The Dragon King, also known as the Dragon God, is a Chinese

water Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as ...

and

weather god A weather god or goddess, also frequently known as a storm god or goddess, is a deity in mythology associated with weather phenomena such as thunder, snow, lightning, rain, wind, storms, tornadoes, and hurricanes. Should they only be in cha ...

. He is regarded as the dispenser of rain, commanding over all bodies of water. He is the collective personification of the ancient concept of the ''

lóng The Chinese dragon, also known as ''loong'', ''long'' or ''lung'', is a legendary creature in Chinese mythology, Chinese folklore, and Chinese culture at large. Chinese dragons have many animal-like forms such as turtles and fish, but are most ...

'' in Chinese culture. There are also the cosmological "Dragon Kings of the Four Seas" (; ''Sihai Longwang''). Besides being a water deity, the Dragon God frequently also serves as a territorial

tutelary deity A tutelary () (also tutelar) is a deity or a spirit who is a guardian, patron, or protector of a particular place, geographic feature, person, lineage, nation, culture, or occupation. The etymology of "tutelary" expresses the concept of safety a ...

, similarly to Tudigong "Lord of the Earth" and Houtu "Queen of the Earth".

Singular Dragon King

The Dragon King has been regarded as holding dominion over all bodies of water, and the dispenser of rain, in rituals practiced into the modern era in China. One of his epithets is Dragon King of Wells and Springs.

Rainmaking rituals

Dragon processions have been held on the fifth and sixth moon of the lunar calendar all over China, especially on the 13th day of the sixth moon, held to be the Dragon King's birthday, as ritualized supplication to the deity to make rain. In Changli County, Hebei Province a procession of sorts carried an image of the Dragon King in a basket and made circuit around nearby villages, and the participants would put out in front of their house a piece of yellow paper calligraphed with the text: "The position tabletof the Dragon King of the Four Seas , Five Lakes, Eight Rivers and Nine Streams", sprinkle it with water using willow withes, and burning incense next to it. This ritual was practiced in North of China into the 20th century. In the past, there used to be Dragon King miao shrines all over China, for the folk to engage in the worship of dragon kings, villages in farm countries would conduct rites dedicated to the Dragon Kings seeking rain.

Daoist pantheon

Within the Daoist pantheon, the Dragon King is regarded the zoomorphic representation of the '' yang'' masculine power of generation. The dragon king is the king of the dragons and he also controls all of the creatures in the sea. The dragon king gets his orders from the Jade Emperor.

Dragon Kings of the Five Regions

Historically there arose a cult of the Five Dragon Kings. The name ''Wufang longwang'' (, "Dragon Kings of the Five Regions/Directions") is registered in Daoist scripture from the Tang dynasty, found in the

Dunhuang caves The Mogao Caves, also known as the Thousand Buddha Grottoes or Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, form a system of 500 temples southeast of the center of Dunhuang, an oasis located at a religious and cultural crossroads on the Silk Road, in Gansu p ...

. Veneration of chthonic dragon god(s) of the five directions still persists today in southern areas, such as Canton and Fujian. It has also been conflated with the cult of Lord Earth, Tugong ( Tudigong), and inscriptions on tablets invoke the ''Wufang wutu longshen'' (, "Dragon Spirits of the Five Directions and Five Soils") in rituals current in Southeast Asia (Vietnam).

Description

The Azure Dragon or Blue-Green Dragon ( ''Qīnglóng''), or Green Dragon ( ''Cānglóng''), is the Dragon God of the east, and of the essence of spring. The Red Dragon ( ''Chìlóng'' or ''Zhūlóng'', literally "Cinnabar Dragon", "

Vermilion Vermilion (sometimes vermillion) is a color, color family, and pigment most often made, since antiquity until the 19th century, from the powdered mineral cinnabar (a form of mercury sulfide, which is toxic) and its corresponding color. It i ...

Dragon") is the Dragon God of the south and of the essence of summer. The White Dragon ( ''Báilóng'') is the Dragon God of the west and the essence of autumn. The Yellow Dragon ( ''Huánglóng'') is the Dragon God of the center, associated with (late) summer. The Black Dragon ( ''Hēilóng''), also called "Dark Dragon" or "Mysterious Dragon" ( ''Xuánlóng''), is the Dragon God of the north and the essence of winter.

Broad history

Dragons of the Five Regions/Directions existed in Chinese custom, established by the Former Han period (Cf. §Origins below) The same concept couched in "dragon king" (''longwang'') terminology was centuries later, the term "dragon king" being imported from India (

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominalization, nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cul ...

