribed to Sun Kwane- -HIEN, JR % a ,also called MENG-WEN,

=z Bl a high official under the founder of the Sung dynasty (T‘ai tsu, 960—976) (cf. DE Groot, Rel. Syst. Vol. V, p. 527, note 2). T.S., same section, Ch. 129, p. 14a. 2 T.S., same section, Ch. 131, p. 2b. 3 Quoted ibidem, p. 30. 4 T.S., same section, Ch. 129, p. 120.

5 Tung-p‘o chi-lin, cu yy ie HK» desultory notes by Su Tunc-P‘0, bad HE Up ,

e. Su SHIH, fk ix a famous poet who lived 1036—1101; T.S., same section, Ch, 130, p. 4a. :

6 YE Fe VRE 7A) “Memoirs concerning Hwai-ngan-fu (in the prov. of Kiang-su);

T.S., ibidem, p. 120, . Verh. Kon. Akad. v. Wetensch. (Afd. Letterk.) N. R. Dl, XIU, N° 2. 9 Digitized by Microsoft®

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became a dragon. A rich farmer who possessed a large herd of cattle one night dreamt that one of his cows said to him: “I have become a dragon and have fought with the dragon of the Sang-kt lake, but without conquering him. You must bind small knives upon my horns’. The next day he discovered that an extremely big cow of the herd had scales under its belly. When he had attached knives to its horns, the cow conquered the other dragon, which was wounded at the eye and retired into its lake. The cow itself became the dragon of the Great Lake. Down to the author's time those who. passed this lake avoided the character 4. (cow), and those who passed the Sang- ka lake avoided the character f# (blind of one or both eyes); otherwise suddenly a storm burst forth and big waves arose.

§ 6. Appearing as objects.

With regard to objects which proved to be dragons we may refer to the J yuen', where we read how a man while fishing in a river found a shuttle and took it home. After a short while the utensil, which he had hung on the wall, changed into a red dragon and ascended to the sky amidst thunder and rain. A dragon which had assumed the shape of a tree growing under water is mentioned in the Shuh i ki% A woman who touched this tree when going into the water in order to catch some fish, became pregnant and gave birth to ten male children. Afterwards, when the dragon appeared in his real form above the water, nine of the boys ran away in fright, but the tenth climbed upon his dragon-shaped father’s neck and in later years became the king of the land*. The same work tells us about a girl in the Palace,’ under the Hia dynasty, who changed into a fearful dragon and then, reassuming her human form, became a very beautiful woman, who devoured men *.

In the Books of the Tsin dynasty® an astrologer is said to have discovered the vital spirits (4) of two precious swords among the stars, and pointed out the spot where they were buried.

4 Ch. I, p. 2. The same work gives a tale about a big piece of drift wood, which broke the vessel of a man who seized it, turned into a dragon and swam off.

2 jit He a (see above, p. 72, note 1), Ch, 2s p. 160. 3 Cf. above, Book I, Ch. VI, p. 123.

4 Ch. [| p. 4a. mR al AB ooh oVI BE AE AB OT hece ewnrds. ‘which tnrned inta a mala and a

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There a stone box was dug up, from which a brilliant light shone; -but as soon as the swords were taken out of the box their spirits in the sky were extinguished. On one of the swords the characters #f Ht, lung-ts‘iien, “Dragon-spring”, on the other Tk faf, “ai-o, were written. According to the astrologer such supernatural swords could not remain for a long time in human hands. Actually one of them soon disappeared, and the other one afterwards jumped by itself out of its sheath into a river, which its owner was crossing. When it was sought, nothing was found except two dragons, two or three chang long, wound together and emitting a brilliant light which illuminated the water. Then they vanished, raising turbulent waves by their violent movements. Evidently the swords had changed into dragons and were united again.

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CHAPTER VIII. THE INDIAN NAGA IN CHINA.

§ 1. Reborn as a dragon.

' With regard to the Indian dragon (Naga) in China we may refer to the Introduction and to the following legends.

Buddhist reincarnation into a dragon was said to have been the fate of the Emperor Wu's Consort K‘ih (first half of the sixth century A.D.), who was so jealous that she was reborn as a dragon which lived in a well inside the exclosure of the Palace and frightened her husband in his dreams. When he was in love with some woman, the water of the well was violently disturbed. In order to appease the spirit, the Emperor had a palace built over the well and all kinds of clothes and utensils put there, as if she were still a human being; and he never married again '.

§ 2. Ponds inhabited by Dragon-Kings.

According to another Buddhist legend? a Dragon-King, who lived in a palace at the bottom of a pond called Kwun ming chv*, appeared as an old man to a hermit who lived in the neighbourhood, and besought this man to save his life, as a Buddhist priest, under pretext of praying for rain by order of the Emperor, made the water of his pond decrease more and more, in order to kill him (the dragon) and to use his brain in preparing some medicine. The hermit advised the dragon to go Sun Sze-mon *, who was studying in the mountains in order to become a sien. When the dragon did so, this man promised to

1 History of the South (Bg Bi , Nan-shi), \a ia FAI {8 , f.

2 Yiu-yang tsah tsu (ninth century), Ch, V (T.S., 1.1, Ah a p. 11a).

3 Et BH Wh.

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save him on condition that he should teach him the way of preparing. the three thousand kinds of medicine to be found in the Dragon-Palace at the bottom of the pond. The dragon accepted the condition, whereupon the water of the pond rose more and more, and the bonze died with anger and shame. The dragon kept his promise, and thus Sun Szi-mou obtained the Knowsedce preserved in his famous medical work, entitled 7s‘ien kin fang '.

Other ponds inhabited by Dragon-Kings are mentioned in the. Loh-yang kia-lan ki? and in the Po-chi kwoh chw‘en*, but these were in foreign, western countries. Sacrifices were made to them; to the latter by the passers-by (there were three ponds, in the. biggest of which lived the Dragon-King himself, in the next his consort and in the smallest his child) because otherwise they were sure to be troubled by wind and snow. The former pond was near a Buddhist monastery in the West of Wu-yih land, and ‘the king of the land prayed to the dragon and threw gold and jade into the pond. When these precious objects were washed out of the pond he ordered the monks to take them.

§ 3. Temples of Dragon-Kings.

A “Dragon-rearing well” * in a “Dragon-King’s temple” ’ was. said to be inhabited by a dragon. Nobody dared draw water from this well, because if. one did so strange things happened, and the person who had ventured to thus arouse the dragon’s anger fell ill°.

Another temple of a Dragon-King on a mountain, near a white dragon’s pond and (on the top of the mountain) a dragon’s den are mentioned in the Kwah 71 chi’. In time of drought the peasants used to pray before the cavern, which always contained water in spring and summer, and when they took this water

4 F- & Fi: Dragon’s pearls were called -f- & BR cf. above, Ch. III, § 15, p. 88. 2 we GB Ain Be AU, 2ccording to Wvytre (p. 55) “a descriptive detail of the various Buddhist establishments in Loh-yang, the metropolis during the N. Wéi; written by Yano Hien-cut, ne 5 Paar an officer of that dynasty”; it was written in the — century (DE Groot, Rel. Syst., Vol. I, p. 344). T.S., same section, Ch. 131, ee 5a.

3 ye Fu el a 1. quoted T.S., same section, Ch. 129, p. 40. 4 ZB we H. 5 He E ii.

6 Mih koh hwui si (41th cent.), T.S., same section, Ch. 130, p. 3b. 7 AA FE OG Ra cf De Groor, Rel. Syst., Vol. IV, p. 240, note +. This must be the

later work of this name, dating from the thirteenth century (cf. above, p..120, rote’), as the Shun-hi era (1474—1190) is mentioned. T.S., 1.1, Ch. 130, p. 7a.

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and worshipped it, abundant rains came down. Near to the same spot was the Dragon-mother’s grave, mentioned above '.

§ 4. Palaces of Dragon-Kings.

A Dragon-King’s Palace is mentioned in the Luh 7 ki?.-According to a tradition among the sailors it was situated under a small island about five or six days navigating from Su-cheu (in Kiang-su province). Even when there was no wind, the waves were so high there that no vessel dared approach it directly. At every high tide, however, when the water overflowed the island and the high waves were not to be seen, the ships could pass there. At night a red light was seen from afar above the water on this spot, bright like sunlight, which extended over--more than a hundred miles square and reached the sky.

The Wuh tsah tsu* describes the same island, but, without mentioning the light, says that it lies above the water, red like the sun. Although no human being dared approach it, a sound. was heard on the island as if some thousands of men were busy there cutting and transporting trees. On clear nights one could see that all the trees on the mountains were felled. It was said that this was done for building the Dragon-King’s abode. Evidently the Taoistic ideas concerning the island of the blessed, the land of the sien, are confounded here with the Indian conceptions with regard to the Naga palaces.

Finally, we may quote a passage from the TJ ai-p‘ing yi-lan ‘+, where a magistrate is said to have often received in his house a beautiful dragon-woman, who each time arrived in a magnifi-cent carriage, accompanied. by female postilions. In his former existence he had promised to marry her, and now he kept his word and finally disappeared with her. The people said that he had gone to the Dragon-Palace ‘and had become a “ water-sien”

(7K fil).

41 Book I, Ch. III, § 16, p. 89.

2 EK Bea aU (ninth century, see above, p. 87, note 4). T.S. same section, Ch. 129, p. 14a. _ 83 hh Rite 3H (about 1592), in a passage translated into Japanese in the Heishoku

wakumonchin , Fe We my | y, written in 1710 by Kosima Fuxyi, Be he mS De and printed in 1737, referred to by INovE Enryo, Yokwaigaku kogi, Vol. Il,

Ch. XXVII (#RE es" 41] JHB), p. 123 sa.

4. Ch. 424,

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BOOK II. THE DRAGON IN JAPAN.

CHAPTER I.

THE ORIGINAL JAPANESE DRAGON-GODS OF RIVERS, SEAS AND MOUNTAINS.

When treating of the Japanese dragon legends we have first of all to consider the original beliefs of the natives, and to separate these from the conceptions imported from India and China. In the oldest annals the dragons are mentioned in various ways, but mostly as water-gods, serpent- or dragon-shaped.

§ 1. Okami.

In the Nihongi'! we read that Izanagi, when his consort Izanami had died by giving birth to the fire-god Kaguzuchi, cut this child into three pieces each of which became a god. The blood which trickled from the upper part of the sword changed into three gods: Kura-okami (fj #2), Kura-yama-tsumi ( Fi) UL fii) and Kura-mitsu-ha (fa FA #). Professor Fiorenz gives in his “/apanische Mythologie” * extensive notes on these three gods. Kura, says he, is explained as “abyss, valley, cleft”, although the meaning of the character is “dark”. The second character, ee, which in Fiorenz’s note 26 consists of the characters indicating rain and dragon, but in the Japanese text (K. T. K. 1, 18) is a combination of the upper part of the character pm with dragon, is explained

1 Ch. I, K.T.K. Vol. J, p. 13: 78 $i BA ETP RAW. BA Ba Ese A A UL wee, HK OA PY HR KT. K. is Kohushi taikei, ae

K cae a modern edition of old historical and legendary works, which we quote as K.T.K. Of the same kind are the Shiseki shiran (BH #& 4B FS) and the Gunsho

ruijy ( Hi BS A HE) (1795), while the Hyakka setsurin ( i=] Be aft, AK) cone

tains a great number of works of the Tokugawa period. 2 P. 46.

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s “dragon”; in the Bungo Fudoki' the characters PE #8, “snake-dragon”, are read “okami”. This and the later ideas about Kura-okami show that this divinity is a dragon or snake. He is the deity of rain and snow, and in the Manydshu (2, 19) he is said to have been prayed to for snow. The Lngishiki states that this god Okami had Shinto temples in all provinces. In a variant? we read that one of the three gods who came forth from the three pieces of Kaguzuchi’s body was Taka-okami. This name is explained by one of the commentators as “the dragon-god residing on the mountains”, in distinction from Kura-okami, “the dragon-god of the valleys”. °

The passage of the Bungo Fudoki referred to by Fiorgnz says that in the village Kutami in Naori district there was a well, out of which water was scooped for the Emperor Keiké (71—130 A.D.) (not Suinin, as Fiorenz says), when he visited the place. Then a snake-dragon (hp #8 He: okami, appeared, whereupon the Emperor said: “This water is certainly dirty (4usaz). Scooping water from it should not be allowed’. Therefore the well got the name of Kiisa-izumi.

§ 2. Yamatsumi and Mitsuha.

As to the second god mentioned in the Nzhongi, Kura-yama-tsumt, his name means: “Lord of the Dark Mountains’’, but one of the commentators explains it as: “Mountain-snake” (yama-tsu[ 32 ]-mi). The name of the third divinity, Kura-mitsu-ha, is perhaps to be translated: “ Dark-water-snake”’, or “ Valley-water-snake” +, Frorenz thinks that this god is identical with Mitsuha no Me in the preceding text (Ch. I, p. 11), although the latter is a female deity. There we read that Izanami, when dying in consequence of the fire-god’s birth, gave birth to the earth-goddess Hani-yama-bime and the water-goddess Muitsu-ha no Me

(aK wih Fe) HR A). Fuorunz® devotes an interesting note to the

HEL 4% Jal + aE: written in 713; Gunsho iy Vol. XVII, nr ei p- 1126. 2 A ale Ch. I, p. 16; Fiorenz, 1.1. p. 63: ey ge we :

8 According to Aston (Shinto, p. 153) it is simply “O Kami”, “August god”, so that the names Kura o kami and Taka o kami should mean ‘God of the valleys” and “God of the heights’. But in my opinion FLorENz’s arguments are right,

-4 Fuorenz translates: ‘dunkler Wasserdrache” (dark water-dragon), but in note 29 the word ha is explained as “snake”, not “dragon”. Cf. my treatise on the Snake in Jap. superstition, Ch. II, A, 2 (Serpent-shaped gods of the water), pp. 43 sqq., Mitt, des Seminars f. Orient. Sprachen zu Berlin, Jahrg. XIV, Abt. I.

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latter, and quotes the Wamyasha', which by mistake identifies Mi-tsu-ha with the Chinese wang-liang, {9 ij, instead of with the wang-siang, fa] ¥. We read in De Groor'’s Religious System of China® that “the Chinese authors generally do not take the trouble to distinguish between these two terms (wang-liang and wang-siang)”. Wang-siang, says De Groor’, are water-ghosts, as well as the dung, or dragons, and he refers to Yt Pao’s Sheu shen ki*, where a wang-siang is described “as looking like “a child of three years with red eyes, a black complexion, big ears and long arms with red claws”.

A Japanese commentator explains mitsu-ha as “Water-snake” (7K Yt HE), and quotes several names and words in which ha means “snake”; if this is true, Mitsuha no Me is “Female Water-snake”. Another commentary, however, explains the word ha as AE, “to produce”, so that the name of the goddess would be: “The Woman who produces the water”. FLorenz does not know which explanation is right, nor can I decide.

§ 3. Watatsumi.

In another passage of the Nzhongi® Izanami and Izanagi are said to have given birth to “gods of the sea’, called “ Watatsumi no Mikoto” (A> Fx #7), or, as in Ch. III, p. 76 (Jimmu Tennd), HE. 7 , “little boys” or “boys of the sea”. The Chinese characters with which this name is written agree with Yt Pao’s above-mentioned description of the wang-siang as little children; these terms are apparently identical with “sea-gods”, i ji}. Frorenz explains the name “ Wata-tsu-mi” as “Lords of the sea”, wata being an old word for sea, and mi a kind of honorific epithet. The same commentator, however, who saw in Mitsuha no Me a “Female Water-snake”, considers Watu-tsu-mi to be “Snakes: of the Sea”, mz being an old word for snake. It is not impossible that he is right, and that the old Japanese sea-gods were snakes or dragons.

§ 4. Mizuchi, the river-gods.

The name of the river-gods, “mizuchi”, or “water-fathers”,

1 $y, written by Minamoto No Surracav, Ji NE who lived 941 — 983,

.2 Vol. V, Ch. Ill, p. 524. 3 Ibidem. 4 Ch. XII. See above, p. 81, note 1.

5 Ch. I, p. 12; Frorenz, 1.l., Ch. IV, p. 39; X HE iy i ee Be »p oy Oi :

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which is found in Ch. XI of the Méhongi', is written with the character , ku, which means a horned dragon ?. Aston 3 says: “The River-Gods have no individual names. They are called generally midzu-chi or water-father. Japanese dictionaries describe the mzdzu-chi as an animal of the dragon species with four legs. Hepsuen, in his Japanese- -English Dictionary, calls it a large water-snake. The difference is not material. The dragon- “kings of Chinese myth (of whom Toyotamahiko is an echo) are in India the Naga Raja, or cobra- “kings”. After having stated that River-gods are prayed to for rain in time of drought, Aston gives a translation of the above-mentioned interesting passage of the Nithongi, which we may quote in extenso:

“A. D. 379 (67th year of the Emperor Nintoku). This year, at a fork of the River Kahashima, in the ceritral division of the Province of Kibi, there was a great water-dragon (mizucht) which harassed the people. Now when travellers were passing that place on their journey, they were sure to be affected by its poison, so that many died. Hereupon Agatamori, the ancestor of the Omi of ,Kasa, a- man of fierce temper and of great bodily strength, stood over the pool of the river-fork and flung into the water three whole calabashes, saying: ‘Thou art continually belching up poison and therewithal plaguing travellers. I will kill thee, thou water-dragon (iL). If thou canst sink these calabashes, then will I take myself away, but if thou canst not sink them, then will I cut thy body to pieces’. Now the water-dragon changed itself into a deer and tried to draw down the calabashes, but the calabashes would not sink. So with upraised sword he entered the water and slew the water-dragon. He further sought out the water-dragon’s fellows. Now the tribe of all the water-dragons filled a cave in the bottom of the pool. He slew them every one, and the water of the river became changed to blood. Therefore that water was called the pool of Agatamori’ +.

Aston also refers to another passage of the Nihongi (Ch. XI, p- 197), where we read about a similar experiment with two calabasses, by which a man who was to be offered to a river-god saved his life. It was in the eleventh year of the Emperor Nintoku’s reign (A. D. 323), and the Emperor had dreamt that a god pointed out to him two men, who had to be sacrificed to the god of the Northern river, in order to enable the people to complete the embankment, which gave way in two places. One

1.K.T.K., Vol. I, p. 209. 2 See above, p. 73.

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of them plunged into the water and died, whereupon one of the parts of the embankment could be completed. The other man, however, showed the god’s powerlessness by means of the cala-bashes which he (the god) could not submerge; and the remaining part of the embankment was made without the loss of this man’s life. From this passage we learn that in ancient times human sacrifices were made to the dragon- shaped river-gods.

§ 5. Oho-watatsumi, the sea-god.

Finally we must mention the sea-god Oho-wata-tsu-mi no Mikoto, in whose name we again find the term “Sea-lord” or “Sea-snake”, spoken of in the preceding text. He is also called Toyo-tama hiko no Mikoto (“Abundant-Pearl-Prince”’), and his daughter's name is “Toyo-tama-bime” (“Abundant-Pearl-Princess, #2 i #1). This god had his magnificent palace at the bottom of the sea, apd when his daughter announced him that she had seen reflected in the well before the gate the face of a beautiful youth who was sitting in the cassia tree close by, he received Hiko-hohodemi — for this was the youth — in a hospitable way. Afterwards the guest married the princess and lived in the palace for three years. Then, however, he returned to the earth (according to the Kojiki on the back of a wani, Fl fi, one fathom long) and was followed by his consort, for whom he had built a “parturition-house’ on the seashore. She begged him not to look at her while she was giving birth, but.he was too curious and peeped in, whereupon he saw that his wife had become a wani (Kojiki), or dragon (Nihongi). Angry and ashamed she abandoned her child, Jimmu Tenno’s father, and returned to the Sea-god’s palace '.

§ 6. Wani.

The word wani, which is written either phonetically (Fi ##) or with the character f{#, indicating a crocodile, is found once more in Chapter I of the MNihongi (p. 40). We read there: “Further it is said that Koto-shiro-nushi no kami changed him-self into a bear-wani, eight fathoms long (ya-hiro no kuma-wani,

4 Nihongi, Ch. II, pp. 62 seqq.; Kaiki, , #2 4-6, jit ALP, KT. Vol. VII, p. 59: AU, IN a Fl yc if “8 ‘al ZB BE , Nihongi, p. 63: Av, B BE: p. 66 (a variant): AV, 3 N ay K Ae a (wani) 6] 4a] 3a ab

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WN = Ae fF). The epithet “bear” means “strong as a bear” ! As tin word wani, one version of the Hohodemi legend? says that the sea-princess became a wani, and according to another version she changed into a dragon; in the former the same words are used as in the above-mentioned passage about Koto-shiro-nushi no kami: “Toyotama-bime changed into a big bear-wanz, eight fathoms long, which crept about’. Aston’, in a note to this passage, supposes that the word want is not a Japanese, but a Korean word, wang-i, -which should simply mean: king. FLorenz* agrees with him, and they base their opinion upon the fact that the legend has strong Chinese features. Although the Indian notions about the Naiga-kings related above (Introduction) are easily to be recognized in the Japanese legend, yet I think we must not go as far as to consider the whole story western, nor have we the right to suspect the old word wani on account of the fact that a part of the legend is of foreign origin. Why should the ancient Japanese or Koreans have called these sea-monsters “kings”, omitting the word “dragon”, which is the most important part of the combined term “dragon-king”? And if the full term were used in Korea, certainly the Japanese would not have taken up only its last part. In my opinion the wani is an old Japanese dragon- or serpent-shaped sea-god, and the legend is an ancient Japanese tale, dressed in an Indian garb by later generations. The oldest version probably related how Hohodemi went to the sea-god, married his daughter and obtained from him the two jewels of ebb and flood, or some other means to punish his brother by nearly drowning him; afterwards, when having returned to the earth, he built the parturition-house, -and breaking his promise of not looking at his wife when she was giving birth, saw that she had changed into a wani, i.e. an enormous sea-monster. As to the pearls, although mysterious jewels are very common in the Indian tales about the Naga-kings, it is possible that also Japanese sea-gods were believed to possess them, as the sea conceals so many treasures in her depths; but it may also be an Indian conception. When later generations got acquainted with the Chinese and Indian dragons, they identified their wanz with the latter, and embellished their old legends with features, borrowed from the Indian Naga tales. The magnificent palace is of Indian origin, and, as Asron®

“4 Frorenz, 1.1., p. 148, note 89. 2 Nihongi, Ch. U, p. 66. 3 Nihongi, Vol. I, p. 61, note 3. 41.1. p. 148, note 89.

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After having written this I got acquainted with the interesting fact, pointed out by F. W. K. Muzizr', that a similar myth is to be found as well on the Kei islands as in the Minahassa. The resemblance of several features of this myth with the Japanese one is so striking, that we may be sure that the latter is of Indonesian origin. Probably the foreign invaders, who in prehistoric times conquered Japan, came from Indonesia and brought this myth with them. In the Kei version the man who had lost the hook, lent to him by his brother, enters the clouds in a boat and at last finds the hook in the throat of a fish. In the Minahassa legend, however, he dives into the sea and arrives at a village at the bottom of the water. There he discovers the hook in the throat of a girl, and is brought home on the back of a big fish. And like Hohodemi punished his brother by nearly drowning him by means of the jewel of flood-tide, so the hero of the Minahassa legend by his prayers caused the rain to come down in torrents upon his evil friend. In Japan Buddhist influence evidently has changed the village in the sea into the palace of a Dragon king, but in the older version the sea-god and his daughter have kept their original shapes of want, probably a kind of crocodiles, as the Chinese character indicates. An old painting of Sensai Eitaku, reproduced by Mtzier, shows Hoho-demi returning home on the back of a crocodile. [t is quite possible that the form of this Indonesian myth introduced into Japan spoke about crocodiles, and that the vague conception of these animals was retained under the old name of wani, which may be an Indonesian word.

On p. 149 of the same work Aston says: “There can be little doubt that the wani is really the Chinese dragon. It is frequently so represented in Japanese pictures. I have before me a print which shows Toyotama-hiko and his daughter with dragons’ heads appearing over their human ones. This shows that he was conceived of not only as a Lord of Dragons, but as a dragon himself. . In Japanese myth the serpent or dragon is almost always asso-

4 Mythe der Kei-Insulaner und Verwandtes, Zeitschrift fir Ethnologie, Vol. XXV (1893), pp. 533 sqq. Dr H. H. Juyneott kindly pointed out to me the existence of these Kei and Minahassa myths and Dr MULLER’s interesting article. Cf. Kern, in the periodi-cal entitled “Bijdragen tot de taal-, Jand en volkenkunde van Ned. Indié”, 1893, P. 504; JuyNBOLL, ibidem, 1894, p. 712, note 4.

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ciated with water in some of its forms”. He gives the print on the same page, and we see at once that we are here not so much on Chinese, as on Indian territory. In the Introduction (pp. 4 sq.) I have referred to. Grinwepen’s description of the dragon in Indian art, so that I need not explain that “the dragon’s heads appearing over the human one” form quite an Indian motive, transferred to China and from there to Korea and Japan. As the sea-god in his magnificent palace was an Indian conception, Japanese art represented him, of course, in an Indian. way. This is, however, no proof that the wani originally was identical with the Naga, or with the Chinese-Indian dragon-kings.

§ 7. The jewels of flood and ebb.

In regard to the jewels of flood-tide and ebb-tide we may refer to the Mizu kagami', which contains a legend apparently made in imitation of the Hiko-Hohodemi tale in the Kojiki and the Nzhong:. It runs as follows. In the year 200, when the Empress Jingo (200—269) arrived in Korea, she took some sea water in her hand and prayed from far to the god of Kashima (in Hitachi) and Kasuga (Takemikazuchi, who had a famous old temple at Kashima and another on the hill of Kasuga at Nara, under the name of Kasuga-daimydjin; the latter was, however, not built before 710). Then came the gods of Kasuga and Sumiyoshi and Suwa, clad in armour and with helmets on their heads, to the Empress’s ship. Kasuga sent the Great God (Daimydjin) of Kawa-kami? as a messenger to the Dragon-palace (jf ‘bi, ryaigi) at the bottom of the sea, and this mighty river-god took the “pearl of ebb” and the “pearl of flood” from the Great Dragon-king Sagara? and brought them with him to the surface. While the Korean warships were put up in battle array, the pearl of ebb, thrown into the sea, made the water suddenly dry up‘. Then the king of Koma entered the sea-bed with his troops in order to destroy the Japanese fleet; but as soon as he did so the god of Kawakami, following Kasuga’s order, threw the pearl of flood

1 9K GH. ch. fb, ip yy. K. T. K. Vol. XVII, p. 354; written in the second half of the twelfth century.

2 yey A oe the ‘“Rain-Master” CRY Bit ), see below, Ch. IV.

3 tb a HE also mentioned in the Fuso ryakki, Shomu Tenno, K.T.K. Vol. VI, p. 564, He is one of the eight Great Dragon-Kings, cf. above, p. 4. °

4 - EOF vb oR A BE FPR PRD - DRDO

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into the sea, and behold, all of a sudden the water rose tremendously and filled the whole sea-bed. The frightened troops all prayed for their lives, for the water. covered even the whole of Koma land. Then the pearl of ebb was thrown into the sea again, and the water sank. So the Empress by Kasuga’s assistance conquered the enemy’s army without shedding a single drop of blood, and obtained three ships laden with tributes and treasures from the king of Koma.

In the Nihongi' we read that.in the second year of the Emperor Chuai’s reign (A. D. 193) the Empress Jingo found in the sea a nyo-i-tama (hn ¥X A), a “jewel which grants all desires” (cintamant). About such jewels the Indian Naga tales have taught us above °. FLorenz observes in a note to this passage *, that the Usa no miya engi * states that the Empress obtained two jewels from the Dragon-palace, the “kan-ju” and the “manju”, the above-mentioned ebb and flood-jewels, and that this. book describes them as being about five sun long, the former white and the latter blue.

§ 8. Take-iwa Tatsu no Mikoto, the dragon-god of a sacred pond in Higo province.

The Sandai jitsuroku® mentions a Japanese dragon in the following passage. “In Jogwan 6 (A.D. 864), on the 26th day of the 12th month, the Dazaifu (x 34 ff, the Government of Tsukushi, i. e. the present Kytsht, which had its seat in Chikuzen) reported to the Emperor the following facts: ‘In Higo province, Aso district, in the sacred pond of Take-iwa Tatsu no Mikoto (fat 8 FE Gz), “The Dragon-god of the Strong Rock”, a god of the upper second rank and the fifth Order of Merit (3), kun), in the night of the third of the tenth month of last year [i. e. the same year 864, because this would be “last year’ at the time when the Emperor received the letter] a sound was heard and a shaking motion observed. The water of the pond leapt up into the air and fell down in the East and West; that wich fell in Eastern direction spread like a long strip of cloth, about ten cho broad. The colour of the water was like that of shoyu (red); it stuck to plants and trees, and even after ten days its. traces

1 Ch. Vill, p. 156: A A BG Bin BRK HH,

2 Introd., p. 10. 3 L.1, pp. 222, note 13. 4 Usa Hachiman no miya engi, FF dk N Wis = HK 7tE; copied by Usa Jucr, F 4k Ht BK, in 1335.

5 = AR =I ER, written in 910; K.T.K., Vol. IV, Ch. IX, p. 167.

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had not yet vanished. Further, in the same night one of the three stone gods, about 4 jo high, which from olden times had stood on the mountain peak of Hime-gami (the “Female Deity”’), was broken. The officials of the Dazaifu, having practised tortoise divination, positively declared that these occurrences were omens of (litt. corresponded with) calamity of water [7k J#, sui-eki, litt. “water-pestilence’; in the following text, however, hei-eki, “war-pestilence”’, is said to have been predicted by the diviners]’’'.

On the tenth day of the second month of the following year (865 A.D.) the Emperor issued a proclamation *, in which he said that the aforesaid evil omens were due to his own bad reign and that he therefore thenceforth would earnestly pray to the gods and reign better than before. He said that the water of the sacred pond spoken of by the Dazaifu never increased even if it rained excessively, nor decreased even in times of drought (litt. excessive sunshine)*, and that divination had made out that the sudden throwing up of its water was an omen of war*, He was much grieved, he said, but hoped to stop these bad influences by reigning better than before. And seven days later > he despatched two messengers to the Imperial mausolea at Yamashina and made them read there a written message to his ancestor Tenji Tennd, by which he communicated the whole matter to him and besought him to ward off this calamity.

