In the year of the dragon. Where is the dragon's tomb? (continuing on)

Vasily Beregovoi • Drawings and illustrations, 2024
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Subject and objects: Literary scene
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Date of creation: 2024
Region: Luts'k

Description of the artwork «In the year of the dragon. Where is the dragon's tomb? (continuing on)»

"...temples. There are an inordinate number of legends which speak of dragon lanterns appearing on the sea-coast of Japan. To ascertain human conceptions in this respect it may be sufficient to cite a few passages, as they all resemble each other, and are all based on the same conclusions. There is no mention of dragon lanterns in the old annals; nor do we find mention of them in other works written before the fourteenth century. In the Kigegawa Yakushi engi the following is said: "The image of Yakushi Nyorai at Jyokoji (also called Shōryūzan, 青龍山, "Blue Dragon Monastery"), in the Katsushika district, Shimosa Province, was made by Dengyo Daishi. When Jikaku Daishi stopped at Asakusa-dera (the famous Kannon Shrine in Asakusa, a well-known area of Edo), a gray-haired old man appeared to him and said: 'There is a holy place in the northeast where I have consecrated a marvelous image made by Dengyo Daishi.' Thereupon the man disappeared, and Jikaku went outside and looked to the northeast. Suddenly a happy cloud (瑞雲, zui-in, a cloud with happy colors) appeared, and a blue dragon was seen in it. Then Daishi secretly left the temple and went in search of this blue dragon until he came to the structure, (where the above-mentioned old man who had received that image lived). Then he bowed to the image and saw the blue dragon still there. Jikaku turned to the happy cloud and, turning to the dragon, uttered the following: 'I would like to say a few words to you, holy dragon, listen to me. I want to build a temple here, which you are to guard and protect from calamities. From now on, I am appointing you as the guardian deity of the temple'. When Daishi finished speaking, the dragon, who had been listening motionless all this time with its head respectfully lowered, disappeared. The monk considered this a good sign, and named the shrine 'Blue Dragon Temple'. To this day, a dragon lantern appears there from time to time as a miraculous, good omen, probably in connection with the above (i.e., because the blue dragon is the guardian deity of the shrine)." From the Edo meisho ki we learn that from ancient times many pilgrims went to this temple; it is also called Jokoji (浄光寺, "Temple of Pure Light"), to glorify the dragon lantern which invariably appears before the image of Yakushi Nyorai on the eighth day of each month and on the morning of the New Year. In the Tomioka Hachiman shaki, "History of the Shinto Shrine of Hachiman in Tomioka," we read that in 1628 the spirit of Kobo Daishi appeared in a dream to a monk of the Shingon school and ordered all the ministers of that school in Kanto, with the exception of the heads of Koya and Sekigaku, to assemble at Eitaijima (in Edo). They followed the order of the saint and performed the ceremonies for ninety days without interruption. At the same time, they erected a temple dedicated to the spirit of Kobo Daishi (Mikage-do), and from that time a dragon lantern began to appear in front of it. In Jigen Daishi den 慈眼大師傳, a biography of Jigen Daishi, i.e., the Buddhist abbot of Tenkai 天海, whom Ieyasu greatly respected, who died in 1643, there is the following passage. - "On the evening of the second day of the eleventh month of the twelfth year of the twelfth year of the Kang'ei era (1643) a special service was held (for the sake of the spirit of Jigen) in the temple of Sembakita (in Musashi), when a dragon lantern rose from the well and hung from the top of the cryptomeria at the south wall of the kyukuden ("reception hall" of the temple). Monks and laymen stared at the light in amazement and worshipped it. Immediately, a fast-footed messenger was sent to Nikko temple to announce what had happened, and everyone was overwhelmed with admiration (for Jigen's holiness, since his spirit was believed to be clearly connected to the light, as in the case of Kobo Daishi in the previous legend)." The so-called "Dragon Lantern Pines" (ryuto no matsu, 龍燈松) that stood in front of Buddhist temples, and on whose branches dragon lanterns were said to regularly appear, are very often mentioned. Here and there we read of such trees standing in front of Shinto shrines, but the overwhelming number of passages in which they are mentioned, as well as dragon lanterns in general, refer to Buddhist temples. In front of the Monju (Manjushri) chapel, called