'' naga-raja''), vis Buddhism, introduced in the 1st century AD during the Later Han. The five "Dragon Kings" which were correlated with the Five Colors and Five Directions are attested uniquely in one work among Buddhist scriptures (''sūtra''), called the ''Foshuo guanding jing'' (; "Consecration Sūtra Expounded by the Buddha" early 4th century). Attributed to Po-Srimitra, it is a pretended translation, or "apocryphal sutra" ( post-canonical text), but its influence on later rituals (relating to entombment) is not dismissable. The dragon king cult was most active around the Sui-

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdo ...

, according to one scholar, but another observes that the cult spread farther afield with the backing of

Song dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the res ...

monarchs who built Dragon King Temples (or rather Taoist

shrines A shrine ( la, scrinium "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred or holy sacred space, space dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor worship, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, Daemon (mythology), daem ...

), and

Emperor Huizong of Song Emperor Huizong of Song (7 June 1082 – 4 June 1135), personal name Zhao Ji, was the eighth emperor of the Northern Song dynasty of China. He was also a very well-known calligrapher. Born as the 11th son of Emperor Shenzong, he ascended th ...

(12th century) conferred investiture upon them as local kings. But the dragon king and other spell incantations came to be discouraged in Buddhism within China, because they were based on eclectic (apocryphal) sutras and the emphasis grew for the orthodox sutras, or put another way, the quinary system (based on number 5) was being superseded by the number 8 or number 12 being held more sacred. During the Tang period, the dragon kings were also regarded as guardians that safeguard homes and pacify tombs, in conjunction with the worship of Lord Earth. Buddhist rainmaking ritual learned Tang dynasty China by The concept was transmitted to Japan alongside

esoteric Buddhism Vajrayāna ( sa, वज्रयान, "thunderbolt vehicle", "diamond vehicle", or "indestructible vehicle"), along with Mantrayāna, Guhyamantrayāna, Tantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Tantric Buddhism, and Esoteric Buddhism, are names referring t ...

, and also practiced as rites in ''

Onmyōdō is a system of natural science, astronomy, almanac, divination and magic that developed independently in Japan based on the Chinese philosophies of yin and yang and wuxing (five elements). The philosophy of yin and yang and wu xing was introdu ...

'' during the

Heian Period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese ...

Five dragons

;(Origins) The idea of associating the five directions/regions (''wufang''; ) with the five colors is found in

Confucian Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, a way of governing, or ...

classic text, The ''Huainanzi'' (2nd cent. BC) describes the five colored dragons (azure/green, red, white, black, yellow) and their associations (Chapter 4: Terrestrial Forms), as well as the placement of sacred beasts in the five directions (the Four Symbols beasts, dragon, tiger, bird, tortoise in the four cardinal directions and the yellow dragon. And the ''

Luxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn Annals The ''Luxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn Annals'' () is one of the works attributed to Dong Zhongshu that has survived to the present, though its compilation might have continued past his lifetime into the 4th century. It is 82 chapters long ...

'' attributed to Dong Zhongshu (2nd cent. BC) describes the ritual involving five colored dragons.

Attestations of Five Dragon Kings

Consecration Sutra

The

apocryphal Apocrypha are works, usually written, of unknown authorship or of doubtful origin. The word ''apocryphal'' (ἀπόκρυφος) was first applied to writings which were kept secret because they were the vehicles of esoteric knowledge considered ...

''Foshuo guanding jing'' (; "Consecration Sūtra Expounded by the Buddha" early 4th century, attributed to Po-Srimitra ), which purports to be Buddhist teachings but in fact incorporates elements of Chinese traditional belief, associates five dragon kings with five colored dragons with five directions, as aforementioned. The text gives the personal names of the kings. To the east is the Blue Dragon Spirit King () named Axiuhe (), with 49 dragon kings under him, with 70 myriad myllion lesser dragons, mountain spirits, and assorted ''mei'' demons as minions. The thrust of this scripture is that in everywhere in every direction, there are the minions causing poisonings and ailments, and their lord the dragon kings must be beseeched in prayer to bring relief. In the south is the Red Dragon Spirit King named Natouhuati (), in the west the White, called Helousachati (), in the north the Blue, called Nayetilou () and at center the Yellow, called Duluoboti (), with different numbers subordinate dragon kings, with minion hordes of lesser dragons and other beings. Though connection of poison to rainmaking may not be obvious, it has been suggested that this poison-banishing sutra could have viably been read as a replacement in the execution of the ritual to pray for rain (''shōugyōhō'', ), in Japan. A medieval commentary (''Ryūō-kōshiki'', copied 1310) has reasoned that since the Great Peacock ( Mahāmāyūrī) sūtra mandates one to chant dragon names in order to detoxify, so shall offerings made to dragon lead to "sweet rain".