Of so much importance were the “Dragon-god of the strong Rock” and his sacred pond. It is the first time that we meet the word tatsu used separately, in the sense of dragon (in the Nihongi only to be found in the name Tatsuta, “Dragon-field’’), and we may be sure that we meet here with a very old Japanese dragon-divinity. The same pond is mentioned in the Nzhon koki®, but without the name of the god to whom it belonged. We read there in a proclamation of the Emperor Kwammu in the year 796 A.D. the following: “The Dazaifu has reported that in

Ke FRC Ge Ka. A KR SR.

Ch. X, p. 173. HE WT TE. ETC i OR meme. RBA. 5 Ch. X, p. 174

H As 4% $f written in 841; Ch. V, K.T.K. Vol. III, p. 2: KE Wag F. KA MAM LAM. Re WB. & FL EHR. i hE eK — + OR.

ao fF, WN =

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Higo province, Aso district, there is in the mountains a water (numa, Ys not only a swamp, but a water bigger than a pond and smaller than a lake) which is called “The Sacred Pond” (ji Sie Yh, Shinreichc). For many years past even in times of large floods or heavy droughts the water of that pond did not rise nor fall. Now, however, it has, without any reason, decreased more than twenty jo. According to the diviners this means cala--mnity of drought (4 #¥, kan-eki, litt. ‘pestilence of drought’)”'. In 840 it fell 40 jo’, and the Emperor ordered the people by proclamation to pray for averting this bad: omen *.

§ 9. An Emperor’s dragon-tail.

In the Aindsho* a funny explication is given of the use of the word bird ( Fe #~) in the sense of dotad ( jaj Hs, “same body”). According to some people, says the writer, this is due to the fact that the Emperor. Ojin (270—310, the Empress Jingo’s son, deified as Hachiman in 712) had a dragon’s tail, because he was a descendant of the sea-god (Jimmu Tennd, his ancestor, being the grandson of the sea-god’s daughter *). In order to hide this tail he invented the swso or skirt. One day, however, when he left the room, the tail was still inside when a lady-in-waiting shut the sliding-doors and pinched the tail between them. Then the Emperor exclaimed: “Birya”, “(I am) a tailed dragon”. Afterwards this word biryz was changed into 6diré with the meaning of “same body’, because the Emperor had meant to say that what was between the door was also belonging to his body (!). The author of the “Aindsho believes the legend of Ojin Tenno’s dragon’s tail, because, says he, Toyotamabime’s son Ugaya-fuki-aezu no Mikoto married his own aunt, also a daughter of the sea-god, a younger sister of his mother, called Tamayori-hime, with whom he begot four sons, the youngest of whom was Jimmu Tennd. Therefore in his opinion it is quite possible that Jimmu’s descendants had dragon-tails!

4 The same thing is to be found in the Nihon isshi, A AS Bi BB, Ch. IV and Xl, K.T. K. Vol. VI, pp. 39 and 363. 2 Shoku Nihon koki, 48 H aA 5A #E > written in 869; Ch. IX, K.T.K. Vol.

Ul, p. 285. 3 Same work, Ch. IX, p. 288. Cf. Ch. X, p. 293.

4 kK BS By an encyclopaedia written in 1446 by the Buddhist priest Gyoao, 45 FR; Ch. VII, nr 24, p. 19. 5 See above, p. 139.

Verh. Kon. Akad. v Wetensch. (Afd. Le(terk.) N. R. Dl XIII, N°. 2. 10 Digitized by Microsoft®

CHAPTER II.

THE CHINESE DRAGON .AND THE DRAGON-HORSE AS OMENS IN JAPAN.

In China the dragon often and the dragon-horse always belong, as we have stated above', to the very good omens. The Japanese, who have altogether embraced the opinions of the Chinese upon the subject of forebodings, did not hesitate to believe in the truth of their assertions also in regard to the appearance of dragons.

§ 1. Flying dragon as horse of a ghost or a sien.

The Chinese dragon, flying through the air, is mentioned in the Nihongi*, where we read: “On the first day of the fifth month of the first year of the Empress Saimei’s reign (655) there appeared in the sky a man riding on a dragon. In shape he resembled a Chinese, and he wore a blue (broad-rimmed bamboo) hat (covered with) oiled silk. Galloping from Katsuragi peak he disappeared into the Ikoma mountains; at noon he galloped away from the top of Sumi no e (Sumiyoshi, #£ 7) ’s Pine-tree Peak in a western direction”.

The usd ryakki*® gives the same legend and adds: “The people of that time said: ‘It is the soul of Soga Toyora no O-omi Emishi”. This was a famous minister who had died in A.D. 645, son of Umako and grandson of Iname, the first protectors of Buddhism; Iname had erected the first Buddhist temple, Kogenji or Katsuragi-dera, which was destroyed in 645 at the fall of the Soga family. Although it is not stated in the text of the Nihongi, probably the appearance of this dragon, as horse of a sien*, in the beginning of the Empress’s reign was a very good omen, as

1 Book I, Ch. II, pp. 43—59. 2 Ch. XXVI, p. 457. 3 + Es Be ZU. written about 1150 by the Buddhist priest Kwo-rn, =A ' tanabann af abn famnenn Onn. FE WW Val VT wn BAR Oh 1

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well as that of the yellow dragon ,which was seen ascending from the northwestern mountains to the sky in A. D. 887, at the Emperor Uda’s accession to the Throne’.

§ 2. Dragon-horses.

In the Nihongi® we read: “The Emperor (Kotoku Tenn, in the sixth year of his reign, i. e. 650) said: ‘When a holy sovereign appears in the world and reigns the empire, Heaven in correspondence therewith gives good omens. In olden times, under the reign of the monarchs of the Western country (China), Ch‘eng Wang of the Cheu dynasty and Ming Ti of the Han dynasty [in reality of the Tsin dynasty], white pheasants appeared. Under the reign of the Japanese Emperor Honda (Ojin Tenno, 270—310 A. D.) a white raven nestled in the Palace, and in the time of the Emperor Osazaki (Nintoku Tennd, 311—399° A.D.) a dragon-horse (HEAR, ryz-me, or tatsu no wma)* appeared in the West. Thus from olden times down till the present day there are many instances of the appearance of lucky omens in correspondence with the presence of virtuous men”.

Also the Engishiki* enumerates the dragon-horse among the lucky omens (jff Hi): It is called there a “divine horse” (jill 5), and. is described as follows: “It has a long neck and wings at its sides. When it treads upon the water it does not sink”’®. The dragon is mentioned in the same list, with the following description borrowed from China: “He has five colours and walks (or flies) about; he can make himself invisible or visible, small or big”.

The Shoku Nihongi*® and the Shoku Nihon koki* quote Chinese

te xe ryakki, Ch. XXII, p. 637: Ey) t2 2 AA A we fh uly Hh tt aie me EE A ETS me, FE HG Zw HE y 7

3 See above, pp. 56 sqq. 4 HE Ee sh “Ceremonies of the Engi era” (901—922), written in 927 by [=]

Fusrwara No ToxintRaA and Tabara (BR ii He 2p and iB =F); Ch. XXI, Section V4 MR OP, K.T.K. Vol. XII, p. 653: ji GER. Sw LAR. KA.)

5 Cf. the Shui ying t‘u, above p. 57. 6 eA AS ZB. written in 797; Ch. IX, K.T.K. Vol. I, p. 145: “The Hiao

king, Sect. “Covenants of assisting gods”, says: ‘When the Son of Heaven is obedient

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expressions in regard to tortoises and dragons appearing as signs of the reign of a good emperor.

The Nehon Sandai jitsuroku' compares a cloudy vapour, which hung under the sun on the 27th day of the ‘th month ot A.D. 888, with a dragon-horse, and states that in A. D. 885 the “dragon-star” (# HL) appeared twice *, reason why the name of the era was changed (apparently it was considered a bad omen), as the Emperor informed to the people in a proclamation, and Gwangyo 9 was replaced by Ninna 1. —

In the Konjaku. monogatari* we find a much mutilated passage about a dragon-horse which flew through the air in Shomu Tenno’s time (724-749).

The Masu kagami* mentions the dragon- shove only in regard to its capacity of crossing broad rivers. In 1221, when Hojo Yoshitoki marched from Kamakura to Kyoto against the Emperor Juntoku, the rivers Fujigawa and Tenrytgawa (KK # Jil, “Celestial Dragon-River”) were swollen by the rains to such a degree, “that even a dragon-horse could not have crossed them”.

An interesting passage with regard to the dragon-horse is found in the Zaiheiki®, where such an excellent horse® is said to have been presented by Enya Takasada to the Emperor Godaigo (1818-1339). His Majesty praised it highly, and said that it was certainly a “Heavenly horse” (temma, FE fB). At his question whether the fact that such a horse had appeared during his reign, was a good or a bad omen, the answer of the courtiers was, that it was an extremely lucky sign, due to His Majesty’s own virtues. As phoenixes appeared at the Chinese Emperor Shun’s time

to his parents, celestial dragons descend and terrestrial tortoises appenr’. R (# OK

ii! ZA. KF AF. SW KE Wee J Si HY .). cf. above, pp.

38, 40, 43 sq. 7 es iS BB at. without ae 869; Ch. XVIII, K.T.K. Vol. TH, p. 404.

1AA= AR: EF HB. written in 901; Ch. XLIV, K..T. K. Vol. IV, p. 607.

Cf. the Fuso ryakhi, Ch. XX, K.T. K. Vol. VI, p. 616. : ms XLV, p. 657,

Ee Wy Be. written by Mivamoro No Taxaxunt, Wit [Be [& . who lived 100440717, i.e. Un DatnaGon; Ch. XI, K.T. K. Vol. XVI, p. 546. wy

A ier $5 written in 14340—1350; Ch. I, K-T.K. Vol. XVII, p. 1042.

5 Ik 2p ap, written about 1382; Ch. XII, p. 4.

6 Excellent horses were often called ‘flying dragons” Gis HE. féi.lung) by the Chinese, cf. the . Nikon Pitas! Ch. XII, K.T.K. lil, p. 48, and. the Shoku Nihon SOE),

Aare or omow oat

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(supposed to have reigned B.C, 2255— 2205), and a kilin in the age of Confucius, so this heavenly horse was an excellent omen for the period, foreboding at the same time the Emperor's long reign and life, and the glory of Buddhism. They further related how at the time of a Chinese Emperor, Muh Wang of the Cheu dynasty, eight heavenly horses had appeared, all having different names, and how the Emperor, drawn by them all, had visited every place of the world '. So all those present congratulated Godaigo with his horse, except Fujiwara no Fujifusa. When his opinion was asked, he declared to be convinced that it was not a good omen, and he too referred to Chinese examples to confirm his statement. The houses of two Emperors of the Han dynasty, Wen and Kwang Wu, who had refused such presents, had had a long and lucky reign, he said, while that of Muh, who had used the eight heavenly horses, had soon declined. Those horses were only a metamorphosis of the Fang constellation (f§, the eleventh of the zodiacal constellations), and an omen of the fall of the Cheu dynasty. Godaigo, on hearing these words, was angry and put a stop to the festivities of the day. Not believing Fujifusa’s pessimistic prediction he accepted the horse, and a few years later (1336) the great schism of the Southern and Northern Courts seemed to prove the truth of Fujifusa’s words. The same work? relates how the Emperor Godaigo gave the aforesaid dragon-horse to Nitta Yoshisada, when he despatched him to Owari province (1335). It was expected to cover the distance, which would have required four or five days with an ordinary horse, in half a day, so that he could be back in Kyoto that very evening. In a few hours he arrived in Omi province, but there the animal suddenly died, which was, of course, a very evil foreboding. Finally, we may mention a dragon-horse which certainly was not a harbinger of evil, namely that on which the Empress Jingo after her Consort Chiiai’s death (200 A.D.) flew through the air to Sugiyama at Ikeda, Buzen province, where she prayed to the gods for assistance with respect to her expedition against Korea. Then the Four Deva Kings, with eight white flags (Hachiman, A\ i) in their hands, descended from Heaven *.

4 Cf. above, p. 59.

2 Ch. XIV, p. 14. .

3 Sansha takusen ryakusho, —= it aE a Be Hh; author unknown; the year Keian 3 (1650) is mentioned as date of the epilogue. Zoku zoku gunsho ruiju, Vol. 1, p- 741.

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*

§ 3. Carriage of a ghost drawn through the air by eight dragons.

In connection with the same Emperor a third tale in the Taiheiki ! may be mentioned. Omori Morinaga, who had conquered Godaigo’s loyal general, Kusunoki Masashige (1336), one evening saw the latter’s ghost appearing in the garden and trying to deprive him of his sword. He questioned the spirit by whom he was accompanied, whereupon Masashige answered that the Emperor Godaigo, that Emperor’s son Prince Morinaga (killed at Kamakura in 1335) and Nitta Yoshisada had come with him. ‘ Omori lighted a torch and, looking upwards, discovered in a big cloud twenty demons carrying on their shoulders the Imperial sedan-chair; then followed the Prince in a carriage drawn by eight dragons*, and Yoshisada rode in front with more than three thousand horsemen. This reminds us of a sentence in the Gempet seisuckt*, a quotation from the Ba-iku-kyo *, which says that “in heaven a horse is made into a dragon and among men a dragon is made into a horse’”*. The number eight is stereo-typical in these legends about dragons ridden by kings or gods, or drawing their carriages. So we read about a Buddhistic god with twelve faces and forty two arms brandishing swords and lances, and riding eight dragons in the air amidst rain and wind °.

§ 4. A dragon appears as a good omen.

The Kanden jihitsu? describes a dragon which was seen under a bridge near Unawa village, Harima province, at the foot of Mount Shiko. It was seven shaku long, had one horn, hands and feet, and its body had the colour of leaves of a tree tinged with a golden lustre. It was a beautiful animal, exactly like the red dragons on pictures. When the villagers descended from the

4 Ch. XXII, p. 3. 2HRK-A ORR E. ARK B TRS BK Yin 7.

3 Ch. XXXVII, p. 982.

4 5 Al RE. SRKEAVH TBE. A= NRT BH.

6 See below, Ch. IV, Tatheiki, Ch. XII, p. 90. 7 Ea Hg R , written by the same author who wrote the Kanden kohitsu,

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bridge and stroked its horn, it was not afraid or angry, but apparently rejoiced. Afterwards the skin of this divine dragon was found near by, on the other side of the river. “This was not an evil dragon or a poisonous snake, but probably a lucky omen of a good reign. The fact that the crop of that very autumn was good, was brought into connection with the appearance of the dragon, which was (therefore) said to be a venerable being” '.

4 Hyakka ‘setsurin, Vol. 489 “RL —, Ch. IV, p. 172. The Gwadan keiroku, fins

i Ott ji) (written in 1775 by Nakayama Koyo, 4 We jal B, Uyakka setsurin, 3 ol. IE Pf, p- 419) speaks about the officials appointed in ancient China for rearing

Silke (cf. above, Book I, Ch. III, § 8, p. 82), which were not real dragons but horses; further, it treats of dragon pictures.

Another work of the Hyakka setsurin (Konyo manroku, B iB vis BK written

in 1763 by Aoxt Konvo, 8 A iB. Hyakka setsurin, Vol. JF ., p. 880) mentions dragon-bones (cf. above, Book I, Ch. Il, § 17, pp. 90 sqq). A Dutchman, ‘to whom the author, Aoxt, showed such a bone, declared it to be a stone, in agreement with a Chinese work. +

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CHAPTER III. CAUSING RAIN.

CAUSING RAIN. § 1. Shinto gods.

The ancient annals of Japan very frequently speak of heavy droughts which threatened the country with hunger and misery. They were considered to be punishments, or at any rate plagues, from the gods, which could only be stopped by earnest prayers and offerings to the same divinities. The old, dragon-shaped river-gods (the “river-uncles”, jal 4f{, awa no kami) especially, from olden times believed to be the givers of rain, were besought not to withhold their blessings any longer from, the parched and suffering land.

The Nihongt' tells us that in the first year of the Emperor Kogyoku’s reign (642) there was a long drought which could not be stopped by the Shinto priests. In Aston’s translation this passage runs as follows: “25th day. The Ministers conversed with one another, saying: — ‘In accordance with the teachings of the village hafuri [Shinto priests], there have been in some places horses and cattle killed as a sacrifice to the Gods of the various (Shinto) shrines, in others frequent changes of the market-places [both old Chinese customs’], or prayers to the River-gods. None of these practices have had hitherto any good result’. Then Soga no Oho-omi [Iruka, the last of the Soga’s, who was killed in 645, together with his father Emishi; all the Soga’s, Iname, Umako, Emishi and Iruka, were mighty ministers and great protectors of Buddhism] answered and said: — ‘The Mahayana Sutra ought to be read by way of extract? in the temples, our sins repented of, as Buddha teaches, and thus with humility rain should be prayed for’”.

4 Ch. XXIV, K.T.K. Vol. I, p. 410. 2 Cf. Aston’s note to this passage (Nihongi, Vol. II, p. 174, note 4), aud FLORENz’s note 3 ee, Japanische Annalen, Book XXII—XXX, sec. ed., p. 75).

3 ith Ae’ tendoku; Aston, p. 175, note 1: “the reading of passages of a book to

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“27th day. In the South Court of the Great Temple, the images of Buddha and of the Bosatsu (Bodhisattvas), and the images of the four Deva Kings, were magnificently adorned. A multi-tude of priests, by humble request, read the Mahayana Sitra. On this occasion Soga no Oho-omi held a censer in his hands, and having burnt incense in it, put up a prayer”.

“28th day. A slight rain fell”.

“29th day. The prayers for rain being unsuccessful, the reading of the Stitra was discontinued”.

“8th month, Ist day. The Emperor made a progress to the river-source of Minabuchi. Here he knelt down and prayed, worshipping towards the four quarters, and looking up to Heaven [Chinese style, as the Buddhist prayers had been without result]. Straightway there was thunder and a great rain, which eventually fell for five days, and plentifully bedewed the Empire. [One writing has: —- ‘For five days there was continuous rain, and the nine grains ripened’]. Hereupon the peasantry throughout the Empire cried with one voice: ‘Bansai’, and said: ‘An Emperor of exceeding virtue’”’.

Among the eighty five Shinto shrines to which messengers were despatched by the Court to pray for rain, the Engishiki ! mentions several river and water-deities, e.g. the gods of Kibune*® and Nibu no kawakami*, but also the Wind-gods of Tatsuta *, the Thunder-god of Kamo’ and many others. The Nihongi® repeatedly uses the same words in regard to these prayers, namely: “The Emperor sent daibu (Ki, officials of a high rank) as envoys to the different Shintd temples in order to pray for rain; he also despatched messengers to pray to the ‘god O-imi of Hirose and to the Wind-gods of Tutsuta (#E HA, ‘Dragonfield’)”. Was it accidental that the Wind-gods, who appeared to be also givers of rain, had their shrine at a place called

4 Ch. I (pif a =, FB ae AS), KT. K. Vol. XU, p. 142: pp py ni RNA HEE.

2 Ft 7h i ik — (Ob We BB).

3 PAE I E(B LAM),

4 HE k= He.

5 i Pe Hi) rk — HB .

6 Ch. XXX, p, 565: AKA. HHT TM. LA 5 il AC Bm SCE FA

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“Dragon-field”? The word tatsu, dragon, is, as far as I know, not found in the Nihongi, except in this name, but the fact that _ the ancient Japanese had such a word indicates that they them-selves knew a kind of dragons before they were taught by Koreans and Chinese about the existence of the Chinese dragons. They identified these tatsw with the lung (#f), and, as we have seen above (p. 138), wrote the name of their “water-fathers”, mizuchi, with the character #L,, Aiu (the horned dragon), while the word okami was written by means of a character, partly consisting of rain and dragon.

Their dragons were kami, gods ', who lived in rivers and seas, valleys and mountains (in rivulets, lakes and ponds), bestowing rain on their worshippers. That those river-gods could also cause wind we learn from the above quoted passage of the Nihong?®, where the god of the Northern river is said to have made a whirlwind arise in order to submerge the calabashes. So the three kinds of dragons, to be found in Japan, original Japanese, Chinese and Indian, all have one feature in common, i.e. the faculty of causing rain; while the winds belong to the dominion of the former two.

The Shoku Nihongi® states that in 715 the Emperor Gwammei sent messengers to pray for rain to “famous mountains and large rivers” (4% [1] 7 Jil), whereupon the rain came down in torrents within a few days. It is remarkable that he at the same time established religious festivals in the two great Buddhist temples of Nara, Kofukuji and Horyiji, and despatched messengers to the different Shintd temples with nusa (#£ Ht, offerings of hemp. and bark-fibre *). We often observe this dualism in the measures taken by the Emperors to stop drought or too much rain, | especially in later times, when Buddhism became more and more powerful °.

1 Sarow, The Revival of pure Shinto, Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, App. Vol. III 4, p. 43; Aston, Shinto, p. 9.

2 Ch. XI, p. 197, 3 Ch. VI, K.T.K. Vol. II, p. 92.

4 Cf. Aston, Shinto, pp. 213 seqq.

5 Cf. Sandai jitsuroku, Ch. V, K.T.K. Vol. IV, pp. 87 seq.: “On the fifteenth day the Emperor sent messengers to the Seven temples of Famous Shinto gods near the capital in order to offer nusa and to pray for rain...... On the sixteenth he invited priests of all the great Buddhist temples, 60 men, to come to the Palace and read there the Dai Hannya kyo (Mahaprajiiaparamita sitra) by way of extract; this was limited to a space of three days; it is a prayer for sweet rain (in the text three

moanthe ie written: if thie is richt the meaning mnet. he thatthis sutra in nravine far

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The Shinto gods who were believed to cause rain were also considered to be able to put a stop to it, and we often read of prayers offered to them to that effect. In times of drought mostly messengers were despatched to the different rain-bestowing gods within the so-called gokinai (7, 4% fy), the five provinces adjoining the capital, i.e. Yamashiro, Yamato, Kawachi, Izumi and Settsu'. The most powerful in this respect was apparently the river-god of Nibu kawakami (J} AE JI| E ji!) mentioned in the Engishiki? among the ten temples of Yoshino district, Yamato province. Not only hemp and fibre were offered to this river-god, but occasionally also a black horse in order to cause him to give rain*. His dragon-shape is evident from the term “Rain-master” (fj fit, U-sk’, by which he was often designated in imitation of the Chinese dragons‘, and which appears to have

Al is a misprint for H ). On the eighteenth day it thundered, and a little rain

slightly moistened (the earth). On the nineteenth there was an earthquake, and the slight rain forthwith stopped. The reading of the sutra was prolonged for two days more, because a good, moistening rain had not yet been obtained”.

1 Shoku Nihongi, Ch. VII, XI, XXXVIL, K.T.K. Vol. II, pp. 103, 187, 676.

2 Ch. IX, K.T.K. Vol. XIII, p. 291.

3 Shoku Nihongi, Ch. XXXIX, p. 739: yx pel 5B iN J} He J i ry d wr 8 tH, , Nihon Koki, Ch. XVI, K.T.K. Vol. UI, p. 82. Engishiki, Ch. II,

K.T.K. Vol. XIII, p. 144. 4 Cf. above, Book I, Ch. V, pp. 109 sqq. We find this term passim in the Shoku Nihon

koki (K.T.K. Vol. WI, p. 281: fff Bi) 18 FR GS PY YS. “The Rain-Masters

suddenly ran on the four seas’ (i.e. it rained over the whole country; p. 287: Fs

#2 JE & be PR FF AE JI EG Bim WE Fe Pe LE “The higher order of the principal fifth rank was conferred upon the Rain-Master, god of Nibu kawakami, who (hitherto) possessed the lower order of the principal fifth rank”; p. 300 (then he was raised to the lower order of the secondary fourth rank); p. 313 (prayers for rain having been made at the temple of the same Rain-Master by an Imperial envoy, that very evening the rain came down); p. 397 (nusa were offered to him in order to cause him to stop the continuous rains); p. 402: “Nusa and silk were offered to the upper and lower shrines of Matsuo and Kamo, and to ‘the shrines of Kibune and the Rain-Master, in order to pray for a sweet rain’; in the Sandai. jitsuroku, K.T.K. Vol. IV, p. 44: nusa and a blue (i.e. dark) horse offered to the Rain-Master of Nibu kawakami, in order to stop, the continuous rains; p. 395: nusa offered with the same purpose; p. 465: the same god raised to the principal third rank, and a black horse offered to him in order to cause rain; etc.; and in the Nihon isshi, K.T.K. Vol. VI, Ch. XVIII, p. 184: nusa offered to the Rain-Master, to stop the rain; Ch. XXVI, p. 270: elevated to the secondary fifth rank and prayed to for rain; Ch.. XXVII, p. 285: a black horse offered to him and prayed to for rain; p. 286: nusa offered; Ch. XXXI, p. 334: nusa and a horse offered, for stopping the continuous rains; p. 337: nusa offered and prayers made for rain; Ch. XXXVII, p. 412: nusa and a white horse from the Imperial stables offered in order to cause the Rain-Master to stop

the abundant rains.

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' been given to him as special title. He was also prayed to for stopping wind an rain!

‘The Kimpisho? states that Court nobles had the care of the offerings sent by the Emperor to the Nibu and Kibune shrines in order to pray for rain or to cause the dragon-gods to put a stop to continuous rains. These nobles, however, did not go there themselves, but despatched officials of the Jingikwan, or, on special occasions, Court officials (kurabito). There were sixteen Shinto shrines the gods, of which were worshipped for the purpose of causing or stopping rain, namely the seven “Upper shrines” (those of Ise, Iwashimizu, Kamo, Matsuo, Hirano, Inari and Kasuga), and further those of Oharano, Yamato Ishigami, Hirose and Tatsuta, Sumiyoshi, Nibu.and Kibune*.

Finally, in Buzen province, Kamige district, there was in the sorcalled Tatsu no fuchi (EQ) if), or “Dragon's Pool”, an originally Japanese dragon, who was famous. for bestowing rain upon those who prayed to him *. And in Echizen province, Sakai district, there is still nowadays a Shinto shrine of Kokurya Myojin,

HE WA omih, “the Black Dragon-god”, on the bank of the Kuzuryt-gawa, Ju BH HE J\| or “River of the Nine-headed Dragon”, also called Kokuryt-gawa, or “Black Dragon’s Flood”. If one prays there for rain, his prayer is certainly heard°.

§ 2. Horses offered to Shinto gods.

With regard to the horses offered to the rain-gods, we may refer to another passage °, where we read that in 838 white horses were offered twice to the god of Kibune ( 7fj iif), on Mount Kurama near Kyoto, another famous rain-god, and to the afore-

1 Shoku Nihon koki, Ch. VIII, p. 247. 2 2k ib 5 a work written in the Kenryaku era (1211—1212) by the Emperor “JontoKu; Gunsho ruiju, Vol. XVI, nr 467, Ch. as , pp. 1072 seq. See below, Ch. V, § 4.

a Enh. AR Km, KRG Bi. Re fe. AAR. Th.

4 Buzenkokushi, Bt hi ie written in 1865 by Taxapa Yosuiouixa, mw

HW # ir; Ch. TW, FF. p. at. 5 Nihon shiikyo fuzokushi (written in 1902, see below, Ch. III, § 12), p. 325, 6 Shoku Nihon koki, Ch. VII, p. 247: “Nusa, silk and a white horse were offered

tn 42 wea AE Wiheann and ta tha Dain Mantaw wad af NMihw baeraleawi. thin ann Anne

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said “Rain-Master’, in order to stop the rain. The ‘offering to the latter of a blue (i.e. dark coloured) horse in 859 (for stop-ping rain) and of a white one in 875 and 883 is stated in the Sandai jitsuroku', while black horses were twice offered to the same god in 877, as well as in 880 and 8852. It is no wonder that the Emperor repeatedly elevated this mighty river-god to a higher rank *. The Kimpishd*, a work written in the Kenryaku era (1211—1212) bij the Emperor Junroxv, says that, when at that time officials of the Jingikwan, the Department of Shintd Rites and Ceremonies, went to the shrines of Nibu (the “Rain-Master’’) and Kibune, in order’to pray for rain or to beseech these gods to stop the too abundant rains, they took a sacred horse with them from the Imperial stables, and when Kurabito (kurddo, or kurando, Jp A, officials of the kurddo-dokoro, which had the care. of the Imperial decrees). went to those temples, one of the Emperor’s ordinary horses or one taken from the stables of the retired Emperor was deemed sufficient. In case of stopping rain a red horse, and when rain was required a white horse was offered, for the colour red was avoided in praying for rain. The

_4 Ch. Ill, p. 41. “From the fifth month to the present month (the eighth) it had rained continuously, so that messengers were sent to the shrine of the Rain-Master of Nibu kawakami in Yamato province, and nusa and a blue horse etc. were presented to him; this-was done in order to supplicate him to stop the rain”. Ch. XXVII, p. 446: nusa and a. white. horse offered to the god of Nibu kawakami to cause him to stop the rain. Ch: XLIV, p. 606: nusa offered to the shrines of Ise, Kamo, Matsuo, Inari, Kibune and Nibu kawakami, and to- the last also a white horse, on account. of the heavy rains and the bad omens.

2 Sandai jitsuroku, Ch. XXXI, p. 464: a black horse offered to the god of Nibu kawakami, and nusa to the god of Kibune, with prayers for rain. Ch. XXXI, p. 465: the gdd of Nibu kawakami raised to the principal third rank, nusa and a black horse offered to him, and prayers said for rain. Ch. XXXVII, p. 543: nusa offered to-thé gods of eleven Shinto shrines (Kamo and others) and prayers said for rain; but a black horse added to the offerings sent to the temple of Nibu kawakami. Ch. XLVIII, p. 666: nusa and a black horse offered to the Rain-Master-god of Nibu kawakami.

3 Comp. the above notes. Shoku Nihon koki, Ch. IX, pp. 287, 300 ete.

4 Hk Fi, Ph; Gunsho ruijz, Vol. XVI, nv 467, Ch. RR, pp. 1072 seq : Wh aK aI gt Ai oar Damier eek Bags BH. AGMARLS, HERES HG. Raw Bex. Ik WHE. it Eth. HE 70 Fi) aE HR SK OTR. ERG th... BK, ii WEE LWA EH. MALAY KK, OWE, IEW HE.

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Engishiki', ou the contrary, states that in the Engi era (901—922) a white horse was offered in the former case, a black one in the latter. This may have varied at different times; red (or blue, i.e. dark coloured), black and white were at any rate the colours, of which red was limited to cases in which the stopping of rain was prayed for.

§ .3 Buddhism wins field.

