104 



stroke so that it looks like a spiral which at the same time 

 represents the rolling of thunder". ' 



This theory agrees withHiRTH's explanation of the "Triquetrum" 

 in connection with the dragon in Chinese and Japanese orna- 

 ments ^ HiRTH identifies the "Triquetrum", i.e. the well-known 

 three-comma-shaped figure, the Japanese mitsu-tomoe, with the 

 ancient spiral, representing thunder, and gives a Japanese picture 

 of the thundergod with his drums, all emitting flames and adorned 

 with the mitsu-iimoe. But this ornament is not at all limited to 

 the drums of the thundergod''; it is, on the contrary, very 

 frequently seen even on the drums beaten by children at the Nichiren 

 festival in October. At many Japanese temple festivals which have 

 no connection whatever with the thundergod or the dragon, the 

 same ornament is seen on lanterns and flags. Hirth explains its 

 frequent appearance on tiles as a means of warding off lightning, 

 based on the rule "similia similibus". This is contrary to the use of 

 "sympathetic magic", very common in the Far East*, according 

 to which the symbol of thunder would not avert thunder but 

 attract it, thus destroying and driving away evil influences. 

 Apparently both ideas are found side by side, for images of 

 dragons were used to attract them, thus causing rain and thunder, 

 but at the same time the thundergod of Mount Atago (with 

 whom Shogun. Jizo was identified as Atago Gongen) was wor- 

 shipped as the principal protector against fire. But the symbol 

 of thunder on the tiles may also serve to drive away all evil 

 influences from the buildings, like the dragons represented on 

 both ends of the ridgepoles, mentioned above (p. 101). 



Hirth gives a picture from a Japanese work on ornaments, 

 entitled Nairyu Tcira ga osa, but the ancient Chinese "Triquetrums", 

 nrs 23, 25, 26, 27, are different from the Japanese forms, as the 

 former have a circle in the centre and five or eight comma's, 

 all placed separately, and turned towards the centre (except in 

 nr 28, where they issue from the centre), while the latter consist 

 of two or three black comma's interlaced with white and often 

 united in the centre. Yet the turning motion is evident in all, 



■1 L.I., p. 1040. 



2- Chinesische Studien, Vol. I, pp. 231 sqq. (Verhandlungen der Berl. Anthi'. Ges,, 

 Sitzung vom 22 Juni 1889), "Ueber den Maander iind das Triquetrum in der chinesischen 

 und japanischen Ornamentik". 



3 It is not represented on his drums in the picture of the Wakan sansai zue, Ch, 

 III, p. 41. 



4 Cf. below. Book I, Ch. V, § 3, and Book II, Ch. Ill, § 10, 



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