Ill 



(the Icoh) see clouds arise, they raise their heads and disperse 

 them (the clouds) in all directions by blowing, the sun thus 

 increasing in intensity. No man can conquer them. Some say, 

 that when it is Heaven's will that there shall be a drought, the 

 vapours of the becks (|1( jll :^ ^) condense and become these 

 demons. When the latter suddenly vanish, it will rain". 



The term "Rain- master" {yii-shi, pjf gf|j) for dragon is also 

 mentioned by Wu Shoh '. The Japanese applied it especially to 

 one of their dragon-shaped river gods, most famous for his rain 

 bestowing power ^ 



A scen ding drag -o no cauoo rai a ^at if they descend from the 

 sky this ia nnt_alw ays the case. According to the "Various divi- 

 nations of farmers ^, yyhen black dragons" "descend this means 

 drought or at least not much ra in, hence a proverb says: „Many 

 dragons much drought". The descending of white dragons, however, 



yyas explained to be a sure sign of comin g rain, 



§ 2, Violent rains accompanied by heavy winds 

 and thunderstorms- 



In a passage from the History of the Sung dynasty, mentioned 

 above* with regard to the dragon omens, the appearance of a 

 black drago n above the capital yyas said to be a n nmp.n mf big — 

 floods winch in the next year destroyed the fields and houses in 

 ^4 pr efectures . ~1^ e aiso read -there that a dragon,' •wfartdrTS'TEe" 

 fourth month of the sixth year of the. K'ai Pao era (973) rose_ 

 from a well, caused violent rains to de stroy a large number of 

 hrrngps a.nfl trpps and sweep— aBay_ ihe in"MWtgmt 57"And"ln~the 

 sTvt. h mQiijJ3_of the next year, w hen the tower _of a castle _gate 

 waiS__struck b y lightning, th is accident is described as follows: 

 "In Ti cheu there fell a tire from the air upon theTower of 

 the Northern gate of the castle. There was a creature which 

 embraced the eastern pillar. It had the shape of a dragon and 



1 ^. j^ (A. D. 947 — 1002), a^amous scholar, .placed upon the commissions which 

 produced the T^ai-pHng yii Ian and the Wen yuen ying hwa, and author of the Shi 

 Ui fu, ^ 3|g ^ (Giles, Biogr. Bid., nr 2345); Limg-fu, f | ^ , T. S., same 



section, Ch. 127, p. 11a. 



2 See below, Book II, Ch. III. 



3 FB ^ ^ t^ ' ^''^'^ ^"* **"'* ''^^'^' ^- ^•' ^^""^ section, Ch. 130, p. 66. 



4 Ch. i ff ^ , see above, p. 54. 



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