Monjudo (文殊堂), at Ama no Hashidate (one of the Nihon sankei, the three most beautiful places in Japan) in the Yosa district of Tango Province, located near what is known as Kujue no to, or Kire to, stood a "dragon lantern pine tree." At midnight on the sixteenth day of each month, a dragon lantern appeared from the northeastern sea and flew to this tree; at night on the sixteenth day of the first, fifth, and ninth months, another source of light called the "Heavenly Lantern" (tento, 天燈) descended from the sky. And a third source called "Ise no go toto," or "The Most Holy Light of Ise," mentioned in Yuho meisho ryaku774 (1697), where it is called shinto (神燈, "Sacred Light"), created by the deity from Daizingu to Ise (Amaterasu), was seen in the same place. The image of the bodhisattva Manjushri (Monju bosatsu) worshipped there was thought to be of Indian origin, having emerged from the sea. The same temple is mentioned in the Kii dzodanshu, where we read the following details concerning this light: - "It arose from a deep place in the sea, two tö from the 'Developed Door' (Kire-tō) in Hashidate, where the gate to the dragon's palace was believed to be. In good weather, when the wind and waves are calm, it passes from Kire-to to Monju Shrine. Unbelievers cannot see it, or, if they do, they think it is produced by some fisherman's lantern. He stops at the top of a high (Refs: Strangely realistic, in view of these passages, are the words from the Ensei meibutsu kohoi (Chap. VIII), quoted on the same page of the Ryuan zuihitsu: "The devil fireflies (kirin, 鬼燐) and dragon lanterns that appear over swamps, ponds, wide plains, mountain temples, tombs, and so forth are 'zwavelstofgas' coming out of the decaying bodies of animals and plants." The word "zwavelstofgas" written in kana is Dutch in origin and means "zwavelwaterstofgas," i.e., sulfur hydroxide) of a pine tree located about 20 ken from Monjudo. After half an hour, or less, it goes out. From time to time, a boy is seen at the top of this tree holding a lamp in his hand, called tendo, 天灯, "Heavenly Lantern" (this word can also be written 天童, tendo, "Heavenly Boy"). Before, this boy (angel) appeared often, but now it is rare." Nihon shukyo fuzoku shi, (1902) mentions an old "Dragon Lantern Pine" that still stands near a Shinto temple called Uhara jinja (宇原神社), in Karida village, Kyoto district, Budzen province. There Toyotama-bime, the daughter of a sea deity in the form of a dragon gave birth to a son, and at the same time the light (of the dragon lantern) flew out of the sea and hung on the same pine tree. We may mention here another Shinto temple, Shirahige jinja (白鬚神社) in the Shiga district of Omi province, where the dragon lantern was said to have entered the worship hall (haiden) from time to time instead of hanging on a pine tree; and Jogu (常宮), a Shinto temple in Tsuruga, Etizen Province, where such a light appeared every New Year's Eve in the "Dragon Lantern Pine" that stood in the temple garden. In front of the Kasai Yakushi Buddhist Chapel (笠井薬師), located on a mountain north of Okayama, in Bijen Province, stood the "Dragon Lantern Pine". Every night, especially in summer, wandering lights were seen there. On the summit of Kaneyama, a mountain very close to the above-mentioned Kasai Yakushi Chapel, there was a large stone with a hole in it, about a shaku square. When the tide was high, this hole would fill with water, and when it was low, it would dry up. It seems that these stones were thought to be connected with dragons sending dragon lanterns, for also at Cape Sata in Hara district, Tosa province (30 ri west of Kochi) at the same time (1746) was the so-called Ushio-ishi (潮石), or "Tide Stone," concave, filled with water at high tide and emptied at low tide, and in the same place, near the Shinto temple of Ashizuri-no-Myojin (蹉跎ノ明神), a dragon lantern would emerge from the sea at the same time as the Divine Light (tento, 天燈) descended from the sky. The latter was one of the seven miracles of that place. Another of these wonders was the dragon-horse, which came out sometimes at the hour of the bull (01-03 h.) and ate the shoots of bamboo, which for this reason gradually withered in the vicinity of the temple. The connection between tide stones and dragons immediately reminds us of the legends of Toyotama-hiko, the sea god who gave the tide treasure to Hiko-hohodemi, and of Empress Jingu, who was helped by the gods Kasuga and Kawakami with the high and low tide jewels taken from Sagara, the Dragon King. Toyuki kohen says the following about a temple of the Zen school in the Niikawa district, Ettyu Province, called Gammokujang (眼目山), or Sakkajang. When this temple was opened by its