First of all, these dragons control the waters, such as the rivers, lakes, seas, ex. Maybe they should be our water dragons! Imperial Chinese dragons have 5 toes. Other Chinese dragons have 4 toes, as do the Korean dragons. Japanese dragons have three toes (because in Japanese, the word 4 sounds like the word death). There's two theories about these toes, depending on where you live. The Chinese believe that as the dragon travels further from China, it loses toes. The other theory is that the dragon gains toes as it heads in that direction. Hmm. I shall choose no side in this debate.
Ryu (Japanese dragons) can grant wishes. Their powers include healing and transformation.
Now this stuff is what I learned about chinese dragons specifically. So, here goes.
The loong (or lung/long) is how you say dragon in Chinese (we stayed in the Loong Palace hotel when we went to China). I personally prefer to spell it loong, because lung makes me think of breathing, and long makes me think of distance. Loong looks like how it's pronounced, if you know what I mean. They're guardians and they protect people.
The loong have a body of a snake, antlers of a deer, a camel head, eagle talons, tiger paws, carp scales, bull ears, crocodile (or iguana) neck, frog belly, hare (demon) eyes. The ones in parenthesis - the iguana and demon, I've also heard. But I'm not sure which one is the original idea. Anyone who knows, please tell me. They're also supposed to have 117 scales. I'm not sure what the significance of that is. Again, anyone with more information, it's be nice if you could post it!
Loong hold a flaming pearl, which lets them "ascend to the heavens." Since that seems like a good phrase.
There's also a legend that somewhere there is a Dragon Gate, and any carp that can jump over this gate will become a dragon.
So, there's nine main loongs. Here they are (I got this from a website over a year ago and I just read it now. I forget where I got it, so if you find I stole it from you, tell me and I'll be happy to link it back to you).
Tianlong: Celestial dragons. They pull the gods' chariots and guard their palaces. (5 toes)
Shenlong: Spiritual dragons. They control rain and wind.
Fucanglong/fucanlong: Hidden treasure dragons. They're underworld dragons that guard buried treasure of any kind. Doesn't have to be man made. When they come out of the ground, they're said to create volcanoes.
Dilong: Underground dragons. Earth dragons that rule rivers and streams.
Yinglong: Winged dragons. The oldest eastern dragon, and the only one with wings.
Quilong: Horned dragons. Said to be the strongest.
Panlong: Coiling dragons. supposed to live in lakes of the Orient (What's the Orient?)
Huanglong: Yellow Dragons. Came from the River Luo and gave the emperor Fu Hsi the elements of writing. Have "scholarly knowledge."
Long Wang: Dragon kings. Rule the seas to the north, south, east and west. That means there's four of them. One for each sea. They can change into humans.
In addition to these nine main ones, there's 9 dragon children and two hornless species: the jiao/chiao and li. Jiao lives in swamps. Li is homeless and lives in the ocean (but then wouldn't the ocean be its home?).
Here are the others. (thanks to http://www.cultural-china.com/chinaWH/html/en/13Traditions1371.html for the pictures)
Bixi: Looks like a turtle. He likes to carry heavy loads. Image carved on the stone base of tablets.
Chiwen: Looks like a lizard without a tail. Carved on the roof because it likes to see things from "precarious" positions.
Pulao: A small dragon. Likes to roar, so is found on bells.
Bi'an: Looks like a tiger. Is powerful, and found in prisons.
Taotie: Looks like a wolf. Likes to eat. Is found on ancient bronze.
Qiuniu/Gongfu: Small yellow dragon. Likes water and music. Found on bridges.
Yazi/Yaizi: Looks like a jackal. Likes to kill.
Suanni: Looks like a lion. He likes fire and likes to sit.
Jiaotu: Looks like a palm (a palm tree, or the palm of your hand?) Is tight-lipped (doesn't like to talk?) He's carved on doors.
No comments:
Post a Comment