CHAPTER IX. 



JAPANESE, CHINESE AND INDIAN DRAGONS IN GEOGRAPHICAL, 

 TEMPLE AND PRIEST NAMES. 



In the preceding chapters we often have mentioned mountains 

 and temples called after a dragon which was said to live there 

 or to have appeared at the time when the temple was built. 

 There are a large number of similar names to be found throughout 

 Japan, which are given in Yoshida Togo's Dai Nihon chimei jisho, 

 or "Geographical Lexicon of Japan'' '. The following details are 

 derived from this work. 



§ 1. The Japanese dragon (tatsu). 



Tatsu no huchi, or "Dragon's mouth'' (^| P or J^ P ) is a 

 very frequent name. It is e. g. given to a hot spring in Nomi 

 district, Kaga province ^, to a little waterfall in Kojimachi district, 

 Tokyo ', to a hill in Kamakura district, Sagami province *, to a 

 dike in Kuji district, Hitachi province *, and to two mountains 

 in Bizen and Rikuzen provinces •*. On the hill of this name in 

 Kamakura district criminals were put to death during the Kama- 

 kura period, and it is famous on account of the legend concerning 

 Nichiren's miracle, whose life was saved because the sword refused 

 to cut off his holy head. Tradition said that a hill was formed 

 by the dead body of a dragon whose mouth was on this spot 

 and who in olden times had inhabited a large lake near- by '. 

 Even in the Anei era (1772—1780) a five-headed dragon was 

 worshipped there in a little Shinto shrine ^ and still nowadays 

 a "Shinto temple of the Dragon's Mouth" {Tatsu no kuchi no sha, 



2 p. 1912. 3 P. 2884. 4 P. 2715. 



5 p'_ 3731. 6 Pp. 921 and 4208. 



7 Enoshima engi, '}l.\% ^ ^ (*'">« ^'^^ ^"'^'^'"' unknown), quoted by Yoshida, 

 1.1., p. 2715. 



8 Nichiren chugwasan, Q M li ffl M ' '^^°^^'^ ibidem. 



Verb. Kou. Akad. v. ^''^^'^^^kBeHfyiiMof/h™^' ^° ^^ ^' 



