Japanese dragons (???? Nihon no ry?) are diverse legendary creatures in Japanese mythology and folklore. Japanese dragon myths amalgamate native legends with imported stories about dragons from China, Korea and India. The style of the dragon was heavily influenced by the Chinese dragon. Like these other Asian dragons, most Japanese ones are water deities associated with rainfall and bodies of water, and are typically depicted as large, wingless, serpentine creatures with clawed feet. The modern Japanese language has numerous "dragon" words, including indigenous tatsu from Old Japanese ta-tu, Sino-Japanese ry? or ry? ? from Chinese lóng ?, n?ga ??? from Sanskrit n?ga, and doragon ???? from English "dragon" (the latter being used almost exclusively to refer to the European dragon and derived fictional creatures).
Video Japanese dragon
Indigenous Japanese dragons
The ca. 680 AD Kojiki and the ca. 720 AD Nihongi mytho-histories have the first Japanese textual references to dragons. "In the oldest annals the dragons are mentioned in various ways," explains de Visser, "but mostly as water-gods, serpent- or dragon-shaped." The Kojiki and Nihongi mention several ancient dragons:
- Yamata no Orochi ???? "8-branched giant snake" was an 8-headed and 8-tailed dragon slain by the god of wind and sea Susanoo, who discovered the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi (legendary sword of the Imperial Regalia of Japan) in one of its tails.
- Watatsumi ?? "sea god" or Ry?jin ?? "dragon god" was the ruler of seas and oceans, and described as a dragon capable of changing into human form. He lived in the undersea Ry?g?-j? ??? "dragon palace castle", where he kept the magical tide jewels.
- Toyotama-hime ??? "Luminous Pearl Princess" was Ry?jin's daughter. She purportedly was an ancestress of Emperor Jimmu, Japan's legendary first emperor.
- Wani ? was a sea monster that is translated as both "shark" and "crocodile". Kuma-wani ?? "bear (i.e., giant or strong) shark/crocodile" are mentioned in two ancient legends. One says the sea god Kotoshiro-nushi-no-kami transformed into an "8-fathom kuma-wani" and fathered Toyotama-hime, the other says a kuma-wani piloted the ships of Emperor Ch?ai and his Empress Jing?.
- Mizuchi ? or ? was a river dragon and water deity. The Nihongi records legendary Emperor Nintoku offering human sacrifices to mizuchi angered by his river engineering projects.
The myths about Emperor Jimmu descending from Toyatama-hime evidence the folklore that Japanese Emperors descend from dragons. Compare the ancient Chinese tradition of dragons symbolizing the Emperor of China.
Dragons in later Japanese folklore were influenced by Chinese and Indian myths.
- Kiyohime ?? "Purity Princess" was a teahouse waitress who fell in love with a young Buddhist priest. After he spurned her, she studied magic, transformed into a dragon, and killed him.
- Nure-onna ?? "Wet Woman" was a dragon with a woman's head and a snake's body. She was typically seen while washing her hair on a riverbank and would sometimes kill humans when angered.
- Zennyo Ry?? ???? "goodness-like dragon king" was a rain-god depicted either as a dragon with a snake on its head or as a human with a snake's tail.
- In the fairy tale "My Lord Bag of Rice", the Ry?? "dragon king" of Lake Biwa asks the hero Tawara T?da ???? to kill a giant centipede.
- Urashima Tar? rescued a turtle which took him to Ry?g?-j? and turned into the attractive daughter of the ocean god Ry?jin.
- Inari, the god of fertility and agriculture, was sometimes depicted as a dragon or snake instead of a fox.
Maps Japanese dragon
Chinese-Japanese dragons
Chinese dragon mythology is central to Japanese dragons. Japanese words for "dragon" are written with kanji ("Chinese characters"), either simplified shinjitai ? or traditional ky?jitai ? from Chinese long ?. These kanji can be read tatsu in native Japanese kun'yomi and ry? or ry? in Sino-Japanese on'yomi.