founder, the monk Daitetsu, a disciple of Dogen (道元, Shoyo Daishi, 1200-1253), he was assisted by the mountain god and the dragon god, manifesting all sorts of miracles. Back in the author's time (the second half of the 18th century), every year on the 13th day of the 7th month (probably the date of the opening of the temple), two light sources appeared on the top of a pine tree in the temple garden. One of them (belonging to the mountain god) came from the top of Mount Tateyama, and the other (of the dragon god) rose from the sea, and both stopped on the pine tree. They were called Mountain Light and Dragon Lantern (Santo, Ryuto); they were seen every year by the neighborhood people. "Although," says Tachibana Nankei, "there are many instances of dragon lanterns appearing from the sea, it rarely happens at the same time as the Mountain Light, and even on the same pine tree, as in the case of this temple. On Itozaki-yama in Etizen Province, Hannan District (modern Sakai) there is a Buddhist temple called Ryukoji (龍興寺, "Temple of the Dragon's Rise"), built by a Chinese monk who arrived from China on the back of a huge turtle, bringing with him a precious image of Kannon. As they approached the shore, the turtle emitted a powerful beam of light, and the fishermen who saw this came out to meet them and carried the image ashore. The temple was dedicated to this Kannon, and every night a blue dragon appeared there in the so-called "Dragon Lantern Pine", carrying a light to glorify this deity. When he appeared, he was accompanied by a large number of holy ministers dressed in majestic robes, from whom divine music wafted through the air. The monks could see them, but the common people could only hear the music. Sometimes the mountain top was named after a dragon lantern, such as Tōmyō-dake (燈明嶽), or "Top of the Light" in Kawachi Province, Ishikawa District (present-day Minami Kawachi District), where such a light appeared at Kokidera, a Buddhist temple whose patron deity was the Shinto mountain god Iwabune Myōjin. On the last night of the year, at the hour of the bull (01-03 h.), a dragon lantern was usually seen near Kumano Gongen Temple in Nogami Village, Suwo Province, and, at the same time, another "sacred light" (shinka, 神火) would arrive, swift as an arrow, from the neighboring "Dragon Mouth Mountain." Worshiping this light, the villagers would usher in the New Year. Another dragon lantern was said to rise annually from the sea to the clouds in the vicinity of Komyoji (光明寺), the "Temple of Bright Light" in Kamakura for two nights during the temple festival, which lasted ten days. And from the 14th to 16th of the seventh month, a similar light soared from Saikawa, a river in Shinano Province, and, bouncing along the treetops, illuminated the southwestern gable of the main structure of Zenkoji, a significant Buddhist shrine in Nagano. The famed dragon lantern was at Yotsukura, a village on the coast of Hitachi Province. It was described as a brilliant fireball, one shaku in diameter, spreading a very bright light. Fishermen attributed it (like all other so-called dragon lanterns) to the masses of flying insects born over the water, which disperse and disappear as soon as people approach them. This is why they never show up during storms and rain (because they are afraid of noise). "Sometimes," they say, "these insects coalesce into a single mass, which can be seen hanging from the tops of trees, or from the overhangs of temple roofs, and which look like a ball of fire. The so-called siranu-bi (不知火, 'unknown fire') is the same." More details about the light in Yotsukura can be found in To-o kiko, where it is said to move by floating on water from the sea on the Kamado River up to the streams in the valley. At the foot of Mount Akai-dake it takes off, and soon it can be seen hovering between the branches of a large cryptomeria until it disappears into the depths of the forest, followed by other sources of light, in an endless succession, from evening until dawn. In the bright light of the moon the points of light are small, but on dark nights they are large, like fireballs, or torches. Strangely enough, you can only see them from the so-called Enseki (Swallow Stone) on the protruding part of the mountain. The author calls them inca (陰火, yin lights), an expression borrowed from Chinese books, and compares them to the "Sacred Fires" (神燈) and "Cold Flames" (寒炎) mentioned by Chinese authors. On the last night of the year - the time when many dragon lanterns appear, as the above legend tells us - three strange lights appeared from various places near Ushijima Island and joined together and flew to the "Dragon Lantern Pine" at Asahijan Jyonichiji, a Buddhist temple