115 



their pictures to be like real dragons. Thus there was always 

 rain (i. e. there~D ev er was a drought) Jn_the c ountry ot tH iSukfi". 



In the Supplement of the Boohs of the Han Dynasty ' a 

 description is given of the ceremonies performed when praying 

 for rain; an extensive commentary explains the words.: "The 

 underlings raise the earthen di-agons". In the first place the 

 passage from the Shan hai king, mentioned above, is quoted, 

 and KwoH P'oh's commentary with regard to the earthen dragons 

 of his days. Then follows a long description of rain ceremonies 

 found in the (Mun-tsHu fan lu ^ of Tdng CHUNG-SHtj, the author 

 of the second century B. C. quoted above. 



In this passage the rain ceremonies of spring, summer, the 

 last month of summer, autumn and winter/ are described. The 

 details all agree with the Taoistic system, pointed out by 

 De Groot in his Religious System ', and wu-\^i priests were the 

 performers of the rites. In th e ceremonies of spring, summe r, 

 the last month of su mmer, a.ntumn RiTiilwint'^r a/r^r'lingly the 



eastern, southern (tw ice), western a nd nortEen 



towns and vill ages are mentioned, and the colour§_xt £— the-&ilken 

 banners ofthe altars and thje^jrobes of the ofiiciating^ priests^ 

 were azure,~red, . yjelloW; wbitf* and.^ aQgrT iirtEef, the numbers 

 eight, seven, five, nine and six were usedrwit"h~regard to the 

 square altars erected at the five different ceremonies and to the 

 tanks in which shrimps or frogs were placed, as well as to the 

 days during which the different preparations were made *. 



AR-to- tho cariher ir-dxa gons. me ntioned in this d escript.inn. the 

 days o n which thev were made, t heir sizes, pnlnTirs^ ninnhpTp, 

 th e directions in which the y wer e placed _aad-the sides "" whir^- 

 Ihey stood, as we ll as the colours of the robes of tho'^R whn- 

 "brandished _ and-jereQted "them, and Lfag~numbers and agesof_the., 

 fnrirmr , all a,g reed with~ tEe~same~T"a oigtifi_ aystp.m 



"On kia h an^yih. rIayH ° (in o'pvi'ryg) nno \\\a hhin rlrq.gnn^ l ^^^g. 



1 ^ M #' ^''- ^' p- ''^ ^ Jft ± ti 



3 Vol. I, p. 317; Vol. IV, p. 26. 



4 Prayers took place on a day of the Water (t(J^ P ); it was forbidden to cut 

 down famous trees or trees of the wood ; the sacrifices consisted of cocks and pigs, 

 three years old; further, the people roasted pig tails, buried human bones, opened 

 mountain pools, burned firewood, etc., "iw order to open Yin {the water) and close 

 Yang (the sun)" ( @i 1^ ^ |^ , p. 46); for the same reason men were forbidden 

 to visit markets. 



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