Especially in the last of the six oldest Japanese Standard -Histories (the Rikkokushi, >, jal HA), i. e. the Sandat jitsuroku (written in 910), we see the Buddhist priests, gradually prevailing in their struggle against the Shintoists. Whereas formerly in times of drought there was only one way of averting this evil, namely praying and offering to the Shinto rain-gods, and among them especially to the dragon-shaped river-gods, now the Emperors began to employ Buddhistic assistance at the same time, or sometimes even without addressing the Shinto deities.

It is most characteristic that in the seventh month of 877, when such a heavy drought prevailed that the Prime Minister, Fujiwara no Mototsune, tendered his resignation because he con-sidered it a sign of his bad government, nothing was said about prayers or offerings to Shinto gods”. The Emperor did not accept Mototsune’s resignation, and ascribed the drought to a curse of the Empress Jingd’s mausoleum at Tatanami (#)§ FJ) in Yamato, whither he accordingly sent messengers to investigate the matter. They reported that a stag had been cut to pieces and eaten, and that peasants had cut down three hundred and thirty two trees near the mausolea; the guilty officials were punished; but the drought continued. Then one hundred Buddhist priests were summoned’to the Shishinden (a building of the Palace) and there read the Daihannya (Mahaprajiaparamita) siitra for three days; this was the siitra to be read in autumn, but at the same time used in causing rain. After two days a thunderstorm arose, and clouds covered the sky. A slight rain fell, but this was not suffi-cient, so that the sitra reading was prolonged for two days and_ the Ni-d ({£ =f) siitra was read. The next day even the water of the pond in the Shinsenen, or Sacred Spring Park (see below, § 4), was required to drain the rice-fields; in one day and one night the pond was quite dry. Then the Emperor sent messengers

4 Quoted ibidem.

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to Jingo’s mausoleum, in order to apologize for the cutting of the trees and the killing of the stag. Sutras were read there for five days without any result whatever, and some of the bonzes were so ashamed that they stole away. One of them, however, the well-known high-priest Dento Daihoshi |, gave the advice to have one of his pupils try his magic art of making rain by means of tantras. Then the latter was summoned, and was clever enough to take a limit of five days. The next day an earthquake and a thunderstorm announced the good result of the tantras, the rain poured down for three days, and there was great joy in the Palace and in the land.

Two years before, in 875, messengers were despatched to fifteen great Buddhist temples, and the Daihannya siitra was read in order to obtain rain *. Sixty Buddhist priests read the same holy text in the Taikyokuden (a building of the Palace), and fifteen others recited the Daiwnrin seiu kyo (Fx Wea Zp WY KK, “Great

, Cloud-wheel Rainpraying sutra”)? in the above mentioned park Shinsenen. High officials went to the Imperial mausoleum at Fukakusa and, apologizing for the evil that might have been done, they prayed for benevolence, for the Jingikwan, the Department of Shinto rites and ceremonies, had declared the drought to be a curse on account of the cutting of trees at this

mausoleum.

§ 4. The Sacred Spring Park.

The Shinsenen (jill 4 Ht, “Sacred Spring Park”) was an impor-tant place in the days of old, and it is mentioned innumerable times in the ancient annals, from the Nihon koki down to the Fuso ryakki. The ways in which it is spoken of, however, are quite different. In the older works the Emperors are said to have visited it many times for their amusement, to see westlers étc., but in the Sandai jitsuroku it appears to have become the place where Buddhist services were held in order to obtain rain. Besides in 875 we read about such a ceremony in 877, when Dento Daihdshi, the same who a month later recommended his pupil for making rain by means of tantras*, went to the park at the head of twenty one other Buddhist priests, and, practising the method of reciting the “Sitra of the golden-winged bird-king”

1 4 WE k HE fifi; of. Fuso ryakhi, Ch. XX, K.T.K. Vol. VI, p. 598.

2 Ch. XXVII, pp. 414 seq. . 3 This is the Mahaimegha sutra, treated in the Introduction, § 4, pp. 25 sqq.

4 See above, § 3, this page.

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(no doubt the Garuda, to frighten the dragon and make him ascend) ', prayed for rain. The next day another high-priest, the Risshi Enju, and a high member of the Board of Ceremonies, Tachibana Ason, were sent by the Emperor to the Daibutsu of Todaiji at Nara, in order to pray there for three days; yet it was all in vain. Then the river-god of Kako? in Hitachi province and Karo* in Inaba were elevated to higher ranks, and messengers were sent to all the Imperial mausolea-with the announcement — that the nengd (name of the era) was changed (from Jogwan to Gwangyd, a means of averting the continuation of the evil, i.e. the drought). Then followed what is told above (§ 3). It is interesting to observe how the assistance of the ancient Shinto deities was not called in before the Buddhist priests had proved to be unable to cause rain, and even then no prayers or offerings took place, as formerly, but the gods were only elevated to higher ranks, and the change of the nengd was only announced to the Imperial ancestors.

It was the pondi in the park which made the Buddhists choose it for their rain-prayers. We read in the Sanda jitsuroku ® that on the 23th day of the 6th month of 875 A.D., when all the performances of the Buddhist priests, related above °, had only caused a slight, insufficient rain to fall, an old man said: “In . the pond of the Sacred Spring Park there is a divine dragon. Formerly in times of heavy drought the water of this pond was let out and the pond was dried up; bells and drums were beaten, aud when (the dragon) answered (the request), it thundered and rained. This is sure to have a good result”. Then the Emperor. despatched high officials to the park and had the water let out.

4 See above, Introd. p. 7; cf. Book I, Ch. V, § 3, p. 119. 2 Yay YT. mh (yay YT. (“rivers”) is in China the Hwang-ho and the Yang-tszé

. kiang). 3 Ai -

4 Sandai jitsuroku, Ch. XXXI, P. 465.

5-Ch. XXVII, p. 445: t#F A. ih erg rt ERB, KA, TR A eH Wf . i HR he th. wR

a FAR NE

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Other officials, the Court musicians, took place on a dragon-boat (BE J}, a boat with a dragon-shaped prow, see above, Book I, pp. 83 sqq.) and beat bells and drums, sang and danced, so that their voices “made heaven shake”. The next day it thundered and rained a little, but after a short while the sky became clear again, and outside of Kyoto the dust was only moistened a little. On the 25th the result was the same, and on the 26th the officials, who incessantly, night and day, had been making music on the pond, were praised by the Emperor and were allowed to stop the work.

From this passage we learn that the dragon of the pond in the Sacred Spring Park was originally not an Indian Naga, introduced by the Buddhists, but a Chinese, perhaps a Japanese, dragon, which formerly used to be forced to ascend and to make rain by depriving him of his element, the water, or by stirring him up by a terrible noise, according to the Chinese methods described above'. The Buddhist priests identified this dragon with an Indian Naga-king, whom they caused to give rain by reading sutras. In the seventh century, however, the Chinese ideas prevailed at the Japanese Court, and the Emperor himself sometimes proceeded to a river, and, kneeling and bowing to the four quarters of the compass, prayed to Heaven in the Chinese way. Then it shundered and continuous rains made the crops thrive *.

In 875 the old Chinese methods of causing rain apparently had sunk into oblivion at the Japanese Court, but were tried again when the old man turned the attention of the Courtiers to them, because the siitras failed to have any effect.

Like the Shintd dragon-gods the dragon in the Sacred Spring Park was believed not only to be able to make rain, but also to posses the faculty of stopping it, if it was pouring too abundantly. Thus in 880 a Buddhist priest recited the Kwancho (Pz JA. washing the head, baptism) s#ra there for three days, in order to stop the rain *.

Also the Nihon kiryaku* contains several passages relating to Buddhist rain-prayers in the park. In 972 the so-called “Law (method) of the Rain-praying-sitra” (Seiukyd-ho, He RY #E HE, i;e. the doctrine of the Mahamegha sitra, cf. above, pp. 25 sqq.)

4 Book I, Ch. V, § 3, p. 119; cf. the Chinese legend concerning the Emperor Shi Hwang, whose soldiers made a terrible noise to frighten the dragon god (Book I, Ch. VI, § 7, p. 125).

2 Fuso ryakki, Ch. 1V, K.T.K. Vol. VI, p. 508, the Emperor Kwogyoku in 642.

3 Sandai jitsuroku, Ch. XXXVII, p. 541.

4A AS #E ZZ, witten after 1036, K.T.K. Vol. V.

Verh. Kon. Akad. vy. Wetensch. (Afd. Letterk.) N. R. Dl. XIII, N° 2, 11 Digitized by Microsoft®

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was practised there for nine days with a splendid result, as well as in 982, 985 and 1018".

When leaving the Annals and turning to the legendary works, we obtain the following information. The Konjaku monogatari® relates how in a time of heavy drought the Emperor ordered Koso Daisni (774—835) to cause rain, and the saint for seven days practised the Doctrine of the Rain-praying-sitra. in the Sacred Spring Park. Then there appeared on the right side of the altar a snake’, five shaku long, carrying a little gold-coloured snake, about five sun in length, and after a while both disappeared into the pond. Only four of the twenty priests who were sitting in a row could see the apparition. One of these elected ones asked what it meant, whereupon another answered that the appearance of the Indian dragon-king Zennyo, # 4H, who lived in India in the Anavatapta* pond and was now living in the pond of the Sacred Spring Park, was a sign that the doctrine would be successful. And really, a dark cloud rose up in the Northwest, and soon the rain was pouring down. Thenceforth, whenever drought prevailed, the same doctrine was practised in the park, and never in vain. ;

The Kojidan* states that this event occurred in the year 824. According to this work the Buddhist priest Shubin (4 #<) requested the Emperor to be allowed to practise the Rain-prayer-doctrine himself instead of Kikai (Kobo Daishi), as he was as much experienced in such matters as the latter. This was granted, and he succeeded in causing thunder and rain in Kyoto, but not beyond Higashi yama. Then Kobo Daishi was ordered to make it rain over the whole of the country, which he promised to do within seven days. This limit, however, expired, and the “sky was still cloudless as before. The saint, absorbed in medi-tation (samadhi), arrived at the conclusion that Shubin, his rival,

4 Second Part, Ch. VI, p. 940; Ch. VII, p. 975; Ch. VIII, p. 986; Ch. XIII, p. 1415; at the same time, in 1018, the “Five Dragons Festival”, hh HE RR, took place.

9 K.T.K. Vol. XVI, Ch. XIV, nr 44, pp. 842 sq. 3 Here we find the snake form of the Naga; in the Sandai jitsuroku and the Kojidan the god is called a dragon.

4 Bay fre 3 AW , translated into it },. Buddhist works mention a female Naga, called ae ee Zennyo, “Virtuous Woman”; but the same Naga is represented

as a man with a dragon’s tail, standing on the clouds, in a picture of the ninth century, in Kongobu-ji on Koya-san (Kokkwa, Nr 227, Pl. I). Two other pictures representing this Naga, also on Koya-san, have not yet been described. Cf. Petrucci, Les documents de la Mission Chavannes, Revue de l'Université de Bruxelles, Avril—Mai 1910, pp, 495 sq.

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had caught all the dragons and shut them up in a water-pitcher by means of magical formulae (tantras). This was the reason why his (Kobo's) own prayers were in vain. He decided, however, not to abandon his hope, and continued to recite the siitra. During the night of the second day he said: “In this pond is a dragon, called Zennyo, who pities mankind. To him I have prayed, and now I see him rising out of the midst of the lake, gold-coloured, about eight sun long, seated on the head of another dragon, eight shaku in length”. This was reported to the Emperor, who soon sent a messenger with offerings for the Dragon-King. And when the seven days of the new vow had expired, a heavy thunderstorm broke forth and a torrent of rain came down all over the country, so that. the water of the pond overflowed the altar. As a reward for having saved the people from starvation, Kukai was elevated to the rank of Shdsdzu, bishop '.

The Tatheiki? gives another version of the same legend. After having stated that the park was laid out in the time of the ’ Emperor Kwammu (781—806) in imitation of the Ling yiu (See fH] ), the park of the Chinese Emperor Wen, of the Cheu dynasty, the author informs us that the same Japanese monarch (who built the Palace at Kyoto, the new capital which he founded and made his residence in 794), had two Buddhist monasteries built, on the East and West sides of the Sujaku gate, called Toji and Seiji, “the Eastern and the Western Monastery”. The former was under the direction of Kobo Daishi, who had to guard the Emperor’s rank, the latter stood under Bishop Shubin, who had to protect His Majesty’s body. After Kobo Daishi’s return from China, Shubin, who had been the great man during Kobo’s absence, was cast into the shade by his rival. The Emperor, who had been in great admiration for Shubin’s miraculous magic power, now considered Kobo his superior. This was more than the ambitious Shubin could bear; he fostered a deep hatred against his sovereign as well as against his rival, and in order to revenge himself on the former he caught all the dragon-gods of the inner and outer seas by means of the power of his tantras, and shut them up in a water-pitcher. In this way he caused the terrible drought about which we read in the Konjaku monogatari and Kojidan; it lasted fully three months and made the people suffer immensely. Then Kobo Daishi reported to the Emperor that there. was only one dragon, a

4 The same legend is to be found in the Genko Shakusho, Ch. I, K.T.K. Vol, XIV, p. 654. 2 Ch. XII, pp. 11 seqg.

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Bodhisattva of higher rank than Shubin, namely the Dragon-king Zennyo of the Anavatapta pond! in Northern India, who was not in Shubin’s power. Immediately a pond was dug before the Palace and filled with pure water, whereupon Kobo invited the Dragon-king to come and live there. And behold, a gold-coloured dragon,. eight sun long, appeared, seated on the head of a snake, more than nine shaku in length, and entered the pond. When Kobo had reported this lucky news, the Emperor sent a messenger wich all kinds of offerings in order to worship the Dragon-king. The result was marvellous, for soon it rained for three days all over the Empire. Since that day the Shingon sect flourished more and more, and Kobo Daishi was highly revered by high and low. In vain Shubin worshipped Gundari ® and the Yakshas, to destroy his enemy, for as soon as Kobo heard this, he began to worship Dai Itoku Myo-d°, and there was a violent struggle in the air between these two parties. “In order to make Shubin careless, Kobo caused the rumour of his’ own death to be spread, which created great sorrow among all classes of the people, but great joy in his enemy’s heart. As Kobo had expected, Shubin broke down his altar and stopped worshipping the demons, but at the same moment Kobo’s power struck him and he fell dead on the floor. His monastery soon decayed and disappeared, and Toji’s glory increased yearly. Kobo made a dragon of so-called chigaya (Imperata arundinacea, a kind of reed) and placed it upon an altar*. Then he promised to the selected crowd which had assembled, that he would cause the real dragon to stay in the park and protect the country by his doctrine, while the Dragon-king of reed would become a big - dragon and go to the Anavatapta pond in India. According to another tradition the reed dragon ascended to the sky and flew away in an eastern direction, but stopped in Owari province, at Atsuta’s famous Shinto shrine, a lucky foreboding of the spreading of Buddha’s Law to the East. Kobo said: “When this Dragon-king (i.e. the real one) goes to another country, the pond will dry up, the land will be waste and the world will be in poverty.. Then my priests (the Shingon priests) must pray to the Dragon-king to stay, and thus save the country”.

So we know that the Buddhist priests, ordered by the different

4A HE YH, - 2 iz ys Fl], King of the Yakshas. 3 ya fits AF = identified with Yamantaka, a manifestation of a as “Destroyer of Yama”. d

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Emperors to pray in the park for rain or for stopping rain, always belonged to the Shingon sect.

The Kojidan' relates how in 1016 Bishop Shinkaku (3 #) prayed for rain in the park and had a splendid success within a few hours, after a very long and heavy drought. The Naidaijin, one of the Ministers, had sent him a message to warn him that he would be derided by the world if he failed, but the bishop answered that it was not for himself, but for the people’s sake that he would try. And behold, on the hour of the sheep dark clouds arose, a heavy thunderstorm burst forth and the rain fell down in torrents.

In the Gempei seisuiki® we read that in 1179 the “Secret Doctrine of the Rain-prayer-sitra”’ was practised in vain in the Sacred Spring Park, nor had the prayers of other powerful priests any effect, till at last a secret tune, played on a biwa at the shrine of Sumiyoshi, caused a continuous and heavy rain to fall down. According to the Hyakurenshé*, the same sutra was read in the park in the years 1215 and 1224; and the Genko Shakusho 4 relates the same thing about the year 1082.

The Zoku kojidan® mentions a two-storied gate on the south-side of the park, which was destroyed by the “Dragon of the Sacred Spring”, who in Fujiwara no Saneyori’s time (899-—970) entered this gate in the shape of a beautiful man. He sat down, and when he was asked from where he came, he answered that he lived in the West and had passed the gate on his way to another place. Then he disappeared, and at the same time the sky became dark and a terrible thunderstorm arose. Tradition said that the Buddhist bishop Genkwa was just reciting the Rain-prayer-sutra in the park, when the gate was destroyed.

The Kimpisho® tells us that in case of drought the Court-officials had first of all the task of cleaning the Sacred Spring Park. Then they were ordered by the Emperor to go to the

4 Ch. Il, K.T.K. Vol. XV, p. 80. 2 A 2p JS bai 8, ‘Record of the rise and fall of the Minamoto and Taira [PA Families”, written by an unknown author about 1250; Ch. XVIII, p. 474. 3 Ey Sif 4b. written after 1259, Ch. XII and XIII, K.T.K. Vol. XIV, pp. 195 and 1212. 4 5G er Fe a, written before 1346 by the Buddhist priest Smen, fifj GR,

Ch. X, K.T.K. Vol. XIV, p, 813. 5 ies ns es BR: probably written at the end of the thirteenth century, Ch. II,

Gunsho ruiju, nr 487, Vol. XVII, p. 657. 6 Cf. above, p. 156, note 2; Gunsho ruiju, Vol. XVI, nr 467, Ch. aS » p. 1073.

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park with some servants in order to sprinkle water on the stones near the pond (this was, of course, a kind of sympathetic magic) and to ery with loud voices the following words: “Give rain, o Sea-dragon-king” '. This was the custom in the author’s time, but not before that age. When this ceremony had no success within seven days, other Court-officials took their place. When their work was crowned with success, 1.e. when it rained, they reported this to the Emperor and obtained food and clothes as a reward, whereupon they danced in the court-yard or at the entrance of the Palace. As to other rites, the Kimpishd mentions the praying for rain at the Imperial tombs’, and the reading of stitras in the Taikyokuden, a building of the Palace’, or in the seven great Buddhist temples of Nara (Todaiji, Kofukuji, Genkoji, Daianji, Yakushiji, Seidaiji and Horyaji), or in the different Shints temples. In the Buddhist shrines the Seukyd, i.e. the Mahamegha sitra+, in the Shinto sanctuaries the Kongo-hannya-kyd, i. e. the Vajra-prajaaparamita ‘sitra®, were recited. Sometimes, for instance in the Owa era (961—963), the Great Bear was worshipped in the Sacred Spring Park, in oar to obtain rain.

An interesting legend is told about the Dragon of. the Sacred Spring Park in the Tazheiki*®. Although it has nothing to do with rain, we may mention this tale here in connection with the other stories concerning the same dragon. It runs as follows. — In 1335 the Emperor Godaigo was invited by the Dainagon Saionji Kimmune, one of the Fujiwara, to come to his house in order to see a new bathroom. This invitation was given with the intention to kill His Majesty, who would have stepped upon a loose board of the floor and dropped down upon a row of swords, put upright with the points upwards. Fortunately the Emperor was saved by the dragon of the pond in the park, who in the night before he intended to go to the fatal house appeared to him in a dream in the shape of a woman, clad in a red hakama and light-coloured garments. She said to him: “Before you are tigers and wolves, behind you brown and spotted bears. Do not go to-morrow”. At his question as to who she was, she answered that she had lived for many years in the Sacred Spring Park. Then she went away. When the Emperor awoke, he

4 Apparently the legend concerning the Anavatapta pond was forgotten, otherwise they would not have called him a sea-dragon,

2 Cf. above, p. 158 sq. 3 Cf. above, ibidem.

4 Cf. above, ibidem, and p. 162. 5 Cf. above, p. 34 (NANJO, nrs 10—12).

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thought his dream very strange, but, as he had promised to go to Saionji’s house, he decided to keep his word. On his way thither, however, he went to the park and prayed to the Dragon-god. And lo! all of a sudden the water of the pond was disturbed, and the waves violently struck the bank, although there was no wind. This agreed so strikingly with his dream, that he did not proceed on his way, but meditated as to what to do, whereupon Kimishige Chiinagon came to warn his Imperial Master against Saionji’s treacherous intentions, about which he had heard that very morning. So Godaigo returned to the Palace, and Saionji was banished to Izumo, which he never reached because he was killed on the road.

The Kimpisho' states the following: “In 1211 the Onydshi ( (2 G fii, Court diviners) held the festival called Goryisai (f.

BE 3), the ‘Five Dragons Festival’, also named ‘Amagoi no matsuri’ (32 2%), or ‘Rain-praying festival”. For three days the onyoshi fasted and kept indoors (i.e. in a temple within the park); the Emperor, however, [did not share the festival, for he] ate fish and offered no clothes or mirrors. Sitras read in the ‘Dragon-hole’ (FE Ft, Ryi-ketsu) were also very successful, or those read in the Sacred Spring Park, or offerings made to Surten (9K HK, ‘Water-Deva’, explained by the commentator as ‘ Tembu no kami’, ‘God of the Heavenly Department’), when several persons read these siitras or made these offerings”.

As to the “Five Dragons Festival” *, we read in the Fusé ryakki® that this was celebrated in 904, on the eighth day of the seventh month, when a heavy drought prevailed. The Emperor then. ordered the Onyoéryo (the Department of Divination) to celebrate this festival in Kitayama, a mountain near Kyoto, at a place called Janigwatsu kokko. As no Buddhist priests, but the onydshi were the leaders of this ceremony, it was apparently not practised in honour of Nagas but of Chinese dragons.

The author of the Juzheiki* complains that at his time (about 1382) the park was in a deplorable condition on account of the war, and he supposes that this must be very disagreeable for _ the Dragon-god, who perhaps had left the place because there

4 L.J., Ch. ?f, p. 1072. 2 Cf. above, p. 162, note 1.

3 Ch, XXIII, K.T.K. Vol. VI, p. 669: Fa a] K HER 4h (Gi KE BR. RaW +o AAA. BRE.

4 Ch. XIl, p. 18a.

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was very little water in the pond. As to the Rain-prayer-sitra, i.e. the Mahamegha sutra, this was still in his days considered a powerful means for obtaining rain.

Before leaving this subject we may observe that, according to the Kokushi daijiten', the park was repeatedly destroyed and restored, but that the pond is still there, and on a small island in the midst of it there are two chapels, one dedicated to Zennyo, the Dragon-king, the other to Benten. So this dragon, identified with an Indian Naga, has bestowed rain ep Japan for eleven hundred years!

§ 5. The “Dragon-hole” on Mount Murobu.

The above-mentioned Dragon-hole (Ryi-ketsu, FE Ft), where sitras were read in order to cause rain, is spoken of in the Kojidan*, where we read the following details.

The Dragon-hole on Mount Murobu’, in Yamato province, is the abode of the Dragon-King Zentatsu ( #4 33, Sudatta? Sudar-cana?*), who first lived in the Sarusawa’® pond at Nara. In olden times, when a harlot had drowned herself in the latter pond, the Dragon-King fled to Mount Kasuga, where he lived till the corpse of a man of low standing was thrown into his pond. Then he fied again and established himself on Mount Murdbu, where the Buddhist bishop Kenkei observed his religious austerities. Another priest, Nittai by name, who for many years cherished the wish of seeing and worshipping the Dragon-King’s venerable shape, entered the hole in order to seek him. The entrance was pitchdark, but after having penetrated into the inner part of the hole, he arrived at a splendid palace under a blue sky. Through an opening of a window-blind (sudare), made of pearls, which was moved by the wind, he saw a part of the Hokkekyd, the Saddharma Pundarika sitra, lying on a jewel table. Then he heard a voice asking him who he was, and when he mentioned his name and the reason of his entering the hole, the Dragon- | King (for he was the invisible speaker) said: “Here you cannot

4 Bil K ge HH, “Great Dictionary of Japanese History” (1908), p. 1338 s. v. Shinsenen, 2 Ch. V, K.T.K. Vol. XV, p. 119.

3 af AE IL. 4 Dr Nanso had the kindness to point out to me, that ae 3 may be Sudatta,

but that there is no Dragon-king of this name; Sudarcana, however, is found in the list of the Naga-rajas. x Ade a iL -

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see me. Leave this hole and you will meet me at a distance of about 3 cho from the entrance”. So Nittai left the hole and actually beheld the Dragon-king, who arose out of the ground, wearing a robe and a cap, and disappeared after having been worshipped by the priest. The latter built a Shinté temple on the spot and erected an image of the Dragon-king, which was still there at the author’s time (in the beginning of the thirteenth century). Sutras were read at this shrine when people prayed for rain; and when the Dragon-king lent a willing ear to the prayers, a dark cloud hung over the hole. This cloud spread over the whole sky and the rain came down. !

So tells the Kojidan; and it strikes us at once thata Buddhist priest erected a Shinto shrine in honour of the Naga. The legend was apparently invented by the Buddhists to convert this dragon-hole, which probably was the abode of one of the mountain dragons of old Japan mentioned above ’, into a place of Buddhist sanctity. They changed the old Shintd cult into a Naga worship, without going, however, as far as to replace the Shintd shrine with a Buddhist temple. The Ry#ketsu-jinja, the “Shinto-shrine of the Dragon-hole”’, was afterwards called the Ry#-d-sha, or Dragon-king’s temple, and was famous for the rain bestowing power of its dragon-god. °

The same dragon is called Zennyo (3 &, “The Good Woman”, comp. the Zennyo, ## #7, in the Sacred Spring Park, identified with Anavatapta *), instead of Zentatsu, in the Genkd Shakusho 5, where the Buddhist priest Ringa*, who died in 1150, is said to have been so powerful that, when he prayed for rain, Zennyo, the Dragon-king, appeared. The same work states that the Bud-dhist priest Keien'’ lived for a thousand days as a hermit near the Dragon-hole on Mount Murobu. On his way from there to another place he crossed a bridge over a river, when suddenly

1 ASE Pr cat. BAM EM. FARES. RWC A RRRARRSREE. ARMS WAC LARD. wih EMM KR LA

2 Pp. 135 sqq. 3 Cf. Yosurpa Toco (= FH HE fI)’s Geographical Lewicon (Dai Nihon chimei

jisho, K H as wh 4 Be 3), Vol. I, p. 286, s.v.

4 See above, p. 162. 5 Ch. Xi. K.T.K. Vol. XIV, p. 828.

6 HK A: 7 Be [Ei]. who lived 1143—1293.

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a lady, noble looking and beautifully dressed, came and, without showing her face, politely asked him for the mudra (mystic finger-charm) used to become at once a Buddha. At-his question as to who she was, she answered: “I am the Dragon Zennyo”. Then he taught her the mudra, whereupon she said: “This is exactly the same mudra as that of the seven former Buddhas”; and when the priest requested her to show him her face, she replied: “My shape is so terrible that no man can look upon it. Yet I cannot refuse your wish”. Thereupon she rose into the air and stretched out the little finger of her right hand. It proved to be a claw, more than ten shaku long, which spread a five-coloured light. Then she vanished at once. !

A dragon of the same name (Zennyo) was said to live in the Zennyo ryi-0 chi? or “Dragon-king Zennyo’s pond” near the “Chapel of the thirty Guardian-gods”* on a mountain-peak in ‘ Kawachi province, Ishikawa district, called Tomyo-dake or “Lan-tern-peak” on account of a Dragon-lantern which was seen there *, and in a lake on Mount Washio, in the same province, Kawachi district (now Naka-Kawachi), near a Shinto temple. On both these places he was prayed to for rain with much success °.

§ 6. Reborn as a rain-giving dragon.

In the Kojidan® we read about Bishop Gonkyi, of Kwazan, to whom in the midst of a dense cloud a sacred dragon appeared together. with the priest Shokyi'’, of the Western pagoda *, on Hieizan. This dragon was the “real shape” of Gobyo (if) Jaq) Daishi, i.e. Bishop Jie °, which Gonkyi had often prayed to see. When he asked why the priest was in the dragon-god’s company, he was informed that Shokyi would become a relative of this god (i.e. a dragon). As soon as Gonkyii awoke, he sent a messenger to the Sait6 monastery in order to inquire after Shikyi’s health. On hearing that the priest had been ill for

4 Genko Shakusho, Ch. XII, p. 840. 2 3 oe HE EW. 3 Sanju banshin dé, —= ss ay mh w ‘

4 Yuko meisho ryaku, YE Fy iy PX, written in 1697 by Ryo-zr, JT aR, Ch. IV, p. 59. 5 Ibidem, Ch, IV, p. 51. 6 Ch. III, pp. 69 sq.

7 PE sie. 8 Saits, py.

9 Bk 2% TK AM, Jie Daishi, a famous Tendai priest who lived 912—985 and

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more than ten days, he visited the patient and told him about the dream. Shékyii shed tears with joy, for now he was sure that his prayer to become a relative of Gobyé Daishi would be fulfilled. After his death he was buried near the latter's tomb. In a time of drought the Daihannya hyd, i.e. the Mahaprajna-paramita sitra (cf above, p. 34) was recited there in order to avert the calamity, when suddenly a little snake appeared on the stone floor of the tomb, crept slowly behind Shodkyi’'s grave and entered it. A small cloud of smoke arose from the grave to the sky, and, spreading gradually, filled the air, till it became a big cloud; then a thunderstorm raged and heavy rains rejoiced the thirsty earth.

A little further ' we read that Bishop Jie, at the time of his being abbot (zasu, Jj 3) of Hieizan, in somebody’s dream was said to be a metamorphosis of Utpala, one of the eight Great Dragon-kings ?. .

§ 7. Buddhist priests dominating the dragons.

The Kojidan* mentions the remarkable answer given by Bishop Jokai* to the Emperor when the latter expressed his admiration for the priest’s power, because it had rained violently for a couple of hours after Jdkai had been praying for two days. “Your Majesty”, said he, “this is not my rain, and I cannot accept any reward for it. My rain, however, will arise to-morrow from the Northwest and come down. Then you may reward me”. And actually the next day the clouds came from the Northwest, and it rained for three days.