in Himi, a small place in Ettu Province, Himi District, and were seen hanging between the branches. It was also the dragon lantern that the Buddhist monk Nansan saw on an old pine tree when he crossed Mount Ishidozan in 806; Amida Nyorai appeared there, sitting on a beautiful cloud. Nansan built a Buddhist temple at that place and placed an image of Amida Nyorai in it. Four centuries later, when Emperor Juntoku (1211-1221) arrived in Sado Province and his ship began to be tossed about on the waves by a violent storm, suddenly the ship was able to reach the shore safely. In the Kurikara Mountains, which are the boundary between Ettyu and Kaga, there was a shrine of the Shingon school called Teorakuji, or Kurikara-san, with an image of Fudo Myo-o. Unimaginable miracles were performed in this shrine; it was also famous for the "Mountain Light" and the "Dragon Lanterns." Not only in connection with the dragon lanterns, but in other respects the old pines were known for the wandering lights appearing on them. Thus we read of a "golden fire pine" on the road from Komatsu to Kanazawa, where a phosphorescent light, the so-called rinka (燐火), or kinka (金火, golden fire), was seen to rise and fall. However, this fire did not come from the sea, like dragon lanterns, but was attributed to the fact that criminals had previously been beheaded under this tree, whose blood, penetrating into the ground, became what is called kirin (鬼燐), or "demon fire"; another version is that someone in great excitement committed suicide at this spot, and "the fire of his heart set the pine tree on fire". The idea that blood causes such magical fires is borrowed from China; we read from de Groot that blood identified with the jing qi, the breath, or yang spirit overflowing with vital energy, especially the blood of man killed by weapons, as well as of horses and cows, causes wandering fires. These are the soul fires often observed on battlefields. The identification of blood and soul is not a uniquely Chinese concept; we find it among some of the Indian tribes of North America, as mentioned by Frazer in The Golden Branch. As regards China, it was believed there that wandering lights arose especially in old trees and from a hundred swarms of blood. Demons were also believed to cause wandering fires, as the words kirin and oni-bi (鬼火), "demonic fire," clearly show. Moreover, animals considered to be werewolves since antiquity, such as tanuki and mujina, are particularly notable in this regard. In addition to tanuki-bi, kitsune-bi (badger and fox fire) and oni-bi, wandering fires were also called inca (陰火, or yin fire, Fire of Darkness), kumo no hi (蜘ノ火, spider fire), kaigetsu no hi (海月 ノ 火 , the fire of the sea moon), suske ando ( 煤 行 灯 , the smoldered lantern), or bodzu-bi ( 坊 主火 , monk fire). However, it was not always demons, or old animals, or dragons that caused the wandering fires; they are also not only considered to be manifestations of the embittered souls of the dead, for Buddhas and Shinto deities can also produce these marvelous burari-bi, or "swaying fires." Amida Nyorai himself, as we have seen above, appeared with a dragon-lantern at Ishidōzan, and the name Butsu-tō (佛燈), or "Buddhist lights" is sufficient evidence of such a belief. As for Shinto deities, we may mention the wandering fires near the village of Gofuku in Ettyu, which were believed to be caused by the jealous spirit of the goddess Fukura-hime-no Mikoto, whose husband, the god Noto-hiko, had taken a second wife during her absence, causing her to stone his temple. And in 1770, the god Sanno produced a sacred light (神燈, Shinto) in the middle of the night in the worship hall of his temple at Sebamachi, near the western mouth of the Namikawa. Two nights later, he extinguished it, after offerings had been made to it and kagura dances had been performed in its honor. So, we see that there is a great variation of wandering lights in Japan. However, dragon lanterns are the only ones that arise from the sea and fly to the mountains; all others arise and stay in the forests, or fly from there to the seashore, where they sometimes fall into the water. The reason for this distinction is obvious: dragon-lights are regarded as offerings made by sea dragons to deities, buddhas, or bodhisattvas in the mountains, while other lights, on the contrary, are attributed to these divine beings themselves, or to demons, animals, or spirits of the dead, who all abide in the mountains and forests, or on the grassy plains of the battlefields. (Ref: See Sanshu kidan kohen, Ch. VI, c. 956: a fisherman caught them in his net, but innumerable little lights slipped through the meshes, flew up, and merged into one massive fireball that flew