819 



5^ ^^ y ^, or "Tengu-axe"), but it seemed to be still harder 

 and sharper than these. Its colour was red, tinged with bluish 

 grey, just like the thunder-axe-stones, but its lustre was more 

 like that of glass than is the case with the latter. There were 

 some spots on the egg, which Shosan considered to be dirt left 

 on it by the dragon which produced it. 



§ 3. Thunder-stones. 



In tbe same monastery there was a so-called * thunder-jeweV 

 (M y 3£> i^^i Jio tama, or ^3S> i*3,i-gyoku), which in 1796 

 had fallen from the sky during a heavy thunderstorm, when the 

 lightning struck a spot near Haseda. Its colour was white, tinged 

 with a slight bluish grey, just like cornelian or marble. Such 

 thunderstories were called "thunder-axes'''' (raifu, H' ^), "thunder- 

 knives'''' i^ yj , raito), "thunder-hammers''^ (rai tsui, ^;^), "thun- 

 der-blocks'' (ff ^j raitan), "thunder-rings'" (§^, raikwan), 

 "thunder-pearls'' (^^j raishu), "thunder-pillars" (H'?|t^,rai- 

 ketsu), "thunder-ink" (raiboku, H* ^), "thunder-swords" (raiken, 

 ^ ^Ijj "thunder-pins" (raisan, H" ^), and so on. They are found 

 in spots' struck by lightning. The black ones are thunder-axes, 

 those which are white, tinged with blue, are thunder-rings, the 

 purple ones, tinged with red, are thunder-pins. If it is neither 

 stone nor earth, but a lump as of lacquer, it is thunder-ink. The 

 above-mentioned specimen was, in Shosan's opinion, a kind of 

 thunder-pearl '. 



We learn from this passage that the prehistoric stone weapons 

 and utensils were considered by the Chinese (for all these names 

 were borrowed from Chinese works), and in imitation thereof by 

 the Japanese, as thunderbolts; this is the same conception which 

 we find everywhere among primitive peoples. Also meteors, of 

 course, are believed to have been thrown by lightning upon the 

 earth, or to be fallen stars. As to the dragon, his connection 

 with rain and thunder is evidently supposed to begin long before 

 his birth and to show itself in a terrible way as soon as he is born. 



1 Cf. DE Groot, Religiom System of China, Vol. V, p. 866, where the "thunderbolt 

 stones" (jffi ^ i|rS)' "thunder-nodules" {^ ^, cf the ;j^ of the Japanese text) 

 are said to be believed to remove the effects of Aw-poison. On the next page de Groot 

 mentions' thunder-hammers, thunder-awls, thunder-axes (supposed to have been used 

 by the God of Thunder to split up things), thunder-rings (lost by that god) and 

 thunder-pearls, 



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