A master in calling up and dominating the dragon-gods was also the Buddhist priest Jokwan°, who in the Engi era (901—922) freed the country from a terrible drought by causing the dragons to move about amidst thunder and rain®. The same bonze conquered a poisonous dragon on Hieizan. There was on this mountain a rock in the shape of an open dragon’s mouth, and the monks who lived near by in Saito’, and especially in a monastery called Senju-in*, all died soon. At last is was made

(

4 Ch. III, p. 70. 2 See above, p. 4, and below, Ch. IV. 3 Ch. Il, p. 83.

4 hE iE. 5 if i. 6 Uji shi monogatari, - "ie a ja Py a. written 1213—41218; Ch. II, K.T.K. Vol. XII, pp. 34 seq.

7g BE. SF BE.

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out that the rock was the cause of their death, and since that time it was called the “Poisonous-Dragon-rock” '. Nobody: would live there any more, and Saito and Senju-in became quite deserted and fell to ruins. Then Jokwan went to the place and prayed for seven days and nights before the rock. In the last night the sky became cloudy and there was a terrible movement in the air, while Hieizan was covered with clouds. After a while, however, it cleared up, and behold! the rock had disappeared and only some rubbish was left. Thenceforth it was safe to live in Saito, and Jokwan’s name was kept in grateful memory and admiration by the monks of the mountain stil] in the author’s days. Apparently the poisonous dragon had left the place in consequence of the prayers which were also in times of drought so powerful in stirring up the dragons and the clouds *.

According to the Fusd ryakki*, on the 2\th day of the second month of 1065 the priests of Hieizan assembled in the Kamo temple at Kyoto, where they prayed for rain and recited the Ni-d sitra. Then a little snake appeared and spit out some vapour before the sanctuary, whereupon a little rain fell down.

The Gempei seisuiki* relates that in 1174 such a heavy drought prevailed that the rivers dried up and the fields could not be cultivated. Then a priest of Hieizan, Choken® by name, who had the rank of Gonshosozu*, in order to assist the peasants wrote a letter to the Dragon-gods and read it aloud, looking up to the sky. In this letter he reproved and instructed the dragons, at the same time imploring them to make it rain. Heavenly men (gods) and dragon-gods, he wrote, ought not to be ashamed to remedy a wrong they had done, and therefore they, the dragons, had to cause a “sweet rain” (+ fy) to fall and to put a stop to this terrible drought. The dragons listened to these words and gave continuous rains, so that both Emperor and people were filled with admiration for Choken’s power and with devotion for Buddha’s Law.

§ 8. Dragon-women in ponds.

The Sansha kidan* contains the following legends. In the

1 Dokuryt no iwa, FE HE ft aes 2 Uji shui monogatari, 1.1. 3 Ch. XXIX, K.T.K. Vol. VI, p. 807. 4 Ch. Ill, Teikoku Bunko, Vol. V, 69.

5 Oe = : 6 usta Ap {er ae “Vice-bishop”.

7 = Ph 2 FH, written in 1764 by Horra Baxusur, $i FA BX 7K; Ch. 1,

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neighbourhood of seven ponds in the mountains of Enuma, a district of Kaga province, many strange things happened. There were people who said that they had heard there the voices of several hundreds of men in the midst of the night, and that they had seen these men lighting torches upon the ponds. Anglers had seen the water rising without any visible reason, and the more they retreated, the higher the water rose, till they at last stopped angling and fied home as fast as their legs could carry them. When looking back at a distance of one or two cho from the ponds, they saw a silver-dragon (48 ff) in the shape of a boy (ginryti no warabegata, Hx F~) appearing above the water. There was a road between these ponds, from where sometimes a huge face dashed forth; and one night it was as if men were fighting there.

In times of drought the people worshipped these ponds and there prayed for rain. One day a little girl was found there by the inhabitants of a neighbouring monastery. They took her home and educated her, but after twelve years she constantly uttered the wish to make a pilgrimage to Ise, and although she received the answer that this did not agree with the law of the empire (as she was a woman), she persisted in speaking about it. At last her foster-fathers gave in, secretly hired a sedan-chair and let her go to Ise. She went off gladly, but when she came at a lake, she said: “This must be my lake, take me to the bank”, and when the sedan-chair carriers did so, she alighted, adjusted her clothes and said: “I am well acquainted here; you can go home”. Then with her beautiful garments on she jumped into the water and disappeared in the deep. She was a beautiful girl, but her face was long (a sign of something unnatural '). Although the author does not state it, this was apparently a female dragon, temporarily transformed into a girl.

Another dragon-woman lived in the so-called Rope-pond (Nawa ga ike, #48 7? yt) in Etch province. This was a pond in the mountains, about two ri in diameter. Heavy storms and rains often raged in this vicinity, when everywhere around splendid weather prevailed. Down to the author’s time the dragon-woman was said to live in the pond and to cause its never drying up; and his con-temporaries still ascribed to her a great influence on the weather *.

4 Bewitching women are often described as having extraordinarily long faces. Cf. Sanshii kidan, Ch. I, p. 673, where a gigantic woman with a huge face is supposed

to be a fox or a tanuki, at any rate the vital spirit Cp of an old creature. 2 Ibidem, Ch. V, p. 839.

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A similar pond is spoken of in the Sanshi kidan kohen'. An evil snake (akuja, He he) was believed to have there her abode and to commit all kinds of strange things. When one stood on the bank of the pond and looked over the water, such a dreary wind was blowing, that most people fled home. If one prayed there for rain, his prayer was usually heard. The author was in doubt whether a terrible looking woman, who one night appeared on a neighbouring bridge to a man returning from a festival in a slightly tipsy condition, was the snake of the pond or a trans-formed wind-tanuki*. She stood on the balustrade of the bridge, binding up her hair and laughing loudly with open mouth, so that all her black teeth were visible. Her malicious face was square and very ugly, and it seemed as if she had but one leg. When people approached with torches, she flew away. Another time she attacked a man who had also enjoyed a good cup of sake and who was on his way home in the dead of night. She flung him from the road into the grass and then disappeared, but the poor fellow was ill for a whole month. As the water of the pond was flowing around the village and under this bridge, it is possible, says Horra, that the woman was the snake of the pond, although her body, which she moved so easily in flying away, did not remind one of a dragon-snake (7H #%) (which always wants a cloud as vehicle). The name of the pond, “Shiroshiito (Fy if A.) no ike”, or “Pond of the White and Ugly Person”, had perhaps something to do with the transfor-mation of the snake into an ugly woman.

§ 9. Stirring up the dragons by throwing iron or filth into their ponds.

If an iron utensil was thrown into the Rope-pond, mentioned in § 8, suddenly darkness covered the land and a hurricane devastated the ricefields. For this reason the villagers strictly forbade other people to approach the pond without a special reason. It was said that greedy merchants, who had bought rice, threw metal shavings into the pond in order to cause storm and rain, which would destroy the crop and thus make the price of the rice run up*. This way of stirring up the dragons by means of

1 = Sh) Fy BK ZB Hj. witten in 1779 by the same author; Ch. V, p. 952.

2- Jil JHE, kaze-danuki, cf. my treatise on “The Fox and Badger in Japanese Folklavo” Trancaetinne af the Aciatie Sociaty af Tanan Val YYYVET Dart TIT n 402

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iron which they disliked very much was borrowed from China, as we have seen above!; it was practised also at the “Pond of the Ugly Woman”, mentioned in the Sanshi kidan kohen (above, § 8), where within a day after one had thrown metal shavings into the pond certainly a heavy storm arose and the rain came down in torrents.

We may compare with this a passage of the Matsunoya hikki?, where we read that the inhabitants of Tsukui-agata® (district), Sagami province, used to throw horse dung, old sandals and other filth into a pond in the neighbouring Toyama, when drought prevailed. After having done this they rapidly fled for fear of the angry dragon, which certainly arose, causing a terrible hurricane and heavy rains. As we have stated above *, the idea of causing rain by arousing the dragons’ anger is quite Chinese.

It was certainly also a pond, inhabited by a dragon or a snake, which we’find mentioned on p. 653 of the Sansha kidan (Ch. I). In summer, when the people wanted rain, they went thither, cut a mackerel to pieces and threw these into the mountain pond, at the same time praying for rain. If they did so, their prayer was always heard, and the rain came down at once. This seems to be an offering to the dragon, but it might be another way of stirring him up by ill-treating one of his subjects, the fishes, before his eyes.

§ 10. A dragon engraved on an incense pot believed to cause rain. Pine trees cause clouds to rise and rain to fall.

The dragon was so much connected with rain, that even an incense pot, decorated with a “cloud-dragon”, wnrya (32 RE), was supposed to be the reason why it always rained on the day of an Inari festival. This pot was preserved among the precious objects of a temple, dedicated to the Rice-goddess, but was hidden when the suspicion rose that it caused the annoying rain on Inari’s day °. This appeared, however, not to be the case, for the rain poured down as well after this measure as before.

4 Book I, Ch. V, § 3, pp. 119 sq., cf pp. 67 sqq. a 2 4 E& SK Zp, written by Taxapa Tomousvo, yey FE} Bil FF, who livea 4782—1847; Ch. 109, p. 23 (new printed edition, Vol. Ill, p. 411).

». 8 EA HR. 4& Pp. 119 sq. ; 5 Comp. above, p. 117, where we have read about an old mirror with a dragon-

shaped handle, used in China as a magical instrument for causing the dragons to give

rain.

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as soon as the day arrived, fixed for the dances of children, clad in festive dresses in honour of Inari. On the days’ devoted to Sannd, Suwa and Tada Hachiman the weather was all right, but Inari’s festival was always spoiled by rain. At last the reason was found out. The boards of the stage, on which the dances were performed, were made of the wood of some sacred pine trees which had belonged to a neighbouring Shinto temple but were sold by the villagers at a time of pecuniary distress. The man who bought these trees placed them in the compound of the Tnari temple, and as the wood was very strong, it was used in building the stage for the sacred dances of this sanctuary. Now it struck the people that every time when this timber was used (such stages are always temporarily built, and broken down after the festival), and the sun shone upon the boards, it. began to rain. On -account of this fact a messenger was despatched to the village whence the wood had come, in order to make inquiries as to the trees in question. The man came back with the news that the two woodcutters who had-_cut those trees had died within a few days in a state of madness, as if they were. possessed by some evil spirit. This confirmed the people’s opinion as to these pine trees being the cause of the rain at Inari’s festival; there-fore they took them away and laid them near the worshipping-hall (instead of using the wood for building the dancing stage). They said: “We have heard that in China, in olden times, under the reign of the Emperor Shi Hwan, of the Ts‘in dynasty (B.C. 246—210), a pine tree suddenly became a big tree and kept off the rain. How is it that these pine trees are causing rain nowadays ? Tt is said that pine trees, being covered with a scaly armour, change into dragons when they become old. This may be the -reason why they always had the miraculous power of calling up the clouds and the rain”. Thus spoke the people, and they all admired the wonderful influence of the pine trees. '

§ 11. The eight Dragon-kings. A Shinto(!) temple, dedicated to the eight Dragon-kings, is Prise in the Seki no akikaze*. The author of this work

1 Sanshu kidan, Ch. IT, p. 712.

2 BA PD IK JR. written by Stmaxawa Raxvo, FY Jil 6 #R » “The merry

old man of Shirakawa” (i.e. Matsupatra SADANOBU, yA op ‘sE 4B » who lived

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prayed there for rain himself, and his prayer was heard. Then he ordered the villagers to repair the shrine. Afterwards, when the sluices of heaven were opened too long, he successfully prayed to the dragons again, this time for stopping the rain.

§ 12. A Buddhist dragon’s suicide,

The Nihon shukyo fuzokushi gives an old tradition explaining the names of three Buddhist temples in Shimosa province. In 730 A.D., when the priest Shaku-myo by order of the Emperor prayed for rain, he had a splendid success, and at the same time a dragon appeared in the air, who cut his own body into three parts and died. The middle part fell in Imba district, where the temple called Ryzfukuji, E iii 3¢, or “Shrine of the Dragon’s Belly”, is to be found. The tail came down in Katori district (also in Shimosa), and caused the shrine Ryzbiji (BE FB 3F, “Temple of the Dragon’s Tail”) to be built, while the head descended on the spot where the aforesaid priest had been praying and where still nowadays the name of the sanctuary, Ryzkakuji, HE #4 3¢, or “Temple of the Dragon’s Horn” (at Sakai village, Shimohabu district) reminds the believers of the dragon of old.

A similar legend is to be found in the Yaho meisho ryaku *, where the Shasekishi? is quoted. A blue dragon, on having heard a priest explaining Buddha’s Law, was so full of emotion that his body divided itself into three parts. Where the head came down, Ryatoji, “the Temple of the Dragon’s Head”, was built (at Nara); in another place in Nara, where the dragon’s tail fell down, Rywtbiji was erected; and his trunk gave origin to the name of Ryifukuji, also in the old capital, the only one of the three shrines which still existed in Muju’s time (i.e. in the beginning of the fourteenth century).

§ 13. Conclusions.

The passages, referred to in this chapter, have clearly taught us that there were from ancient times in Japan three methods of causing or stopping rain. The oldest, probably originally

1g AS — ae I re written in 1902 by Kato Kumarcud, jf ra AR — BB. p. 247.

2 Ch. Ill, p. 54. Cf. above p. 170, note 4. 8 ty Ay 4p, written by the Buddhist priest Must, fff fE , who died in 1342.

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Japanese, although at the same time Chinese, way was offering white or black or red horses to the dragon-shaped river-gods (red horses only for stopping rain). Then followed the Chinese custom of the Emperor's praying to the four quarters of Heaven, and the, also quite Chinese, idea of stirring up the dragons by great noise (as was done by the Court officials in 877 on the pond of the Sacred Spring Park). The same thought is found in the custom, prevalent in much later times, of throwing iron into a dragon’s pond. The snake, and therefore also the dragon, which is considered to belong to the same species, is believed to hate and fear iron very strongly’, and many a mighty serpent is said to have been killed or driven away by means of a single needle. Therefore, when iron is thrown into a pond, inhabited by a dragon, this rain-god is sure to get angry and to arise from his abode to the sky, which is in a moment covered with clouds. Then the dragon gives vent to his anger in a terrible thunder-storm accompanied by heavy rains, and the aim of the person who threw the iron utensil or the metal shavings into the pond, is reached.

The third way of causing rain, i.e. the Buddhist method, started from an opposite point of view. Instead of making the dragons rise by annoying them, the Buddhist priests recited sitras which made such an impression upon the devout minds of the Nagas, that they at once used to assist mankind and to liberate the people from the terrible sufferings caused by a long drought. Sometimes a siitra was read concerning the Garuda-kings, the deadly and much dreaded enemies of the Nagas, probably in order to make the latter feel quite dependent on Buddha’s mighty protection. As Buddhism flourished more and more, this kind of rain-prayer soon became by far predominant in Japan. In the eighteenth century, however, the Chinese methods of stirring up the dragons seem to have revived. Nowadays, when in the seventh and eighth months a continuous drought prevails and the peasants anxiously look up to the sky, fearing that the crops may be spoiled, they often go about in processions, beating drums and making noise, just as the Court-officials did in the year 877 A.D. So deeply rooted are the old Chinese ideas in the minds of the people.

“4 Cf. above, pp. 67 sqq.

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CHAPTER IV. THE INDIAN NAGA IN JAPAN.

As we have seen above', the Indian Naga legends served already in the time of the Nzhongi, i.e. in the beginning of the eighth century, to embellish the old tales concerning the Japanese sea-gods. The magnificent palace of Oho-watatsumi no Mikoto at the bottom of the sea, and the “Jewel which grants all desires” of the Empress Jingo left no doubt about their Indian origin. It is no wonder then, that the more Buddha's Law flourished in Japan, the more the original Japanese sea and river-gods had to give way to the Indian conquerors; therefore most of the dragons, mentioned in later works, are Nagas. In Chapter III we have seen that the rain-prayers, first offered exclusively to different Shinto gods, especially to the dragon-shaped river-deities, from the ninth century were also addressed to the Nagas. In times of drought the Buddhist priests were more and more looked upon by the Emperors as the most powerful rescuers of the country, and large crowds of Shingon priests recited their siitras in the Palace as well as at the Dragon pond of the Sacred Spring Park, in order to cause the Nagas to make it rain all over the country.

As to the legends, referred to in this Chapter, many of them, although relating to Nagas, at the same time have Chinese features. This is quite clear, for it was via China that all the Indian tales came to Japan. Moreover, many originally Japanese dragons, to which Chinese legends were applied, were afterwards identified with Nagas, so that a blending of ideas was the result.

§ 4. The Dragon-kings revere Buddha’s Law.

The Sandai jitsuroku? (901 A.D.) quotes a written supplication of the Lord of Harima, Sugawara no Koreyoshi (812—880), to

4 Book II, Ch. I, §§ 5 and 6, pp. 139 sqq. : P 20. Vip 8 HO, EB AEE RR. BR R il z AR , Another text gives ER instead of Be then it would. mean: “The

Dragon-kings transpose the precious stones of the water regions”.

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the Great Buddha of Nara (in 861), in which we read these words: “You give motion to the Darkness and the Light; the Dragon-kings retreat into the depths of the water regions, and the stars spread all over the sky (i.e. by the influence of your Law)”. In the same supplication ' we find the well-known term “Ryajin hachibu”, FE wih /\ Bh, “Dragons, Spirits, (or Dragon-gods), and (other beings of) the eight departments”, a variant of Tenrya hachibu, Fe RE /\ Bh, or Ryzten hachibu, HE K NWN BH °.

The Shasekishi* (before 1312 A.D.) refers to a siitra entitled Shinchikwan-kyo *, where we read: “If one wears only one Buddhist sacerdotal robe, he can cross the sea without being annoyed by poisonous dragons’. So great is the reverence, even of these dangerous creatures, for Buddha and his believers.

§ 2. Dragons appear at the dedication of Buddhist temples.

The Fusd ryakki® (about 1150 A.D.) relates how in 596, when the Buddhist temple called Hokoji® was dedicated at Nara, a purple cloud descended from the sky and covered the pagoda as well as the Buddha. hall; then the cloud became five-coloured and assumed the shape of a dragon or phoenix, or of a man or an animal. After a while it vanished in a western direction *.

A work of much later date, the Yaho meisho ryaku*® (1697), contains a legend about a Buddhist temple named Unryizan, “Cloud-dragon-shrine”, in Fuwa district, Mino province. When the: abbot Rytshi®, who lived 1307—13888, was erecting this sanctuary, on the day of his starting the work a dragon appeared with a pearl in its mouth, a very good sign indeed. For this reason he called the mountain Ryzshiho, “Dragon-pearl-peak’’ (HE Ee ZB). When the temple was ready, a rain of flowers fell from heaven.

P. 85. Cf. above, Introd., § 1, pp. 4 sq., note 5.

Ch. VI, co p. 17. See above, p. 177, note 3.

WO Hh BL HK

Ch. Ill, K.T,K. Vol. Vi, p. 497.

RS oS TH. 6. HE A I A. eae

ch. Vi, p. 47. See above, p. 170, note 4.

aon owr ONE

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§ 3. Dragons living in ponds or lakes, mostly near Buddhist shrines.

' In the history of Shitenns-ji, the “Monastery of the Four Deva-kings”, the Buddhist monastery built by Shotoku Taishi at Namba (the present Osaka), we read that in the compound of one of the buildings of this monastery, called Keiden-in, there was a deep pond, named Koryochi ! , In which a blue dragon was supposed to live *.

At a distance of 36 cho from the feiniie of Hakusan Gongen, “The Manifestation of Mount Hakusan” (the Buddhist name of the ancient Shintd god of this holy mountain, which lies on the frontiers of Mino, Hida, Echizen and Kaga provinces) there was, according to the Kojidan* (1210—1220 A. D.), a sacred pond called Mikuriya no ike, or “August Kitchen Pond”. All the Dragon-kings were said to assemble there and to prepare their food (i #§, Luyo, food for offerings). Human beings could not approach it, for as soon as they had the audacity of doing so, a violent thunderstorm burst forth and killed the culprits‘. Yet two holy men prayed to Hakusan Gongen to allow them to scoop a little. water out of this pond. Another priest, who heard this, stayed for thirty seven days in the temple, continually repeating the same prayer. Then he went to the bank of the pond and earnestly practised the kuyd-hd or “food-offering-method”. The sky was clear and there was no thunder or rain to drive him away. No sooner, however, did he scoop a little water into a pitcher, than his mind became confused and he felt as if he were dying. Yet he was able to return home after having concentrated his thoughts.. Sick people who drank this water or rubbed themselves with it, were sure to be cured by the power of Buddha’s Law.

The Uji shai monogatari® (1218—1218) contains a tale about a young Buddhist priest who lived in the Nara period (719—784) and made the following practical joke. On the bank of the Sarusawa pond (near the Kofuku temple) he put up a placard, announcing that on a special day and hour a dragon would arise from the

1 Bb. RRR. A Ree eb

2 Fuso ryakki, Ch. Ill, p. 495. 3 Ch. V, K.T.K. Vol. XV, p. 119.

«EEL BP Wb A HEA OR 6 Mt KKH SARAAT HE. SERA Ba Ch. XI,

K.T.K. Vol. XVII, p. 225. See above, p. 171, note 6.

K aM 5

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pond. As the passers-by, who read this, all believed it, on the indicated day an immense crowd flocked together from Yamato, Kawachi, Izumi and Settsu provinces, in order to see the miracle. The priest himself, standing at the gate of the Kofuku temple, was highly amused by the success of his joke and laughed in his sleeve when seeing the crowd on the tiptoe of expectation. When the evening fell and no dragon appeared, they all went home greatly disappointed.

The Gempei seisuki' (about 1250) tells us how in 717 A.D. the Zen priest Shinyu was invited by an unknown goddess, who said to have always protected the Emperor and the people, to come to the top of Mount Hakusan, in order to worship there her “real shape’. When he went there, and prayed near the pond on the mountain, at the same time uttering incantations (£ajz) and making three sacred mudras (mystic finger-distortions), there arose from the midst of the pond an enormous nine-headed, serpent-shaped dragon. The priest, however, declared that this was not the deity’s real shape, and increased the power of his mantras (magical formulae), till he at last beheld the augush form of the Eleven-faced Kwannon.

When connecting this legend with the passage of the Kojidan, referred to above, we may easily conjecture that the sacred pond on Mount Hakusan had been from olden times the abode of an original Japanese dragon, which gave rise to different Buddhist dragon legends in regard to this pond.

In the Genko Shakusho® (before 1346) we read that the day before the priest Jitsuhan’s?* arrival at Daigoji (in Kyoto), Genkaku ‘, the abbot of this monastery, saw in a dream a blue dragon arising from the pond in the garden, lifting up his head and spouting clear water from its mouth. As he understood the meaning of this dream, the abbot the next morning ordered his pupils to clean the monastery thoroughly in order to graciously receive the venerable pupil, who actually arrived.

In a much later work, the Sansha kidan hkohen® (1779), we find. the following particulars about an old woman who could cure all kinds of diseases. She was believed to be possessed by the god of the neighbouring ‘pond, be it a river-otter (kawa-oso,. 7X FR), or a dragon-snake (7 #e). She was a strange, poor old woman,

4 Ch. XXXIX, p. 742. See above, p. a note 2. 2 Ch. XIII, p. 853. '

3 it a. 4 fae St.

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who ate nothing but boiled flour, and refused to accept money from her patients. Her fame was so great, that hundreds of people came from far and near to obtain some medicine from her. And queer medicine it was, for in reality it was nothing at all. After a patient had told her his complaint, she went inside, put a rush mat upon her head, and after having thus meditated for a while she came out of the house and gave an imaginary medicine to the patient, saying: “Here are doses for seven days. Only if you believe in me and think that you swallow medicine, it certainly shall have a good effect. If it has no result within seven days, you must come back”. If the person followed her advice, he actually recovered. It was no wonder that the patients flocked together from all quarters. As she was busy from morning till night, she distributed charms, with “Namu Amida Butsu” or something of the kind written on them and marked with her stamp, instead of keeping the longer procedure which she had followed in the beginning. If anybody tried to deceive her, she immediately discovered this. She was such a wonderful being, that there were people who proposed to buy her for seven hundred ryo (from the villagers?) and to take her to the capital, but this was prevented by the authorities. Her strange food gave rise to the suspicion as to her being possessed by a tanuki, especially because she used to eat with her face hidden in the vessel. Others supposed her to be the mother of Ho-kun (fi #, Lord Salted Fish [?]), or the wife of the “Great King with the straw sandals’', i.e. one of the Ni-o*. But the physician of the place was of another opinion. He said to Horra, the author of the Sanshi kidan kéhen: “This old woman is assisted by some water-demon. I have often heard the villagers tell that she ‘purifies herself’ *, as she calls it, twice a day, going into the pond and repeatedly diving under water, so that even her head is not visible. After having spoken with several patients she washes her head with well water, and if her head is not wet, she cannot see her patients. She certainly is a creature connected with the pond, be it a river-otter or a dragon-snake. Some thirty or forty years ago, when her husband was still alive, one winter there came a Buddhist nun and lodged in their house, who washed clothes and served not only for herself but also for others. Thenceforth she stayed there every month for

et KE. S0-ai tai-o. Se

i 2 42 3 Ya BET OV, hori wo toru.

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three or four days, and then went home. At last the man, warned by a neighbour, watched her from the upper story of the latter’s house, and saw her coming out of his house. After having walked some distance in human shape, she was trans-formed into a line of white vapour (FJ $@), flew to the pond, and disappeared under the water. The man, very much frightened by this sight, went to a neighbouring Buddhist temple and requested the priest to recite prayers on his behalf. Moreover, he pasted holy Buddhist texts and charms on the walls of his. house, in order to avert the evil. This was sufficient, for the nun never returned. Within a couple of years, however, the man died, and now, after more than thirty years, again such strange things happen in the same house. Probably the old woman is possessed by the Master (3:, nushz) of the pond’. So spoke the physician, no doubt jealous of the woman on account of her medical fame, but at the same time clearly expressing the superstitious ideas of the people. The term “dragon-snake” seems to indicate the Naga, a serpent identified with a dragon; more-over, Buddhism plays a predominant part in this story.

Before the Restoration a so-called “Dragon-god festival” (Rywin-sai, #E jilh 2) used to be yearly celebrated by the priest of the Gongen shrine at Hakone, the well-known mountain village in Sagami province. Three hundred thirty three go (4)) of “red rice” (sekthan), in a new wooden rice bowl, were offered to the Dragon-god of Hakone lake in the following way. The Buddhist priest (now Ieyasu's shrine belongs to Shints) went in a boat to the middle of the lake and there placed the bowl on the water, whereupon the boat went on, neither the priest nor the boatmen looking back. Then they heard a sound as of a whirlpool on the spot where the offering had been made, and the bowl disappeared under the water '.

§ 4. Reborn as dragons.

In the Tatheiki? (about 1382) we read the following legend. The second son of the Emperor Godaigo, Prince Takanaga, also called Ichi no Miya, who had been banished to Hata in Tosa province, longed so much for his consort, who had remained in Kyoto, that he despatched his faithful vassal, Hada no Takebumi,

1 Nihon ahiaheyo flizokw shi, A KS a Be UA 1B aK + (written in 1902), p. 218.

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to the capital in order to take her to his place of exile. When the latter was on his way to Tosa with the lady, and they were waiting for a propitious wind at Ama ga saki in Settsu province, there was a samurai, Matsuura Goro by name, who fell in love with the beautiful woman, stole her and after having taken her on board his ship, set sail at once. No sooner had Takebumi perceived this trick, than he called the vessel back with a loud voice, but the only answer he received was an outrageous laughter, and the vessel pursued its course. Then poor Takebumi, at his wit’s end, said: “To-day I will become a dragon-god at. the bottom of the sea, and check that ship’. With these words he disemboweled himself and jumped into the sea. There is a well-known whirlpool, called Uwa no Naruto, the “Sounding door (i.e. eddy) of Uwa’, between Shikoku and Awaji, which was said to be the Eastern Gate of the Dragon-palace. It was there that Takebumi’s revenge revealed itself in a terrible way, for the vessel, caught by the eddy, was turned about for three days, and in vain all kinds of precious things, as bows and swords and clothes, were flung into the sea as “offerings to the Dragon-god. Then the crew arrived at the conclusion that the dragon wanted the woman herself, and Matsuura was about to throw her into the furious waves, when a Buddhist priest advised him not to arouse the Dragon-god’s anger by making to him a human offering which he, the dragon, certainly disliked, being a pure being and a believer in Buddha. It is better, said the priest, to recite siitras and pray. So the whole crew prayed to Kwannon, and lo! there appeared on the waves Takebumi’s spirit, still beckoning the vessel as he had done before his death, and preceded by several retainers on horseback. Although there often happened inysterious things on that spot, this time it was certainly Takebumi’s angry soul which caused the calamity. Therefore they placed the woman, together with one sailor, in a small boat, hoping to ‘satisfy the ghost in this way and to get rid of her without causing her death. As soon as they had done this, the ship was at once driven out of the whirlpool and disappeared in a western direction; it was never heard of again. As to the lady, she safely arrived at an island, where she was kindly received by the inhabitants, and where she remained for the rest of her life, not daring to run the risk of being stolen again. _

In the Fuse lake ah Etcha province, so tells us Horra, the author of the Sansha kidan and the Sanshu kidan kohen', a

4 Ch. VII, pp. 988 seqq.

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disappointed lover was said to have drowned himself, and his passion (3 4%, shanen) was believed to have condensed into the form of a white dragon (with other words, his soul, on account of its passionate condition at the time of his death, was reincarnated in a dragon). This was in Horta’s days (eighteenth century) an old tale, and the lake had become ten times narrower than before, so that the dragon was no longer supposed to live in the water, but in a so-called “dragon-hole” (rya-hutsu, HE ##) under the ground, where “dragon-vapours”, or “dragon-breath”, (j# 4%) used to rise as a sign of the demon’s presence (these are Chinese ideas). In the beginning of the Anei era (1772—1780) people who crossed a neighbouring ferry of the river which flows into the lake, saw a long, white monster swimming from the lake into the river mouth. When it was at the bottom of the- stream the water became quite white. Sometimes the dragon showed his snow-white back, but not his head or tail. Some people, who had seen his head, which seldom was visible, said that it was square. After having enjoyed himself in swimming along the coast for one day, he disappeared. This dragon was said to have lived in that vicinity for a long time, and as he was called “the white man” (Fy 34, shiro-otoko), Horra supposes him to be the same person who once drowned himself and took this shape after having been deceived by his sweetheart, “the white girl’, and was afterwards living under the ground because the lake had become too narrow. As he could not immerse the ‘land and destroy the fields, he from time to time simply made an excursion to the neighbouring sea coast. At the same ferry there was a creature called “shiga”, which stretched itself and checked the boats when the snow began to melt; this was also some “breath” ($<), probably, says Horta, the same “dragon-breath” which was examined by a wonder-fully daring man during the Keichd era ae aa, according to the work entitled “Chagwaiden” '.

