The Dragon King, also known as the Dragon God, is a Chinese

water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...

and

weather god A weather god or goddess, also frequently known as a storm god or goddess, is a deity in mythology associated with weather phenomena such as thunder, snow, lightning, rain, wind, storms, tornadoes, and hurricanes. Should they only be in charge of ...

. He is regarded as the dispenser of rain, commanding over all bodies of water. He is the collective personification of the ancient concept of the '' lóng'' in Chinese culture. There are also the

cosmological Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe, the cosmos. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', with the meaning of "a speaking of the wo ...

"Dragon Kings of the

Four Seas The Four Seas () were four bodies of water that metaphorically made up the boundaries of ancient China. There is a sea for each for the four cardinal directions. The West Sea is Qinghai Lake, the East Sea is the East China Sea, the North Sea is ...

" (). Besides being a water deity, the Dragon God frequently also serves as a territorial

tutelary deity A tutelary (; also tutelar) is a deity or a Nature spirit, spirit who is a guardian, patron, or protector of a particular place, geographic feature, person, lineage, nation, culture, or occupation. The etymology of "tutelary" expresses the concept ...

, similarly to

Tudigong A Tudigong ( zh, s=土地公, l=Lord of the Land) is a kind of Chinese tutelary deity of a specific location. There are several Tudigongs corresponding to different geographical locations and sometimes multiple ones will be venerated together in ...

"Lord of the Earth" and

Houtu Hòutǔ () or Hòutǔshén (), also known as Hòutǔ Niángniáng (in Chinese either or ), otherwise called Dimǔ () or Dimǔ Niángniáng (), is the deity of all land and earth in Chinese religion and mythology. Houtu is the overlord of all t ...

"Queen of the Earth".

Singular Dragon King

The Dragon King has been regarded as holding dominion over all bodies of water, and the dispenser of rain, in rituals practiced into the modern era in China. One of his epithets is Dragon King of Wells and Springs.

Rainmaking rituals

Dragon processions have been held on the fifth and sixth moon of the lunar calendar all over China, especially on the 13th day of the sixth moon, held to be the Dragon King's birthday, as ritualized supplication to the deity to make rain. In

Changli County Changli () is a county of northeastern Hebei province, China, with some Bohai Sea coast. It is under the administration of the Qinhuangdao City, and borders Funing County, Hebei, Funing County and Luan County. Both Beijing–Harbin Railway and Chi ...

Hebei Province Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...

a procession of sorts carried an image of the Dragon King in a basket and made circuit around nearby villages, and the participants would put out in front of their house a piece of yellow paper calligraphed with the text: "The position tabletof the Dragon King of the Four Seas , Five Lakes, Eight Rivers and Nine Streams", sprinkle it with water using willow withes, and burning incense next to it. This ritual was practiced in North of China into the 20th century. In the past, there used to be Dragon King

miao shrine ''Miao'' () are buildings in traditional East Asian religions enshrining gods, myths or legends, sages of past dynasties, and famous historical figures. They are a kind of Chinese temple architecture and contrast with Ci shrines which ensh ...

s all over China, for the folk to engage in the worship of dragon kings, villages in farm countries would conduct rites dedicated to the Dragon Kings seeking rain.

Daoist pantheon

Within the Daoist pantheon, the Dragon King is regarded the zoomorphic representation of the '' yang'' masculine power of generation. The dragon king is the king of the dragons and he also controls all of the creatures in the sea. The dragon king gets his orders from the

Jade Emperor In the Chinese mythology, myths and Chinese folk religion, folk religion of Chinese culture, the Jade Emperor or Yudi is one of the representations of the Primordial Divinity (Tai Di), primordial god. In Taoist theology, he is the assistant of ...

Dragon Kings of the Five Regions

Historically there arose a cult of the Five Dragon Kings. The name is registered in Daoist scripture from the Tang dynasty, found in the Dunhuang caves. Veneration of chthonic dragon god(s) of the five directions still persists today in southern areas, such as Canton and Fujian. It has also been conflated with the cult of Lord Earth, Tugong (

), and inscriptions on tablets invoke the in rituals current in Southeast Asia (Vietnam).

