Japanese dragons (, ''Nihon no ryū'') are diverse legendary creatures in

Japanese mythology Japanese mythology is a collection of traditional stories, folktales, and beliefs that emerged in the islands of the Japanese archipelago. Shinto and Buddhist traditions are the cornerstones of Japanese mythology. The history of thousands of year ...

and

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, r ...

. Japanese dragon myths amalgamate native legends with imported stories about dragons from China,

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republi ...

and the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographical region in Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian Ocean from the Himalayas. Geopolitically, it includes the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India ...

. The style and appearance of the dragon was heavily influenced by the

Chinese dragon 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 Outline of life forms, animal-like forms such as Bixi (my ...

, especially the three-clawed ''long'' (龍) dragons which were introduced in Japan from China in ancient times. Like these other

East Asian East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South ...

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.

Indigenous Japanese dragons

The c. 680 AD ''

Kojiki The , also sometimes read as or , is an early Japanese chronicle of myths, legends, hymns, genealogies, oral traditions, and semi-historical accounts down to 641 concerning the origin of the Japanese archipelago, the , and the Japanese imperi ...

'' and the c. 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 , or simply , is a legendary eight-headed and eight-tailed Japanese dragon/ serpent. Mythology Yamata no Orochi legends are originally recorded in two ancient texts about Japanese mythology and history. The 712 AD transcribes this dragon nam ...

'' 八岐大蛇 "8-branched giant snake" was an 8-headed and 8-tailed dragon slain by the god of wind and sea

Susanoo __FORCETOC__ Susanoo (; historical orthography: , ) is a in Japanese mythology. The younger brother of Amaterasu, goddess of the sun and mythical ancestress of the Japanese imperial line, he is a multifaceted deity with contradictory charac ...

, who discovered the '' Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi'' (legendary sword of the

Imperial Regalia of Japan The are the imperial regalia of Japan and consist of the sword , the mirror , and the jewel . They represent the three primary virtues: valour (the sword), wisdom (the mirror), and benevolence (the jewel).

) in one of its tails. * '' Watatsumi'' 海神 "sea god" or '' Ryūjin'' 龍神 "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 '' Ryūgū-jō'' 龍宮城 "dragon palace castle", where he kept the magical tide jewels. * '' Toyotama-hime'' 豊玉姫 "Luminous Pearl Princess" was Ryūjin's daughter. She purportedly was an ancestress of

Emperor Jimmu was the legendary first emperor of Japan according to the '' Nihon Shoki'' and ''Kojiki''. His ascension is traditionally dated as 660 BC.Kelly, Charles F"Kofun Culture"Wani'' 鰐 was a

sea monster Sea monsters are beings from folklore believed to dwell in the sea and often imagined to be of immense size. Marine monsters can take many forms, including sea dragons, sea serpents, or tentacled beasts. They can be slimy and scaly and are ofte ...

that is translated as both "shark" and "crocodile". ''Kuma-wani'' 熊鰐 "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 Chūai and his

Empress Jingū was a legendary Japanese empress who ruled as a regent following her husband's death in 200 AD. Both the ''Kojiki'' and the ''Nihon Shoki'' (collectively known as the ''Kiki'') record events that took place during Jingū's alleged lifetime. Leg ...

. *'' Mizuchi'' 蛟 or 虯 was a river dragon and water deity. The ''Nihongi'' records legendary Emperor Nintoku offering human sacrifices to ''mizuchi'' angered by his

river engineering River engineering is a discipline of civil engineering which studies human intervention in the course, characteristics, or flow of a river with the intention of producing some defined benefit. People have intervened in the natural course and be ...

projects. *'' Raijū'' is Raijin's animal companion and messenger that commonly take form of a dragon. * ''

Kiyohime (or just Kiyo) in Japanese folklore is a character in the story of Anchin and Kiyohime. In this story, she fell in love with a Buddhist monk named Anchin, but after her interest in the monk was rejected, she chased after him and transformed int ...

'' 清姫 "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 is a Japanese yōkai which resembles a reptilian creature with the head of a woman and the body of a snake. They are also seen as a paranormal phenomenon at sea under the name of nureyomejo. In legends, they are often said to consume humans, ...

'' 濡女 "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 Ryūō is a rain-god Japanese dragon, dragon in Japanese mythology. According to Japanese Buddhist tradition, the priest Kūkai made Zennyo Ryūō appear in 824 AD during a famous rainmaking contest at the Kyoto Imperial Palace. Name The dragon name Zen ...