According to a modern work, the Nihon coe Sizoku shi mentioned above’, there is in Kasahara village, Totomi province, a pond called “Sakura ga ike”, “Cherry-tree Pond’. It is the abode of a huge dragon, to whom those who have a special wish pray on the middle day of higan (4% FE, “yonder shore”, a period of seven days in either equinox; the middle day is the

1 rH Rh i (time and author?). 2 P. 117, note 1; p. 204,

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equinoctial day), at the same time making an offering to him consisting of a bucket of hard boiled rice (kowameshi, i RK, i.e. sekihan, He HK, “red rice”, rice boiled with red beans), which they cause to float on the water. If they afterwards find the bucket empty, this is a sign that the dragon has eaten the rice, accepting the offering and hearing the prayer, but if the rice is still in the bucket, the prayer will not be fulfilled. This dragon is the reincarnation of the Buddhist priest Genko, Jp Ga Tendai

priest of Hieizan, teacher of Honen shonin, }& 4k, who lived 1132—1212. Genko wished to become a dragon, because his life was too short to obtain a sufficient knowledge of Buddha’s doctrine. One day he heard from one of his disciples that the above mentioned pond was an excellent place for a dragon to live in. Then he sat down in religious meditation (samadhi), put one drop of water in his hand, by means of which he made clouds and rain, and flew through the air to the pond. There he died in meditation, and when his disciple came and called him, an enormous dragon appeared above the water and wept. At the pupil’s request he assumed his former human shape and talked with him for a long time.

We may make mention here of an old legend, to be found in the Gukwanshd', which told that Inoue no Naishinnd, the Imperial Princess Inoue, daughter of the Emperor Shomu and Consort of the Emperor Konin, had become a dragon even before her death. She was accused of having practised wu- -ku, J AK #8, a Chinese magic art exercised by means of small reptiles and inssets = 10 ander to have her son made Crownprince. For this reason she was imprisoned in a hole in 772 by order of the Prime Minister Fujiwara no Momokawa, and three years later both she and her son died. According to popular tradition, however, she had turned into a dragon even before her death.

§ 5. Dragon-kings of the sea check the course of vessels in order to obtain special Buddhist treasures as offerings.

The Fuso ryakki* (1150) relates the following legend concerning the abbot Dosho (34 H%),. who went to China in 651 and,

1 Bh $F fp, probably written by Bishop Ji-ux, 3 |], who died in 1225; K.T.K. Vol. XIV, Ch. VI; p. 597. 2 Cf. De Groot, Religious System of China, Vol. V, Ch. II, pp. 826 seqq. 3 Ch. IV, K.T.K. Vol. VI, p. 544.

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when he returned to Japan, obtained from Hien Tsang, the famous pilgrim who went to India in 629 and returned in 645, besides a relic of Buddha and sitras a small kettle for preparing medicines. Htien Tsang had brought this kettle with him from India and said that it was of the utmost value, because all diseases could be cured by means of the medicines cooked in it. This proved to be true, for one of Déshd’s companions, who fell ill before they left China, was cured at once thanks to this marvellous utensil. On their way to Japan, in the midst of the ocean, the ship suddenly stopped and did not move for seven days, while wind and waves were raging around it in a terrible way. Then a diviner said: “There is something on board which is wanted by the Sea-god. I think it is the kettle”. First the abbot refused to give up his treasure, and said that there was no reason why the Dragon-king should ask for it. But when the others, afraid for their lives, urgently begged him to follow the diviner’s advice, the priest gave in and threw the kettle into the sea. Immediately the storm and the waves abated, the ship could continue its course, and soon they arrived in Japan. Apparently the Dragon-king had actually wanted the offering of the: sacred kettle.

The Konjaku monogatari' describes how a Prime Minister, who for his king transported a precious Buddha image across the sea, was overtaken by a terrible storm. It was in vain that he threw all kinds of precious things into the sea, the Dragon-king appa-rently wanted something else. At last the minister understood what would appease him, and, praying for his life, he offered the pearl from between the eyebrows. of the Buddha image. The Dragon-king stretched out his hand and took the pearl, whereupon the storm calmed down. Although this danger was over, the minister, who was convinced that he would be decapi-tated when he confessed to his sovereign the loss of the pearl, wept bitterly and besought the Dragon to returm the treasure. Then the Sea-god appeared to him in a dream and promised to restore the pearl to him, if he would stop the nine tortures which were inflicted upon the dragons. Rejoiced the man awoke and, addressing the sea, answered that he was willing to free the dragons from their tortures by copying and offering holy Buddhist texts. And when he had done so, the Dragon-king kept his promise and returned the pearl; but it had lost its lustre. The Sea-god again appeared to the minister ina dream

4 Ch. XI, K.T.K. Vol. XVI, pp. 571 seq.

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and said that the pearl had freed him from the tortures of the

serpent-road (th 34), but that the Kongd-hannya-kyo ( Vajra-prajiaparamita sutra, cf. above, p. 34), which he had copied on his (the dragon’s) behalf, had Deen still more powerful, as it had removed all his sufferings.

§ 6. The “jewel which grants all desires” (cintamani).

There lived in Northern India a Buddhist abbot, “Buddha's vow” ' by name, who for the sake of mankind sought the “ Precious pearl which grants all desires”. He went on board a ship and, when in the midst of the sea, by Buddha’s power called up the Dragon-king. After having bound him by means of mystic for-mulae (tantras), he required the pearl from him, whereupon the dragon, unable to escape, took the pearl from his- head and prepared to hand it over to the priest. The latter stretched out his left hand, at the same time making the “sword-sign”, a mudra (mystic finger-twisting), with his right hand. The Dragon-king, however, said: “In former times, when the Dragon-king Sagara’s daughter gave a precious pearl to Cakyamuni, the latter received it with folded hands; why should a pupil of the Buddha accept it with one hand?” Then the priest folded his hands, giving up the mudra, and was about to take the pearl, when the Dragon-king, no longer suppressed by the mystic sign, freed himself from his bands and ascended to the sky, leaving the abbot behind with empty hands, and destroying his boat. The only man who was saved was the priest himself. Aiterwards. the same abbot met Bodhidharma *, the patriarch, who came across the sea from Southern India (in 526), and together they om to Japan’s.

§ 7, The eight Dragon-kings.

At the time of Bishop Jie® being head-abbot.(zasu, JR =) of Hieizan, somebody saw in a dream seven of the eight Great

4 Af #r | Bussei. 2 m vA # ER myer’ hoju, cintamani, comp. above, p. 10. 3 ye He FA Baramon, the “Wall-gazing Brahman”.

4 Fusd ryakki, $e oe (ShOmu Tennd), K.T.K. Vol. VI, p. 564. 5 Jie lived 912—985, cf. above, Book II, Ch. III, § 6, p. 170, note 9,

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Dragon-kings ' crossing a large sea in ships; on the eighth vessel no dragon was to be seen. When the man asked the reason of this Dragon-king’s absence, he received the answer that the absent dragon was at present head-abbot of Hieizan. Evidently Jie was a metamorphosis of Utpala?, the last of the eight Dragon-kings. That a dragon was his “real shape’? we have seen above’.

In the Tatheiki* an exile on Sado island prays to different gods to make a ship approach his lonely place. Among these deities are: “Gongen (Manifestations), Kongo doji (Vajra kumara), Tenrya (Heavenly Dragons), Yasha (Yakshas), and the eight Great Dragon-kings” °. Apparently the Nagas last-mentioned were considered to be different. from the Heavenly Dragons, which formed one of the four classes of Nagas, mentioned above °.. The eight Dragon-kings probably belonged to the second class of Nagas, the “Divine Dragons” (il #f).

§ 8. The Dragon-gods of the inner and outer seas.

The Gempei seisuiki? says that Fujiwara no Yasuyori, banished to the island called Kikai ga shima, invoked the compassion of “the dragon-gods of the inner and outer seas, and (the other beings of) the eight departments” *. The same expression, i. e. “dragon-gods of the inner and outer seas”, is found in the Tatheiki®, where we read how in the year 1333 Nitta Yoshisada, Godaigo’s faithful general, invoked them. He was marching towards Kamakura io order to punish the Shikken Hojo Takatoki, and when he arrived. at. Inamurazaki, a cape between Enoshima and Kamakura, he prayed to the “Dragon-gods of the inner and outer seas” to make the sea retreat, that he might be able to pass with his troops along the shore and thus easily reach ‘Kamakura. They apparently heard his prayer, for that night the tide suddenly became so. low, that Takatoki’s ships could not approach the coast, and the arrows of his soldiers could not reach Nitta’s troops, which marched along the dry shore straight

4 Cf. above, Introd., § 1, p. 4.

2 os ok we HE BE: Uhachira Ryt-o. 3 Book II, Ch. III, § 6, p. 170.

4 Ch. Il, p. 9a. 5 6

HH DS MBF KR RAK BEE.

Introd., § 3, p. 24. 7 Ch. VU, p. 183.

8 Py iy. Af Hi HE mh AN Th. Cf. above, Introd.; § 1, pp. 1 sq., note 5.

9 Ch. X, p. 7b.

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to Kamakura. There they forced their way into the town and caused Takatoki to disembowel himself.

§ 9. Dragon-palaces.

According to the Genkod Shakusho' the Chinese bonze Kien Chen’, when crossing the sea on his way to Japan, was invited by a dragon-god to come to his palace and preach for him’®. After having complied with the request the priest continued his journey and at last (in 762) arrived in Kyushi (then called Dazaifu).

The famous legend concerning Tawara Toda, which is found in the Honchéd kwaidan koji*, is a blending of Chinese and Indian ideas. It runs as follows. In the Hidesato temple, a Shinto shrine near the Seta bridge in Omi province, Tawara Toda*, “Rice bag Toda”, is worshipped together with Suzfushin°, the “God of the Water Department”. If one takes a centipede (mukade) to this shrine,-the animal immediately dies for the following reason. In olden times, when Fujiwara no Hidesato (who lived in the first half of the tenth century) crossed the bridge, a big serpent lay across it. The hero, however, was not at all afraid, and calmly stepped over the monster which at once disappeared into the water and returned in the shape of a beautiful woman. Two thousand years, she said, she had lived under this bridge, but never -had she seen such a brave man as he. For this reason she requested him to destroy her enemy, a huge centipede ‘, which had killed her sons and grandsons. Hidesato promised her to do so and, armed with a bow and arrows, awaited the centipede on the bridge. There came from the top of Mikami yama two enormous lights, as big as the light of two hundred torches. These were the centipede’s eyes, and Hidesato sent three arrows in that direction, whereupon the lights were extinguished

4 Ch. I, K.T.K. Vol. XIV, p. 642.

2 Spe i» Kanshin.

3 The text says only: “he went to the Dragon-palace”, but the commentator explains the reason why he did this.

4 aS af] pet aR Hx EH , written in 1711 by the Buddhist priest Koxo, Jes Jak ; Ch. I, nr 16, p. 29.

5 AR HR Ik. 6 AK iF mi.

-7 The centipede is, according to Chinese belief, the snake's deadly enemy, whose ability in killing snakes is so great, that it is considered to be an excellent charm against them, and used in order to cure diseases caused by ‘u-sorcery, oe DE Groot, Religious System of China, Vol. V, pp. 863 seqq.

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and the monster died. The dragon woman, filled with joy and gratitude, took the hero with her to the splendid Dragon-palace, where she regaled him with delicious dishes and rewarded him with a piece of silk, a sword, an armour, a temple bell and a bag (tawara) of rice. She said, that there would always be silk left as long as he lived, however much he might cut from it; and the bag of rice would never be empty '. As to the temple bell, this was the most precious treasure of the Dragon-palace..

After his return to the world of men Hidesato offered the bell to Miidera, the famous Buddhist monastery near Otsu in Omi province. One day a priest of Hieizan stole it, but as it did not produce any sound but the words: “I wish to go back to Miidera”, he angrily threw it into the valley, where it was found and taken back to Miidera by the monks of this monastery. Then. a small snake appeared and, stroking the cracks of the bell with its tail, made them vanish at once, so that the precious object was uninjured as before.

The Taiheiki?, which also tells Tawara Toda’s legend, says that the bell was stolen during the war between Miidera and Hieizan, when the former monastery was on fire, and that it fell to pieces in the valley, but was restored by the snake in one night. The snake was probably the dragon woman herself or a messenger from the Dragon-palace. In the version of the Tazheiki the serpent which Hidesato met on the bridge did not change into a woman, but into a strange small ian; it was the Dragon-king himself. On account of the miraculous rice bag the hero was thenceforth called Tawara Toda, “Rice bag Toda” *.

The Yuahé meisho ryaku (1697), * mentions a Buddhist priest, Nanzd by name, who lived in the Enkyi era (1069—1073) and who for three years prayed in the temple of Kumano Gongen

4 In a later version of the legend he got a box of white wood, three or four sun square, called debebako, HH K #i , “Rice supplying box”. This was put above the

ceiling, and if one placed a rice box beneath and pointed at the box above, saying: “Rice for to-morrow for so many persons”, the next morning certainly such a quantity of rice was in the box beneath. This miraculous box remained in the family for many generations, and retained the same faculty of giving rice, till it was taken down to be cleaned and by mistake was dropped on the stones in the garden. Then it broke, and a dead little white snake fell out of it. After that no rice was provided any more, but the box and the snake are still preserved by the family. 2 Ch. XV, p. 5.

3 In reality the name Tawara was written Hy i: not ER - Tawara, a Jo

is the name ofa noble family at Aki- -(Bungo province), and of a place in Mikawa. 4 Ch. X, p. 39; see above, p. 170, note 4. This passage | is quoted in the Nihon ‘shiikyo fuzoku shi (1902), p. 247.

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for a long life, that he might be able to thoroughly study Buddha’s doctrine. At last he learned by a divine revelation in a dream that, if he went to a large, deep lake on Mount Koto-wake, on the frontiers of Hitachi and Mutsu provinces, he would become a dragon and have a very long life. Highly rejoiced at the success of his prayers he followed the god's advice and took up his abode in a hole near the lake, where he spent his days in reading siitras and leading a strictly ascetic life. But a female dragon, who daily visited him in the shape of a beautiful woman, in order to hear him reciting the sitras, fell in love with him and invited him to go with her to the dragon-palace at the bottom of the lake. He followed her, carrying eight siitra rolls, and forthwith lived with the woman in the luxurious mansion, where he changed into an eight-headed dragon (on account of the eight sitra rolls). His voice is often heard, reciting the siitras in the lake. About three ri from this spot there is another lake on Nuka ga take, which formerly was inhabited by a nine-headed male dragon. This was the above-mentioned dragon-woman’s husband, and when his place was taken by his eight-headed rival (the transformed priest), he went to the other lake and had a fight with the obtruder, but was beaten and killed. For this reason no longer a dragon lives in the lake of Nuka ga take. Finally, we may refer to a name, formerly given to the seastar on account of its resemblance to the common spools for winding thread on, i.e. Rytgu no itomaki, “spool of the Dragon-palace”’'!.

§ 10. Dragons connected with Buddhist priests.

The Genké Shakusho says that a blue dragon appeared to the Tendai priest Eisai (4% py), when he in 1168 ascended the Chinese T’aj (7G) mountain, the holy ground of the Tendai sect”.

In the same work we read how the Dragon-king Kwo-taku ( § #) announced in a dream to the Chinese teacher of Fang-Ngan (Fy 4) and Enji ([B] Ry, i.e. the Japanese priest Ben-en, 2% |[B]), that these two pupils were now ready to become priests. In consequence of this dream the master sent the latter back to Japan, in order that he might preach the Law there ®.

A third legend found in this work speaks of a daughter of the Emperor Sujaku (930—946), who went mad and, clad in

4 Intei zakko, $4 fz Rit yo Ch. IV, written by Kiramura SHINsETsu, #.

ZB et 48 fil 4783-1856); Myakka setsurin, 4 Ph —., p. 520. 2 Ch. Il, K.T.K. Vol. XIV, p. 658. 3 Ch. VIL, p. 747. Verh. Kon. Akad. v. Wetensch. (Afd. Letterk.) N. R. Dl XIII, N°. 2. 13

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scanty garments, visited the cottage of a Buddhist hermit, to beseech him to hold incantations on her behalf (i.e. to exorcise the evil spirit which was possessing her). The hermit agreed and the Princess returned home. In the middle of the night she (i.e. the evil spirit within her) suddenly exclaimed: “Help, help! a dragon is about to cut my throat with a sword, and a boy is tying me with a rope!” The ladies in waiting were very much frightened, but the next morning the patient was cured. A dragon and an angel, invoked by the priest’s incantations, had driven out the evil demon '.

§ 41. Hight dragons ridden through the sky by a Buddhist deity.

The Taiheiki® describes the vision of a man who passed the night praying before the Outer Shrine (Gegi) at Ise. He saw a gigantic god with twelve faces and forty two arms, brandishing swords and lances and riding eight dragons through the air amidst rain and wind, at the head of many others who drove in carriages above the clouds. They came from all sides, two or-three thousand in all, in carriages or on horseback, while a brilliant palace, made of precious stones and silver, glittered in the sky.

§ 12. Curses wrought by dragons.

The Shinchomonshi*® mentions curses of dragons in the fol-lowing passages. “An old tradition said that the guardian-god of the Ryimon temple‘, a Buddhist sanctuary especially devoted to the religious services for the deceased relatives of Mr Mogami Gengoro, in Dewa province, was a dragon. One day the stone wall of this shrine had fallen to ruins, and a large number of men were working there together and had piled up stones, when a snake, about six or seven inches long, appeared from under the stones, was pursued and killed. Those who had killed her, became at once giddy and died on the spot; the others, who had only pursued her, were ill for about fifty or sixty days. The body of this snake, tradition says, is now in the Keiyo temple opposite Asakiisa in Yedo”.

4 Ch. XI, p. 822. 2 Ch. XII, p. 98. 3 Hr 5A zi 46, written by an unknown author about 1700; Zoku Teikoku

bunko, Vol. XLVII, Ch. IX, p. 126. 4 BE FA FF, “Dragon-gate temple”.

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No less severe was the curse of another snake-shaped dragon. The house of the head. of a village called “Ryd no tke” or “Dragon’s pond”, in Uma district, Iyo province, was said to be built on a pool, inhabited by a dragon in remote ages. A pond in the garden, three or four shaku square, which was the remainder of this pool, was never dry, not even in times of drought. On the 15th day of the 7th month (Ullambana, the Bon-festival for the dead) of the year 1688 the villagers were dancing (the “bon-odort”, or “bon-dance’’) in this garden and making such a noise, that it lasted a.while before they heard the master of the house crying for help. When they ran into the room, they found him standing in the dark, holding an animal by the throat which had swallowed one of the arms of his child, about eight years old. They cut the beast to pieces, but it became larger and larger and at last filled the whole room. It appeared to be an enormous serpent, yet it had evidently entered the house through a very small opening, only sufficient for an earthworm. Upon the sand of the pond a trace was visible, only a thin line, which showed that the dragon had crept out of the pond in the shape of an earthworm. The curse of the monster soon followed in a terrible way, for the whole family, more than seventy persons, died one after the other, except one blind minstrel who escaped this fate and told the story afterwards’.

A man whose ship knocked against a huge snake, thirteen ken long, killed the monster with his sword, and, in order to escape its curse, cut its trunk ‘into three pieces, buried these together with the head, and had masses said for the animal’s soul. But this was all in vain, for thirteen years later, on the same day of the same month, nay even at the same hour, he exclaimed: “J drink water”, was choked and died. The people were convinced that his death was caused by the snake. This water-serpent was, of course, a dragon’.

§ 13. Relics of dragons preserved in Buddhist temples.

At Noda, in Mikawa province, there is a Buddhist shrine called Senry#-in, or “Spring-dragon-temple” (Jt #E [é), where three dragon’s scales are preserved. Before the temple was built, its founder, Morin Shonin, preached there every night, and each

4 Ch. IX, p. 128. The same legend is to be found in the Yamato kwai-i-hi (Kk Fi Pe at. written by an unknown author in 1708), Ch. Il, p. 130. 2 Ch. IV, p. 48. é

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time a beautiful woman came to listen, till she finally assumed. her original shape, that of a huge serpent, which jumped into a pond near by and disappeared. The priest, who pitied the creature, filled up the pond and built a temple over it. Three scales, le by the dragon, are preserved in the sanctuary.'.

One of the treasures of another Buddhist shrine, called Ryizgenji, or “Dragon-spring-temple” (#£ jf 3f:), in Hagi village, Mikawa province, is the tooth of a “hidden dragon” (7% ff, senryit), subdued by the priest Shitei *.

§ 14. The “Dragon-flower-meeting”.

In Miura Kensoxe’s Bukhyo iroha jiten®, s. v. Rytge-e, HE He @ , or “Dragon-flower-meeting”, we read that, when Maitreya shall “forsake the world and find the truth of Buddha”, he shall assemble a large crowd and expound his doctrine. All the trees on earth shall then assume the shapes of golden dragons and shall open their flowers. This is the meaning of the name of the religious meeting, mentioned above.

1 Nihon shikyo fiuzoku shi (1902), p. 197. 2 Ibidem. _ 3 Vol. II, p. 63; cf. above, Introd., § 3, p. 22, note 4.

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CHAPTER V.

CHINESE AND INDIAN DRAGONS IDENTIFIED OR CONNECTED WITH ANCIENT JAPANESE DEITIES.

The Chinese and Indian ideas on dragons having so thoroughly pervaded the Japanese mind as we have seen in the preceding chapters, it is not astonishing that many an ancient Shintd god was identified or connected with them. Sea-gods or serpent-shaped mountain-deities were especially liable to be considered in this light, and the thirteenth and later centuries did not hesitate to explain old legends of the gods in their own way, making abundant use of the words “Dragon-god” and ,Dragon-king”. The following passages are specimens of this tendency.

§ 1. Sagara, the Dragon-king, the Yamato no orochi, Antoku Tenno and the Kusanagi sword.

The Gukwanshd' (before 1225) tells us that Jtszkushima no Myojin (x & 7 8A ip, the goddess of the island Itsitkushima in the Inland sea) was according to tradition a Dragon-king’s daughter, reborn as Antoku Tenno, the unhappy .Emperor who was drowned in his seventh year in the battle of Dan-no-ura (1185). His grandmother, Nii-no-ama, Kiyomori’s widow, jumped over board with the little Emperor, when she saw that the battle was lost. So the Dragon-king’s daughter returned to her father.

Details of this legend are found in the Gempez seisuiki* (about 1250), which relates that this goddess was a grandchild of Amaterasu, the Sun-goddess, and the daughter of the Dragon-king Sagara*. The same work gives, in another passage *, the

4 Ch. V, K.T.K, Vol. XIV, p. 533, About the Gukwansho cf. above, p. 187, note 4

2 Ch. XII, Teikoku Bunko, Vol. V, p. 323.

3 ye ap we, Shakatsura, i.e. Sagara, one of the eight Great Dragon-kings. Cf. above Introd., § 1, p. 4; Book II, Ch. IV, § 6, p. 189. According to E1reL, Handbook of Chinese Buddhism, Sagara’s daughter, eight years old, became a Buddha under ‘Mafijucri’s tuition. ‘4 Ch, XLIV, p. 1458.

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reason why the dragon was reborn as Antoku Tennd. The retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa, thus we read there, sought in vain the Kusanagi sword', one of the three treasures of the Imperial family, which Susanowo no Mikoto had found in the tail of the eight-headed serpent Yamato no orochi. After having prayed for seven days in the temple of Kamo, he received a divine revelation in a dream, to the effect that the sword was to be found at the bottom of the sea at Dan-no-ura, and that two female divers of that place, Oimatsu and Wakamatsu, a mother and her daughter, were to be ordered to seek it. In consequence of this dream Yoshitsune was despatched to Dan-no-ura, and the two women were told to dive for the sword. They obeyed and remained under water for a whole day (!) Then they returned to the surface, and the mother said that down there was a very strange place, which she could not enter without Buddha's powerful assistance; therefore she wanted the Nyohd-kyo*, a siitra, to be copied and wound around her body. Immediately a large number of venerable priests assembled and copied the sttra; the woman wound this round her body and dived again. This time it lasted no less than one day and one night before she came up, without the sword. Yoshitsune asked her what she had seen, but she answered that she could tell only the Emperor himself. So he took her to Kysto, where she reported the following to the Emperor. She had entered the gate of a magnificent building, apparently the Dragon-king’s palace, and when she had told that she came as a messenger from the Emperor of Japan, to ask for the precious sword, two women led her into the garden, to an old pine tree, where from under a half-raised blind (sudare) she could look into a room. There she saw a big serpent, twenty shaku long, with a sword in its mouth and a child of seven or eight years within its coils. The monster’s eyes were large and glittered like the sun and the moon, and its red tongue incessantly moved up and down. The serpent said to the woman: “Tell the Emperor, that this sword does not belong to Japan, but to the Dragon-palace. My second son®, driven out of my palace on account of some evil deed, changed into the eight-headed serpent of the head-waters of the River Hi in Izumo (the Yamato no orochi), and was killed by Susanowo, who took the sword out of the snake’s tail and gave it to Amaterasu. Under the reign of the Emperor Keiko (71—130 A.D.), when Prince Yamato-dake

1 Kusanagi no tsurugi, i=) Wee GN. 2 an 7 AK.

3 In the other versions of the legend it was his daughter.

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subjected the barbarians, Amaterasu handed over the sword to Utsuki no miya', who gave it to the Prince. Then my second son assumed the shape of a big snake, ten shaku long, and lay down in Yamato-dake’s way at the foot of Ibukiyama (in Omi province), in order to frighten the Prince and take backthe sword. The Prince, however, was not afraid of the snake and stepped over it, thus frustrating my son’s design®. Finally, the latter reincarnated himself as the Emperor Antoku and jumped into the sea with the sword, which he returned to me. This child here is my son in his human shape, and the sword which I am holding in my mouth is the one you ask for. But I cannot give it to the Emperor’. On receiving this message, Go Shirakawa was very much distressed and thought the precious object was lost. This was, however, not the case, for the real sword was preserved in the Great Shrine (Daijingti) at Ise, and Antoku’s sword was only a counterfeit. How strange that the Dragon-god did not know this!

Another legend in a different way connected the Kusanagi sword with a Dragon-king. In 674 A.D. a Korean bonze stole the sword from the Shinto temple at Atsuta in Owari province, and hid it under his mantle. But a dark cloud descended before the shrine, took the treasure and placed it back into the sanctuary. Then the priest, after praying there for a hundred days, again stole the sword and fled to Omi province. Once more the black cloud appeared, deprived the thief of his prey and flew away with it an eastern direction (to Atsuta). A third time the theft seemed to be crowned with success, for the priest had succeeded in secretly carrying the sword on board a ship bound for Korea, when a severe storm arose and checked the vessel in its course. In despair the Korean threw the sword into the sea, and the Dragon-king took it and returned it to Atsuta °.

§ 2. The Thunder-god caught by Sukaru and identified with a Dragon-king.

In the Gempei seiswiki* we find the following remarkable story.

1 33 et. According to the ordinary legend Amaterasu gave the sword to her grandson Ninigi. Yamato-dake used it afterwards against the barbarians, and after his death it was placed in the Shinto temple of Atsuta in Owari province.

2 Cf. Nihongi, Ch. VII, K.T.K. Vol. J, p. 148: The god of Mount Ibuki took the shape of a great serpent, but the Prince strode over it and passed on. Then the god “raised up the clouds and made an icy rain to fall” (Aston, Nihongi, Vol. I, p. 209).

3 Gempei seisuiki, Ch. XLIV, pp. 1157 seq.

' & Ch. XVII, p. 454, under. the heading: “How Sukaru caught the Thunder”.

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“At the time of the Emperor Yaryaku (the twenty second Emperor, 457—479), there was an important vassal of His Majesty, Oshibe Sukaru by name. One day when this man entered the palace of Hatsuse Asakura and the apartments of the Emperor, who was staying there, the latter was just in intimate intercourse with the Empress. As just then a thunderstorm was raging, the monarch, for shame at having been surprised, ordered Sukaru, in order to get rid of him, to invite the roaring thunder (to the palace). The vassal, on having received the Imperial command, left the palace and rode on horseback from the road of Abe no Yamada to Toyora-dera, looking up to the sky and crying: ‘Thou, Thunder-god who art roaring in the sky, His Majesty commands thee to fall down’. The thunder, however, continued going away and making the air resound with its echoes. Then Sukaru again set spurs to his horse and exclaimed: ‘Although thou art a Thunder-god, thou art roaring in the air of Japan. How shouldst thou be able to disobey the Emperor’s order?’ Then with a loud noise the Dragon-king returned and dropped on the earth between Toyora-dera and lioka. Sukaru at once called Shinto priests, caused them to place the Dragon-god in a sedan-chair, and returned to the palace. When he reported the _ matter to the Emperor, the Thunder erected his scales, stared with eyes dilating and watched the Palace, while his radiance illuminated the whole building. This spectacle frightened His Majesty, and, after having made all kinds of offerings to the Thunder-god, he quickly sent him back to the spot where he had fallen down. This spot is now called ‘The Thunder's Hill’ (Ikazuchi no oka)”.

This is a very old legend, found in the Nihongi and the Rya-i-ki. The version of the Nihongi' is as follows: — “In the seventh year of the Emperor Yaryaku’s reign (468), on the third day of the seventh month, His Majesty said to Oshibe no Sukaru, Minister of State (Muraji, ji): ‘I wish to see the shape of the god of Mimoro hill (Mimoro no oka, also called Mount Mimoro). As you excel others in strength, you shall go and after having caught him yourself, you must bring him here’. Sukaru answered: ‘I will try to do so’, and ascending Mimoro hill he caught a big serpent (Fx hg), which he showed to the Emperor. As the latter had not practised religious abstinence (in honour of the god),

1 Ch. XIV, p. 242. Cf Aston’s translation (Nihongi, Vol. I, p. 347), where the

name is written “Sukaru Chihisako Beno Muraji”. In the Gempei seisuiki (Ch. XVII, p. 451), however, at the sidg of the characters ap -F- ib is written in kana: Oshibe.

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the deity’s thunder rolled and his eyes flashed. The Emperor was frightened, covered his eyes and did not look upon the god, but hid himself in the interior of the Palace and ordered the snake to be released on the hill. For this reason the Emperor altered the deity’s name into ‘Ikazuchi’ (‘Thunderbolt’)”.

