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Japanese dragons (日本の竜 ''Nihon no ryū'') are diverse legendary creatures in Japanese mythology and folklore. Japanese dragon myths amalgamate native legends with imported stories about dragons from China, Korea and India. The style of the dragon was heavily influenced by the Chinese dragon. Like these other Asian dragons, most Japanese ones are water deities associated with rainfall and bodies of water, and are typically depicted as large, wingless, serpentine creatures with clawed feet. The modern Japanese language has numerous "dragon" words, including indigenous ''tatsu'' from Old Japanese ''ta-tu'', Sino-Japanese ''ryū'' or ''ryō'' 竜 from Chinese ''lóng'' 龍, ''nāga'' ナーガ from Sanskrit ''nāga'', and ''doragon'' ドラゴン from English "dragon" (the latter being used almost exclusively to refer to the European dragon and derived fictional creatures). ==Indigenous Japanese dragons== The ca. 680 AD ''Kojiki'' and the ca. 720 AD ''Nihongi'' mytho-histories have the first Japanese textual references to dragons. "In the oldest annals the dragons are mentioned in various ways," explains de Visser (1913:135), "but mostly as water-gods, serpent- or dragon-shaped." The ''Kojiki'' and ''Nihongi'' mention several ancient dragons: *''Yamata no Orochi'' 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, who discovered the ''Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi'' (legendary sword of the Imperial Regalia of Japan) 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, Japan's legendary first emperor. *''Wani'' 鰐 was a sea monster 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. *''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 projects. These myths about Emperor Jimmu descending from Toyatama-hime evidence the folklore that Japanese Emperors are descendants of dragons. Compare the ancient Chinese tradition of dragons symbolizing the Emperor of China. Dragons in later Japanese folklore were influenced by Chinese and Indian myths. *''Kiyohime'' 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'' 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'' 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 asks the hero Tawara Tōda 田原藤太 to kill a giant centipede. *Urashima Tarō rescued a turtle which took him to Ryūgū-jō and turned into the attractive daughter of the ocean god Ryūjin. *Inari, the god of fertility and agriculture, was sometimes depicted as a dragon or snake instead of a fox. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Japanese dragon」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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