Japanese Dragon

Japanese Dragon

Japanese dragons (日本の竜 Nihon no ryū) are diverse legendary creatures in Japanese mythology and folklore. Japanese dragon myths amalgamate native legends with imported stories about dragons from China, Korea and India. The style of the dragon was heavily influenced by the Chinese dragon. Like these other Asian dragons, most Japanese ones are water deities associated with rainfall and bodies of water, and are typically depicted as large, wingless, serpentine creatures with clawed feet. The modern Japanese language has numerous "dragon" words, including indigenous tatsu from Old Japanese ta-tu, Sino-Japanese ryū or ryō 竜 from Chinese lóng 龍, nāga ナーガ from Sanskrit nāga, and doragon ドラゴン from English dragon.

Read more about Japanese Dragon:  Indigenous Japanese Dragons, Sino-Japanese Dragons, Indo-Japanese Dragons, Dragon Temples, Images, Dragon Shrines, Dragons in Modern Culture, Other Asian Dragons

Famous quotes containing the words japanese and/or dragon:

    The Japanese say, “If the flower is to be beautiful, it must be cultivated.”
    Lester Cole, U.S. screenwriter, Nathaniel Curtis, and Frank Lloyd. Nick Condon (James Cagney)

    Opinion is not worth a rush;
    In this altar-piece the knight,
    Who grips his long spear so to push
    That dragon through the fading light,
    Loved the lady; and it’s plain
    The half-dead dragon was her thought....
    William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)