Mizuchi
A mizuchi is a Japanese water dragon or river serpent, a spirit of rivers and pools that could bring rain or spit poison, best known from the Nihon Shoki tale of Agatamori, who killed one with gourds and a sword.
| Also known as | Midzuchi, Mizuchi no kami, Water-father, 蛟, 虬, 蛟竜 |
|---|---|
| Type | serpent |
| Tradition | Japanese |
| Category | Myth |
| Associated with | Kawashima River fork, Kibi Province (modern Okayama Prefecture) |
| Earliest source | Nihon Shoki (Chronicles of Japan), reign of Emperor Nintoku, 720 CE |
| Wings | No |
| Breathes fire | No |
| Guards treasure | No |
| Nature | Ambivalent |
What a Mizuchi Is
The word mizuchi is old Japanese, usually explained as "water spirit" or, in W. G. Aston's translation, "water-father." It names the gods or spirits of rivers and pools, which in early Japan were imagined as serpents or dragons. When the Nihon Shoki was written in 720, scribes spelled the word with a Chinese character for a horned dragon, and later writers used the character for the Chinese jiao, the dangerous water dragon. The scholar M. W. de Visser took this as a sign that the Japanese had their own native water dragons before Chinese dragon lore arrived.
Agatamori and the Gourds
The Nihon Shoki places its story in the 67th year of Emperor Nintoku's reign. At a fork of the Kawashima River in Kibi Province lived a great mizuchi that tormented the people. Travelers who passed were touched by its poison, and many died. A strong, fierce man named Agatamori, ancestor of the Kasa clan, stood over the pool and threw three gourds into the water. He challenged the creature: if it could sink the gourds he would leave, but if not, he would cut it to pieces.
The mizuchi turned itself into a deer and tried to pull the gourds under, but they would not sink. Agatamori drew his sword, jumped into the pool, and killed it. Then he hunted down its kin, which filled a cave at the bottom of the pool, and killed them all until the river turned to blood. The place was afterward called Agatamori's Pool. Another story in the same chapter uses floating gourds to test a river god that demanded a human sacrifice.
Appearance and Powers
Aston noted that Japanese dictionaries described the mizuchi as a four-legged dragon, while others called it a large water snake. The Nihon Shoki story shows two powers: poisonous breath and shape-changing. Like other river gods, mizuchi were also prayed to for rain.
Legacy
Mizuchi appear in later Japanese literature, art, and modern games and anime as river dragons or sea serpents. The Agatamori tale is one of Japan's earliest dragon-slaying stories, and the trick of the floating gourds shows a hero winning by wit as well as strength. Compare Yofune-Nushi and the eight-headed Orochi.
Related
- Jiaolong: The jiaolong, or jiao, is a Chinese water dragon of rivers, lakes, and floods, often described as scaly and not yet fully a dragon, and feared for drowning people and overturning boats.
- Ryūjin: Ryūjin is the dragon god of the sea in Japanese myth and folklore, who rules from the undersea palace Ryūgū-jō, controls the tides with magic jewels, and was claimed as an ancestor of the imperial family.
- Yamata no Orochi: Yamata no Orochi is the eight-headed, eight-tailed giant serpent of Japanese myth, slain by the storm god Susanoo after he got it drunk on strong sake, who found the sacred sword Kusanagi in its tail.
- Yofune-Nushi: Yofune-Nushi is a sea dragon of Japanese folklore that lived in a cave beneath the Oki Islands and demanded a maiden each year, until the young diver Tokoyo killed it with a dagger.
- Dragons Across Cultures
- Dragon Legends
Sources and Further Reading
- W. G. Aston, trans., Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 (London: Kegan Paul, 1896)
- M. W. de Visser, The Dragon in China and Japan (Amsterdam: Johannes Müller, 1913)
- Michael Ashkenazi, Handbook of Japanese Mythology (ABC-CLIO, 2003)
Cite this entry: “Mizuchi,” Draconika Encyclopedia of Dragons, https://www.draconika.com/dragons/mizuchi.