208 



day of every month there appeared from the northeastern sea 

 a dragon-lantern, which flew to this tree; and in the night of 

 the sixteenth day of the first, fifth and ninth months another 

 light, called the "Heavenly Lantern" {Tento, ^ )l^) descended 

 from the sky. Also a third light, the so-called "Ise no go id'\ 

 or "August Light of Ise", which is mentioned in the TuM meislio 

 ryaku^ (1697), where it is said to be named ShinW (jpf j)^, the 

 "Sacred Light") and to be made by the divinity of the Daijingti 

 at Ise (Amaterasu), was visible on this spot. The image of the 

 Bodhisattva ManjuQrl (Monju Bosatsu), which was worshipped 

 there, was said to be of Indian origin and to have come out 

 of the sea. 



The same temple is referred to in the Kii zodanshu ^, where 

 we read the following particulars concerning the light: — "It 

 comes from a deep spot in the sea, two cho from the "Broken 

 Door" (Kire-to) of Hash i date, where the Gate of the Dragon- 

 palace is said to be. When the weather is fine and wind and 

 waves are calm, it goes from Kire-to to the Monju shrine. Unbe- 

 lieving people cannot see it, or, if they see it, they think it to be 

 the light of some fisherman. It stops on the top of a high pine tree 

 which stands about 20 ken south of the Monjudo. After half an hour 

 or shorter it is extinguished. From time to time a little boy is 

 seen on the top of the tree, carrying the lamp which is called 

 Tendo, ^ j^, "Heavenly Lantern" (this word may also be written 

 3^ ^ , Tendo, "Heavenly boy"). Formerly this boy (an angel) 

 often appeared, but now rarely". 



The Nihon shuJcyd fuzoku shi^ (1902) mentions an old "Dragon- 

 lantern pine tree" which still stands near a Shinto temple called 

 Uhara jinja (^ j^ ff jjtt), in Karida village, Kyoto district, 

 Buzen province. There Toyotama-bime, the Sea-god's daughter, 

 in the shape of a dragon gave birth to a son*, and at the same 

 time a light (a dragon-lantern) came flying from the sea and 

 hung in the same pinetree ^. 



1 Ch. XIII, p. 18. About this work see above, p. 170, note 4. 



2 -^ ^^ ^fi| sjj^ ^M , "Collection of all kinds of strange tales", written by "the 

 son of Nakamura, Lord of Buzen", in the Tembun era (1532 — 1554) (cf. Matsunoya 

 hikki, Ch. Ill, p. 4, and the work itself, Oh. II, p- 15, where the author states that 

 his father, Nakamura, Lord of Buzen, lived in the Buraraei era (1469 — 1486). 



3 P. 436. 4 Cf. above. Book II, Ch. I, § 5, p. 139. 



5 Cf. the Buzen kokushi, -^ ■jram ^ ^, written in 1865 by Takada Yoshichika, 

 j^ 05 ■^ j5^ , who does not call the light a dragon-lantern, but states that it 

 appeared even in his days. 



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