'' 善如龍王 "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 Ryūō "dragon king" of

Lake Biwa is the largest freshwater lake in Japan, located entirely within Shiga Prefecture (west-central Honshu), northeast of the former capital city of Kyoto. Lake Biwa is an ancient lake, over 4 million years old. It is estimated to be the 13th o ...

asks the hero Tawara Tōda 田原藤太 to kill a giant centipede. * ''

Urashima Tarō is the protagonist of a Japanese fairy tale (''otogi banashi''), who in a typical modern version is a fisherman rewarded for rescuing a turtle, and carried on its back to the Dragon Palace ( Ryūgū-jō) beneath the sea. There he is entertai ...

'' rescued a

turtle Turtles are an order of reptiles known as Testudines, characterized by a special shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Cryptodira (hidden necked ...

which took him to Ryūgū-jō and turned into the attractive daughter of the ocean god Ryūjin.

Chinese-Japanese dragons

mythology is central to Japanese dragons. Japanese words for "dragon" are written with ''

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are still used, along with the subse ...

'' ("Chinese characters"), either simplified ''

shinjitai are the simplified forms of kanji used in Japan since the promulgation of the Tōyō Kanji List in 1946. Some of the new forms found in ''shinjitai'' are also found in Simplified Chinese characters, but ''shinjitai'' is generally not as extensi ...

'' 竜 or traditional ''

kyūjitai ''Kyūjitai'' ( ja, 舊字體 / 旧字体, lit=old character forms) are the traditional forms of kanji, Chinese written characters used in Japanese. Their simplified counterparts are '' shinjitai'' ( ja, 新字体, lit=new character forms, la ...

'' 龍 from Chinese ''long'' 龍. These ''kanji'' can be read ''tatsu'' in native Japanese ''

kun'yomi are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are still used, along with the subseq ...

'' and ''ryū'' or ''ryō'' in Sino-Japanese ''

on'yomi are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are still used, along with the subseq ...

''. Many Japanese dragon names are

loanword A loanword (also loan word or loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language. This is in contrast to cognates, which are words in two or more languages that are similar because t ...

s from Chinese. For instance, the Japanese counterparts of the astrological Four Symbols are: *''Seiryū'' < ''Qinglong'' 青龍 " Azure Dragon" *''Suzaku'' < ''Zhuque'' 朱雀 " Vermilion Bird" *''Byakko'' < ''Baihu'' 白虎 " White Tiger" *''Genbu'' < ''Xuanwu'' 玄武 " Black Tortoise" Japanese ''Shiryū'' 四竜 "4 dragon ings are the legendary Chinese ''Longwang'' 龍王 "

Dragon King The Dragon King, also known as the Dragon God, is a Chinese water and weather god. 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'' in Ch ...

s" who rule the four seas. *''Gōkō'' < ''Aoguang'' 敖廣 " Dragon King of the East Sea" *''Gōkin'' < ''Aoqin'' 敖欽 "

Dragon King of the South Sea The Dragon King, also known as the Dragon God, is a Chinese water and weather god. 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'' in ...

" *''Gōjun'' < ''Aorun'' 敖閏 "

Dragon King of the West Sea Ao Run (敖闰) or Ao Ji (敖吉), is the Dragon King of the West Sea (西海龙王, Xīhǎi Lóngwáng) and one of the Dragon Kings of the Four Seas in Chinese religion and Korean mythology. As an important belief in Chinese folk religion, Fo ...

" *''Gōjun'' < ''Aoshun'' 敖順 " Dragon King of the North Sea" Some authors attempted to differentiate Japanese ''ryū'' and Chinese ''long'' dragons by the number of claws on their feet. In 1886, Charles Gould wrote that in Japan, the dragon 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". A common belief in Japan is that the Japanese dragon is native to Japan and is fond of travelling gaining claws as it walked further from Japan; e.g. when it arrived in Korea, it gained 4-claws; and when it finally arrived to China, it gained five-claws. However, contrary to the Japanese belief that the three-clawed dragons also originated from China and was introduced in Japan. The three-clawed dragons were the Chinese dragons used in China in the earlier times and were the principal form of dragons which were used on the robes of the

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 ...

