The Dragon in China and Japan

Copertina anteriore
Cosimo, Inc., 1 dic 2008 - 258 pagine
Little is known of Dutch author MARINUS WILLEM DE VISSER (1876-1930) beyond his academic life as a classicist with an interest in Chinese and Japanese language and culture, and as a popularizer of Japanese art in the Netherlands. He is best remembered today for having given us a cornerstone examination of the legends of fantastic flying reptiles known as dragons. The Dragon in China and Japan contains "the most interesting quotations concerning the dragon in China, systematically arranged, selected from the enormous number of passages on this fantastic animal in Chinese literature, from the remotest eras down to modern times," notes cryptozoologist Loren Coleman in his new introduction. Coleman also praises the book's use of primary source material. "If cryptozoologists are to study the Asian dragons of India, China, and Japan, it must not be done through the screen of today's New Age mentality. Scholarly, level-headed examinations of living, breathing reports of serpentine flying beasts, water-borne megafauna, and shadowy entities must be balanced with investigations of the legends and folktales of these dragons from Asian texts," such as de Visser's here. This new edition, a replica of the 1913 first edition complete with extensive notes in the original Asian alphabet, is part of Cosimo's Loren Coleman Presents series. LOREN COLEMAN is author of numerous books of cryptozoology, including Bigfoot!: The True Story of Apes in America and Mothman and Other Curious Encounters.
 

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Sommario

INTRODUCTION
xiii
Iago
18
The Naga as a giver of rain
21
Page
29
BOOK I
35
Lucky omens
43
Bad omens
45
B Dead dragons
49
CHAPTER III
152
Horses offered to Shinto gods
156
Buddhism wins field
158
The Sacred Spring Park
159
The Dragonhole on Mount Murobu 168
168
Reborn as a raingiving dragon
170
Buddhist priests dominating the dragons
171
Dragonwomen in ponds
172

Dragons appearing at wrong times
50
Dragons appearing in wrong places
54
Dragonhorses
59
CHAPTER III
62
Nature of the dragons
63
What dragons like and dislike
67
Shape of the dragons
70
Male and female dragons
71
Different kinds of dragons
72
Kiao lung f
76
Rearing and taming dragons
82
Dragons ridden by sien or drawing the cars of gods and holy men
83
Dragontailroad and other words connected with the dragon
85
Dragongate
86
Dragons dens
87
Dragons pearls
88
Dragons bones skins teeth horns brains livers placentae and foetus used as medicines
90
Dragons blood fat and saliva
96
CHAPTER IV
99
Nine different kinds of dragons used as ornaments
101
Ornaments used by Wuist priests aud mediums
102
The dragons and the ball
103
CHAPTER V
109
Violent rains accompanied by heavy winds and thunderstorms
111
Rain magic and prayers
113
Buddhist rain ceremonies
121
Hwang Ti rode on a dragon
122
Appearing as snakes dogs or rats
129
BOOK II
135
Mizuchi the rivergods
137
OJtowatatsumi the seagod
139
The jewels of flood and ebb
142
Tukciwa Tatsu no Mikoto the dragongod of a sacred pond in lligo province
143
An Emperors dragontail
145
CHAPTER II
146
Dragonhorses
147
Carriage of a ghost drawn through the air by eight dragons
150
Stirring up the dragons by throwing iron or filth into their ponds
174
A dragon engraved on an incense pot believed to cause rain Pine trees cause clouds to rise and rain to fall
175
The eight Dragonkings
176
A Buddhist dragons suicide
177
CHAPTER IV
179
Dragons appear at the dedication of Buddhist temples
180
Dragons living in ponds or lakes mostly near Buddhist shrines
181
Reborn as dragons
184
Dragonkings of the sea check the course of vessels in order to obtain special Buddhist treasures as offerings
187
The jewel which grants all desires cintamani
189
The Dragongods of the inner and outer seas
190
Dragonpalaces
191
Dragons connected with Buddhist priests
193
Eight dragons ridden through the sky by a Buddhist deity
194
Relics of dragons preserved in Buddhist temples
195
The Dragonflowermeeting
196
CHAPTER V
197
The Thundergod caught by Sukaru and identified with a Dragonking
199
Watatsumi no kami the Seagod identified with a Dragonking
201
The dragonhole in the don shrine
202
The Heavenly Dragons Well at the Suwa shrine
203
Kurikara Myoo the dragonshaped mountaingod
204
CHAPTER VI
205
Kobo Daishis spirit
206
Jigen Daishis spirit
207
Tidestones connected with dragonlanterns
209
The Mountainlight and the Dragonlantern of Gammokuzan in Etchu province
210
Tomyodake Kumano CJongen at Nogami Kwomyoji at Kama kura and Zenkwoji at Nagano
211
The lights of Ushijima Ishidozan and Kurikara
212
Ignes fatui in general The dragonlantern is the only one which arises from the sea and flies to the mountains
213
CHAPTER VII
215
Dragons born from beautiful stones picked up in the mountains
216
Thunderstones
219
Dragons which ascended to heaven
220
The Chinese and Indian dragons ryu or ryo
227
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