away; probably, says the author, this was a transformation of old blood).") Fossils of dinosaurs in the 16th century AD began to be associated with dragons: "In the 16th century AD, a Japanese author spoke of an old (probably - Chinese) tradition, according to which the embryo of the dragon for a thousand years lives in the sea, another thousand years - in the mountains, and after being among people ("in the village", the text says) the same long period, finally born, become dragons and fly to heaven. During these three thousand years the fetus resides in a very small snake inside a stone, a dragon egg, which first lies at the bottom of the sea, then passes to the mountains (in what way is not explained), where after a thousand years it is picked up by someone and taken to his home, where he keeps it because of its beautiful coloring, or uses it as an inkstone (suzuri, 硯). Since in all cases it has the marvelous ability to continuously exude water (the dragon element), i.e., it is indeed a very handy inkstone. But woe to him who possesses such a stone at the end of the thousand-year period which the fruit must spend among men, for, then the stone cracks and a little serpent crawls out of it, which in a few moments grows larger and larger, and with a terrible noise makes its way into the sky, breaking the roof amidst thunder and lightning and flying up into a dark cloud. The little reptile transforms into a huge four-legged dragon that leaves the narrow confines of the human world and is set free in such a nightmarish way. A remarkable inkstone was kept in ancient times, it is said in Kii zodanshu, in a Zen monastery in Kanagawa, Musashi Province. Drops of water came out of it incessantly, and no one could understand the nature of this strange phenomenon. One day, on a very hot summer day, when the monks were all sitting together in a cool room, suddenly the inkstone cracked by itself, and a small worm, about 2 bu (0.24 inches) crawled out of it. The monks wanted to kill it, but the abbot forbade them to do so and carefully carried it on a fan into the garden, where he laid it down by the lotus pond. All the monks followed him, and while they were looking at the worm, they were amazed to see it shrinking and stretching and growing in size. In great fear they ran back to the house, but even there they could not soon feel safe, for the sky, which had been perfectly clear before, was immediately covered with clouds, thunder rumbled and lightning flashed, and utter darkness enveloped the garden and all the buildings. Then they all ran out of the gate and from afar saw the dragon rising into the sky in a huge cloud: first its head, then its body with four legs, and finally its huge tail. When it disappeared, the clouds dissipated and the sky was as clear as before. However, the garden, the pond, and the structure were in a terrible state. Meanwhile, people from the surrounding villages came running to help, believing that the monastery was on fire. (References: In Hyakka setsurin (vol. 続下二, p. 487), we find the following names for inkstones: Ruringetsu-ken, 龍燐
月硯, or "Moon inkstone of dragon scales," and Ryubi-ken, 龍尾硯, "Inkstone of the dragon's tail"). An 18th century writer, Kiuchi Sekitei, describes the same incident occurring in Kanazawa (not Kanagawa). Further, he mentions a round stone that was picked up by a boy in the mountains near Sammon, in Omi Province. Since water always oozed from it, the boy later used it to wet his inkwell. Fifty years later, when he was promoted to the rank of Archbishop - the stone apparently brought him prosperity - the strange object split open and a dragon rose into the sky, piercing the ceiling and roof. This stone still existed in Sekitei's time, and it had a bean-sized hole in the middle. A similar dragon egg was used by a Buddhist monk in Moriyama, Omi Province, in 1774 to grind tea until a dragon was born and flew up into the sky, leaving a round hole in the middle of the stone. On another occasion such an egg was recognized in advance by a great scholar, deeply read in Chinese literature, the famous Ito Jinsai, who warned a courtier, saying that a beautiful stone in his possession, square and five-colored, was a dragon egg, and that it would be better to throw it away to a distant place. He listened to the scholar and built a small Shinto temple in an open field far from the capital, in which he placed the stone. A few years later, the temple was destroyed by a dragon that rose into the heavens. This was the so-called ryusho-seki, 龍生石, or "Dragon Spawning Stone." The name "Dragon Horse Stone" (ryume-seki, 龍馬石) was given to another remarkable stone, white as crystal, the size of the palm of one's hand, lying on