204 



in Totomi province, a big dragon's head was preserved in a 

 Buddhist tempk called Zuda-dera ( ^ jX^ ^ ). It was taken to 

 Yedo and there shown to the people. The river's name was said 

 to have originated from the presence of this dragon '. 



§ 8. Kurikara Myo-o, the dragon-shaped mountain- god. 



Another Shinto shrine, the temple of Kurikara Mye-o, -^ ^ 

 ^ ^ ^ ^ , is dedicated to a dragon-shaped mountain-god, who 

 is said to live in a waterfall on Mount Oyama in Sagami province. 

 As the Nilion sliukyo fuzoku shi^ (1902) tells us, in olden times 

 the Buddhist priest Ryoben was preaching there one day, when 

 a violent thunderstorm suddenly arose and the water in the 

 hollow, excavated by the cataract, was heavily disturbed. A huge 

 dragon came forth from it and said to the priest: "I am the 

 guardian-god of this mountain. After having heard your sermon, 

 I wish to serve Buddha". Then Eyoben worshipped the dragon, 

 and afterwards as little Shinto shrine was built on the spot and 

 dedicated to the dragon, which was called by the Buddhist name 

 "Kurikara Myo-o", "Kurikara, the Light-King" (i. e. Vidya-raja, 

 the word Light being used in the sense of (mystic) Knowledge, 

 Vidya). 



This was apparently an original Japanese dragon-shaped moun- 

 tain-god, who was identified by the Buddhists with Fudo Myo-o's 

 dragon-shape ; the Shinto shrine, however, remained his sanctuary. 

 Kurikara is, as we read in Midra's Bukkyo irolia jiten ', Fudo 

 Myo-o's "Samaya" (^ ^ !^P ) shape, a black dragon coiled 

 around a sword. 



1 Shiojiri, Gh. II, p. 11. 2 P. 214. 



3 Vol. Ill, p. 57, s.v. Kurikara; cf. below, Ch. VI, § 10. 



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