Divine Incantations Scripture

The ''wangfang'' ("five position") dragon kings are also attested in the '' Taishang dongyuan shenzhou jing'' (; "Most High Cavernous Abyss Divine Spells Scripture"), though not explicitly under the collective name of "five position dragon kings", but individually as "Eastern Direction's Blue Emperor Blue Dragon King ()", and so forth. It gives a laundry list of dragon kings by different names, stating that spells to cause rain can be performed by invoking dragon kings.

Ritual process

An ancient procedural instruction for invoking five-colored dragons to conduct rainmaking rites occurs in the ''Luxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn Annals'', under its "Seeking Rain" chapter (originally 2nd century B.C.). It prescribes earthenware figurines of greater and lesser dragons of a specific color according to season, namely blue-green, red, yellow, white, black, depending on whether it was spring, summer, late summer (), autumn, or winter. And these figures were to be placed upon the alter at the assigned position/direction (east, south, center, west, or north). This Chinese folk rain ritual later became incorporated into

Daoism Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the '' Ta ...

. The rituals were codified into Daoist scripture or Buddhist sūtras in the post- Later Han () period, but Dragon King worship did not come into ascendancy until the Sui-Tang dynasties. The rain rituals in

Esoteric Buddhism Vajrayāna ( sa, वज्रयान, "thunderbolt vehicle", "diamond vehicle", or "indestructible vehicle"), along with Mantrayāna, Guhyamantrayāna, Tantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Tantric Buddhism, and Esoteric Buddhism, are names referring t ...

in the Tang Dynasty was actually an adaptation of indigenous Chinese dragon worship and rainmaking beliefs, rather than pure Buddhism. As a point of illustration, a comparison can be made against Buddhist procedures for rainmaking during the Tang Dynasty. The rainmaking tract in the (Book 11, under the chapter for "Rain Prayer Altar Method, ''qiyu tanfa''; ) prescribes an altar to be built, with mud figures of dragon kings placed on the four sides, and numerous mud-made lesser dragons arranged within and without the altar.

Dragon Kings of the Four Seas

Each one of the four Dragon Kings of the Four Seas ( ''Sìhǎi Lóngwáng'') is associated with a body of water corresponding to one of the four

cardinal direction The four cardinal directions, or cardinal points, are the four main compass directions: north, east, south, and west, commonly denoted by their initials N, E, S, and W respectively. Relative to north, the directions east, south, and west are a ...

s and natural boundaries of China: the East Sea (corresponding to the East China Sea), the South Sea (corresponding to the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Phil ...

), the West Sea ( Qinghai Lake), and the North Sea (

Lake Baikal Lake Baikal (, russian: Oзеро Байкал, Ozero Baykal ); mn, Байгал нуур, Baigal nuur) is a rift lake in Russia. It is situated in southern Siberia, between the Federal subjects of Russia, federal subjects of Irkutsk Oblast, I ...

). They appear in the classical novels like '' The Investiture of the Gods'' and ''

Journey to the West ''Journey to the West'' () is a Chinese novel published in the 16th century during the Ming dynasty and attributed to Wu Cheng'en. It is regarded as one of the greatest Classic Chinese Novels, and has been described as arguably the most po ...

'', where each of them has a proper name, and they share the surname Ao (, meaning "playing" or "proud").

Dragon of the Eastern Sea

His proper name is Ao Guang ( or ), and he is the patron of the East China Sea.

Dragon of the Western Sea

His proper names are Ao Run (), Ao Jun () or Ao Ji (). He is the patron of Qinghai Lake.

Dragon of the Southern Sea

He is the patron of the

and his proper name is Ao Qin ().

Dragon of the Northern Sea

His proper names are Ao Shun () or Ao Ming (), and his body of water is

Japan

As already mentioned, Esoteric Buddhists in Japan who initially learned their trade from Tang Dynasty China engaged in rainmaking ritual prayers invoking dragon kings, under system known as or ''shōugyō'' 'no''''hō'', established in the

Shingon sect Shingon monks at Mount Koya is one of the major schools of Buddhism in Japan and one of the few surviving Vajrayana lineages in East Asia, originally spread from India to China through traveling monks such as Vajrabodhi and Amoghavajra. Kn ...

founded by priest

Kūkai Kūkai (; 27 July 774 – 22 April 835Kūkai was born in 774, the 5th year of the Hōki era; his exact date of birth was designated as the fifteenth day of the sixth month of the Japanese lunar calendar, some 400 years later, by the Shingon s ...

who learned Buddhism in Tang China. It was first performed by Kūkai in the year 824 at Shinsen'en according to legend, but the first occasion probably took place historically in the year 875, then a second time in 891. The rain ritual came to be performed regularly. The ''shōugyōhō'' ritual used two mandalas that featured dragon kings. The Great Mandala which was hung up was of a design that centered around Sakyamuni Buddha, surrounded by the , the ten thousand dragon kings,

Bodhisattvas In Buddhism, a bodhisattva ( ; sa, 𑀩𑁄𑀥𑀺𑀲𑀢𑁆𑀢𑁆𑀯 (Brahmī), translit=bodhisattva, label=Sanskrit) or bodhisatva is a person who is on the path towards bodhi ('awakening') or Buddhahood. In the Early Buddhist schools ...

