Dragon Review - Ryu
And now, coming at us from land of the rising sun is the ryu, or Japanese dragon (Nihon no ryu, to be specific).
Much like the Korean yong, ryu is a large, serpentine dragon with four feet and no wings. They are heavily tied to water, be it oceans, rivers, and storms. They also tend to chill near temples, since they're quite often related to divinity. A temple with water around it? That's gonna be crazy infested with ryu, you just know.
Now, I'll probably do a post discussing larger mytho-historical influence of varying cultures upon one another, especially vis-a-vis, the dragon. But for now let's just say there's a lot going on with the ryu, including Buddhism, Shinto, Indian, and Chinese influence. Japan loves its mythology, so there's a lot of tales going on with general talk of ryu.
Remember our earlier topic of review, the terminally sauced Yamata No Orochi? Dude was a ryu eight times over.
Or how about Ryujin? A shinto sea-god, he was also a ryu who lived in the ocean in a palace made from red and white coral. This dragon also did the treasure thing, possessing a collection of magical jewels he used to control the tide. Jellyfish, turtles, and fish were all his servants. There may or may not have been singing involved—scholars differ on this point. Ryujin was also an ancestor of the first emperor of Japan, Emperor Jimmu.
So, gods and monsters, right? Ryu have a number of origins. But I bet you didn't know they were also inspired by The Incredible Hulk!
Let's delve into Japanese folklore, where we find the tale of Kiyohime, a slighted woman who BECAME a dragon. The daughter of a wealthy landlord, Kiyohime's family provided lodging for priests travelling to a famous shrine. Now, things in the household went normally, I suppose, until one day when a handsome young man appeared. His name was Anchin, and he was another priest travelling to the shrine. Kiyohime fell absolutely head over heels for him. Anchin returned her affection and they had some good times! Thennn Anchin remembered he was supposed to be a priest. On a holy pilgrimage. Whoops.
Anchin promptly packed up and did a runner in the night. Now, was Kiyohime the kind of girl to pine away mournfully by the window, maybe while it rained and a bird sang sadly outside? Hell no! She went after Anchin, absolutely furious. They met at the edge of the river Hidaka, where Anchin promptly told a boatman to help him cross but not to help her out. Ouch. The boatman presumably shook his head as he did what was asked. Anchin started to get away. Or did he? Kiyohime jumped into the river and started swimming. Now, if this were some ghost story she would have drowned and become a restless spirit or something that kills you after 7 days of watching a VHS video, I don't know.
But it isn't. Kiyohime was so angry that she turned into a gigantic ryu via the pure power of RAGE in order to continue her pursuit. Scholars are silent on the status of Anchin's undergarments at this event, but he did manage to reach the shore and the temple he'd taken so many detours along the way to reach. There he called for help (I'm going to assume it was more of a shrieking, terrified cry) and the local priests hid him in the temple bell.
Mission accomplished, right? Haha, NO. Kiyohime still wasn't going to let this go. She slithered up onto land, into the temple, and tracked Anchin by his scent (again, undergarments?). She banged the bell repeatedly, coiled around it, and breathed fire on it so hot that it melted, nicely resolving the problem of Anchin.
Now, this time we took a look at a category of dragon as much as any individual. That makes it kind of hard to examine specifics. BUT! Never let it said I fail to be opinionated. Like Chinese and Korean dragons, ryu's design is awesome, varying a bit depending on individual versions like Orochi or Kiyohime. There's a multitude of tales and examples, with all sorts of magical abilities popping up. Ryu gets a solid "A+."
