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Chinese dragon mythology is the source of Japanese dragon mythology. Japanese words for "dragon" are written with kanji ("Chinese characters"), either simplified shinjitai 竜 or traditional kyūjitai 龍 from Chinese long 龍. These kanji can be read tatsu in native Japanese kun'yomi, [b] and ryū or ryō in Sino-Japanese on'yomi. [c] Many ...
Ryūjin shinkō (竜神信仰, "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 fishermen. The god has shrines across Japan and especially in rural areas where fishing and rains for agriculture are important for local ...
Mizuchi is also the Japanese transliteration for several Chinese glyphs, [3] each glyph putatively representing a type of Chinese dragon: namely the jiāolóng (蛟竜; Japanese: kōryū) or "4-legged dragon", the qiúlóng (虬竜 or 虯竜; Japanese: kyūryū) or "hornless dragon" and the chīlóng (螭竜; Japanese: chiryū) or "yellow dragon".
The name Kuraokami combines kura 闇 "dark; darkness; closed" and okami 龗 "dragon tutelary of water". This uncommon kanji (o)kami or rei 龗, borrowed from the Chinese character ling 龗 "rain-dragon; mysterious" (written with the "rain" radical 雨, 3 口 "mouths", and a phonetic of long 龍 "dragon") is a variant Chinese character for Japanese rei < Chinese ling 靈 "rain-prayer ...
A nine-headed dragon deity sometimes associated with water. Kyōkotsu A skeletal figure that emerges from a well where someone died a violent death. Kyonshii The Japanese version of the Chinese hopping vampire, known as jiāngshī. Kyōrinrin Scrolls or papers that have come to life as a tsukumogami. Kyubi Another name for kitsune.
For instance, "Erlkönig", by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, widely translated as "Elf King" in English, was translated as "maō" in Japanese. The term daimaō or daimaou (大魔王 – great demon king) is sometimes used to describe a very high-ranking or powerful maō. [2] An example is Piccolo Daimaō, a villain from the Dragon Ball manga.
The earliest written sources of Old Japanese transcribe the name of the sea god in a diverse manner. The c. 712 CE Kojiki (tr. Basil Hall Chamberlain 1883) writes it semantically as 海 神 lit. "sea god" and transcribes it phonetically with man'yōgana as Wata-tsu-mi, 綿 津 見, lit. "cotton port see" in identifying Ōwatsumi kami and the Watatsumi Sanjin.
Two other Japanese examples derive from Buddhist importations of Indian dragon myths. Benzaiten, the Japanese form of Saraswati, supposedly killed a five-headed dragon at Enoshima in 552. Kuzuryū (九頭龍, "nine-headed dragon"), deriving from the nagarajas (snake-kings) Vasuki and Shesha, is worshipped at Togakushi Shrine in Nagano Prefecture.