a shelf in the possession of a samurai from Hizen Province. In its center could be seen a moving creature, and the stone itself turned from side to side. One day this man put a cup filled with water on the shelf, and when he returned, the cup was empty. The next day he made the same experiment with a large jug, and while he was talking to his guests in the next room, they heard the sound of wind and waves. They immediately went to see what was the matter, and found a lizard (tokage, 石龍子, lit. "little stone dragon") running from the jug to the stone, in which it disappeared. Two "snake-generating stones" (sho-jia-seki, 生蛇石) were discovered in a burrow in Kyoto in 1762, and in 1780 a child picked up a "golden snake stone" (金蛇石) in the mountains. Water constantly dripped from it until it was boiled, killing the dragon inside. When the stone was cracked open, they found a small golden snake inside. Although these were not dragon eggs, we can mention here two stones believed to be associated with dragons. One was a large stone lying in a depression formed by a waterfall near the village of Kayao in Inukami District, Omi Province, said to belong to the dragon god of that place and called "Dragon God Stone" (龍神石, ryujin-seki) by the villagers. In the Kyoho era (1716-1735), five or six people came to the surrounding villagers and asked them to sell them women's hair to weave a rope with which they were going to carry the stone as an offering to the Dragon God Seta. After a while, the stone did disappear, but it was too heavy for human hands to carry (those men were probably dragon-turned-dragons). A second stone, black in color, about three shaku in length, lay in the garden; it was said that it could chase clouds even in a clear summer sky if anyone touched it. In 1764 the stone was no longer outside, but inside the castle, so that experiments could not be made. "Probably," says Hotta, the author of the Sanshu Kidan, "it is the so-called 'cloud root' (雲根, un-kon). We find the following details in Shōsan tömon kishū (1849). The abbot of a monastery of the Shingon school had a so-called dragon gem (龍ノ玉, ryu no tama), considered an extremely valuable item. On cloudy days it would immediately become wet, and when it rained it was completely wet. In reality, it was not a dragon gem, but a dragon egg (ryu no tamago, 龍ノ卵). These eggs hatch in the midst of storms and rain; they then destroy even palaces and uproot large trees, so they are advised to be thrown out beforehand in deserted places in the mountains. The abbot, however, did not deem it necessary to take precautions with the dragon's egg in his possession, for it was dead. "Thirty years ago," he said, "the egg would wet as soon as it became cloudy, and its luster was splendid; later, however, it gave off no moisture even on rainy days, nor did it grow, so it is obviously dead. Miyoshi Shosan (the author) personally went to the monastery to see this marvelous egg, and gives a drawing of it, showing a dragon embryo inside. Its dimensions were: length, 4 sun, 8 bu; width, 4 sun, 6 bu; it was like a "thunder-axe stone of diamond nature" (玉質雷斧石, gyoku-shitsu rai-fu-seki, called Tengu no ono 天狗ノ鈇, or "Tengu Axe" by the people), but seemed even harder and sharper than them. It was red in color, with a blue-gray glow, just like the stones of the mountain axe, but its luster was more like glass than the latter. There were a few specks on the egg, which Shosan considered to be dirt left by the dragon that laid it." Dragons were able to write on water, affecting and powering it. We have such a saying: "it is written with pitchforks on the water", in the sense of something that is no longer realizable, which cannot be translated into everyday life. He read: "The works of XVIII and XIX centuries. explain the strong tornadoes that caused water tornadoes, which in an instant destroyed the objects of human hands and everything that got in their way, the behavior of dragons rising into the sky. Accordingly, the huge columns of water thrown into the air by these water tornadoes are called tatsumaki, or "dragon scrolls." The Itiwa Ichigen mentions a tatsumaki that occurred in 1735 in the vicinity of the Mansion Palace in the Shiba area of Edo Bay, and destroyed the roofs of many houses in the Kyobashi and Nihonbashi areas; at the same time, it rained heavily and became completely dark. In the Kensei era (1789-1800), there was a Buddhist monk in Edo who walked around the neighborhood and predicted that a dragon would soon rise into the sky in the midst of a violent storm, why he advised people to stay in their homes. When the samurai asked him how he knew this in advance, the monk replied, "I know this from experience. When