167 



thought his dream very strange, but, as he had promised to go 

 to Saionji's house, he decided to keep his word. On his way 

 -thither, however, he went to the park and prayed to the 

 Dragon-god. And lo ! all of a sudden the water of the pond was 

 disturbed, and the waves violently struck the bank, although 

 there was no wind. This agreed so strikingly with his dream, 

 that he did not proceed on his way, but meditated as to what 

 to do, whereupon Kimishige Chunagon came to warn his Imperial 

 Master against Saionji's treacherous intentions, about which he 

 had heard that very morning. So Godaigo returned to the Palace, 

 and Saionji was banished to Jzumo, which he never reached 

 because he was killed on the road. 



The Kimpisho^ states the following: ''In 1211 the OnyosM 

 (|^ ^ ^(P, Court diviners) held the festival called Goryusai (^ 



hI^)* ^^® 'Five Dragons Festival', also named 'Amagoi no 

 matsurV (^^), or 'Rain-praying festival". For three days the 

 onyoshi fasted and kept indoors (i. e. in a temple within the 

 park); the Emperor, however, [did not share the festival, for he] 

 ate fish and offered no clothes or mirrors. Sutras read in the 

 '■Dragon-hole' (ali^j Ryu-hetsu) were also very successful, or 

 those read in the Sacred Spring Park, or offerings made to Suiten 

 (y?K ^' 'Water-Deva', explained by the commentator as 'Tembu 

 no kami', 'God of the Heavenly Department'), when several 

 persons read these sutras or made these offerings". 



As to the "Five Dragons Festival"^, we read in the Fuso 

 ryahki ^ that this was celebrated in 904, on the eighth day of 

 the seventh month, when a heavy drought prevailed. The Emperor 

 then ordered the Onyoryo (the Department of Divination) to 

 celebrate this festival in Kitayama, a mountain near Kyoto, at a 

 place called Junigwatsu kokko. As no Buddhist priests, but the 

 onyoshi were the leaders of this ceremony, it was apparently 

 not practised in honour of Nagas but of Chinese dragons. 



The author of the Taiheiki^ complains that at his time (about 

 1382) the park was in a deplorable condition on account of the 

 war, and he supposes that this must be very disagreeable for 

 the Dragon-god, who perhaps had left the place because there 



1 L.I., Ch. ~^, p. 1072. 



2 Of. above, p. 162, note 1. 



3 Ch. XXIII, K.T.K. Vol. VI, p. 669: ^ ^ ;fC iHo 'O^ W P# 



4 Gh. XII, p. 13a. 



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