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.

The Sea God's Palace

The oldest version of the story is in the Kojiki (712) and the Nihon Shoki (720), where the sea god is called Watatsumi. A young god named Hoori loses a fishhook borrowed from his elder brother Hoderi. Searching for it, he travels to the sea god's palace beneath the waves, marries the god's daughter Toyotama-hime, and lives there for three years. When he goes home, the sea god gives him two jewels, one that makes the tide flow in and one that makes it ebb. With them Hoori floods and then rescues his brother until Hoderi submits.

Toyotama-hime follows her husband to land to give birth. She asks him not to look, but he peeks and sees her in her true form. In the Kojiki she has become a huge wani, a sea creature often translated as crocodile or shark. One variant in the Nihon Shoki says she became a dragon. Ashamed, she returns to the sea. Her grandson became Jimmu, the legendary first emperor, so the imperial line claimed descent from the sea god.

From Watatsumi to Ryūjin

As Buddhism and Chinese ideas spread in Japan, the native sea god merged with the Buddhist dragon kings, the nāga rulers of the ocean. The name Ryūjin means simply "dragon god," and in medieval Japan he was pictured as a dragon or a crowned king with a dragon on his head. His palace became Ryūgū-jō, the Dragon Palace, made of red and white coral.

Famous Tales

• Urashima Tarō, a fisherman who saves a turtle, is carried to the Dragon Palace and marries the princess Otohime. When he returns home, centuries have passed.
• Tawara Tōda (Fujiwara no Hidesato) kills a giant centipede for the dragon king of Lake Biwa and receives magical gifts from the dragon palace.
• Empress Jingū, in later legend, borrows the tide jewels to defeat her enemies at sea.

Legacy

Fishing communities across Japan still honor Ryūjin at shrines and festivals, praying for calm seas and good catches. The Dragon Palace is a familiar setting in Japanese picture books, anime, and games. Read a related story in A Stay at the Waters Kingdom, and see the short entry on our dragon species page.

Related

• Dragon Kings (Longwang): The Dragon Kings are the dragon rulers of the seas, rivers, and lakes in Chinese religion and folklore, rain-giving lords who live in crystal palaces, take human form, and answer to the Jade Emperor.
• 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.
• 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.
• Nāga: Nāgas are serpent beings of Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain tradition, often cobras or half-human figures with cobra hoods, who live in underwater or underground kingdoms, guard treasure, and control rain and water.
• 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.
• Dragon Species
• A Stay at the Waters Kingdom
• Dragons Across Cultures

Sources and Further Reading

• Donald L. Philippi, trans., Kojiki (University of Tokyo Press / Princeton University Press, 1968)
• 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: “Ryūjin,” Draconika Encyclopedia of Dragons, https://www.draconika.com/dragons/ryujin.