210 



Kawakami by means of the jewels of low and high tide, taken 

 from Sagara, the Dragon-king '. 



§ 6. The Mountain-light and the Dragon-lantern of Gammokuzan 

 in Etchu province- 



The ToyuM kohen ^ states the following about a temple of the 

 Zen sect in Niikawa district^ Etchu province, called Gammokuzan 

 ( B^ @ |JL| ) or Sakkwazan. When this shrine was opened by its 

 founder, the priest Daitetsu, a pupil of Dogen (^tCj Shoyo 

 Daishi, 1200-^1253), the Mountain-god and a Dragon-god assisted 

 and performed all kinds of miracles. Still in the author's time 

 (second half of the eighteenth century) yearly on the 13th day 

 of the 7th month (probably the date of the opening of the 

 shrine) two lights appeared on the top of a pine tree in the 

 temple garden. One of these lights (that of the Mountain-god) 

 came flying from the summit of Mount Tateyama, the other 

 (that of the Dragon-god) rose up from the sea, and both stopped 

 on the pine tree. They were called the Mountain-light and the 

 Dragon-lantern {Santo, Ryuto), and were seen every year by, the 

 people of the neighbourhood. "Although", says Tachibana Nankei, 

 "there are many cases of dragon-lanterns coming out of the sea, 

 they rarely appear simultaneously and on the same pine tree 

 with a mountain-light, as is the case at this temple". 



§ 7. Kwannon's dragon-lantern at Byukoji. 



On Itozaki yama, in Echizen province, Hannan (the present 

 Sakai) district, there is a Buddhist temple called Ryuhoji (^ 

 J^^, "Dragon's rise-temple"), which was built by a Chinese 

 priest who came from China on the back of an enormous tortoise, 

 carrying a precious Kwannon image. When approaching the coast 

 the tortoise emitted a strong light, and the fishermen, seeing 

 this, went out to meet it and carried the image ashore. A temple 

 was dedicated to this Kwannon, and every night a blue dragon 

 appeared there in a so-called "Dragon-lantern pine tree", carrying 

 a light in honour of the deity. When he appeared, there was 

 always a large number of holy priests, clad in magnificent robes, 



1 See above, Book II, Ch. I, § 7, p. 142. 



2 ^ ^ IE # H' '^""^" '" ^^^' ^^. Tach'bana Nankef, ;|^ ^ |§ 

 (1752-1805), Zoku Teikoku bunko. Vol. XX {KiKo bunsItU, ^E ^ "^ ^)> P- I'lS. 



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