172 



out that the rock was the cause of their death, and since that 

 time it was called the "Poisonous-Dragon-rock" '. Nobody; would 

 live there any more, and Saito and Senju-in became quite 

 deserted and fell to ruins. Then Jokwan went to the place and 

 prayed for seven days and nights before the rock. In the last 

 night the sky became cloudy and there was a terrible movement 

 in the air, while Hieizan was covered with clouds. After a while, 

 however, it cleared up, and behold! the rock had disappeared 

 and only some rubbish was left. Thenceforth it was safe to live 

 in Saito, and Jokwau's name was kept in grateful memory and 

 admiration by the monks of the mountain still in the author's 

 days. Apparently the poisonous dragon had left the place in 

 consequence of the prayers which were also in times of drought 

 so powerful in stirring up the dragons and the clouds ^. 



According to the Euso ryakki^, on the 21th day of the second 

 month of 1065 the priests of Hieizan assembled in the Kamo 

 temple at Kyoto, where they prayed for rain and recited the 

 M-o sutra. Then a little snake appeared and spit out some 

 vapour before the sanctuary, whereupon a little rain fell down. 



The Gempei seisuiki * relates that in 1 1 74 such a heavy drought 

 prevailed that the rivers dried up and the fields could not be 

 cultivated. Then a priest of Hieizan, Choken ^ by name, who 

 had the rank of Gronshosozu ", in order to assist the peasants 

 wrote a letter to the Dragon-gods and read it aloud, looking up 

 to the sky. In this letter he reproved and instructed the dragons, 

 at the same time imploring them to make it rain. Heavenly 

 men (gods) and dragon-gods, he wrote, ought not to be ashamed 

 to remedy a wrong they had done, and therefore they, the 

 dragons, had to cause a "sweet rain" ("y"^) to fall and to 

 put a stop to this terrible drought. The dragons listened to 

 these words and gave continuous rains, so that both Emperor 

 and people were filled with admiration for Choken's power and 

 with devotion for Buddha's Law. 



§ 8. Dragon-women in ponds- 

 The Sanshu kidan ' contains the following legends. In the 



1 Dokuryu no iwa, ^ ^U ^ ^^ . 2 V^i shui monogatari, 1. 1. 



3 Ch. XXIX, K.T.K. Vol. VI, p. 807. 4 Ch. Ill, Teikoku Bunko, Vol. V, 69. 



^ ?^ M ■ ® 1^ ^ f§^ ^ ' "Vice-bishop". 



7 =^. #1 ^ 1^ , written in 1764 by Hotta Bakusui, i^_ FH 3§? •^; Ch. I, 



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