187 



equinoctial day), at the same time making an oflferiug to him 

 consisting of a bucket of hard boiled rice {kowameshi, ^MlK' 

 i.e. seMhan, ^^, "red rice", rice boiled with red beans), which 

 they cause to float on the water. If they afterwards find the 

 biicket empty, this is a sign that the dragon has eaten the rice, 

 accepting the offering and hearing the prayer, but if the rice is 

 still in the bucket, the prayer will not be fulfilled. This dragon 

 is the reincarnation of the Buddhist priest Grenko, vM M' ^ Tendai 

 priest of Hieizan, teacher of Honen shonin, ^^, who lived 

 1132 — 1212. Genko wished to become a dragon, because his life 

 was too short to obtain a sufficient knowledge of Buddha's 

 doctrine. One day he heard from one of his disciples that the 

 above mentioned pond was an excellent place for a dragon to 

 live in. Then he sat down in religious meditation (samadhi), put 

 one drop of water in his hand, by means of which he made 

 clouds and rain, and flew through the air to the pond. There 

 he died in meditation, and when his disciple came and called 

 him, an enormous dragon appeared above the water and wept. 

 At the pupil's request he assumed his former human shape and 

 talked with him for a long time. 



We may make mention here of an old legend, to be found in 

 the Gukwansho ', which told that Inoue no Naishinno, the Imperial 

 Princess Inoue, daughter of the Emperor Shomu and Consort of 

 the Emperor Konin, had become a dragon even before her death. 

 She was accused of having practised wu-hu, /£ ^ , a Chinese 

 magic art exercised by means of small reptiles and insects ^, in 

 order to have her son made Crowmprince. For this reason she 

 was imprisoned in a hole in 772 by order of the Prime Minister 

 Fujiwara no Momokawa, and three years later both she and her 

 son died. According to popular tradition, however, she had turned 

 into a dragon even before her death. 



§ 5. Dragon-kings of the sea check the course of vessels in order 

 to obtain special Buddhist treasures as oflferings- 



The Fuso ryakki^ (1150) relates the following legend concerning 

 the abbot Dosho (^flS)' "^^o ^^^^^ to China in 651 and, 



\ ffl ^^' proljably written by Bishop Ji-EN, |^ jj] , who died in 1225; 



K. T. k!* Vol. XIV, Ch. VII, p. 597. 



2 Cf. De Groot, Religious System of China, Vol. V, Ch. II, pp. 826 seqq. 



3 Ch. IV, K. T. K. Vol. VI, p. 514. 



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