Description

The

Azure Dragon The Azure Dragon ( zh, c=青龍, p=Qīnglóng) is one of the Dragon King, Dragon Gods who represent the mount or Chthonic deities, chthonic forces of the Wufang Shangdi, Five Regions' Highest Deities (). It is also one of the Four Symbols o ...

Blue-Green Blue-green is the color between blue and green. It belongs to the shades of cyan, cyan family. Variations Cyan Cyan is the blue-green color that is between blue and green on a modern RGB color model, RGB color wheel. The modern RGB co ...

Dragon (), or Green Dragon (), is the Dragon God of the east, and of the essence of spring. The Red Dragon ( or , literally "Cinnabar Dragon", "

Vermilion Vermilion (sometimes vermillion) is a color family and pigment most often used between antiquity and the 19th century from the powdered mineral cinnabar (a form of mercury sulfide). It is synonymous with red orange, which often takes a moder ...

Dragon") is the Dragon God of the south and of the essence of summer. The White Dragon () is the Dragon God of the west and the essence of autumn. The

Yellow Dragon The Yellow Chinese dragon, Dragon () is the zoomorphic incarnation of the Yellow Emperor of the center of the universe in Chinese folk religion, Chinese religion and Chinese mythology, mythology. The Yellow Emperor or Yellow Deity was conceiv ...

() is the Dragon God of the center, associated with (late) summer. The Black Dragon (), also called "Dark Dragon" or "Mysterious Dragon" (), is the Dragon God of the north and the essence of winter.

Broad history

Dragons of the Five Regions/Directions existed in Chinese custom, established by the Former Han period (Cf. §Origins below) The same concept couched in "dragon king" (''longwang'') terminology was centuries later, the term "dragon king" being imported from India (

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

'' naga-raja''), vis Buddhism, introduced in the 1st century AD during the Later Han. The five "Dragon Kings" which were correlated with the Five Colors and Five Directions are attested uniquely in one work among Buddhist scriptures (), called the early 4th century. Attributed to

Po-Srimitra Po-Śrīmitra ( Chinese 帛尸梨蜜多羅) was a Kuchean prince and Buddhist monk who travelled to south China from 307–312, translating three Buddhist texts Buddhist texts are religious texts that belong to, or are associated with, Bud ...

, it is a pretended translation, or "apocryphal sutra" ( post-canonical text), but its influence on later rituals (relating to entombment) is not dismissable. The dragon king cult was most active around the Sui-

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...

, according to one scholar, but another observes that the cult spread farther afield with the backing of

Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...

monarchs who built Dragon King Temples (or rather Taoist

shrines A shrine ( "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred space dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor worship, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, Daemon (mythology), daemon, or similar figure of respect, wh ...

), and

Emperor Huizong of Song Emperor Huizong of Song (7 June 1082 – 4 June 1135), personal name Zhao Ji, was the eighth emperor of the Song dynasty of China and the penultimate emperor of the Northern Song dynasty. He was also a very well-known painter, poet and calli ...

(12th century) conferred investiture upon them as local kings. But the dragon king and other spell incantations came to be discouraged in Buddhism within China, because they were based on eclectic (apocryphal) sutras and the emphasis grew for the orthodox sutras, or put another way, the quinary system (based on number 5) was being superseded by the number 8 or number 12 being held more sacred. During the Tang period, the dragon kings were also regarded as guardians that safeguard homes and pacify tombs, in conjunction with the worship of Lord Earth. Buddhist rainmaking ritual learned Tang dynasty China by The concept was transmitted to Japan alongside esoteric Buddhism, and also practiced as rites in during the

Heian Period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kammu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means in Japanese. It is a ...