the sky remains clear for a long time, and suddenly it begins to rain, as it is now, the dragon rises into the sky." "Perhaps you yourself are that dragon?" asked the samurai, and when the monk answered in the affirmative, asked him to ascend into the sky at once. "I cannot do so," replied the minister, "for I have no water. "No water? - exclaimed the man. - There is as much as you want in the neighboring river!" "It is of no use to me," remarked the monk, "for it is running water, and I need the water of heaven (rain). "Well, then, I will give you some rain water," said the samurai, and gave him a bottle of water from an inkstone (used for wetting suzuri). The monk took it, and, joyful, went away, declaring that now he would fly to heaven. Indeed, a few days later, a violent storm suddenly broke out, accompanied by strong winds and heavy rain. When it subsided, the trees and grass were completely black. One samurai knew the reason for this: it was the ink water he had given to a monk, who used it to climb into the clouds. The author of the Miyakawasya Mampitsu heard the story from the samurai's son, who was told the story by his father. In 1744, the occurrence of strong tidal waves that destroyed a small Shinto shrine near Edo Bay, as well as several houses in Edo itself and felled trees, killing many people, was attributed to a dragon. Another tatsumaki occurred in the Tammei era (1781-1788) when a dragon flew out of the famous Shinobazu pond in Ueno (Edo). A black cloud emerged from the pond and destroyed all the houses in the area." Various methods of defense against the effects of the dragon were attempted. These included: "An amusing way to ward off tatsumaki is described in Yuhisai sakki. A dark cloud descended on a ship sailing westward from Edo, and the sailors were afraid that a dragon was about to lift the ship and carry it into the sky. To scare the dragon away, they cut off their hair and set it on fire. And, indeed, the nightmarish odor was apparently an overpowering experience for the dragon, for the clouds immediately dissipated. Dragons love money. Once, when the tatsumaki was raging, an empty money rope fell to the ground; the coins were apparently removed by the dragon, after which it threw the rope away. Another time a ship with a large amount of money on board, was attacked by a dragon in the form of a violent storm. It went down, and all attempts to lift the box of money were foiled by the greedy dragons, who raised a storm every time the men tried to take their booty," - in this connection, it becomes clear why on the above examples of coins, was depicted the sign "time of the Brahmans," apparently, he suggested, these coins were created and used only as a means of settlement with the dragon officials for their work. But as for finding the dragon tomb, apparently it is not related to the places and names mentioned, "In previous chapters we have often mentioned mountains and temples named after dragons that lived in those places, or appeared at the time the temple was erected. Throughout Japan we find a large number of similar names; these are given in Yoshida Togo's Dictionary of Geographical Names of Japan (Dai Nihon timei jisho). The following details are drawn from this book. Tatsu no kuchi, or "Dragon's Mouth" (龍口, or 辰口) is a very common name. For example, it is given to a hot spring in Nomi District, Kaga Province, a small waterfall in Kojimachi District, Tokyo, a mountain in Kamakura District, Sagami Province, a dam in Kouji District, Hitachi Province, and two mountains in Bijen and Rikuzen Provinces. On the hill of this name in the Kamakura district during the Kamakura period criminals were executed; it is famous for the legend of the miraculous deliverance of Nichiren, by which his life was saved because the sword refused to cut off the holy head. It was said that the hill was formed from the dead body of a dragon which in ancient times lived in a neighboring lake and whose mouth was at this very spot. Even in the An'ei era (1772-1780), a five-headed dragon was worshipped there in a small Shinto shrine, and today the "Dragon Mouth Shinto Shrine" (Tatsu no kuchi-no sha, 龍口社), and a Buddhist temple of the Nichiren school called Ryuko-dera (龍口寺), proves that Buddhists have adopted the old belief. On the above-mentioned mountain at Rikuzen, a large rock in the shape of a dragon's head is worshipped at a Shinto temple called Tatsu-no kuchi jinja, or "Dragon Mouth Temple." Tatsu-ga hana 龍鼻 ("Dragon's Nose") is the name of a rock in Omi Province, Sakata District; Tatsu-kushi 龍串 ("Dragon Spit") is a mountain in Tosa Province, Hatay District. Tatsu-yama 龍山 ("Dragon Mountains") we find in Harima, Innan District and in