Many Japanese dragon names are loanwords from Chinese. For instance, the Japanese counterparts of the astrological Four Symbols are:
- Seiry? < Qinglong ?? "Azure Dragon"
- Suzaku < Zhuque ?? "Vermilion Bird"
- Byakko < Baihu ?? "White Tiger"
- Genbu < Xuanwu ?? "Black Tortoise"
Japanese Shiry? ?? "4 dragon [kings]" are the legendary Chinese Longwang ?? "Dragon Kings" who rule the four seas.
- G?k? < Aoguang ?? "Dragon King of the East Sea"
- G?kin < Aoqin ?? "Dragon King of the South Sea"
- G?jun < Aorun ?? "Dragon King of the West Sea"
- G?jun < Aoshun ?? "Dragon King of the North Sea"
Some authors differentiate Japanese ry? and Chinese long dragons by the number of claws on their feet. "In Japan," writes Gould (1896:248), "it is invariably figured as possessing three claws, whereas in China it has four or five, according as it is an ordinary or an Imperial emblem."
During World War II, the Japanese military named many armaments after Chinese dragons. The K?ry? ?? < jiaolong ?? "flood dragon" was a midget submarine and the Shinry? ?? < shenlong ?? "spirit dragon" was a rocket kamikaze aircraft. An Imperial Japanese Army division, the 56th Division, was codenamed the Dragon Division. Coincidentally, the Dragon Division was annihilated in the Chinese town of Longling (??), whose name means "Dragon's Tomb".
Indo-Japanese dragons
When Buddhist monks from other parts of Asia brought their faith to Japan they transmitted dragon and snake legends from Buddhist and Hindu mythology. The most notable examples are the n?ga ??? or ? "N?ga; rain deity; protector of Buddhism" and the n?gar?ja ??????? or ?? "N?garaja; snake king; dragon king". de Visser (1913:179) notes that many Japanese n?ga legends 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 n?ga, so that a blending of ideas was the result." For instance, the undersea palace where n?ga kings supposedly live is called Japanese ry?g? ?? "dragon palace" from Chinese longgong ??. Compare ry?g?-j? ??? "dragon palace castle", which was the sea-god Ry?jin's undersea residence. Japanese legends about the sea-god's tide jewels, which controlled the ebb and flow of tides, have parallels in Indian legends about the n?ga's nyoi-ju ??? "cintamani; wish-fulfilling jewels".
Some additional examples of Buddhistic Japanese dragons are:
- Hachidai ry?? ???? "8 great naga kings" assembled to hear the Buddha expound on the Lotus Sutra, and are a common artistic motif.
- Mucharinda ?????? "Mucalinda" was the N?ga king who protected the Buddha when he achieved bodhi, and is frequently represented as a giant cobra.
- Benzaiten ??? is the Japanese name of the goddess Saraswati, who killed a 3-headed Vritra serpent or dragon in the Rigveda. According to the Enoshima Engi, Benzaiten created Enoshima Island in 552 CE in order to thwart a 5-headed dragon that had been harassing people.
- Kuzury? ??? "9-headed dragon", deriving from the multi-headed Naga king ????? or ?? "Shesha", is worshipped at Togakushi Shrine in Nagano Prefecture.
Dragon temples
Dragon lore is traditionally associated with Buddhist temples. Myths about dragons living in ponds and lakes near temples are widespread. De Visser lists accounts for Shitenn?-ji in Osaka, Gogen Temple in Hakone, Kanagawa, and the shrine on Mount Haku where the Genpei J?suiki records that a Zen priest saw a 9-headed dragon transform into the goddess Kannon. In the present day, the Lake Saiko Dragon Shrine at Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi has an annual festival and fireworks show.
Temple names, like Japanese toponyms, frequently involve dragons. For instance, the Rinzai sect has Tenry?-ji ??? "Heavenly Dragon Temple", Ry?taku-ji ??? "Dragon Swamp Temple", Ry?an-ji ??? "Dragon Peace Temple". According to legend, when the H?k?-ji ??? or Asuka-dera ??? Buddhist temple was dedicated at Nara in 596, "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".
