Editing Dragon (section)

===Japan===
{{Main|Japanese dragon}}
[[File:Hokusai Dragon.jpg|thumb|Painting of a Japanese dragon by [[Hokusai]] ({{circa}} 1730 – 1849)]]
Japanese dragon myths amalgamate native legends with imported stories about dragons from China. Like some other dragons, most Japanese dragons are [[water deities]] associated with rainfall and bodies of water, and are typically depicted as large, wingless, serpentine creatures with clawed feet. Gould writes (1896:248),<ref>[[Charles Gould (geologist)|Gould, Charles]]. 1896. [https://archive.org/details/mythicalmonster00goulgoog <!-- quote=mythical monsters. --> Mythical Monsters"]. W. H. Allen & Co.</ref> the Japanese dragon is "invariably figured as possessing three claws". A story about the ''[[samurai]]'' [[Minamoto no Mitsunaka]] tells that, while he was hunting in his own territory of [[Settsu Province|Settsu]], he dreamt under a tree and had a dream in which a beautiful woman appeared to him and begged him to save her land from a giant serpent which was defiling it.{{sfn|Volker|1975|page=62}} Mitsunaka agreed to help and the maiden gave him a magnificent horse.{{sfn|Volker|1975|page=62}} When he woke up, the seahorse was standing before him.{{sfn|Volker|1975|page=62}} He rode it to the [[Sumiyoshi taisha|Sumiyoshi]] temple, where he prayed for eight days.{{sfn|Volker|1975|page=62}} Then he confronted the serpent and slew it with an arrow.{{sfn|Volker|1975|page=62}}

It was believed that dragons could be appeased or [[exorcism|exorcised]] with metal.{{sfn|Volker|1975|page=62}} [[Nitta Yoshisada]] is said to have hurled a famous sword into the sea at [[Sagami Province|Sagami]] to appease the dragon-god of the sea{{sfn|Volker|1975|page=62}} and [[Ki no Tsurayuki]] threw a metal mirror into the sea at Sumiyoshi for the same purpose.{{sfn|Volker|1975|page=62}} Japanese Buddhism has also adapted dragons by subjecting them to [[Buddhist law]];{{sfn|Volker|1975|page=62}} the Japanese Buddhist deities [[Benten]] and [[Kwannon]] are often shown sitting or standing on the back of a dragon.{{sfn|Volker|1975|page=62}} Several Japanese ''[[sennin]]'' ("immortals") have taken dragons as their mounts.{{sfn|Volker|1975|page=62}} Bômô is said to have hurled his staff into a puddle of water, causing a dragon to come forth and let him ride it to heaven.{{sfn|Volker|1975|page=62}} The ''[[Arhat|rakan]]'' Handaka is said to have been able to conjure a dragon out of a bowl, which he is often shown playing with on ''kagamibuta''.{{sfn|Volker|1975|page=62}} The ''[[shachihoko]]'' is a creature with the head of a dragon, a bushy tail, fishlike scales, and sometimes with fire emerging from its armpits.{{sfn|Volker|1975|page=62}} The ''fun'' has the head of a dragon, feathered wings, and the tail and claws of a bird.{{sfn|Volker|1975|page=62}} A white dragon was believed to reside in a pool in [[Yamashiro Province]]{{sfn|Volker|1975|page=63}} and, every fifty years, it would turn into a bird called the Ogonchô, which had a call like the "howling of a wild dog".{{sfn|Volker|1975|page=63}} This event was believed to herald terrible famine.{{sfn|Volker|1975|page=63}} In the Japanese village of Okumura, near [[Edo (Tokyo)|Edo]], during times of drought, the villagers would make a dragon effigy out of straw, [[magnolia]] leaves, and [[bamboo]] and parade it through the village to attract rainfall.{{sfn|Volker|1975|page=63}}