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the deity's thundier rolled and his eyes flashed. The Emperor 

 was frightened, covered his eyes and did not look upon the god, 

 but hid himself in the interior of the Palace and ordered the 

 snake to be released on the hill. For this reason the Emperor 

 altered the deity's name into 'Ikazuchi' ('Thunderbolt')". 



As to the Ryo-i-ki^, this gives the same details as the Gempei 

 seisuiki, which apparently borrowed the legend from it. Instead 

 of "Dragon-king", or *Dragon-god", however, the ancient work 

 simply calls the deity "Thunder-god" (H" jjj^), which shows that 

 the identification of this divinity with a Dragon-king dates from 

 later times. The author of the Gempei seisuiki, translating the 

 old text into modern Japanese, followed the ideas of his age, 

 and, changing the word "Thunder-god", which he once retained, 

 the two other times into "Dragon-king" and "Dragon-god", he 

 added the words: "erected his scales and dilated his eyes". The 

 fact that the Nihongi spoke of a ^erpenif-shaped mountain god 

 made the identification with a dragon quite logical. The author 

 of the Gempei seisuiki omitted the last part of the legend, which 

 in the Ryo-i-ki runs as follows: "Afterwards, when Sukaru had 

 died, the Emperor by decree ordered to delay the funeral for 

 seven days and seven nights. He praised his loyalty and had his 

 tomb made on the same spot where the Thunder had fallen 

 down. Over the grave he erected a stone monument with the 

 following inscription : 'This is the Thunder-catcher Sukaru 's tomb'. 

 The Thunder, angry at this insult, came down with a loud roar 

 and trampled upon the stone monument, but while he was 

 smashing it, he was seized (by Sukaru's ghost). When the Emperor 

 heard this, he released the Thunder, who was not dead, but, 

 being quite perplexed, remained there for seven days and seven 

 nights. The Emperor ordered another stone monument to be 

 erected with the following inscription: 'This is the tomb of 

 Sukaru, who in life-time and after death caught the Thunder'. 

 This is the reason why at the time of the old capital (i. e. Suiko 

 Tenno's capital, Owarida no miya, /Jn yjo K '§' ; the Empress 

 Suiko reigned 593—628) this spot was called 'Thunder-hill'". 



§ 3. Watatsumi no kami, the Sea-god, identified with a Dragon-king. 



A similar alteration of an old text by the author of the Gempei 

 seisuiki is to be found in the legend about Prince Taraato-dake, 



1 ^ S ^F ' written by the Buddhist priest Keieai about 750- A. D. Ch. I, 



23BX ^^tT Mw 



Gunsho ruifu, nr 447, Vol. XVI, p. 23, 



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