The Kinry?-no-Mai "Golden Dragon Dance" is an annual Japanese dragon dance performed at Sens?-ji, a Buddhist temple in Asakusa. The dragon dancers twist and turn within the temple grounds and outside on the streets. According to legend, the Sens? Temple was founded in 628 after two fishermen found a gold statuette of Kannon in the Sumida River, at which time golden dragons purportedly ascended into heaven. The Golden Dragon Dance was produced to celebrate the reconstruction of the Main Hall of the temple in 1958 and is performed twice yearly.
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Dragon shrines
Japanese dragons are associated with Shinto shrines as well as Buddhist temples.
Itsukushima Shrine on Miyajima or Itsukushima Island in Japan's Inland Sea was believed to be the abode of the sea-god Ry?jin's daughter. According to the Gukansh? and The Tale of Heike (Heinrich 1997:74-75), the sea-dragon empowered Emperor Antoku to ascend the throne because his father Taira no Kiyomori offered prayers at Itsukushima and declared it his ancestral shrine. When Antoku drowned himself after being defeated in the 1185 Battle of Dan-no-ura, he lost the imperial Kusanagi sword (which legendarily came from the tail of the Yamata no Orochi] dragon) back into the sea. In another version, divers found the sword, and it is said to be preserved at Atsuta Shrine. The great earthquake of 1185 was attributed to vengeful Heike spirits, specifically the dragon powers of Antoku.
Ry?jin shink? ???? "dragon god faith" is a form of Shinto religious belief that worships dragons as water kami. It is connected with agricultural rituals, rain prayers, and the success of fisherman.
Dragons in modern Japanese culture
- The Imperial Japanese Army Air Force gave some of their aircraft dragon-related names, for example the Kawasaki Ki-45 twin-engine fighter was called Toryu (Dragon Slayer), the Mitsubishi Ki-67 bomber was called Hiryu (Flying Dragon) and the Nakajima Ki-49 bomber was called Donryu (Storm Dragon).
- The Imperial Japanese Navy and later the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force named some of their ships after dragons. Notable examples are the World War II-era aircraft carriers Hiryu and S?ry? and the modern submarines of the S?ry? class.
- The dragon is a popular figure in Yakuza art.
Other Asian dragons
- Chinese dragon
- Druk
- King Ghidorah
- Korean dragon
- N?ga
- Vietnamese dragon
References
Bibliography
- Aston, William George, tr. 1896. Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697. 2 vols. Kegan Paul. 1972
- Chamberlain, Basil H., tr. 1919. The Kojiki, Records of Ancient Matters.
- Gould, Charles. 1896. Mythical Monsters". W. H. Allen & Co.
- Heinrich, Amy Vladeck. 1997. Currents in Japanese Culture: Translations and Transformations. Columbia University Press.
- Ingersoll, Ernest. 1928. "Chapter Nine: The Dragon in Japanese Art", in Dragons and Dragon Lore, Payson & Clarke. Also: Ingersoll, Ernest, et al., (2013). The Illustrated Book of Dragons and Dragon Lore. Chiang Mai: Cognoscenti Books. ASIN B00D959PJ0
- Smith, G. Elliot. 1919. The Evolution of the Dragon. Longmans, Green & Co.
- de Visser, Marinus Willern (1913), The Dragon in China and Japan, J. Müller, archived from the original on 2008-10-26 .
External links
Media related to Japanese dragons at Wikimedia Commons
- Dragons of Fame: Japan, The Circle of the Dragon
- The Japanese Dragon, Dragonorama
- Ry?jin shink?, Encyclopedia of Shinto
- The Azure Dragon of the East, Steve Renshaw and Saori Ihara
- Ryuu ?, Japanese Architecture & Art Net User System
- Japanese Dragon Tattoos, The Japanese dragon in tattoo art
- Dragon Festival for rainmaking in Nio, JapanNHK(video)
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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