Ryūjin

Ryujin (in Japanese 龍神, so known under the name of Rinjin ), is the god of the sea in the Japanese Mythologie. It is a dragon, symbol of the power of the ocean, equipped with a broad mouth and able to take human form. He lives with Ryūgu-jō from where he controls the tides thanks to magic jewels. The marine tortoises, the fish and the jellyfishes are often described as being its servants.

Ryujin is the father of the splendid goddess Otohime who married the prince hunter Hoori . The first emperor of Japan, Jimmu , being presented the grandson of Otohime and Hoori , Ryujin is regarded as one of the ancestors of the Japanese imperial dynasty.

According to the legend, the empress Jingū concluded her attack of the Korea by using the jewels of Ryujin . During a confrontation with the Korean navy, Jingū threw the jewels of low tide in the sea and the tide moved back, ruining the enemy boats. When Korean left their boats, Jingū threw to the sea the jewels of high tide: the sea went up and drowned the Korean soldiers. An annual festival, Gion Matsuri , proceeds with the sanctuary Yasaka to celebrate this legend.

Another legend tells how the jellyfish lost its bones. According to this history, Ryujin wished to eat the liver of a monkey (in certain versions of the history, with an aim of curing an incurable eruption, in other, at the request of its wife) and sent the jellyfish to bring back one of them for him. When the jellyfish found a monkey and asked him its liver, the monkey claimed that this one in a flask was hidden in the forest: it was too heavy and the monkey preferred to hide it in the course of the day. He proposed with the jellyfish to go with him to seek it, but arrived on the spot, where there was not obviously trace of the body, the monkey affirmed that one had had to conceal his liver to him and that it was to find the robbers. When the jellyfish returned towards Ryujin and that she explained to him why the monkey was not with her, it entered such a rage that it struck it until its bones are completely crushed.

Ryūgū-jō

Ryūgū-jō (竜宮城) is the underwater de luxe hotel of Ryujin and its servants. According to the legends, it is built in corals white and red or of Cristal. Each of the four sides of the de luxe hotel is at one different season and a day in this one corresponds to hundred days on the ground. The legend claims that Urashima Tarō visited Ryūgū-jō.

The Katase-Enoshima station with Fujisawa, in the Prefecture of Kanagawa, is designed so as to evoke Ryūgū-jō .

External bond

Ryujin on the Encyclopedia Mythica .

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