Five dragons

;(Origins) The idea of associating the five directions/regions () with the five colors is found in

Confucian Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China, and is variously described as a tradition, philosophy, religion, theory of government, or way of life. Founded by Confucius ...

classic text, The ''Huainanzi'' (2nd cent. BC) describes the five colored dragons (azure/green, red, white, black, yellow) and their associations (Chapter 4: Terrestrial Forms), as well as the placement of sacred beasts in the five directions (the

Four Symbols The Four Symbols are mythological creatures appearing among the Chinese constellations along the ecliptic, and viewed as the guardians of the four cardinal directions. These four creatures are also referred to by a variety of other names, in ...

beasts, dragon, tiger, bird, tortoise in the four cardinal directions and the yellow dragon. And the ''

Luxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn Annals The ''Luxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn Annals'' () is an undated work attributed to philosopher Dong Zhongshu (179–104 BC). It has survived to the present, though its compilation might have continued past his lifetime into the 4th centur ...

'' attributed to

Dong Zhongshu Dong Zhongshu (; 179–104 BC) was a Chinese philosopher, politician, and writer of the Han dynasty. He is traditionally associated with the promotion of Confucianism as the official ideology of the Chinese imperial state, favoring heaven worsh ...

(2nd cent. BC) describes the ritual involving five colored dragons.

Attestations of Five Dragon Kings

Consecration Sutra

The

apocryphal Apocrypha () are biblical or related writings not forming part of the accepted canon of scripture, some of which might be of doubtful authorship or authenticity. In Christianity, the word ''apocryphal'' (ἀπόκρυφος) was first applied to ...

(early 4th century, attributed to

), which purports to be Buddhist teachings but in fact incorporates elements of Chinese traditional belief, associates five dragon kings with five colored dragons with five directions, as aforementioned. The text gives the personal names of the kings. To the east is the Blue Dragon Spirit King () named , with 49 dragon kings under him, with 70 myriad myllion lesser dragons, mountain spirits, and assorted demons as minions. The thrust of this scripture is that in everywhere in every direction, there are the minions causing poisonings and ailments, and their lord the dragon kings must be beseeched in prayer to bring relief. In the south is the Red Dragon Spirit King named , in the west the White, called , in the north the Black, called and at center the Yellow, called , with different numbers subordinate dragon kings, with minion hordes of lesser dragons and other beings. Though connection of poison to rainmaking may not be obvious, it has been suggested that this poison-banishing sutra could have viably been read as a replacement in the execution of the ritual to pray for rain (, ), in Japan. A medieval commentary (, copied 1310) has reasoned that since the Great Peacock ( Mahāmāyūrī) sūtra mandates one to chant dragon names in order to detoxify, so shall offerings made to dragon lead to "sweet rain".

Divine Incantations Scripture

The ("five position") dragon kings are also attested in the , though not explicitly under the collective name of "five position dragon kings", but individually as "Eastern Direction's Blue Emperor Blue Dragon King ()", and so forth. It gives a laundry list of dragon kings by different names, stating that spells to cause rain can be performed by invoking dragon kings.

Ritual process

An ancient procedural instruction for invoking five-colored dragons to conduct rainmaking rites occurs in the ''Luxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn Annals'', under its "Seeking Rain" chapter (originally 2nd century B.C.). It prescribes earthenware figurines of greater and lesser dragons of a specific color according to season, namely blue-green, red, yellow, white, black, depending on whether it was spring, summer, late summer (), autumn, or winter. And these figures were to be placed upon the alter at the assigned position/direction (east, south, center, west, or north). This Chinese folk rain ritual later became incorporated into

Daoism Taoism or Daoism (, ) is a diverse philosophical and religious tradition indigenous to China, emphasizing harmony with the Tao ( zh, p=dào, w=tao4). With a range of meaning in Chinese philosophy, translations of Tao include 'way', 'road', ...

. The rituals were codified into Daoist scripture or Buddhist sūtras in the post- Later Han () period, but Dragon King worship did not come into ascendancy until the Sui-Tang dynasties. The rain rituals in Esoteric Buddhism in the Tang dynasty was actually an adaptation of indigenous Chinese dragon worship and rainmaking beliefs, rather than pure Buddhism. As a point of illustration, a comparison can be made against Buddhist procedures for rainmaking during the Tang dynasty. The rainmaking tract in Atikūṭa 's translated , (Book 11, under the chapter for ) prescribes an altar to be built, with mud figures of dragon kings placed on the four sides, and numerous mud-made lesser dragons arranged within and without the altar.

