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Longma (; lit. "dragon horse") was a fabled winged horse with dragon scales in Chinese mythology. Seeing a ''longma'' was an omen of a legendary sage-ruler, particularly one of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors. ==Name== The Chinese word ''longma'' combines ''long'' 龍 "dragon" and ''ma'' 馬 "horse". Compare ''hema'' 河馬 (lit. "river horse") "hippopotamus" and ''haima'' 海馬 ("sea horse") "seahorse". In addition to naming the mythic creature, ''longma'' 龍馬 "dragon horse" can mean "an eminent person" and occurs in the four-character idiom ''longma jingshen'' 龍馬精神 "vigorous spirit in old age". ''Longma'' interconnects traditional Chinese beliefs about dragons and horses. An early example comes from the ''Zhouli'' "Rites of Zhou" (夏官司馬), which differentiates names for horses of different heights, measured in the ''chi'' 尺 "Chinese foot" (historically around 23-33 centimeters, see Chinese units of measurement). Horses up to 8 feet tall are called ''long'' 龍 "dragon", those up to 7 feet are called ''lai'' 騋, and those up to 6 feet are called ''ma'' 馬 "horse". The Han Dynasty scholar Wang Fu (tr. Visser 1913:70) says, "The people paint the dragon's shape with a horse's head and a snake's tail." Edward H. Schafer describes the horse's "tremendous importance" to Tang Dynasty rulers for military tactics, diplomatic policy, and aristocratic privilege. Still, this patrician animal owed his unique status to more than his usefulness to the lords of the land. He was invested with sanctity by ancient tradition, endowed with prodigious qualities, and visibly stamped with the marks of his divine origin. A revered myth proclaimed him a relative of the dragon, akin to the mysterious powers of water. Indeed, all wonderful horses, such as the steed of the pious Hsüan-tsang which, in later legend, carried the sacred scriptures from India, were avatars of dragons, and in antiquity the tallest horse owned by the Chinese were called simply "dragons". (1963:59) This "steed" refers to Xuanzang's famous ''bailongma'' 白龍馬 "white dragon horse". The Japanese loanword ''ryūma'' or ''ryōma'' 龍馬 (simplified 竜馬) has several meanings. ''Ryūma'' refers to the legendary Chinese "dragon horse" and the name of a chess piece in shogi (translated "promoted bishop", also pronounced ''ryūme''). ''Ryōma'' is commonly used as a Japanese name, for instance Sakamoto Ryōma. See Visser (1913:147-9) for details about the dragon-horse in Japan. 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「longma」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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