(based on the ''Dayunlun qingyu jing'' , "Scripture of ummoningGreat Clouds and Petitioning for Rain"). The other one was a "spread-out mandala”(''shiki mandara'' ) laid flat out on its back, and depicted five dragon kings, which were one-, three-, five-, seven-, and nine-headed (based on the ''Collected Dhāraṇī Sūtras''). Also, there was the "Five Dragons Festival/ritual" (''Goryūsai''. ) was performed by ''

onmyōji was one of the official positions belonging to the of the Ministry of the Center under the ritsuryō system in ancient Japan, and was assigned as a technical officer in charge of divination and geomorphology based on the theory of the yin-a ...

'' or yin-yang masters. The oldest mention of this in literature is from '' Fusō Ryakuki'', entry of Engi 2/902AD, 17th day of the 6th moon. Sometimes the performance of the rain ritual by Esoteric Buddhists (''shōugyōhō'') would be followed in succession by the Five Dragons Ritual from the The Five Dragon rites performed by the ''

'' or yin yang masters had its heyday around the 10–11th centuries. There are '' mokkan'' or inscribed wooden tablets used in these rites that have been unearthed (e.g., from 8–10th century site, and a 9th century site. In Japan there also developed a legend that the primordial being Banko (

Pangu Pangu (, ) is a primordial being and creation figure in Chinese mythology who separated heaven and earth and became geographic features such as mountains and rivers. Legends The first writer to record the myth of Pangu was Xu Zheng during t ...

of Chinese myth) sired the Five Dragon Kings, who were invoked in the ritual texts or read in Shinto or Onmyōdō rites, but the five beings later began to be seen less as monsters and more as wise princes,

Worship of the Dragon God

Worship of the Dragon God is celebrated throughout China with sacrifices and processions during the fifth and sixth moons, and especially on the date of his birthday the thirteenth day of the sixth moon. A folk religious movement of associations of good-doing in modern

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, and ...

is primarily devoted to a generic Dragon God whose icon is a tablet with his name inscribed on it, utilized in a ritual known as the "movement of the Dragon Tablet". The Dragon God is traditionally venerated with

dragon boat racing A dragon boat is a human-powered watercraft originating from the Pearl River Delta region of China's southern Guangdong Province. These were made of teak, but in other parts of China, different kinds of wood are used. It is one of a family of t ...

. In coastal regions of China, Korea, Vietnam, traditional legends and worshipping of

whale Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. As an informal and colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea, i.e. all cetaceans apart from dolphins and ...

s (whale gods) have been referred to Dragon Kings after the arrival of Buddhism.

Buddhism

Some

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

traditions describe a figure named Duo-luo-shi-qi or Talasikhin as a Dragon King who lives in a palace located in a pond near the legendary kingdom of

Ketumati Ketumati (Ch'ih-t'ou) is a legendary place in some Buddhist traditions viewed as the earthly paradise of the prophesied figure called Maitreya, who is the future Buddha. Devotees of Maitreya believe that the kingdom is a pure land where Maitreya ...

. It is said that during midnight he used to drizzle in this pond to cleanse himself of dust.

Artistic depictions

File:大天后宮四海龍王神像.jpg, The Dragon Kings of the Four Seas at the

Grand Matsu Temple The Grand Matsu Temple,. & also known as the Datianhou or ,. is a temple to the Chinese Goddess Mazu, who is the Goddess of Sea and Patron Deity of fishermen, sailors and any occupations related to sea/ocean. The temple is located in the West Cen ...

Tainan Tainan (), officially Tainan City, is a special municipality in southern Taiwan facing the Taiwan Strait on its western coast. Tainan is the oldest city on the island and also commonly known as the "Capital City" for its over 200 years of hi ...

. File:安平開臺天后宮四海龍王.jpg, The four Dragon Kings at the

Temple of Mazu This is a list of Mazu temples, dedicated to Mazu (媽祖) also known as Tian Shang Sheng Mu (天上聖母) or Tian Hou (天后) Chinese Goddess of Sea and Patron Deity of fishermen, sailors and any occupations related to sea/ocean, also regarded as ...

in Anping, Tainan.

Explanatory notes

References

Citations

Sources

* *
pdf
@ National Taiwan Normal University * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

* {{Commons-inline, Dragon Kings, Dragon King Chinese gods Journey to the West characters Nāgas Rain deities Sea and river gods Tutelary deities Water gods Sky and weather gods