Owari, Higashi Kasugai District; Tatsu-ko-yama 龍子山 ("Little Dragon Mountains") in Hitachi, Taga District, and Tatsu-zaki 龍崎、辰崎 ("Dragon Cape") in Shimozuke, Sarushima District, and Iwashiro, Ishikawa District. In Mutsu Province, Hagashi Tsugaru District, we find Tatsu-bama-zaki 龍浜崎("Dragon Cape Beach"), also called Tatsubi-zaki 龍飛崎 ("Dragon Flight Cape"), and in Shinano, Saku District, Tatsu-oka 龍岡 ("Dragon Hill"). Further, we find Tatsu-no 辰野 ("Dragon Field"), also called Tatsu-no-ichi 龍市 ("Dragon Market") in Shinano, Ina District, and another Tatsu-no-ichi in Yamato, Soe-no-kami District, where the Shinto deity Tatsu-no-ichi Myojin is worshipped. In Harima, Iiho (or Iho) district, where there is a Tatsu-no 龍野 with an old castle of the same name built by Nitta Yoshisada in 1334.Finally, we find villages called Tatsuta 龍田 (Dragon Rice Field) in Higo province, Akutaku district, and in Yamato, Ikoma district. Near this place is the well-known Shinto temple Tatsuta Jinja, dedicated to the Wind God, where prayers are offered to the wind and rain. Mention may also be made of Mount Tatsuta in the same area, as well as a river called Tatsuta-gawa. On the above-mentioned Tatsu-yama at Owari stood an old Buddhist temple of the Tendai school called Ryusenji 龍泉寺 ("Dragon Spring Temple"), believed to have been built in one night by the Dragon King; the original Japanese dragon god of that mountain was probably identified with Naga by the Tendai monks. The "Dragon Cape" at Iwashiro has a waterfall (a famous dragon haven), and the Bodhi tree is evidence of Buddhist dominance in later times. An overwhelming number of these names are found in Central Japan; they are rare in the South and North. The mountains are called Ryu-zan, or Ryo-zan 龍山 (in Iwashiro and Uzen; near the latter there is a place called "Sacred Tail" 神尾, probably indicating a dragon's tail); Ryu-ga minae 龍峰 ("Dragon Peak", in Higo, resembling a reclining dragon, and in Hida); Ryu-no (or -ga) saki 龍崎 ("Dragon Cape", with a Buddhist "Blue Dragon Temple"), Seiryuji 青龍寺 in Tosa and another in the vicinity of which there is a Buddhist temple called Kinryuji, 金龍寺 or "Golden Dragon Temple" in Hitachi); Ryu (or Ryo)-ga-take 龍嶽("Dragon Peak" in Ise and Uzen); Ryuzu-zaki 龍頭崎 ("Dragon Head Cape" in Tosa); Ryuten-yama 龍天山 ("Dragon-Deva Mountain" in Bijen); Ryu-o-jang 龍王山 ("Dragon King Mountain" at Bityu with a small Shinto temple dedicated to the Eight Great Dragon Kings at the top, and two others at Kawachi and Sanuki). We find Ryu-o-take 龍王嶽 ("Peak of the Dragon King") in Tikuzen, and Ryu-zo-san 龍爪山 ("Dragon Claw Mountain") in Suruga with the Ryu-zo Gongen temple, "Ryu-zo Manifestation", "Dragon Vault (womb)", a Buddhist name given to a mountain deity, probably in the guise of a dragon. Near the village of Ryu-oka 龍岡 ("Dragon Hill") in Igo Province, there is a mountain on which a Buddhist monk successfully offered prayers for rain in ancient times. In Hitachi, there is Ryujinsan 龍神山 ("Dragon God Mountain") and an old Shinto temple of the Dragon God, and in Kii we find Ryumon-zan 龍門山 ("Dragon Gate Mountain"). The hot spring in Kii, famous for its healing properties, is called "Dragon God Spring" (Ryujin-sen 龍神泉). In Osumi, Yamato, and Higo we find "Dragon Gate Falls" (Ryumon-daki 龍門瀧), and in Shimozuke we find "Dragon Head Falls" (Ryuzu-daki 龍頭瀑). The ancient Chinese believed that the dragon was closely associated with waterfalls, and indicated this by using the character for "dragon" connected to the radical for "water" (瀧). Rivers associated with dragons: Ryuge-gawa 龍華川 ("Dragon Flower River", also pronounced as Tatsu-bana-gawa) in Kawachi; Tenryu-gawa 天龍川("Heavenly Dragon River") in Shinano and Totomi; Ryukan-gawa 龍閑川 ("Dragon Rest River") in Tōkyō. Two "dragon islands" (Ryu-ga shima, or Ryu-shima 龍島), one in Etigo, the other in Awa, may be mentioned; also the "Valley of the Dragon King" (Ryu-o-dani 龍王谷) in Budzen. Such titles as Ryu-mai 龍舞 ("Dragon Dance") in Kozuke, Ryu-o 龍王 ("Dragon King") in Budzen and Kai, Ryu-toku 龍徳 ("Dragon Dignity") in Tikuzen, Ryu-ge 龍華 ("Dragon Flower") in Omi and Ryu-ge 龍毛 ("Dragon Hair") in Ugo are evidence of the great popularity of Chinese and Indian dragons in Japan. As for personal names, they are rarely associated with tatsu, except for the following three: Tatsu (龍), Tatsuki (龍木, Dragon Tree), and Tatsuzane (龍実, Dragon Grain). 龍蔵権現; deities with the same name are worshipped at Shinto temples in Uzen and Ku. Among the names of Buddhist temples associated with dragons, the most frequent are Ryuzoji 龍蔵寺 ("Temple of the Dragon Vault [Womb]"), Ryusenji 龍泉寺 ("Temple of the Dragon Spring"), Ryukoji 龍興寺 ("Temple of the Dragon Rise")
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