Dragon Kings of the Four Seas

Each one of the four Dragon Kings of the

() is associated with a body of water corresponding to one of the four

cardinal direction The four cardinal directions or cardinal points are the four main compass directions: north (N), south (S), east (E), and west (W). The corresponding azimuths ( clockwise horizontal angle from north) are 0°, 90°, 180°, and 270°. The ...

s and natural boundaries of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

: the East Sea (corresponding to the

East China Sea The East China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean, located directly offshore from East China. China names the body of water along its eastern coast as "East Sea" (, ) due to direction, the name of "East China Sea" is otherwise ...

), the South Sea (corresponding to the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by South China, in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan island, Taiwan and northwestern Philippines (mainly Luz ...

), the West Sea (

Qinghai Lake Qinghai Lake is the list of lakes by area, largest lakes of China, lake in China. Located in an endorheic basin in Qinghai Province, to which it gave its name, Qinghai Lake is classified as an alkaline lake, alkaline saline lake, salt lake. The ...

), and the North Sea (

Lake Baikal Lake Baikal is a rift lake and the deepest lake in the world. It is situated in southern Siberia, Russia between the Federal subjects of Russia, federal subjects of Irkutsk Oblast, Irkutsk Oblasts of Russia, Oblast to the northwest and the Repu ...

). They appear in the classical novels like '' The Investiture of the Gods'' and ''

Journey to the West ''Journey to the West'' () is a Chinese novel published in the 16th century during the Ming dynasty and attributed to Wu Cheng'en. It is regarded as one of the Classic Chinese Novels, great Chinese novels, and has been described as arguably the ...

'', where each of them has a proper name, and they share the surname Ao (, meaning "playing" or "proud").

Dragon of the Eastern Sea

His proper name is Ao Guang ( or ), and he is the patron of the

Dragon of the Western Sea

His proper names are Ao Run (), Ao Jun () or Aó Jí (). He is the patron of

Dragon of the Southern Sea

He is the patron of the

and his proper name is Ao Qin ().

Dragon of the Northern Sea

His proper names are Ao Shun () or Ao Ming (), and his body of water is

Japan

As already mentioned, Esoteric Buddhists in Japan who initially learned their trade from Tang dynasty China engaged in rainmaking ritual prayers invoking dragon kings under a system known as or , established in the Shingon sect founded by the priest

Kūkai , born posthumously called , was a Japanese Buddhist monk, calligrapher, and poet who founded the Vajrayana, esoteric Shingon Buddhism, Shingon school of Buddhism. He travelled to China, where he studied Tangmi (Chinese Vajrayana Buddhism) und ...

, who learned Buddhism in Tang China. It was first performed by Kūkai in the year 824 at Shinsen'en, according to legend, but the first occasion probably took place historically in the year 875, then a second time in 891. The rain ritual came to be performed regularly. The ritual used two

mandala A mandala (, ) is a geometric configuration of symbols. In various spiritual traditions, mandalas may be employed for focusing attention of practitioners and adepts, as a spiritual guidance tool, for establishing a sacred space and as an aid ...

s that featured dragon kings. The Great Mandala that was hung up was of a design that centered around Sakyamuni Buddha, surrounded by the , the ten thousand dragon kings,

Bodhisattvas In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a person who has attained, or is striving towards, ''Enlightenment in Buddhism, bodhi'' ('awakening', 'enlightenment') or Buddhahood. Often, the term specifically refers to a person who forgoes or delays personal n ...