As to the Ryo-i-ki', this gives the same details as the Gempei seisuiki, which apparently borrowed the legend from it. Instead of “Dragon-king”, or “Dragon-god”, however, the ancient work simply calls the deity “Thunder-god” ( ¢& ji), which shows that the identification of this divinity with a Dragon-king dates from later times. The author of the Gempei seisuiki, translating the old text into modern Japanese, followed the ideas of his age, and, changing the word “Thunder-god”, which he once retained, the two other times into “Dragon-king” and “Dragon-god’’, he added the words: “erected his scales and dilated his eyes’. The fact that the Nihongi spoke of a serpent-shaped mountain god made the identification with a dragon quite logical. The author of the Gempei seisurki omitted the last part of the legend, which in the Ryé-i-ki runs as follows: “Afterwards, when Sukaru had died, the Emperor by decree ordered to delay the funeral for seven days and seven nights. He praised his loyalty and had his tomb made on the same spot where the Thunder had fallen down. Over the grave he erected a stone monument with the following inscription: ‘This is the Thunder-catcher Sukaru’s tomb’. The Thunder, angry at this insult, came down with a loud roar and trampled upon the stone monument, but while he was smashing it, he was seized (by Sukaru’s ghost). When the Emperor heard this, he released the Thunder, who was not dead, but, being quite perplexed, remained there for seven days and seven nights. The Emperor ordered another stone monument to be erected with the following inscription: ‘This is the tomb of Sukaru, who in life-time and after death caught the Thunder’. This is the reason why at the time of the old capital (i. e. Suiko Tennd’s capital, Owarida no miya, »)\ 44 fy By; the Empress Suiko reigned 593—628) this spot was called ‘lhunder-hill’”.

§ 3. Watatsumi no kami, the Sea-god, identified with a Dragon-king.

A similar alteration of an old text by the author of the Gempet seisuikt is to be found in the legend about Prince Yamato-dake,

4 fie 2 3p, written by the Buddhist priest Keigar about 750- A. D. Ch. I, Gunsho ruifi, nr 447, Vol. XVI, p. 23. Digitized by Microsoft®

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who, when his ship was tossed about by wind and waves on its way from Musashi to Kazusa province, was saved by his talented concubine Otdto Tashibana hime, who jumped into the sea in order to sacrifice herself on behalf of the Prince to the Dragon-god, and thus appeased the turbulent waves’. This legend is borrowed. from the ihongi?, but there we read only about Watatsumi no kami®, the “God of the Sea’ ( #ff jij).

§ 4. The dragon-hole in the Gion shrine.

A dragon’s hole in a Shintd temple is mentioned by the Zoku kojidan *. This hole was said to be in the hoden (“treasure-hall”, where the shintai or “god-bodies” of the gods are, preserved) of the Gion shrine at Kyoto. In 1221, when the temple was destroyed by fire, Nashimoto, the Buddhist head-abbot (zasu) of Hieizan, tried to measure the depth of the hole, but even at a depth of fifty jo (five hundred shaku) the bottom was not yet reached.

§ 5. The dragon-snake offered by the Sea-god to the Sada shrine.

The Shokoku ryindan * says the following: “In the Shinto temple of Sada, in Akika district, Izamo province, worship is performed in several ways. Between .the eleventh and the fifteenth day of the tenth month there comes from the open sea a small snake, about one shaku long, floating on the waves and approaching the shore. It is a beautiful, gold-coloured animal, called dragon-snake (ff we, ryzja). The priest of the shrine, after having purified himself, goes to the beach and awaits the snake, which he carries, coiled up upon some seaweeds, to the temple. It is a present from the Sea-god to the shrine”.

§ 6. A dragon-snake as a tree-sprite on Koya san.

Another tale in the same work® refers to a serpent- shaped tree-sprite, the spirit of a willow called ja-yanagi, WE Pi, or “snake-willow”, on Koya san. This was a big serpent or dragon,

1 Ch. XLIV. p. 1157. 2 Ch. VII, KT. K, Vol. I, p. 146,

3 Cf. above, a oe Chap. I, § 3, p. 137.

4 at ns ak i aA probably written at the end of the thirteenth or in the be-ginning of edges Pagan Ch. IV, Gunsho ruiji, nr 487, Vol. XVII, p. 684.

5 BK Bl FA A, B&R. written in 1746 by Kixvoxa Senryo, ay Fa Wh hes

Ch. I, Zoku Teikoku ci Vol. XX, p. 879. 6 Ch. I, p. 894.

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which from remote ages lived on this sacred mountain, till it was forced by Kobo Daishi to retreat to a spot about half a mile distant. He made the demon promise to do so by causing poisonous snakes to appear on his (the demon’s) body, so that he suffered immensely and at once was willing to go away. Thenceforth Kobo Daishi forbade to bring flutes on the mountain, for fear that the sound of a flute, by its resembling a dragon’s cry, might attract the serpent and cause it to return to its former abode. This’ was told by one of the monks to Hideyoshi, when the latter, staying as a pilgrim on the mountain, had ordered a famous nod-actor, whom he had taken with him, to give a performance. The monk warned him, not to arouse the dragon by flute playing, but Hideyoshi langhed at him. But no sooner had the tones of the flute resounded on the mountain, than dark clouds arose in the clear sky and covered the earth. A severe thunderstorm shook mountains and valleys, trees were uprooted and the rain poured down in torrents. Hideyoshi, frightened by these terrible signs of the dragon’s presence, fled from the monastery and took shelter in a small house at the foot of the mountain. When about two hours had elapsed, the tempest abated, but Hideyoshi’s unbelief in Kobo's wisdom was cured for ever.

§ 7. The “Heavenly Dragon’s Well” at the Suwa shrine.

According to the Honché zokugenshi', one of the seven wonders of the famous Shinto shrine of Suwa-Myojn, at the Suwa lake (30 5H Ws], Suwa-ko), where the Tenryt-gawa (FE HE Jil, “Hea-venly Dragon River”) takes its rise, is the Tenryu no ido, or “Heavenly Dragon's Well” (3K #E 7 JF). There was always water dripping from the overhanging roof of the temple into this well, which phenomenon was apparently ascribed to a dragon. When Kublai Khan’s Armada attacked Japan, the God of Suwa flew in the shape of a long, five-coloured cloud, having the resemblance of a serpent, from the lake to the West, in order to assist the Japanese against the foreign invaders °.

In the neighbourhood of the same “Heavenly Dragon River”,

4 IN ia] RB RK, written in 1746 by Kucvoka Senryo, aA Fe) A ae (also called Brian, FC [L]), Ch. I, p. 19, quoted in the Shiojiri, Rigg 7.» written

in 1749 by ZANSETSUSHA SoKYt, if; = a4 # R, Ch. IL.

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in Totomi ‘province, a big dragon’s head was preserved in a Buddhist temple called Zuda-dera (BA [i~ 3). It was taken to Yedo and there shown to the people. The river’s name was said to have originated from the presence of this dragon '.

§ 8. Kurikara Myo-o, the dragon-shaped mountain-god.

Another Shinto shrine, the temple of Kurikara Myo-0, {A Hi 3m Ae BY =, is dedicated to a dragon-shaped mountain-god, who is said to live in a waterfall on Mount Oyama in Sagami province. As the Nihon shikyo fizoku shi? (1902) tells us, in olden times the Buddhist priest Ryoben was preaching there one day, when a violent thunderstorm suddenly arose and the water in the hollow, excavated by the cataract, was heavily disturbed. A huge dragon came forth from it and said ‘to the priest: “I am the guardian-god of this mountain. After having heard your sermon, IT wish to serve Buddha”. Then Rydben worshipped the dragon, and afterwards as little Shintd shrine was built on the spot and dedicated to the dragon, which was called by the Buddhist name “Kurikara Myo-3”, “Kurikara, the Light-King” (i.e. Vidya-raja, the word Light being used in the sense of (mystic) Knowledge, Vidya).

This was apparently an original Japanese dragon-shaped moun-tain-god, who was identified by the Buddhists with Fudd Myd-3’s dragon-shape; the Shintd shrine, however, remained his sanctuary. Kurikara is, as we read in Mivra’s Bukkyod iroha jiten®, Fudo Mys-o’s “Samaya” (= B HR) shape, a black dragon coiled around a sword.

4 Shiojiri, Ch. IT, p. 411. 2 P. U4, 3 Vol. Ill, p. 57, s.v. Kurikara; ef. below, Ch. VI, § 10.

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CHAPTER VI. THE DRAGON-LANTERN.

Among the many ignes fatui of Japan the Dragon-lantern (Ryo, BE RE) occupies an important place. It mostly rises from the sea and flies from there to the mountains, where it is seen hanging in some special old pine or cryptomeria tree before a (mostly Buddhist) temple. Old pine trees especially are famous in respect to these mysterious lights, which are evidently offerings sent by the dragons of the sea to the deities or Buddhas or Bodhisattvas worshipped in the shrines. There is an enormous number of legends telling of the Dragon-lanterns appearing along the mountainous coasts of Japan. In order to make clear the people’s ideas on this point, however, it may be sufficient to refer to a few passages, because they closely resemble one another, and the same conceptions lie at the bottom of them all.

The old annals do not speak of the Dragon-lantern, nor do we find any mention made of it in other books before the fourteenth century.

§ 1. Dengyo Daishi’s image of Yakushi Nyorai.

The Kigegawa Yakushi engi! says the following: “The image of Yakushi Nyorai in Jokwoji (also called Shoryizan, 7F HE Ly, “Blue Dragon monastery”), in Katsushika district, Shimosa province, is made by Dengyo Daishi*. When Jikaku Daishi stayed in Asakusa-dera (the famous Kwannon temple in Asakusa, the well-known district of Yedo), an old man with grey hair appeared to him and said: ‘In the North-east there is a holy

3 K as mu pn ti ea ri written in 1327 by the Buddhist priest Gisun.

ES ¥if], Gunsho ruija, Vol. XV, nr 442, p. 637. 2 ges ee KK fifi (767822), the founder of the Tendai sect in Japan. 3 we K fifi (794864), in 854 appointed head (zasu) of the Tendai sect.

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place, where I have dedicated a miraculous image made by Dengyo Daishi’. Thereupon the man disappeared, and Jikaku went outside and looked towards the North-east. Suddenly a lucky cloud (iq SZ, zwi-un, a cloud of a lucky colour) arose, and in it a blue dragon was visible. Then the Daishi secretly left the temple and went in search of this blue dragon, till he arrived at the cottage (where the above-mentioned old man had lived as a hermit and had obtained the image). There he worshipped ~ the image and saw the blue dragon, which was still there. Jikaku turned himself to the lucky cloud and addressed the dragon as follows: ‘I wish to say a few words to you, you sacred dragon, listen to me. I want to built a temple here, which you must guard and protect. from calamity. From this moment I appoint you guardian-god of the shrine’. When the Daishi had finished speaking, the dragon, which had listened motionless, with his head bent down in reverence, disappeared. The priest considered this to be a good sign, and called the sanctuary ‘Blue Dragon temple’. Up till this day from time to time a dragon-lantern appears there as a wonderful, lucky omen, probably in consequence of the above facts (i.e. because the blue dragon is the temple’s guardian-god)”.

The Edo meisho ki‘ tells us that from olden times many pilgrims went up to this temple, which is also called Jokwaji (ft 3 3. “Temple of the Pure Light”), to worship the dragon-lantern, which was sure to arise before the image of Yakushi Nyorai on the eighth day of every month, and on New-Year’s morning.

§ 2. Kobo Daishi’s spirit.

In the Tomioka Hachiman shaki, “History of the Shintd temple of Hachiman of Tomioka” *, we read that in 1628 Kobo Daishi’s ghost appeared in a dream to a Shingon priest and ordered all the priests of his sect in Kwanté, except the heads of Koya and Sekigaku, to assemble in Hitaijima (in Yedo). They obeyed the saint’s command and preached sermons for ninety days at a stretch. At the same time they erected a temple, dedicated to

1jL B® Ff 8G. written by Asar Ry0-1, is Ft J a, who lived

4639—1709, and printed in 1662; Ch. IH, p. 19.

21H Bl AV BA fk BL voted by Konmmana Broan, EE AM

(1793—1870), in his Ryu-an zuthitsu, pp & bs #, written in 1819, Hyakka setsurin, Vol. ie aS =, p. 487.

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Kobo Daishi’s soul (Mikage-do), and since that time a dragon-lantern arose before this shrine.

§ 3. Jigen Daishi’s spirit.

The Jigen Daishi den', the biography of Jigen Daishi, i.e. the Buddhist bishop Tenkai?, who was greatly revered by Ieyasu, and who died in 1648, contains the following tale. — “In the evening of the second day of the eleventh month of the twentieth year of the Kwanei era (1643) a special service was held (for Jigen’s soul) in the Sembakita temple (in Musashi), when a dragon-lantern rose from a well and hung on the top of a cryptomeria tree at the southern front of the kyakuden (“reception-hall” of the temple). Priests and laymen stared at the light with astonishment, and paid worship to it. Immediately a fast runner was despatched as a messenger to the Nikko temple, in order to proclaim the news, and everybody was filled with admiration (for Jigen’s holiness, for his soul was evidently believed to be connected with the light, like that of Kobo Daishi in the prece-ding legend)” *.

§ 4. “Dragon-lantern pine trees”.

Very frequently mention is made of so-called “Dragon-lantern pine trees” (Rywtd no matsu, ¥E AS), which stood before Buddhist temples, and in the branches of which a dragon-lantern _ was said to arise regularly. Now and then we read of such trees standing near Shinto shrines, but by far the greatest part of the passages concerning them, as well as those concerning the dragon-lantern in general, relate to Buddhist sanctuaries.

Before the chapel of Monju (Mafjugri), called Monjudo (30 Bf ), at Ama no hashidate (one of the Nihon sankei, the. three most beautiful places of Japan) in Yosa district, Tango province, situated near the so-called. Kuze no to, or Kire-to, there stood a “dragon-lantern pine tree”. At midnight of the sixteenth

1 Be RA Bit 1. 2 ie.

3 Curiously rationalistic at the side of these passages sound the following words of the Ensei meibutsu kohot ( 8 py By a aH iH» Ch. VIII), quoted on the same page of the Rytian zuihitsw: —“The ‘Devil-lights’ (Airin, pil yy) and Dragon-lanterns which appear above swamps, pools, broad plains, mountain temples, grave-yards etc. are ‘zwavelstofgas’ coming forth from rotten animals and plants’. The word

“gwavelstofgas”, written in kana, is a Dutch word and must be “zwavelwaterstofgas”,

i.e. hydrogen sulphide.

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day of every month there appeared from the northeastern sea a dragon-lantern, which flew to this tree; and in the night of the sixteenth day of the first, fifth and ninth months another light, called the “Heavenly Lantern” (Tenia, FE WK) descended from the sky. Also a third light, the so-called “Jse no go 16”, or “August Light of Ise”, which is mentioned in the Yaho meisho ryaku (1697), where it is said to be named Shinto (ji) RR, the “Sacred Light’) and to be made by the divinity of the Daijingt at Ise (Amaterasu), was visible on this spot. The image of the Bodhisattva Mafijugri (Monju Bosatsu), which was worshipped there, was said to be of Indian origin and to have come out of the sea.

The same temple is referred to in the Kw zdédanshi*, where we read the following particulars concerning the light: — “It comes from a deep spot in the sea, two cho from the “Broken Door” (Kire- to) of Hashidate, where the Gate of the Dragon-palace is said to be. When the weather is fine and wind and waves are calm, it goes from Kire-to to the Monju shrine. Unbe-lieving people cannot see it, or, if they see it, they think it to be the light of some fisherman. It stops on the top of a high pine tree which stands about 20 ken south of the Monjudo. After half an hour or shorter it is extinguished. From time to time a little boy is seen on the top of the tree, carrying the lamp which is called Tendo, FR KY, “Heavenly Lantern” (this word may also be written KF ig, Tendo, “Heavenly boy”). Formerly this boy (an angel) often appeared, but now rarely”.

The Nihon shakyo fuzoku shi* (1902) mentions an old “Dragon-lantern pine tree” which still stands near a Shinto temple called Uhara jinja (3 Ji yh tk), in Karida village, Kyoto district, Buzen province. There Toyotama-bime, the Sea-god’s daughter, in the shape of a dragon gave birth to a son‘, and at the same time a light (a dragon- lantern) came flying from the sea and hung in the same pinetree °.

1 we XIII, p. ay About this work see above, p. 170, note 4.

2 4 #e Rie BR SB, “Collection of all kinds of strange tales”, written by “the son of Nakamura, on of Buzen”, in the Tembun era (1532—1554) (cf. Matsunoya hikki, Ch. Ill, p. 4, and the work itself, Ch. IJ, p- 15, where the author states that his father, Nakamura, Lord of Buzen, lived in the Bummei era (1469—1486).

3 P. 436. 4 Cf. above, Book II, Ch. I, § 5, p. 139.

_5 Cf. the Buzen kokushi, BEL Pay [BQ as. written in 1865 by Taxapa Yosuicurxa, =a We = ir. who does not call the light a dragon-lantern, but states that it appeared even in his days.

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We may mention here another Shintd shrine, the Shirahige jinja (EA #% iif rk) in Shiga district, Omi province, where a dragon-lantern was said to enter the worshipping hall (haiden) from time to time, instead of hanging in a pine tree'; and the Jogit (e ¥#), a Shinto temple in Tsuruga, Echizen province, where every New-year’s night such a light arose in a “Dragon-lantern pine tree” which stood in the temple garden *.

Before the Buddhist chapel of Kasai Yakushi (4 $f 3 Be eit situated on a mountain north of Okayama, in Bizen province, there stood a “Dragon-lantern pine tree”. Every night, especially in summer time, will-o’-the-wisps were seen there °*.

§ 5. Tide-stones connected with dragon-lanterns.

On the top of Kaneyama, a mountain very near the above-mentioned chapel of Kasai Yakushi, there was a big stone with a hole in it, about one shaku square. When tide was high, this hole was filled with water, and at low tide it was dry *.

It seems that such stones were considered to be connected with the dragons who sent the dragon-lanterns, for also on the Sata promontory, in Hata district, Tosa province (30 ri west of Kochi) there was at the same period (1746) the so-called Ushio-ishi’ (38] 4G) or *Tide-stone”, a concave stone, filled with water at high tide and- empty at ebb time, while on the same spot, near the Shinto temple of Ashizuri no Myojin (BE Re 7 BA ih), a dragon-lantern used to appear from the sea simultaneously with the descent from the sky of a Heavenly Light (Tenia, WK). The latter was one of the seven wonders of the place. Another of these wonders was a dragon-horse, which used to come at the hour of the ox (1—3 a.m.) and to eat the small bamboo, which for this reason gradually died out in the vicinity of the temple). .

The connection between the tide-stones and the dragons at once reminds us of the legends concerning TFoyotama-hiko, the Sea-god, who gave the. tide-jewel. to Hiko-hohodemi °, and- concerning the Tonys ings, who was assisted by the ‘gods of Kasuga and

“4 Yuho meisho Fyaku (1697), Ch. VI, p. 16. 2 Toryuki kohen (see below, p. 210, note 2), p. 113. 3 Honcho zokugenshi (1746, cf. above, Book. II, Ch.. V, § 7, p. 203, note 1), Ch. IV, p. 40. _.. 4 Ibidem. “5 Shokoku rijindan (1746, see above, p. 202, note 5), Ch. I, Section VI, P. 998, 6 See above, Book Il, Ch. I, § 6, p. 140. Verh. Kon. Akad. v. Wetensch. (Afd. Letterk.) N. R. Dl. XII, N° 2. 14

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Kawakami by means of the jewels of low and high tide, taken from Sagara, the Dragon-king '.

§ 6. The Mountain-light and the Dragon-lantern of Gammokuzan in Etchu province.

The Toyuki kohen® states the following about a temple of the Zen sect in Niikawa district, Etcht province, called Gammokuzan (H& A Ly) or Sakkwazan. When this shrine was opened by its founder, the priest Daitetsu, a pupil of Dogen (3% 7¢, Shoyo Daishi, 1200—1253), the Mountain-god and a Dragon-god assisted and performed all kinds of miracles. Still in the author’s time (second half of the eighteenth century) yearly on the 13th day of the 7th month (probably the date of the opening of the shrine) two lights appeared on the top of a pine tree in the . temple garden. One of these lights (that of the Mountain-god) came flying from the summit of Mount Tateyama, the other (that of the Dragon-god) rose up from the sea, and both stopped on the pine tree. They were called the Mountain-light and the Dragon-lantern (Santé, Rywto), and were seen every year by, the people of the neighbourhood. “Although”, says Tacnipana NanxET, “there are many cases of dragon-lanterns coming out of the sea, they rarely appear simultaneously and on the same pine tree with a mountain-light, as is the case at this temple”.

§ 7. Kwannon’s dragon-lantern at Rytkoji.

On Itozaki yama, in Kchizen province, Hannan (the present Sakai) district, there is a Buddhist temple called Ryzkoji (7 i, 3, “Dragon’s rise-temple”), which was built by a Chinese priest who came from China on the back of an enormous tortoise, carrying a precious Kwannon image. When approaching the coast the tortoise emitted a strong light, and the fishermen, seeing this, went out to meet it and carried the image ashore. A temple was dedicated to this Kwannon, and every night a blue dragon appeared there in a so-called “Dragon-lantern pine tree”, carrying a light in honour of the deity. When he appeared, there was always a large number of holy priests, clad in magnificent robes,

4 See above, Book II, Ch. I, § 7, p. 142.

2 pu Nid au eA oo written in 1797 by TacHtBaNa NANKEr, 1G e2] Rs

(4752—1805), Zoku Teikoku bunko, Vol. XX (Kiko bunshii, AL, 47 Bl 46), p. 113.

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making heavenly music in the air. The priests could see them, but the ordinary people could only hear their music '.

§ 8. Tomyo-dake, Kumano Gongen at Nogami, Kwomyodji at Kamakura and Zenkwoji at Nagano.

Sometimes a mountain peak is called after a dragon-lantern, as e.g. the Tomyo-dake (i BA Fk), or “Light-Peak”, in Kawachi province, Ishikawa district (the present Minami Kawachi district), where such a light appeared at Kokidera, a Buddhist temple, the guardian-god of which was the Shintd mountain-deity Iwabune Myojin *.

In the last night of the year, at the hour of the ox (I—3a.m.,), a dragon-lantern used to be seen near the shrine of Kumano Gongen at Nogami village, Suwo province, while at the same time another “sacred light” (shinkwa, ji JX) came flying, swift like an arrow, from the neighbouring “Dragon-mouth Mountain”. While worshipping these lights the villagers entered upon the-New year *.

Another dragon-lantern was said to arise yearly from the sea to the clouds in the vicinity of Kwomyoji (3 Hf 3), the “Shrine of Brilliant Light” in Kamakura in two nights during the temple festival which lasted ten days*. And from the 14th to the 16th of the 7th month a similar light flew up from the Saikawa, a river in Shinano province, and, jumping from tree top to tree top it alighted on the south-western gable of the main building of Zenkwoji, the famous Buddhist sanctuary at Nagano 5.

§ 9. The light of Yotsukura.

A celebrated dragon-lantern was that of Yotsukura, a village on the coast of Hitachi province. It is described as a glittering fire ball, fully one shaku in diameter, and spreading a very clear light. Fishermen explained this (as well as all other so-called dragon-lanterns) to be a mass of flying insects born upon the water, which dispersed and disappeared as soon as they heard people approaching. Therefore they never appeared in storm and rain (because they were afraid of noise). “Sometimes”’, they said, “these insects cluster into one mass, which is seen hanging on

4 Yuho meisho ryaku, Ch. V, p. 16.

2 Ibidem, Ch. IV, p. 59.

3 Shokoku rijindan, Ch. III, Section VI, pp. 928 seq.

4 Tbidem. 5 Honcho zokugenshi, Ch. Ill, p. 8.

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the top of a high tree or on the eaves of a temple, and which looks like.a ball of fire. The so-called shiranu-bi (J FAK, “unknown fire’) is the same '.

More details about the Yotsukura light are to be found in the To-6 kiko, which says that it moves, floating on the water, from the sea along the Kamado river up to the valley brooks. At the foot of Mount Akai-dake it flies up and is soon seen hanging between the branches of big cryptomerias, till it disappears into the depths of the wood, continually followed by other lights, in an endless row, from evening till daybreak. In bright moonshine the lights are small, but in dark nights they are big like fire-flies or torches. A strange thing is that they are only visible from the so-called Enseki (Swallow-stone) on-a projecting part of the mountain. The author calls it inkwa (fk, Yin-fire), an expression borrowed from Chinese books, and Dean it with the “Sacred Lights” (ji #&) and the “Cold Flames” (ER RR) mentioned by Chinese authors.

§ 10. The lights of Ushijima, Ishidozan and Kurikara.

In the last night of the year — a time when many dragon-, lanterns were said to appear, as the above legends have taught us — three strange lights used to arise from differents spots. near the island Ushijima and to join into one mass which flew to the “Dragon-lantern pine tree” of Asahizan Jonichiji, a Bud-dhist temple at Himi, a little place in Etcht province, Himi district, and seen hanging between its branches °.

It was also a dragon-lantern which the Buddhist priest Nansan saw on an old pine tree, when he crossed Mount Ishidozan in the year 806; Amida Nyorai appeared there, seated on a wonderful cloud. Nansan built a Buddhist temple on the spot and placed Amida Nyorai’s image in it. Four centuries later, when the Emperor Juntoku (1211—1221) went to Sado province and his ship was tossed on the waves by a severe storm, all of a sudden a eee arose in the South on the same spot and served:

1 Oshii-banashi, R Hl] YR BB AR. Onchishosho (GH Jot AE AE), vol. XI,

p. 50, 52,

2 HF Ra AE 4F > written in 1760 oo NAGAKUBO GENSHU, fe N 4%: 4 ER, and quoted by Kurimara Ryu-an, 3 BE. ea ps (14793—4870) in his Ryw-an

cuihitsu, fi) & 2 a By ee, written in 1819;"Hyakka setsurin, Vol. iS f —, , p. 487.

3 Sanshi hidan kohen (1779) (cf. above, p. 174, note 1), Ch. VII, p. 990.

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as a beacon to the Imperial ship, which safely reached the coast '.

In the Kurikara? mountains, which form the boundary between Etcha and Kaga, there was a Shingon temple called Chorakuji or Kurikara-san, with an image of Fudd Myo-6. This sanctuary was miraculous beyond description, and famous for its wonderful “Mountain-lights” and “Dragon-lanterns” *.

§ 11. Ignes fatui in general. The dragon-lantern is the only one which arises from the sea and flies to the mountains.

Not only in regard to the dragon-lantern, but also in other respects especially old pine trees were famous for their ignes fatui. So we read of the “gold-fire pine tree” on the road from Komatsu to Kanazawa, where phosphorescent light, the so-called *rinkwa” (BE IK), or abou" (<> 4K, gold-fire) was seen to fly up and down. This fire, however, did not come from the sea, like the dragon- lantern, but was ascribed to the fact that formerly criminals used to be beheaded under this tree, whose blood, penetrating into the ground, had become so-called “ki-rin” (BL JE) or «demon’s fire”; or some one had in great anger committed suicide on this spot, and “the fire of his heart made the pine tree burn” ‘.

The idea of blood causing these mysterious lights is borrowed from China; we read in Dz Groor'’s Religious ae of China® that blood, identified with the tsing Kt (4 SX), the breath or

yang soul possessed by vital energy, especially the blood of men ' killed by weapons, and that of horses and cows, forms ignes fatui. They are soul-flames, especially to be seen on battle-fields. The identification of blood and soul is not only a Chinese conception °, but is also found among some Indian tribes of North America, as we learn from Frazer’s Golden Bough’. As to China, there the ignes fatui were believed to be produced especially by old trees and old blood®.

Also demons were considered to cause will-o’-the-wisps, as the names “ki-rin’? and “oni-bi” (BA 4), “demon-fire”, clearly show. Moreover, old bewitching animals, like tanusi and mujina, were

Sanshu kidan (1764) (cf. p. 172, note 7), Ch. IV, p. 815.

Cf. above, Ch. V, § 8, p. 204: Kurikara Myo-0, the dragon-shaped Fudo Myo-0. Sanshii kidan, Ch. V, p. 835 (santo, ryuto, Wy RE BE IRE ).

Ibidem, Ch. II, p. 713; ‘‘Hachiman’s gold-fire”.

Vol. IV, p. 80, 6 De Groot, |.1., Vol. I, pp. 217, 268, note 2. Vol. I (second edition), p. 353. :

De Groot, |.1., Vol. IV, p. 80.

OwWtr wpe

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notorious in this respect’. Besides tanuki-bi, kitsune-bi (badger and fox-fire) and oni-bi, the ignes fatui were called inkwa (2K, or Yin-fire, Fire of Darkness), kumo no hi (dy] 7 4, spider-fire), kaigetsu no hi (H% AL 7 3%, sea-moon-fire’, susuke ando (WE 4F XY sooty lantern) *, or bozu-bi (4% FE YX, monk’s fire) *.

Not: always, however, are demons ’°, or old animals, or dragons believed to cause the Jack-o'-lanterns, nor are these only con-sidered to be angry souls of the dead°, for also Buddhas and Shintd gods may. be the producers of these wonderful “ burari-62”, or “dangling lights’. Amida Nyorai himself, as we have seen above’, appeared with the dragon-lantern on Ishiddzan, and the name Butsu-to (4 &), or “Buddha’s lights”, is sufficient evidence of this belief. As to the Shintd gods, we may mention the ignes fatui near Gofuku village in Etchi, which were said to be caused by the jealous spirit of the goddess Fukura-hime no Mikoto, whose consort, the. god Noto-hiko, during her absence took a second wife, whereupon she pelted his temple with stones *. And in the year 1770 the god Sannd made a sacred light (ji , shintd) appear in the dead of night in the worshipping-hall of his temple in Sebamachi, at the western mouth of the Nami-kawa; after two nights he stopped it in consequence of offerings made to him and kagura dances performed in his honour °.

So we see that there is a great variety of ignes fatui in Japan. The dragon-lantern, however, is the only one which arises from the sea and flies to the mountains; all the others start and remain in the woods, or fly from there to the sea coast, where they sometimes fall into the water '’. The reason for this diffe-rence is clear: the dragon-lantern is believed to be an offering sent by the dragons. of the sea to the deities, Buddhas or Bodhisattvas in the mountains, while the other lights, on the con-trary, are ascribed to these divine beings themselves, or to demons, animals or spirits of the dead, all of which have their abodes in the mountains and woods or on the grassy plains of the battle-fields.