. When the Chinese dragons were introduced in Japan, they still had three claws. Three-clawed dragons were seldom used after the

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 ...

and were later found in four or five claws in China; the three-clawed dragons were briefly revived in the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, the Japanese military named many armaments after Chinese dragons. The '' Kōryū'' 蛟竜 < ''

jiaolong ''Jiaolong'' () or ''jiao'' (''chiao'', ''kiao'') is a dragon in Chinese mythology, often defined as a "scaled dragon"; it is hornless according to certain scholars and said to be aquatic or river-dwelling. It may have referred to a species of ...

'' 蛟龍 "flood dragon" was a

midget submarine A midget submarine (also called a mini submarine) is any submarine under 150 tons, typically operated by a crew of one or two but sometimes up to six or nine, with little or no on-board living accommodation. They normally work with mother ships, ...

and the '' Shinryū'' 神竜 < '' shenlong'' 神龍 "spirit dragon" was a rocket

kamikaze , officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending to ...

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 (龍陵), whose name means "Dragon's Tomb".

Indo-Japanese dragons

When

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 ...

monks from other parts of Asia brought their faith to Japan they transmitted dragon and snake legends from

and

Hindu mythology Hindu mythology is the body of myths and literature attributed to, and espoused by, the adherents of the Hindu religion, found in Hindu texts such as the Vedic literature, epics like ''Mahabharata'' and ''Ramayana'', the Puranas, and r ...

. The most notable examples are the ''nāga'' ナーガ or 龍 "

Nāga The Nagas (IAST: ''nāga''; Devanāgarī: नाग) are a divine, or semi-divine, race of half-human, half-serpent beings that reside in the netherworld (Patala), and can occasionally take human or part-human form, or are so depicted in art. ...

; rain deity; protector of Buddhism" and the ''nāgarāja'' ナーガラージャ or 龍王 ” Nāgarāja; snake king;

dragon king The Dragon King, also known as the Dragon God, is a Chinese water and weather god. 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'' in Ch ...

". de Visser (1913:179) notes that many Japanese

nāga The Nagas (IAST: ''nāga''; Devanāgarī: नाग) are a divine, or semi-divine, race of half-human, half-serpent beings that reside in the netherworld (Patala), and can occasionally take human or part-human form, or are so depicted in art. ...

legends have Chinese features. "This is quite clear, for it was via China that all the

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

n tales came to Japan. Moreover, many originally Japanese dragons, to which Chinese legends were applied, were afterwards identified with

, so that a blending of ideas was the result. Some additional examples of Buddhistic Japanese dragons are: *''Hachidai ryūō'' 八大龍王 "8 great naga kings" assembled to hear the Buddha expound on the ''

Lotus Sutra The ''Lotus Sūtra'' ( zh, 妙法蓮華經; sa, सद्धर्मपुण्डरीकसूत्रम्, translit=Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtram, lit=Sūtra on the White Lotus of the True Dharma, italic=) is one of the most influ ...

'', and are a common artistic motif. *''Mucharinda'' ムチャリンダ " Mucalinda" was the Nāga king who protected the Buddha when he achieved

bodhi The English term enlightenment is the Western translation of various Buddhist terms, most notably bodhi and vimutti. The abstract noun ''bodhi'' (; Sanskrit: बोधि; Pali: ''bodhi''), means the knowledge or wisdom, or awakened intellect, ...

, and is frequently represented as a giant cobra. *

Benzaiten Benzaiten ('' shinjitai'': 弁才天 or 弁財天; '' kyūjitai'': 辯才天, 辨才天, or 辨財天, lit. "goddess of eloquence"), also simply known as Benten (''shinjitai'': 弁天; ''kyūjitai'': 辯天 / 辨天), is a Japanese Buddhist ...

弁才天 is the Japanese name of the goddess

Saraswati Saraswati ( sa, सरस्वती, ) is the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music, art, speech, wisdom, and learning. She is one of the Tridevi, along with the goddesses Lakshmi and Parvati. The earliest known mention of Saraswati as a ...

, who killed a 3-headed Vritra serpent or dragon in the ''

Rigveda The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' ( ', from ' "praise" and ' "knowledge") is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canonical Hindu texts ('' śruti'') known as the Vedas. Only one ...

''. According to the '' Enoshima Engi'', Benzaiten created

Enoshima is a small offshore island, about in circumference, at the mouth of the Katase River which flows into the Sagami Bay of Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Administratively, Enoshima is part of the mainland city of Fujisawa, and is linked to ...

