Shell-Trumpets and thetr Distribucion. 63 
On plate 140 in the same work Picart gives a repre- 
sentation of the supreme Deity who, according to the 
Japanese, created the world. The picture (/7zg. 4, plate 
facing p. 62), taken from a group at Myiaca, clearly 
illustrates the second incarnation of Vzshknz, viz., Kurita, 
the. tortoise. As described by Picart, the Creator of 
the Universe, who is black and wears a pointed crown, 
is seated upon the top of a large tree trunk, which is fixed 
on the back of a tortoise, as in the Indian picture. He 
has four arms and hands, with a ring in one, a sceptre in 
another, a flower in a third, and in the fourth a vessel or 
little fountain of water. A serpent is coiled twice round 
the trunk. Two demons, one with the head of a dog, the 
other with the horns of a stag, are holding the serpent 
near the head, while the tail portion is held by two Kings 
of Japan, one of whom has four faces, like Brahma, and a 
Sin, or demi-god. From the water, on which the tortoise 
seems to lie, appears a Sun half risen, in the form of a 
bearded man crowned with rays. With his right hand he 
seems to goad the tortoise forwards, and holds divers 
goads in his left. 
The identity of this conception with that of India is 
patent ; but it is of interest in comparison with the Maya 
design because the elephant-headed god (Chac) of the 
latter corresponds to the stag-headed dragon in Japan.” 
One point of peculiar interest is the association of 
the Sun, which, as we have seen, is one of the chief objects 
of importance in the Maya picture. 
How and when these distinctly Indian ideas reached 
Japan is not easy todefine. They may have reached there 
with Buddhism, which, it is stated," entered that country 
118 G, Elliot Smith, ‘‘ Dragons and Rain Gods,” to be published in 
the Bulletin of the fohn Rylands Library. 
114 Rein, of. cit., pp. 219 & 448. 