1 Cf. my treatise on “The Fox and the Badger in Japanese Folklore, Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, Vol. XXXVI, Part. IIT, pp. 154 seq., 156. 2 Sanshi kidan kohen, Ch. VI, pp. 955 seq.

3 Ibidem. 4 Sanshu kidan, Ch. III, p. 752.

5 Mami, JRE WR, ef. Sanshii kidan, Ch. Il, p. 770.

6 Sanshi kidan, Ch. I, p. 664; Ch, V, p. 840. 7 P. 242.

8 Sanshit kidan, Ch. V, p. 840. 9 Sanshu kidan kohen, Ch. VIII, p. 1001.

10 Cf. Sanshti kidan kohen, Ch. VI, p. 956: a fisher catches them in his net, but the numberles small lights escape through the mazes, fly- up, and join into one massive ball of ‘fire which soars away through the air; perhaps, says the author, was it a transformation of old blood.

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CHAPTER VII.

THE CHINESE DRAGON'S EGGS IN JAPAN.

§ 1. The dragon-fetus remains in the egg for three thousand years.

Jn the sixteenth century of our era a Japanese author ' spoke of an old (certainly Chinese) tradition, according to which a dragon’s fetus lives during a thousand years in the sea, for a thousand years in the mountains and, after having been among men (‘in a village”, says the text) for the same long period, it finally is born, becomes a dragon and ascends to the sky *. During these three thousand years the fetus lives as a very small snake within a stone, the dragon’s egg, which is first lying at the bottom of the sea, then comes to the mountains (how it got there is not explained), where after a thousand years it is picked up by somebody who carries it home and preserves it on account of its beautiful colours, or uses it as an ink-stone (suzuri, Jil). As it invariably has the remarkable peculiarity of constantly pro-ducing water (the dragon’s element), it is a very convenient ink-stone indeed *. But woe him who possesses such a stone at the end of the millennial period which the fetus must pass among mankind, for then the stone splits, and a small snake creeps out of it, which in a few moments becomes larger and larger, and with a terrible noise forces its way to the sky, smashing the roof amid thunder and lightning, and ascending in a dark cloud. The little reptile has become an enormous four-legged dragon, which leaves the narrow abodes of men and frees himself in this terrific way.

41 Kii zddanshu (1532—1554) (cf. above, p. 208, note 2), Ch. III, p. 16. 2, Cf. above, Book I, Ch. III, § 16, pp. 88 sqq.

3 In the Hyakka setsurin (Vol. ae aS —., p. 487) we find the following names

of ink-stones: Rywringetsu-ken, bE fh A Ai or “Dragon-scales-moon-inkstone”, and Rywbi-ken, BE BB i “Dragon’s tail-inkstone”,

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§ 2. Dragons born from beautiful stones picked up in the mountains.

A remarkable ink-stone was preserved in olden times, says the Ki zédanshi', in a Zen monastery at Kanagawa, Musashi province. Drops of water were constantly dripping out of this stone, but nobody understood the reason of this strange pheno-menon. Once upon a time, on a very hot summer day, when the monks were sitting together in a cool room, all of a sudden the ink-stone split of its own accord, and a small worm, about 2 bu (0.24 inches) long, crept out of it. The monks were about to kill the beast, but the head-priest forbade them to do so, and carefully carried it on a fan to the garden, where he put-it into the lotus pond. All the monks followed him, and while they were looking at the worm, they saw with astonishment how the little creature, drawing together and stretching its body, grew larger and larger. In a great fright they ran back into the house, but even there they soon felt themselves no longer safe, for the sky, hitherto quite clear, at once was covered with clouds, thunder and lightning raged, and a pitch-black darkness filled the garden and enwrapped the building. Then they all fled away through the gate and saw from far how the dragon in an immense cloud ascended to the sky, first his head, then his four-legged body, and finally his enormous tail. When he had disappeared, the clouds dispersed and the sky became clear as before. The garden, the pond and the building, however, were all in a terrible con-dition. In the mean time people from the neighbouring villages came to the rescue, thinking that the monastery was on fire.

A writer of the eighteenth century, Kiucn1 Srxire:*, relates the same accident as having happened in Kanazawa (instead of Kanagawa). Further, he mentions a round stone which was picked up by a boy in the mountains near Sammon, in Omi province. As water was constantly trickling out of this stone, the boy used it in later years to wet his ink-slab. After fifty years, when he had attained the rank of Archbishop —- the stone apparently had brought him prosperity — the curious object split and a dragon arose to the sky, after breaking through the ceiling and the roof. The stone existed still in Sexirei’s time, and in the middle of it there was a hole of the size of a bean.

4 Ch. V, p. 4.

2 K iy G ms, who lived 1722—4801, in the Unkonshi kohen, = WE a oe

B oe “Records on cloud-roots continued”, written in 1779; Ch. IT, p. ar The first volume of this work (zempen) appeared in 1772, and the third (sampen) in 1804.

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A’ similar dragon's ege was used by a Buddhist priest in Moriyama, Omi province, in 1774, for grinding his tea, till the dragon was born and ascended, leaving a round hole in the middle of the stone '.

In another case such an egg was recognized before by a great scholar, thoroughly versed in Chinese literature, the famous [rd Jinsat’®, who warned a Court-noble, telling him that a magnifi-cent stone, square and five-coloured, in the nobleman’s possession was a dragon’s egg, and that he had better throw it away in some lonely spot. The man followed the scholar’s advice, and built a little Shintd shrine in the open field outside the capital, in which he placed. the stone. A few years afterwards the shrine was smashed by the dragon which ascended to heaven. This stone was a so-called ryishd-seki, HE AE 4, or “Dragon produ-cing stone” *.

The name of “dragon-horse- stone” (ryu-me-seki, HE BR 4) was given to another remarkable stone, white as crystal and as big as the palm of the hand, which was lying on the desk of a samurai in Hizen province. In its centre a moving creature was visible, and the stone moved by itself from one side of the desk to the other. One day the man placed a tea cup filled with water on the desk, and when he came back the cup was empty. The next day he made the same experiment with a big bowl, and while he was talking with some friends in the next room, they heard a noise as of wind and waves. At once they went to look what the matter was, and discovered a lizard (tokage, 4G rad *F-; litt. “little stone-dragon”) running from the bowl to the stone, which it entered *.

Two “snake-producing stones” (shd-ja-seki, AE WE 4 )° were found in a hole at Kyoto in 1762, and in 1780 a “golden snake stone” (¢> HE 4) was picked up in the mountains by a child. Water was constantly flowing out of it, till it was cooked and the dragon inside was killed. Then it was split and the dead body: of a little gold-coloured snake was found in it®.

Although they were not dragon’s eggs, we may mention here two stones which were believed to be connected with dragons. One of them was a big stone lying in a hollow excavated by a waterfall near Kayao village, Inukami district, Omi. province,

4 Ibidem. 2 RR {EZ WE, a kangakusha who lived 1626—1705. 3 Unkonshi kohen, Ch. Il, p. 8. 4 Vbidem, Ch. II, p. 10. a“ 5 Ibidem, Ch. Il, p. 12. 6 Ibidem, Ch. III, p. 7. Be

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which was said to belong to the Dragon-god of the place and was called “Dragon-god-stone” (7E ih 4, Ryujin-seki) by the villagers. In the Kyoho era (1716—17835) five or six men came to the neighbouring villages and asked the inhabitants to sell them woman’s hair in order to make a rope by means of which they might carry the stone as an offering to the Dragon-god of Seta. A short time afterwards the stone actually disappeared, but it was much too heavy to have been carried away by human hands (probably the men in question were transformed dragons) '. The second stone, which was black and about three shaku long, lay in a garden and was said to cause even a clear summer sky to become cloudy in a moment, when it was touched by somebody. In 1764 the stone was no longer outside, but within the castle, so that the experiment could not be made any more. “Perhaps”, says Horra, the author of the Sanshu hkidan, “it is a so-called ‘cloud-root’ (SE fb, un-kon)” *.

We find the following details in the Shdsan chomon kishu (1849) * The abbot of a Shingon monastery had a so-called dragon-gem (HE 7 FE, ryt no tama), which was considered to be an un-commonly precious object. On cloudy days it became moist at once, and when it rained it was quite wet. In reality it was not a dragon-gem, but a dragon’s egg (ry# no tamago, HE 7 Sf). Such eggs are hatched amid thunderstorm and rain; then they destroy even palaces and uproot big trees, and it is therefore advisable to throw them away before-hand on a lonely spot in the mountains. The abbot, however, deemed it not necessary to take this precaution with the dragon’s egg in his possession, because it was dead. “Thirty years ago’, he said, “the egg became moist as soon as the weather was a little cloudy, and its luster was magnificent; but as it afterwards did not show moistness any more even on rainy days, nor grew any longer, it is evidently dead”. Mrvosai SHdsan (the author) himself went to the monastery to see this wonderful egg, and gives a picture of it.(p. 573), which shows the dragon-fetus inside. Its dimen-sions were: length, 4 sun, 8 bu; breadth, 4 sun, 6 bu; it was like a “diamond-natured thunder-axe-stone” (7k Gf HE GA, gyoku-shitsu rai-fu-seki, called by the people Tengu no- ono,

4 Ibidem, Ch. II, p. 43. 2 Sanshi kidan, Ch. 1V, p. 788.

3 74 Ly Se Bal ay SA. written in 1849 by Suosan sar suunn, AA [Ly Hp

= 3 A Zoku Teikoku bunko, Vol. XLVII, Kinsei kidan zenshu. Ch. IV, pp. 572 seqq.

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K 4) 7 $, or “Tengu-axe”), but it seemed to be still harder and sharper than these. Its colour was red, tinged with bluish grey, just like the thunder-axe-stones, but its lustre was more like that of glass than is the case with the latter. There were some spots on the egg, which Saosan considered to be dirt left on it by the dragon which produced it.

é

§ 3. Thunder-stones.

In the same monastery there was a so-called “ thunder-jewel” (8 7 =B, rai no tama, or f§ Kk, rai-gyoku), which in 1796 had fallen from the sky during a heavy thunderstorm, when the lightning struck a spot near Haseda. Its colour was white, tinged with a slight bluish grey, just like cornelian or marble. Such thunderstones were called “thunder-awes” (raifu, FR 4), “ thunder-

knives” (FR JJ, raito), “thunder-hammers” (rai tsui, $A HR), “thun-der-blocks” (& Fi, raitan), “thunder-rings” (9 Bg, raikwan),

“thunder-pearls” (fq Yk, raishu), “thunder-pillars” (RR, rai-ketsu), “thunder-ink” (raiboku, fy gs), “thunder-swords’ (raiken,

€h fl), “thunder-pins” (raisan, 4 $4), and so on. They are found in spots struck by lightning. The black ones are thunder-axes, those which are white, tinged with blue, are thunder-rings, the purple ones, tinged with red, are thunder-pins. If it is neither stone nor earth, but a lump as of lacquer, it is thunder-ink. The above-mentioned specimen was, in SHodsan’s opinion, a kind of thunder-pear! '.

We learn from this passage that the prehistoric stone weapons and utensils were considered by the Chinese (for all these names were borrowed from Chinese works), and in imitation thereof by the Japanese, as thunderbolts; this is the same conception which we find everywhere among primitive peoples. Also meteors, of course, are believed to have been thrown by lightning upon the earth, or to’ be fallen stars. As to the dragon, his connection with rain and thunder is evidently supposed to begin long before his birth and to show itself in a terrible way as soon as he is born.

4 Cf. pe Groot, Religious System of China, Vol. V, p. 866, where the “thunderbolt stones” (Be Be Hit)» “thunder-nodules” ( FR , ef. the FR of the Japanese text)

are said to be believed to remove the effects of ku-poison. On the next page pr Groot mentions’ thunder-hammers, thunder-awls, thunder-axes (supposed to have been used by the God of Thunder to split up things), thunder-rings (lost by that god) and thunder-pearls,

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CHAPTER VIII.

THE TATSUMAKI (Pf ¥F), on “DRAGON'S ROLL”.

The works of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries explain the heavy whirlwinds which cause the so-called . water-spouts and in a moment destroy the products. of human hands’ or whatever they may light upon, to be the work of dragons ascen-ding to heaven. Accordingly » ‘the enormous columns of water, thrown, up into the air by these whirlwinds, are called “éatsu-maki” or “dragon's rolls”.

§ 1. Dragons which ascended to heaven.

Apart from the fatswmaki we may refer to two passages in the Yuho. meisho ryaku (1697) where Graigons are said to have ascended to the sky. The first passage’ treats of the name of Tatsuta, the place where the Wind-god was worshipped from times immemorial, which name it ascribes to the fact that a dragon arose to heaven there. It was the Thunder-god himself, who in the shape of a boy had fallen down on Tatsuta yama (Higuri district, Yamato province), thirty or forty cho south-west from Nara. A peasant adopted the child and educated it, and from that time wind and rain were very favourable to that special village. Afterwards the child changed into a dragon and flew to the sky.

The second passage ° explains the name of Sennin-zuka (lj A. YR, or “sien’s grave”) in Narumi village, Aichi district, Owari .province, to be the spot where in remote ages a Chinese sien (sennin),, who floating on a tree had arrived on this shore, lived for a long time till he finally became a dragon and rose to heaven. His soul was worshipped in the “Heavenly Dragon’s shrine” (Zenryz no miya, FR RE Hy), erected close to the spot where he had lived.

4 Ch. Il, p. 15. 2 Cf. above, Book II, Gh. III, § 4, p. 153. 3 Ch. VIII, p. 47. :

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The Wakan sansai zue (1713)1 describes how on lake Biwa a man saw a little snake, about one shaku long, which came swimming to the shore, climbed upon the water-rushes, danced about, came down again and swam about on the surface of the water, whereupon it several times repeated the same movements. Gradually the snake became longer and longer, till it reached the length of about one jd (10 shaku); then it ascended to the sky, which in the meantime was covered with black clouds. It became pitchdark, so that only the dragon’s tail was visible, and a shower of rain fell down till the dragon had entered the sky, which then became as clear as before. “The climbing upon the rushes and dancing about”, says the author, “was probably a preparatory exercise for ascending to ,heaven”’.

§ 2. Tatsumaki in Yedo *.

The Ichiwa ichigen® makes mention of a tatswmaki which in 1785 arose in the vicinity of the Detached Palace in Shiba district, in the Yedo bay, and destroyed the roofs of many houses in Kyobashi and Nihonbashi districts; at the same time a heavy rain came down and it became pitch-dark.

In the Kwansei era (1789—1800) there was in Yedo a Buddhist priest who went about and ‘predicted that soon a dragon was to ascend to heaven in a heavy tempest, reason why he advised the people to stay indoors. When a samurai asked him how he knew this beforehand, the priest answered: “I know this from experience. Always when the sky has been clear fer a long time and it suddenly begins ‘to rain, as is now the case, a dragon ascends”. “Are you perhaps the dragon yourself? ?” asked the samurai, and when the priest answered in the affirmative, he requested him to rise to the sky at once. “I cannot do so” replied the bonze, “because I have no water’. “No water?” exclaimed the other, ‘there is plenty of water in the river near by “That is of no use to me’, remarked the priest, “for that is flowing water and what I want is heavenly water. (rain)”. “Well, then I will give you some rainwater’, said the samurai,

4 Ch. XLV (BE hE Bp), p- 673.

2 1 use the old way of Lauseliie’ this name uate of “Edo” , because the name of Yedo has become | familiar to all readers of the older works on Japan. -..

3— a — a =, written by Ora Beta Ik Hy. a Hh (11825 Ch.

XL, p. 41.

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and he gave him a bottle of ink-stone water (used for wetting the suzuri). The priest took it and went away rejoiced, declaring that he now would mount to the sky. Actually a few days later a violent thunderstorm suddenly broke forth, accompanied by heavy rains and wind. When it abated, the trees and the grass had become quite black. The samurai alone knew the reason thereof: it was the ink-water which he had given to the priest, who had used this in rising to the clouds. The author of the Miyakawasha mampitsu' heard this tale from the samurai’s son, to whom his father had told it.

In 1744 a tidal wave which destroyed a little Shinto shrine near Yedo bay, as well as several houses and trees in Yedo, killing a large number of people, was ascribed to a dragon *.

Another tatsumaki happened in the Temmei era (1781—1788), when a dragon arose from the famous Shinobazu pond in Ueno (Yedo). A black cloud arose from the pond and destroyed the houses in the vicinity. This is stated by Ocawa Kznvo? in his Jinchédan *, who adds that such a dragon often ascends on summer days in the seas of Sado, Echigo and Etchi provinces. “Then there descends”, he says, “a black cloud from the sky, and the water of the sea, as a reversed waterfall, rises whirling about and joins the cloud. Tradition says that a dragon passes . from the water into the cloud... On considering the fact that a dragon rose from the Shinobazu pond we arrive at the con-clusion that dragons lie at the bottom even of small ponds and that the water, according to the weather, rises and a cloud comes down, so that heaven and earth come into connection and the dragon can ascend to the sky”.

§ 3. Tatsumaki on the sea.

In 1796 four fisherboats sank and the crews all perished when ‘pursuing a whale in the sea near Kashima no ura in Hitachi province. They were caught by a “dragon’s roll’? which all of a

4 et Jil te vi x, written in 1858 by Mryaxawa SEIuN, et Jul neg Si ;

Ch. V, p. 13.

2 Mado no susami, 3X ) ZA tke ES written by Mavsuzaxt GyosHin, AB Way BE FA (1681-1753), Onchi sosho, Vol. VII, p. 130.

3 yh Jil BAe.

4 fee ig Be written in 1814; Onchi sdsho, Vol. IX, p. 12.

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sudden covered the sky with dark clouds and made the surface of the sea quite black '.

In the Shésan chomon kisha* a sea-otter which rose up from the sea into a black cloud and ascended to the sky, is said to have done so in the same way as the “dragon-snakes” use to fly to heaven. The incident is described as follows. In a clear sky suddenly a black cloud appeared which in-a moment covered the sea. A heavy storm stirred up the waves and raised the sand, the rain fell down in torrents and the mountains shook. A hunter saw a mysterious creature rise from the sea into the cloud and fly to the sky. At once with a thundering noise the cloud came straight in the hunter’s direction, and he saw a dazzling light in the middle of it. When he hit the cloud with a bullet, it was dissolved, the rain stopped and the storm abated. A few days later a big sea-otter was found dying on the shore, with the bullet in its eye.

On the next page the author quotes the Koji inensha*, which states that in the sea of Iwami fishes ascend to the sky and become “fish-dragons” (#4 #/), and in a note we find the remark that “there. are several thousands of dragons, messengers of the divine sennin (jip {jlj), and among these are ‘fish-dragons’ and

‘otter-dragons’ (#4 BE, datsu-ryz), which can assume all kinds of shapes”’ 4.

A curious way of driving away a tatsumaki is described in the Yahisai sakki*, A. dark cloud came down upon a vessel sailing from Yedo in a western direction, and the sailors were afraid

4 Hitoyo-banashi, “Tales of one night”, written in 1810 by Maxt Boxusen, A das PE 5 Ch. I, p. 9.

2 Ch. II, p. 460; concerning this work cf. above p. 218, note 3.

3 HL wy Al RK 46, by an unknown author; probably a work of the Tokugawa period.

4 A “dog-dragon” Fay BED: a kind of mole, which, living under the ground,

haunted houses and devoured old women, is spoken of in the Sanshu kidan (Ch. II, pp. 732 seqq., cf. Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, Vol. XXXVII, Part J,

p. 32); and “gold-dragons” (> HE) were, together with “spiritual foxes” (SK AK) shown to the public by a sorcerer in Kyoto (Sanshii kidan, Oh. IV, p. 824)..In Ch. Ill (p. 517) of the Shosan chomon kishé we read that big snakes (especially the so-called senja, ib HE, or uwabami), and also small snakes, are a kind ef dragons which cause rain and wind and ascend to the sky. Snakes all belong to the species dragon.

5 AR 35 ie 4 8U,, written by MinaGawa KIEN, te Jil yt rae who lived 1733—1807; quoted in the Toywki, HE ME aU: written in 1795 by TacHIBANA NANKEL

1% BS BR; Kohen, BB $a Ch. UI, Zoku, Teikoku Bunko, Vol. XX, p. 129.

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that a dragon was about to lift up the ship and carry it to the sky. In order to scare the dragon away they all cut off their hair and burned it. And behold, the terrible smell was apparently too much for the dragon, for the. cloud at once dispersed.

-Dragons are fond of money '. One day, when 'a tatsumaki was raging, an empty string of cash fell down; the coins had evidently been taken off by the dragon which had then thrown the string away. Another time a ship with much money on board was attacked by dragons in the form of a fearful storm. It foundered, and all efforts to raise the box of money from the bottom of the sea were frustrated by the greedy dragons which caused a storm to arise each time when human hands tried to deprive them of their prey ’. _

§ 4. Snakes rise as dragons up to the clouds.

A strange tale is found in the Fude no ‘susabi® concerning a woman who had a severe headache on a day when a violent thunderstorm broke forth. During the tempest a little snake came out of her head, fled away through the door and ascended to the sky in a black cloud which suddenly came down.

The Mimi-bukuro* relates a legend of a big snake, which lived under the verandah of a house and was daily fed, by the inmates. If a girl who was waiting in vain for a husband gave food to this snake and prayed to it, her prayer was heard and she soon was married. One day, in the third: month of the second year of the Temmei era (1782), the animal crept upon the verandah and lay there as if it were ill. While the man and his wife were carefully nursing it, clouds arose and it rained continuously. The snake raised its head and looked up to the sky, when a cloud descended upon the garden. Then the animal stretched its body and in a heavy rain ascended to the sky.

4 Cf. above Book I, Ch. III, § 3, p. 69, with regard to the dragon’s liking for the vital spirit of copper. '9 Saiyuki, py Nig aU: written in 1797 by the same author as the. nen (cf. ie p. 993, note 5), Ch. II, p.-259. ff SHE, ‘Pencil sports”, written by Kwan Cuasan, if U. » who lived 1747-1827; Hyabks setsurin, Vol. TE E. p. 177.

"% a= gS, written in 1815 by Fonwana Monunosu, iz iT T KB Shidaikisho, yg Kg BE, av 4, p14, Ch, 1.

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CHAPTER IX.

JAPANESE, CHINESE AND INDIAN DRAGONS IN GEOGRAPHICAL, TEMPLE AND PRIEST NAMES.

In the preceding chapters we often have: mentioned mountains and temples called after a dragon which was said to live there or to have appeared at the time when the temple was built. There are a large number of similar names to be found throughout Japan, which are given in Yosuipa Toeo’s Dai Nihon chimei jisho, or “Geographical Leaicon of Japan”'. The following details are derived from this work.

§ 1. The Japanese dragon (tatsu).

Tatsu no kuchi, or “Dragon's mouth” (RE or fe 1) is a - very frequent name. 7 is e.g. given to a hot spring in Nomi district, Kaga province * , to a little waterfall in Kojimachi district, Tokyo *, to a hill in Kamakura district, Sagami province *, to a dike in Kuji district, Hitachi province ®, am to two mountains in Bizen and Rikuzen provinces®. On the hill of this name in Kamakura district criminals were put to death during the Kama-kura period, and it is famous on account of the legend concerning Nichiren’s miracle, whose life was saved because the sword refused to cut off his holy head. Tradition said that a hill was formed by the dead body of a dragon whose mouth was on this spot and who in olden times had inhabited a large lake near by‘. Even in the Anei era (1772—1780) a five-headed dragon was worshipped there in a little Shinto shrine *, and still nowadays a “Shinto temple of the Dragon’s Mouth” (Tatsu no kuchi no sha,

KH As 3h i Git - Te HA HE AIL. published in 1907.

1

2 P. 1912. 4 P, 2715. 5 P. 3731. ; a oh and 4208.

7

Enoshima engi, wr. & cd dt (time and author unknown), quoted by Yosuipa, 1.1, p. 2715. _ 7 8 Nichiren chigwasan, H Si et ig =. quoted ibidem.

Verh. Kon. Akad. v. Wetenseb (fd. hotterk) Ni Ry Bly XIII, N° 2. 15

226

HE 1 jit) is to be found on this spot, while a Buddhist shrine of the Nichiren sect, called Rywko-dera (7 (1 3), proves how the Buddhists adopted the old belief '. On the afore-said mountain in Rikuzen a big rock in the shape of a dragon’s head is worshipped in a Shinto temple, called “Tatsu no kuchi jinja”, or “Shrine of the Dragon’s mouth”. ?

Tatsu ga hana*® («Dragon's nose”) is the name of a cliff in Omi province, Sakata district, Tatsu-kushi * (“Dragon’s skewer’’) that of a rock in Tosa province, Hataya district. Tatsu-yama ® (“Dragon-mountains”) are found in Harima, Innan district, and in Owari, Higashi Kasugai district; a Tatsu-ko-yama® (“Little dragon-mountain”) is mentioned in Hitachi, Taga district, and Tatsu-zaki' (“Dragon’s capes”), in Shimozuke, Sarushima district, and in Iwashiro, Ishikawa district. In Mutsu province, Higashi Tsugaru district, we find a Tatsu-bama-zaki* (“Dragon-beach-cape’’), also called Tatsubi-zaki°® (“Dragon’s flight-cape”), and in Shinano, Saku district, a Tatsu-oka'® (“Dragon-mound”). Further, a Tatsu-no" (“Dragon-field”), also called Tatsu no ichi'? (“Dragon-market’’) is to be found in Shinano, Ina district, and another Tatsu no ichi in Yamato, Soe no kami district, where a Shintd-god, Tatsu no ichi Myojin, is worshipped. In Harima, Iiho (or Iho) district, there is a Tatsu-no'* with an old castle of this name, built by Nitta Yoshisada in 1334. Finally, we find villages called Tatsuta '4 (Dragon-ricefield) in Higo province, Akutaku district, and in Yamato, Ikoma district. Near the latter place is the well-known ancient Shinto shrine called Tatsuta jinja °, which is dedicated .to the Wind-god and where prayers are offered up for wind and rain. Also a Mount Tatsuta'’, in the same vicinity, may be mentioned, as well as a river, called TYatsuta-gawa'. On the afore-said Tatsu-yama in Owari stood an old Buddhist temple of

Yosuipa, p, 2745. 2 Yosuipa, p. 4208. a 4 HE HB. p. 1364. BE (Lp, pp. 861 and 2279. 6 REF Uy, p. 3743.

BE way or fie wey pp. 3445 and 3848,

HE YR wy». 4750, 9 HE TG wey.

10 FE fi, p. 2434. 11 Be HF, p. 2364. 12 HE af. 13 HE HY, p. 894.

14 FF FA]. pp. 1671 and 299. 15 Cf. above, Book II, Ch. HI, § 4, p. 153, and Book II, Ch. VIII, 1 § 4, p. 220. 416 P. 230. 17 P. 228.

ao nN oO WS

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the Tendai sect, called “Ryasenji! (‘Dragon-spring-temple”), which was said to have been built by a Dragon-king in one night; the original Japanese dragon-god of the mountain was probably identified with a Naga by the Tendai priests. On the “ Dragon's cape” in Iwashiro there is a waterfall (the favourite abode of dragons), and a Bodhi-tree is evidence of Buddhist domination in later times.

By far the greater part of these names is found in Central Japan, and they are rare in the South and the North?

§ 2, The Chinese and Indian dragons (ryt or ryo). A. Names of mountains.

The mountains are called Ryz-zan or Ryd-zan* (in Iwashiro and Uzen; near the latter is a place called “Sacred Tail” *, which probably means a dragon's tail®; Ryz ga mine® (“Dragon's peak”, in Higo, resembling a lying dragon, and in Hida); Ryz no (or ga) saki" (“Dragon's cape”, with a Buddhist. “Blue Dragon temple”, Seiryaji*, in Tosa, and another, in the vicinity of which is a Buddhist shrine called Kinryiji®, or “Gold-dragon-temple”, in Hitachi); Ryz (or Ryo) ga take (“Dragon’s peak”, in Ise and Uzen); Rytzu-zaki'' (“Dragon's head cape”, in Tosa); Ryzten-yama'* (“Dragon-Deva mountain”, in Bizen); Ryw-d-zan* (“Dragon-king’s mountain, in Bichi, with a little Shinto shrine '*, dedicated to the Hight Great Dragon-kings, on the top, and two others in Kawachi and Sanuki). A Ry#-d-take ’ (“Dragon-king’s peak”) is found in Chikuzen, and a Ryji-zé-san'® (*Dragon’s claw-

1 WE Jt fs. p. 2272.

2 As to personal names, these are seldom connected with tatsu, except the three following: Tatsu (HE ), Tatsuki (HE FR , Dragon’s tree) and Talsuzane (BE @, Dragon’s seed).

3 BE LL. pp. 49 and 4393. jill FB. Kan-o. 5 Cf. above, Book II, Ch. Ill, § 12, p. 177.

4 6 BE WA, pp. 1721 and 2234. 7 HE ray pp. 4358, 3574.

8

i He 9 & HE SF. 10 FE RR pp. 606, 4444. M4 BE BA lly» p. 1353.

42 BE IK LL, p. 912. 13 RF IE [1], pp. 959, 311 and 1256.

14 Cf. above, Book II, Ch. Ill, § 12, p. 476.

45 FE TE Fk. p. 1452. 16 BE fl [Ly p- 4455.

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mountain”) in Suruga, with a temple of Ryi-zo Gongen', “Manifestation of Ryi-zo”, “Dragon’s receptacle (womb)”, the Buddhist name given to the, probably dragon-shaped, mountain-god. Near Ryw-oka? (“Dragon’s hill”) village, in Igo province, there is a mountain where in olden times a Buddhist priest is said to have successfully prayed for rain. In Hitachi there is on Ryzjinsan’ (*Dragon-god’s mountain”) an old Shinto shrine of a Dragon-god, and in Kii we find a Ryamon-zan* (“Dragon-gate-mountain’”’).

B. Names of springs, waterfalls and rivers.

A hot spring in Kii, famous for its curative powers, is called the “Spring of the Dragon-god” (Ryzjin-sen) *. In Osumi, Yamato and Higo we find “Dragon-gate waterfalls” (Rywmon-daki)°, and in Shimozuke a “Dragon’s head waterfall” (Rytzu-daki)'. The ancient Chinese considered the dragon to be so closely connected with waterfalls that they indicated these by means of the character, “dragon”, combined with the radical “water” (#2). Rivers called after dragons are the Ryige-gawa* (“Dragon-flower river’, also pronounced Tatsu-bana-gawa) in Kawachi, the Tenryu-gawa® (“Heavenly Dragon’s river”) in Shinano and Totomi, and the Ryikan-gawa (*Dragon’s rest river’) in Tokyo.