Island in 552 CE in order to thwart a 5-headed dragon that had been harassing people. *

Kuzuryū , or is a kami, deity that appears in folklore and legends of various parts of Japan, including, for example, Hakone (Kanagawa Prefecture, Kanagawa), Nagano Prefecture and Fukui Prefecture. In many cases, the ''Kuzuryū'' is associated with water. ...

九頭龍 "9-headed dragon", deriving from the multi-headed Naga king シェーシャ or 舍沙 "

Shesha Shesha (Sanskrit: शेष; ) , also known as Sheshanaga (Sanskrit: शेषनाग; ) or Adishesha (), is a serpentine demigod ( Naga) and Nagaraja (King of all serpents), as well as a primordial being of creation in Hinduism. In the Pu ...

", is worshipped at Togakushi Shrine in

Nagano Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Nagano Prefecture has a population of 2,052,493 () and has a geographic area of . Nagano Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture to the north, Gunma Prefecture to the n ...

. * Gozuryū 五頭龍 "5-headed dragon" is worshipped at

Ryuko Myojin Shrine Ryuko, Ryūkō or Ryūko is a unisex Japanese name and may refer to: People *, Japanese Neo-Confucian scholar in the Edo period *, Indian-born businessman *, Japanese Shōwa period author *, Brazilian sumo wrestler *, Japanese sumo wrestler *, Jap ...

Kamakura is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Kamakura has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 persons per km² over the total area of . Kamakura was designated as a city on 3 November 1939. Kama ...

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

Shitennō-ji Shitennō-ji ( ja, 四天王寺, ''Temple of the Four Heavenly Kings'') is a Buddhist temple in Ōsaka, Japan. It is also known as Arahaka-ji, Nanba-ji, or Mitsu-ji. The temple is sometimes regarded as the first Buddhist and oldest officially-a ...

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

, Gogen Temple in Hakone, Kanagawa, and the shrine on Mount Haku where the '' Genpei Jōsuiki'' records that a Zen priest saw a 9-headed dragon transform into the goddess Kannon. In the present day, the Lake

Saiko Saiko may refer to: * Saikō, a Japanese era * Saiko (band), a Chilean rock band * Saiko Lake, in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan People * Ema Saikō (1787–1861), Japanese painter, poet and calligrapher * Jean-Philippe Saïko (born 1990), New Caledo ...

Dragon Shrine at

Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi is a city located in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 48,782 in 19,806 households and a population density of 400 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Fujiyoshida lies at the northern ...

has an annual festival and fireworks show. Temple names, like Japanese toponyms, frequently involve dragons. For instance, the

Rinzai The Rinzai school ( ja, , Rinzai-shū, zh, t=臨濟宗, s=临济宗, p=Línjì zōng) is one of three sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism (along with Sōtō and Ōbaku). The Chinese Linji school of Chan was first transmitted to Japan by My ...

sect has

Tenryū-ji , formally known as , is the head temple of the Tenryū-ji branch of the Rinzai sect of Zen Buddhism, located in Susukinobaba-chō, Ukyō Ward, Kyoto, Japan. The temple was founded by Ashikaga Takauji in 1339, primarily to venerate Gautama Buddh ...

天龍寺 "Heavenly Dragon Temple", Ryūtaku-ji 龍沢寺 "Dragon Swamp Temple",

Ryōan-ji Ryōan-ji ( ja, 竜安寺, label= Shinjitai, ja, 龍安寺, label= Kyūjitai, ''The Temple of the Dragon at Peace'') is a Zen temple located in northwest Kyoto, Japan. It belongs to the Myōshin-ji school of the Rinzai branch of Zen Buddhis ...

竜安寺 "Dragon Peace Temple". According to legend, when the Hōkō-ji 法興寺 or Asuka-dera 飛鳥寺 Buddhist temple was dedicated at

Nara The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It ...

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 ''Kinryū-no-Mai'' "Golden Dragon Dance" is an annual Japanese dragon dance performed at Sensō-ji, a Buddhist temple in

Asakusa is a district in Taitō, Tokyo, Japan. It is known as the location of the Sensō-ji, a Buddhist temple dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon. There are several other temples in Asakusa, as well as various festivals, such as the . History T ...

. The dragon dancers twist and turn within the temple grounds and outside on the streets. According to legend, the Sensō 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. 2hoox07jieh31

Images

Image:Kuniteru Gozu dragon.jpg,

slaying the

, by Kuniteru Image:Kunisada II The Dragon.jpg, The Buddha riding a sea-dragon, by Kunisada. File:Miyata Nobukiyo - Dragon Teapot - Walters 571162 - Profile.jpg, Dragon teapot,

Walters Art Museum The Walters Art Museum, located in Mount Vernon-Belvedere, Baltimore, Maryland, United States, is a public art museum founded and opened in 1934. It holds collections established during the mid-19th century. The museum's collection was amassed ...