(based on the , "Scripture of ummoningGreat Clouds and Petitioning for Rain"). The other one was a "spread-out mandala" ( ) laid flat out on its back, and depicted five dragon kings, which were one-, three-, five-, seven-, and nine-headed (based on the ''Collected Dhāraṇī Sūtras''). Also, there was the "Five Dragons Festival/ritual" ( ) that was performed by or yin-yang masters. The oldest mention of this in literature is from '' Fusō Ryakuki'', the entry of Engi 2/902AD, 17th day of the 6th moon. Sometimes, the performance of the rain ritual by Esoteric Buddhists (''shōugyōhō'') would be followed in succession by the Five Dragons Ritual from the . The Five Dragon rites performed by the '' onmyōji'' or yin yang masters had their heyday around the 10–11th centuries. There are '' mokkan,'' or inscribed wooden tablets, used in these rites that have been unearthed (e.g., from an 8–10th century site and a 9th-century site). In Japan, there also developed a legend that the primordial being Banko (

Pangu Pangu or Pan Gu (also sometimes spelled Peng Gu and P’an-ku) ( zh, t=盤古, ) is a primordial being and creation figure in Chinese mythology and in Taoism. According to legend, Pangu separated heaven and earth, and his body later became ge ...

of Chinese myth) sired the Five Dragon Kings, who were invoked in the ritual texts or read in Shinto or Onmyōdō rites, but the five beings later began to be seen less as monsters and more as wise princes.

Worship of the Dragon God

Worship of the Dragon God is celebrated throughout China with sacrifices and processions during the fifth and sixth moons, and especially on the date of his birthday the thirteenth day of the sixth moon. A folk religious movement of associations of good-doing in modern

Hebei Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...

is primarily devoted to a generic Dragon God whose icon is a tablet with his name inscribed on it, utilized in a ritual known as the "movement of the Dragon Tablet". The Dragon God is traditionally venerated with dragon boat racing. In coastal regions of China, Korea, Vietnam, traditional legends and worshipping of

whale Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully Aquatic animal, aquatic placental mammal, placental marine mammals. As an informal and Colloquialism, colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea ...

s (whale gods) have been referred to Dragon Kings after the arrival of Buddhism.

Buddhism

Some

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

traditions describe a figure named Duo-luo-shi-qi or Talasikhin as a Dragon King who lives in a palace located in a pond near the legendary kingdom of Ketumati. It is said that during midnight he used to drizzle in this pond to cleanse himself of dust.

Artistic depictions

File:大天后宮四海龍王神像.jpg, The Dragon Kings of the Four Seas at the Grand Matsu Temple in

Tainan Tainan (), officially Tainan City, is a Special municipality (Taiwan), special municipality in southern Taiwan, facing the Taiwan Strait on its western coast. Tainan is the oldest city on the island and commonly called the "Taiwan Prefecture, ...

. File:安平開臺天后宮四海龍王.jpg, The four Dragon Kings at the Temple of Mazu in Anping, Tainan.

Dragon Kings of Bhutan

Also the Kings of Bhutan are called the Dragon King as

Bhutan Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...

in its native language is known as Drukyul which translates as "The Land of Dragon". Thus, while kings of Bhutan are known as

Druk Gyalpo The King of Bhutan, officially the Druk Gyalpo (; ), is the constitutional monarch and head of state of the Kingdom of Bhutan. In the Dzongkha language, Bhutan is known as ''Drukyul'' which translates as "The Land of the Thunder Drago ...

meaning Dragon King (Bhutan), the Bhutanese people call themselves the Drukpa, meaning "people of

Druk The Druk (, ) is the "Thunder Dragon" of Tibetan and Bhutanese mythology and a Bhutanese national symbol. A druk appears on the flag of Bhutan, holding jewels to represent wealth. In Dzongkha, Bhutan is called ''Druk Yul'' "Land of Druk", an ...

(Bhutan)". Present King

Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck (born 21 February 1980) is the fifth Druk Gyalpo (Dragon King) of Bhutan. His reign began in 2006 after his father Jigme Singye Wangchuck abdicated the throne. A public coronation ceremony was held on 6 November ...

is the 5th Dragon King.

Explanatory notes

References

Citations

Sources

* *
pdf
@ National Taiwan Normal University * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

* {{Commons-inline, Dragon Kings, Dragon King

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

Chinese gods Journey to the West characters Nāgas Rain deities Sea and river gods Tutelary deities Water gods Sky and weather gods Dragon deities National personifications