C. Names of islands, valleys and places.

Two “Dragon’s islands” (yi ga shima, or Ryii-shima)'' may be mentioned, one in Echigo, the other in Awa; and a “Dragon-king’s valley” (Ryi#-d-danz)"’, in Buzen. Also place names as

1 HE Sek te ch; deities of the same name are worshipped in two Shinto temples, in Uzen and Kii (pp. 4455 and 754).

2 te fia] , p. 1295.

3 BE mp (ly. v- 3619.

4 FE PA LL. p. 701; of above, Book I, Ch. 1V, § 12, p. 194.

5 RE jill Bye. p. 739.

6 WE FY JAB. pp. 1781, 290, 1652; cf. above, Book Il, 1.

7 EF BA YR. p. 3517. 8 iE He JI. p. 327.

9 FE RE Jil. pp. 2361, 2505, cf. above, Book I, Ch. V, § 7, p. 203. 10 HE BR Jil. p- 2886. 11 BE ES, pp. 2073, 3144.

12 HE IE A. p. 148. \

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Ryt-mai' (“Dragon’s dance’), in Kozuke; Ryi-d2 (“Dragon-king”’), in Buzen and Kai; Rya-toku*® (<Dragon’s virtue”), in Chikuzen; Ryit-ge* (“Dragon’s flower”), in Omi, and Ryd-ge* (“Dragon's hair”) in Ugo, are evidence of the Chinese and Indian dragon’s great popularity in Japan.

D. Names of Buddhist temples.

Among the names of Buddhist temples connected with the dragon Ryiizoj.° («“Dragon’s receptacle (womb) (or hiding) temple”), Ryw-senji' (“Dragon’s spring temple”), Ryuzkaji* (“Dragon’s rise temple”) and Ryémonji® (“Dragon’s gate temple’) are the most frequent. Further, we find temples of the Dragon’s horn (Ryzkakuji"), belly (Rytfukuji"), mouth (Ryko) and head ( Ryotoj’*). Moreover, mention is made of temples of the Dragon’s cloud (Rytunji™), pool (Ryzenji® and Ryztanji'’), sea (Ryukai-in"), valley (Ryzkeiji*), spring (Ryagenji*), river (Ryusenji >), palace (Ryugiji*'), canopy (Ryagaiji”), flower (Ryuzgej), treasure (Ryi-haji*), felicity (Ryufukuji”), rest (Ryzanji*® and Rydonji”*),

1 FE 4RE, p. 3370.

2 HE AE. pp. 1418, 2443. 3. RE fi, p. 1454.

4 HE fe, p. 496. 5 WE SE. p. 4597.

6 HE Jak SF - 7 PE SR SP. 8 HE HF. 9 HE PA ae. 10 BE 4 Ap, in Shimosa, p. 3235.

11 FE J SF. in Shimosa, p. 3244, cf. above, Book IH, Ch. HI, p. 177.

12 HE [1 af. in Sagami, p. 2745. 13 YE BA Sf. in Ucen, p. 4509. 14 ff Se aie. in Iwami and Shinano, pp. 1072, 2431.

15 BE Jal Sf. in Mosashi, p. 118. 16 3 YE SF. in Omi, p. 2488.

47 ie itt [S. in Mikawa and Shimozuke, pp. 2316, 3350.

18 YE YA Sf, in Kazusa, p. 3176. 19 7H YR Sf. in Rikuzen, p. 4205. 20 HE JI ae =e, in Yamato, p. 305. 21 JE eg Sf, in Chikuzen, p. 1505.

92 gH BE Se, in Yamato, p. 262.

25 rad ia 3 =f, in Suwo, p. 1172.

# +, in Yamato, p. 103.

HE 97 HE ‘= FF ( be) in Musashi and Iwashiro, pp. 3034, 3870.

a

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prosperity (Ryutayi'), correctness (Ryushd-in*), majesty (Ryi-gonji*), a. 8.0.

E. Names of Buddhist priests.

Buddhist priests often have similar names; especially Ryazan 4 (“Dragon’s mountain”) and Ryzsha° (“Dragon’s islet’) are frequent. Further, we find Rywsui® («“Dragon’s water”), Ryusen' (“Dragon’s river”), Ryataki*® (Dragon’s waterfall), Ryiéchi® (“Dragon’s pond”), Ryji-en® and Ryusha'' («Dragon's pool”), Rydshin ? (“Dragon’s depth”), Ryasho'* (“Dragon's islet”), Ryden’ (“Dragon's rice-field”), Ryito'* (“Dragon’s ascending”), Ryuwho'® (*Dragon’s peak’’), Ryabi'? (“Dragon’s tail”), Ryamin * (“Dragon’s sleep”), a.s.o0. The large number of the names referred to in this chapter is strong evidence of a fact which also the legends have taught us, i.e. of the great popularity of all three kinds of dragons, Japanese, Chinese and Indian, in old Japan.

4 BE ae = in Mino, p. 2205. 2

BE YE ae in Shimosa, p. 3229.

3 HE ears a, in Uzen, p. 4504 4 BE ly 5 Pag aN 6 HE ok. 7 : Ml 8 BE 9 ey hy Hi > WES.

=

M9 Out Or &

ot ae BE BS 5 Ha Me

= ms ww Ovar oor ES HES

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CHAPTER X. CoNCLUSIONS.

The preceding chapters have shown once more how great China’s influence was upon Japanese legend and superstition from the beginning of the spreading of Chinese civilisation in the Land of the Rising Sun until the present day. We have also seen how Buddha’s powerful doctrine brought the Indian Nagas to the Far-Eastern seas and rivers and ponds, as it peopled the Japanése mountains and woods with their deadly enemies, the Garudas. The idea of serpent-shaped semi-divine kings, living in great luxury in their magnificent palaces at the bottom of the water, was strange to the Chinese and Japanese minds; but the faculty of these beings of assuming human shapes and bestowing rain upon the thirsty earth, as well as their nature of water-gods, formed the links between the Nagas of India and the dragons of China and Japan. The Chinese Buddhists identified the Indian serpents. with the four-legged dragons of China, and this blending of ideas was easily introduced into the minds of the Japanese people, which did not hesitate to associate their own, mostly serpent-shaped, gods of rivers and mountains with the Western deities of the same kind. eee

In the Introduction we have seen that the Nagas were, as a rule, favourably disposed towards Buddhism, but that they were dangerous creatures on account of their quick temper, deadly poison and great magic power. They possessed numberless jewels and mighty charms, which they bestowed upon those to whom they were grateful and who often stayed for a while in the splendid Naga palaces at the bottom of ponds, or rivers, or seas. The

“Mahayana school speaks of eight Great Dragon-kings, mightier than the others, one of whom, Sagara, was well-known as a bestower of rain. The rain-giving faculty of the Nagas, which is not mentioned in the Jatakas, was apparently more emphasized in Northern than in Southern Buddhism. According to the original conceptions these semi-divine serpents, who had their abode in Patiala land, beneath the earth, could raise clouds and thunder or

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appear as clouds themselves to terrify mankind. Northern Bud-dhism, however, made these frightful beings the rain-giving benefactors of men, to whom prayers for rain were sent up by means of special ceremonies. These rites were performed also in China and Japan. As to the division of the Nagas into four castes: “Heavenly, Divine, Earthly and Hidden Nagas”, this is probably also a Northern feature, for I did not find it mentioned anywhere in the Jatakas. Indian Buddhist art represents the Nagas as serpents, or as men or women with snakes coming out of their necks and rising over their heads, or as snake-tailed beings with human upper bodies and snakes appearing above their heads. Hot winds and hot sand, sudden violent storms and Garuda-kings are what the Nagas fear most. When strictly observing Buddhist fasting, they may be reborn as men.

In Book I we have stated how the oldest Chinese books spoke of dragons in divination, as ornaments of clothes, and as river-gods who caused high floods by their fights. As they belonged to the four ling (“spiritual beings”), full of Yang (Light), they were omens of the birth of great men, especially of emperors, and of felicity in general, like the dragon-horses, but also of death and ruin, when they were seen fighting, or when their dead bodies were found, or when they appeared at wrong times or in wrong places. The Emperors were not only called dragons and compared to them, but were sometimes even considered to be their offspring, or to have them in their service. The dragons ascended to the sky, riding on winds and clouds, and were ridden by the sen, or they descended into the deepest wells. Their transformations were limitless. They could become small like silkworms or so big that they covered the world'. Their wisdom excelled that of all other animals, and their blessing power was great. Next to these ideas, which made them the favourite sub-jects of poets and artists, a great many lower conceptions are found, prevalent among the people from olden times.

The principal water-god is the kiao-lung, the scaly dragon; other important dragons are the ying-lung (which has wings), the £%u-lung (which has a horn) and the ch‘t-lung (which is blue and has no horn). Then, there are several other kinds of dragons, but all of them:are afraid of iron, the wang plant, centipedes, the leaves of the melia azederach, and five-coloured silk-thread, while their principal) enemies are tigers and the demons of drought

4 This must be the meaning of Kwan 1szk ’s words (quoted on p. 63), instead of the obscure “lies hidden in the world”.

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who devour them. They are fond of beautiful gems, hollow stones with water inside (or the vital spirit of copper) and swallow-flesh. Male and female dragons are different in shape. As the dragon is very lewd, he copulates with all kinds of animals and in this way produces nine different classes of young, which according to their nature are represented as ornaments.

Causing rain is the Chinese dragon’s most important function, and he is compelled to do so by mankind by several magical means, especially by making clay images of dragons (and laying them in water), or by throwing poisonous plants or bones of the tiger (his deadly enemy) into his pools, or by annoying him by a terrible noise, or by using utensils adorned with dragons when praying for rain. The dragons are called the “Rain-Masters”, and rain is prayed for in front of their holes.

They transform themselves into old men, beautiful women, and fishes, or sometimes assume the shapes of trees and objects, as e.g. swords. They have a pearl under their throats or in their mouths. As to their evgs, these. are beautiful stones to be found in the mountains or at the riverside; water is con-stantly dripping from these stones till they split and a small snake appears, which in a very short time grows larger and larger and in the form of a dragon ascends to the sky amid thunder, rain and darkness. Hurricanes and whirlwinds are all ascribed to ascending dragons. Their bones are considered to be a very. efficient medicine and their spittle is the most precious of perfumes; their cast-off skins spread a brilliant light. Dragon-boats were pleasure-vessels of the Emperors, which had the shape of a dragon and the head of a yih bird; quite different, however, are the dragon-boats of the water festival of the fifth day of the fifth month, which are probably intended as sympathetic magic to obtain rain. As to Buddhism, this introduced into China legends concerning tranformation into dragons after death, Dragon-kings and palaces, a. s. 0.

The first chapter of Book II, in which I treated of the original Japanese dragon, mentioned no later dates than the tenth cen-tury (Engishiki). Even the eighth century adorned her legends with Chinese and Indian features, as we saw in the tale of

-Toyotama-bime and Hiko-hohodemi. This was very easily done because the Japanese sea and river-gods, having the shape of a dragon or a serpent, resembled the Chinese dung or the Indian Nagas. It is no wonder that the simple, rain-bestowing Japanese gods of rivers and seas, mountains and valleys, owing to their shapes were identified with and superseded by the similar but

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more fantastic Chinese and Indian gods of water and rain. The “water-fathers” (mizucht), dragon-shaped river-gods who, just like the Chinese dragons, hindered men when constructing embankments but were pacified by human sacrifices instead of, as in China, being driven away by iron, soon had to give way to the Rain-masters and Dragon-kings of the West. Gradually foreign elements were added to the ancient legends, and their original form became hardly recognizable.

The second chapter shows how all the Chinese conceptions in regard to the appearance of dragons and dragon-horses as omens were embraced by the Japanese, and preserved by them from the ninth century down to the nineteenth.

In the third chapter the dragon’s main function is treated of, i.e. the bestowing of rain upon mankind. Among the eighty five Shinto shrines to which in times of drought messengers were despatched by the Court, there were many dragon-shaped river-deities. As to the offerings made to the Shinto river-gods for obtaining rain or for causing them to stop a too abundant supply of heavenly water, these were hemp and fibre, black, white or red horses (the latter only for stopping rain). Yet, even the Emperors of. as early an age as the eighth century did no longer sufficiently believe in the power of these gods, for at the same time Buddhist rites. were performed in the three great temples of Nara. In the ninth century, especially, the Buddhist priests got more and more influence, also in this respect, and the famous “Sacred Spring Park” in Kyoto became their special territory for praying for rain. Kobo Daishi declared the pond in this park to be inhabited by an Indian dragon, and sutras were recited on its banks by crowds of bonzes, sometimes to pray to the Dragon-king, sometimes to threaten him with persecution by his deadly enemy, the Garuda. If they had no success, however, the ancient river-gods enjoyed a temporary triumph and were elevated to higher ranks. But short was their glory, for soon the mighty foreign invaders prevailed once more. Hither the Chinese dragon which had to be aroused by sounding bells and drums, by singing and dancing on a dragon-boat on the pond in the Sacred Spring Park (or by being deprived of his element, the water), or the Indian Naga-king, were the gods from whom the blessing of rain was expected by the Court. The clever monk Kikai (Kobo Daishi) knew how to conquer his adversaries, not only the Shintdists, but also his rivals among the Buddhist priests. This was experienced by the mightiest of his colleagues, Shibin, the abbot of the “Western Monastery”. Besides prayers,

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incantations and the recital of siitras a magical image of the dragon (which reminds us of the clay dragons of the Chinese) was used by Kikai, who strived to spread his doctrine by the extraordinarily impressive art of making rain. And his success was marvellous.

Further, we have seen how during the thirteenth century in times of drought the Buddhist “Five Dragons Festival’ was celebrated in the same Sacred Spring Park or somewhere else, or siitras were recited before the Dragon-hole on Mount Murobu in Yamato, in order to cause the Dragon-king who lived there, to give rain. The remarkable fact that a Buddhist priest was said to have erected on this spot a Shinto shrine for the Indian dragon seems to indicate that the Naga had taken the place of a Shinto dragon, a mountain god believed to live in the hole from ancient times. In the same century horses were still offered by the Emperors to the famous rain-gods of Nibu (the “ Rain-Master”) and Kibune, white ones to obtain, and red ones to stop rain. And the Court officials themselves went to the Sacred Spring Park and prayed to the “Sea-dragon-king”, at the same time performing “sympathetic magic” by sprinkling water on the stones near the pond. Numerous were the miracles wrought by Buddhist priests in forcing the dragons to obey their will. In later times, however, especially in the eighteenth century, we see the Chinese ways of making rain gain ground again. The Chinese conception of arousing the anger of these rain-gods by making noise or by throwing iron utensils or metal shaving or dirty things into their ponds and thus causing them to ascend and cause rain, was different from the Shinto idea of praying and offering to the river-gods, as well as from the Buddhistic way of persuading or forcing the dragons to benefit mankind by abundant rains. As I remarked above', the Chinese methods, which got the upper hand in later ages, are still prevalent among the Japanese country folks of the present day.

The fourth chapter gave the Japanese legends concerning Indian Nagas (Dragon-kings). As the Indian tales reached Nippon via China and Korea, it is quite logical that their Japanese imitations showed many Chinese features. Among the eight Great Dragon-kings Sagara, who was believed to reside in a splendid palace at the bottom of the sea, is the most frequently mentioned. Like other Dragon-kings he possesses the “Precious pearl which grants all desires” (cintamani). During storms the sailors tried

4 Book JI, Ch. III, § 13, p. 178.

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to pacify the Dragon-kings by throwing all kinds of precious objects into the sea, and succeeded if the object which these water-gods wanted was offered in time. Ponds, especially moun-tain ponds, were very often believed to be the abodes of Dragon-kings, who probably in many cases had’ taken the place of ancient Japanese dragon-shaped gods. Sometimes one of the eight kings incarnated himself as some famous Buddhist high-priest, or the spirit of a man became a dragon-god. The temple bell of Miidera is said to have been obtained by Tawara Toda in a Dragon-palace. Azure dragons (a Chinese feature) were often said to have appeared on the occasion of the establishment of Bud-dhist temples and to have thenceforth been the guardian-gods of these shrines '. Sometimes dragon-relics, as for example a few scales or a tooth, were preserved among the treasures of a Buddhist sanctuary. Finally, eight- and nine-headed dragons were spoken of as the inhabitants of mountain lakes, being sometimes reincarnations of Buddhist priests; and down till the Restoration offerings of rice were made by Buddhist priests to the dragons of some of those lakes.

The mighty influence of the Indian and Chinese ideas concerning this subject upon the Japanese mind is also shown by the way in which these conceptions were applied to ancient Shinto gods. In Chapter V some specimens of this have been given, which were found in books of the thirteenth and eighteenth centuries. In the former the eight-headed serpent, called Yamato no orochi and killed by Susanowo, as well as the unhappy young Emperor Antoku who was drowned in the battle of Dan-no-ura (1185) and whose spirit is said to be the Shintd god Suitengi, are identified with the goddess of Itsukushima, the daughter of the Dragon-king Sagara!-And the precious Kusanagi sword, found in the eight-headed serpent’s tail, belonged to this king’s Dragon-palace, or, according to another legend, was carefully guarded by a Dragon-king and brought back to the Atsuta shrine, from where it had been stolen. The Thunder-god, accor-ding to an old legend caught by Sukaru, was called a “Dragon-king” by the author of the Gempei seisuiki (thirteenth century), which was all the more plausible because the version of the Nihongi spoke of a huge serpent. Further, several old Shinto shrines, where probably from olden times snake-. or dragon-shaped gods were worshipped, in later times, in the eighteenth century, were considered to have connection with Chinese or Indian

1 Cf. above, Book II, Ch. VI, pp. 205 sqq.

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dragons, and even old tree-spirits in snake-form were called dragons and said to cause thunderstorms.

The Dragon-lantern, tveated of in the sixth chapter, was not mentioned in works dating before the fourteenth century. It always rose from the sea, and was mostly a sign of a dragon-shaped sea-god’s protection of, and reverence towards, a Buddhist temple or, in a few cases, of a Shinto sanctuary. The Chinese “azure dragon” was often mentioned in these tales, and sometimes was said to have been seen carrying the lantern, which nearly always descended upon some old pine-tree standing near the shrine, and hung between its branches. These “dragon-lantern pine-trees”’ remind us of the Chinese ideas of old trees producing ignes fatui.

The “Dragon’s eggs”, beautiful stones picked up in the moun-tains, out of which constantly water dripped and which for this reason were often used as ink-stones, were dangerous treasures indeed. For sooner or later they split, and a little snake crept out of them, which in a few minutes increased in size and finally ascended to the sky as a dragon, breaking through the roof and causing a terrible thunderstorm. Book J, Ch. III, § 16, in connection with Book II, Chapter VII, have shown that this is a Chinese conception, introduced into Japan, where it was prevalent from the sixteenth century down to the nineteenth.

Very popular was also the idea of whirlwinds and waterspouts being caused by ascending dragons, winding their way to heaven. We find this both in China and Japan, in the latter country especially from the seventeenth century until the present day. The Japanese name “tatsu-maki” perhaps indicates that it was not borrowed from China; but on the other hand the fact that we did not find it mentioned in works before the seventeenth century causes me to think that the general inclination of these later ages towards Chinese conceptions, which we observed also in the methods of making rain, may have caused the spreading of this idea too.

Finally, in the ninth chapter, the geographical names were evidence of the original Japanese dragon having been worshipped mostly in Central Japan, and of the popularity of the Chinese and Indian dragons throughout the Empire. The large number of names of Buddhist temples and priests, connected with the Indian dragon, showed the important part played by the Naga in Japanese Buddhism.

Herewith 1 conclude this treatise on the dragon in the Far Kast, in the hope that it may throw light upon his complicate nature of Indian, Chinese and Japanese god of water, thunder, rain and wind.

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INDEX

of the Chinese translations of siitras, vinayas and abhidharmas, mentioned in the Introduction. The numbers placed within brackets are those of Nanyod’s Catalogue of the Buddhist Tripitaka; the other figures denote the pages of this treatise.

Ching-fah nien-ch‘u king (679), 23. Chung king chwen tsah p‘i-yit king (1366), 13.

Fuh-shwoh hai-lung-wang king (456), 28.

Fuh-shwoh ta-fang-teng ta-yun ts‘ing-yi king (186), 25. Fuh-shwoh ta-kwan-ting shen-cheu king (467), 33.

Fuh wéi hai-lung-wang shwoh fah-yin king (457), 28.

Kin-kang kwang-yen chi-fung-yi king, 33. Kin-kang pan-joh-po-lo-mih king (10—12), 34. Kia tsah p‘i-yii king (1359), 12.

d Mo-ho-seng-chi Iuh (4119), 43.

Ta-chwang-yen king lun (4182), 14. Ta-fang-kwang fuh-hwa-yen king (87 sq.), 23. Ta-pan-joh-po-lo-mih-to king (1), 34. Ta-yun-lun ts‘ing-yii king (188), 25.

Ta-yun ts‘ing-yii king (187), 25.

Tsah p‘i-yi king (1368), 13.

Yoh-shi liu-li-kwang: jii-lai pen-yuen kung-teh king (171), 33.

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of the Chinese works quoted in this treatise, and the pages where particulars about them, or their titles in Chinese characters, are given.

T.S. = K‘in-ting ku-kin t‘u-shu tsih-ch‘ing (p. 39).

Chao yé ts‘ien tsai, 96. Kwang poh wuh chi, 71. Cheh-kiang t‘ung-chi, 87. Kwang-sin-fu chi, 127.

Chen chu chw‘en, 119. Kwéi-sin tsah-shih, 49.

Cheu li, 40. Kwéi-sin tsah-shih suh-tsih, 89. Ching tszé t‘ung, 101. Kwoh shi pu, 94.

Choh, keng luh, 112. Kwoh yi, 110.

Chuh shu ki nien, 122. Chung king chwen tsah p‘i-yi king, 13. Lang hiten ki, 74.

Chtu Chang Wen-piao chw‘en, 56. Lao hioh ngan pih ki, 112. Chun chu ki wen, 94. Léi kung yao tui, 94. Ch‘un-ts‘iu fan lu, 4115. Liao shi, 53. Chwang tszé, 65. Li ki, 39. Li sao, 77. Fang yen, 73. Lieh sien chw‘en, 83. Féi stieh luh, 113. Loh-yang kia-lan ki, 133. Lii-shi Ch‘un-ts‘iu, 64. Han Féi tszé, 63. Luh i ki, 87. Han shu, 45. Lun Heng, 114. Han Wu Ti néi chw‘en, 83. Lung ch‘ing luh, 143. Hien ch‘wang kwah i chi, 120. Lung fu, 41411. Hoh lin yuh lu, 113. Hung fan wu hing chw‘en, 46. Mao ting k‘oh hwa, 93. Hwai nan tszé, 64. Mih k‘oh hwui si, 79. Hwai-ngan-fu chi, 129. Ming i pieh luh, 91.

Mung k‘i pih é‘an, 89. I kien chi, 143. I li, 44. Nan pu sin shu, 69. Nan shi, 132.

Nan yueh chi, 89. Néi tien, 67.

I ynen, 81.

Kiang-si t‘ung-chi, 143.

Kin shi, 48.

King yen fang, 95. Pao P‘oh-tszé, 45. K‘in-ting ku-kin t‘u-shu tsih-ch‘ing, 39. Pao chi Jun, 94.

Koh chi king yuen, 117. Pen shi fang, 95.

Ku kin chu, 122. Pen-ts‘ao kang-muh, 68. Kwah i chi, 120. Pen-ts‘ao hui-pien, 96.

Kwan tszé, 63. P‘éi yuen kwang cheu ki, 80.

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Pih ki man chi, 117. T'ang Pen-ts‘ao, 91. Pi ya, 65. T'ang Sin Pen-ts‘ao, 91. Po-chi kwoh chw‘en, 133. ; Tien chung ki, 57. Poh mung so yen, 129. T‘ien kia tsah chen, 141. Poh wuh chi, 74. Tsah p‘i-yii king, 43. Poh ya, 72. Ts‘ien fu lun, 66. Tsien koh ki 1éi shu, 73. *Rh ya, 64. Tsien kin fang, 133. *Rh ya yih, 64, Tsin shu, 54. Tso chw‘en, 82. San hwang pen-ki, 57. Tsu ting shi yuen, 97. San-ts‘ai tSu-hwui, 57. Ts‘zé-liu shi kiu wen, 124. Shan hai king, 62. Tszé puh yi, 110. Shan hai king tcu tsan, 62. Tuh i chi, 124. Shan-si t‘ung-chi, 89. Tung kwan han ki, 44. Shang han lun t‘iao pien, 94. Tung-p‘o chi-lin, 129. Shang shu ku shih, 120. Tung kien ts‘ien pien wai ki, 58. Sheu shen ki, 814. Teung ming ki, 62. Sheu shen heu ki, 81. Shen sien chw‘en, 83, Wen siien, 84, Shen-Nung k‘iu-yit shu, 417. Wen tszé, 77. Shen-Nung Pen-ts‘ao king, 90. Wen-tszé tsih-lioh, 73. Shi ki, 50. Weng yuen hien chi, 119. Shi ]éi fu, 141. Wen yuen ying hwa, 111. Shi lin kwan ki, 92. Wu ki, 80. Shih i ki, 43. Wu shi Pen-ts‘ao, 91. Shih cheu ki, 125. Wu Ti néi chw‘en, 43. cf. 83. Shih-kwoh Ch‘un-ts‘iu, 124. Wuh tsah tsu, 120. Shing i ki, 71. Shu king, 39.. Yang kuh man luh, 714. Shuh i ki, 44. Yang yii king, 76. Shuh Han shu, 115. Yoh sing pen-ts‘ao, 92. Shui king, 66. Yih chw‘en, 47. Shui ying t‘u, 57. Yih féi heu, 47, Shwoh yuen, 128. Yib king, 35. Shwoh wen, 110. Yih ken tsoh tu, 45. Sin-shi San Ts‘in ki, 60. Yih lin, 63. Sin T’ang shu, 93. Yih tSung chi, 128. Siien shih chi, 59. Yih wéi, 39. Sii-men ts‘ang king, 73. Yih yao, 54. Suh wen hien tung k‘ao, 90. Yiu hwan ki wen, 97. Sui shu, 46. Yin-yang pien-kwa lin, 67. Sung-ch‘ao shi shih, 117. Yiu-yang tsah tsu, 75. Sung shu, 54. Yuen kien ]éi han, 59. Yuh fu shui t'u, 123. Ta tai li ki, 65. . Yuh hu ts‘ing hwa, 79. T‘ai-p'ing kwang-ki, 59. Yun kih ts‘ih ts‘ien, 117. Tai-p‘ing yi-lan, 58. Yun sien tsah ki, 127.

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of the Japanese works quoted in this treatise, and the pages where particulars about them, or their titles in Chinese characters, are given.

K. T, K. = Kokushi taikei, 135.

Ainosho, 145, Kagakushu, 84.

, Kanden jihitsu, 150. Ba-iku-kyo, 150. Kanden kohitsu, 150. Bukkyo iroha jiten, 22. Kanwa daijiten, 69.

Bungo Fidoki, 136. Kigegawa Yakushi engi, 205. Buzen kokushi, 156. Kii zodansht, 208.

Kimpisho, 156. Dai Nihon chimei jisho, 169. Kojidan, 162.

Koji inensht, 223. Edo meisho ki, 206. Kojiki, 139. Eigwa monogatari, 84. Kokushi daijiten, 84. Engishiki, 147. Kokushi taikei (K. T. K.), 135. Enoshima engi, 225. Konjaku monogatari, 148. Ensei meibutsu kohdi, 207. Konyo manroku, 151. Fude no susabi, 224. : Mado no susami, 222. Fuso ryakki, 146. Manyoshi, 136.

Masu kagami, 148. Gempei seisuiki, 165. Matsu-no-ya hikki, 175. Genko Shakusho, 165. Mimi-bukuro, 224. ‘Gukwansho, 187. Miyakawasha mampitsu, 222. Gunsho ruiju, 135. Mizu kagami, 142. Gwadan keiroku, 151. Murasaki Shikibu nikki, 84. Hamamatsu Chinagon monogatari, &4. Nambako, 85. Heishoku wakumonchin, 134. Nichiren chugwasan, 225. Hitoyo-banashi, 223. Nihon sandai jitsuroku, 148. Honcho kwaidan koji, 191. Nihongi, 139. Honcho zokugenshi, 203. Nihon isshi, 145. Hyakka setsurin, 135. Nihon kiryaku, 164. Hyakurensho, 165. Nihon koki, 144.

Nihon shukyo fazoku shi, 177. Ichiwa ichigen, 221. Intei zakko, 193. Oshi-banashi, 212. Jigen Daishi den, 207. Ryo-i-ki, 204. Jikkinsho, 84. Ryw-an zuihitsu, 86. Jinchodan, 222. :

Verh. Kon, Akad. v. Wetensch. (Afd. Letterk.) N. R. Dl XII, N°. 2. Digitized by Microsoft®

Saiyuki, 224,

Sandai jitsuroku (Nihon s.j.), 148.

Sansha takusen ryakusho, 149, Sanshu kidan, 172. i‘ Sanshi kidan kohen, 174. Seki no akikaze, 176. Shasekishu, 177. Shinchomonshu, 194, Shiojiri, 105.

Shiseki shtran, 135. Shobutsu ruizan, 119. Shokoku rijindan, 202. Shoku Nihongi, 147.

Shoku Nihon koki, 145. Shosan chomon. kishii, 218.

Taiheiki, 22, 148. Tomioka Hachiman shaki, 206.

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To-0 kiko, 212. Toytiki kohen, 210. Toyuki, 223.

Uji shai monogatari, 174. Unkonshi kohen, 216.

Usa Hachiman no miya engi, 143.

Wakan sansai zue, 123. Wamyodsho, 137.

Yamato kwai-i-ki, 195,

_Yokwaigaku kogi, 134.

Yithisai sakki, 223. Yiho meisho ryaku, 170,

Zoku kojidan, 165,

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ERRATA.

22, note 3: Fah hai, read Fah hai. 63, lme 6 from beneath: he lies hidden in the world, read: he hides (covers) the world. 91, note 4: Pao chi lun, read Pao chi lun. 93, » 4: $y AR, read sr fr BE. 119, , 3: Ch. V, read pp. 160 sq. 136, line 1: Fudoki, read Fidoki. 148, note 5: 910, read 901. 148, , 7: #0, read #.

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