Dragon shrines

Japanese dragons are mostly associated with

Shinto shrines A is a structure whose main purpose is to house ("enshrine") one or more ''kami'', the deities of the Shinto religion. Overview Structurally, a Shinto shrine typically comprises several buildings. The ''honden''Also called (本殿, meanin ...

as well as some Buddhist temples. Itsukushima Shrine on Miyajima or Itsukushima Island in Japan's Inland Sea was believed to be the abode of the sea-god Ryūjin's daughter. According to the ''

Gukanshō is a historical and literary work about the history of Japan. Seven volumes in length, it was composed by Buddhist priest Jien of the Tendai sect . Political problems arising from the relations between the Imperial government and the ''bakufu ...

'' 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 was a military leader and ''kugyō'' of the late Heian period of Japan. He established the first samurai-dominated administrative government in the history of Japan. Early life Kiyomori was born in Heian-kyō, Japan, in 1118 as the first s ...

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 The was a major sea battle of the Genpei War, occurring at Dan-no-ura, in the Shimonoseki Strait off the southern tip of Honshū. On April 25, 1185 (or March 24, 1185 by the official page of Shimonoseki City), the fleet of the Minamoto clan ( ...

, he lost the imperial

Kusanagi is a legendary Japanese sword and one of three Imperial Regalia of Japan. It was originally called , but its name was later changed to the more popular ("Grass-Cutting Sword"). In folklore, the sword represents the virtue of valor. Legends ...

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. ''Ryūjin shinkō'' 竜神信仰 "dragon god faith" is a form of Shinto religious belief that worships dragons as water ''

kami are the deities, divinities, spirits, phenomena or "holy powers", that are venerated in the Shinto religion. They can be elements of the landscape, forces of nature, or beings and the qualities that these beings express; they can also be the ...

''. It is connected with agricultural rituals, rain prayers, and the success of fisherman.

Dragons in modern Japanese culture

*The

Imperial Japanese Army Air Force The Imperial Japanese Army Air Service (IJAAS) or Imperial Japanese Army Air Force (IJAAF; ja, 大日本帝國陸軍航空部隊, Dainippon Teikoku Rikugun Kōkūbutai, lit=Greater Japan Empire Army Air Corps) was the aviation force of the Im ...

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 The Mitsubishi Ki-67 ''Hiryū'' (飛龍, "Flying Dragon"; Allied reporting name "Peggy") was a twin-engine heavy bomber produced by Mitsubishi Aircraft Company and used by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service and Imperial Japanese Navy Air Se ...

bomber was called ''Hiryu'' (''Flying Dragon'') and the

Nakajima Ki-49 The Nakajima Ki-49 ''Donryu'' (呑龍, "Storm Dragon")Francillon, 1970, p.223 was a twin-engine Japanese World War II heavy bomber. It was designed to carry out daylight bombing missions, without the protection of escort fighters. Consequently, ...

bomber was called ''Donryu'' (''Storm Dragon''). * The

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...

and later the

Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force , abbreviated , also simply known as the Japanese Navy, is the maritime warfare branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, tasked with the naval defense of Japan. The JMSDF was formed following the dissolution of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) ...

named some of their ships after dragons. Notable examples are the

-era aircraft carriers '' Hiryu'' and '' Sōryū'' and the modern submarines of the ''Sōryū'' class. *The dragon is a popular figure in

Yakuza , also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media, by request of the police, call them , while the ''yakuza'' call themselves . The English equivalent for the ter ...

art. * Manda, the kaiju film character appearing in films produced by

Toho is a Japanese film, theatre production and distribution company. It has its headquarters in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Osaka-based Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. Outside of Japan, it is best known as the produc ...

, is depicted as a Japanese 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

*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.

, 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. * .

External links

The Circle of the Dragon

Dragonorama
Ryūjin shinkō
Encyclopedia of Shinto

Steve Renshaw and Saori Ihara

Japanese Architecture & Art Net User System

The Japanese dragon in tattoo art
Dragon Festival for rainmaking in Nio, Japan
HK(video) {{Portal bar, Society, Japan Buddhist folklore Japanese folklore Onmyōdō deities fr:Dragon japonais