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24 chapters
PREFACE
PREFACE
This volume deals with the myths of China and Japan, and it is shown that these throw light on the origin and growth of civilization and the widespread dissemination of complex ideas associated with certain modes of life. The Far East does not appear to have remained immune to outside cultural influences in ancient times. Modern research has established that the old school of opinions which insisted on the complete isolation of China can no longer obtain. As Laufer says: “It cannot be strongly e
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LIST OF PLATES
LIST OF PLATES
CHINESE DRAGON-BOAT FESTIVAL 40 From a picture woven in coloured silks and gold thread in the Victoria and Albert Museum CHINESE DRAGONS AMONG THE CLOUDS 48 From a painting in the British Museum CHINESE DRAGON VASE WITH CARVED WOOD STAND 56 ( Victoria and Albert Museum ) CARP LEAPING FROM WAVES 81 From a Japanese painting in the British Museum CHINESE PORCELAIN VASE DECORATED WITH FIVE-CLAWED DRAGONS RISING FROM WAVES 88 ( Victoria and Albert Museum ) [ xiv ] R
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MYTHS OF CHINA AND JAPAN CHAPTER I The Dawn of Civilization
MYTHS OF CHINA AND JAPAN CHAPTER I The Dawn of Civilization
When it is asked how progress originated, we can only turn to such evidence as is available regarding the early history of “Modern Man”. At a remote period, dating back in Europe to the Pleistocene Age, men lived in organized communities and pursued the hunting mode of life. Their culture is revealed by their pictorial art in the prehistoric cave-dwellings of France and Spain, and their decorative art by their finely engraved implements and weapons. 1 This art reached a high state of perfection.
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CHAPTER II A Far-travelled Invention
CHAPTER II A Far-travelled Invention
POTTER’S WHEEL, SIMLA, INDIA From a sketch by J. Lockwood Kipling in the Victoria and Albert Museum “It will be noted”, writes O. T. Mason in this connection, “that the feminine gender is used throughout in speaking of aboriginal potters. This is because every piece of such ware is the work of woman’s hands. She quarried the clay, and, like the patient beast of burden, bore it home on her back. She washed it and kneaded it and rolled it into fillets. These she wound carefully and symmetrically u
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CHAPTER III Ancient Mariners and Explorers
CHAPTER III Ancient Mariners and Explorers
During the first Han dynasty (about 206 B.C. ) junks [ 25 ] of “one thousand kin ” (about 15 tons) were regarded as very large vessels. In these boats the early Chinese navigators appear to have reached Korea and Japan. But long before they took to the sea there were other mariners in the China sea. The Chinese were, as stated, originally an inland people. They were acquainted with river kufas (coracles) before they reached the seashore. These resembled the kufas of the Babylonians referred to b
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CHAPTER IV The World-wide Search for Wealth
CHAPTER IV The World-wide Search for Wealth
In Indian Vedic lore gold is a good metal and silver a bad metal. One of the Creation Myths states in this connection: “He (Prajapati) created Asuras (demons). That was displeasing to him. That became the precious metal with the bad colour (silver). This was the origin of silver. He created gods. That was pleasing to him. That became the precious metal with the good colour (gold). That was the origin of gold.” 6 The dragon of the Far East is associated with copper as well as gold. In the Japanes
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CHAPTER V Chinese Dragon Lore
CHAPTER V Chinese Dragon Lore
In Polynesia the natives have superstitious ideas about the shark. “Although”, says Ellis, “they would not only kill but eat certain kinds of shark, the large blue sharks, Squalus glaucus , were deified by them, and, rather than attempt to destroy them, they would endeavour to propitiate their favour by prayers and offerings. Temples were erected, in which priests officiated, and offerings were presented to the deified sharks, while fishermen, and others who were much at sea, sought their favour
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CHAPTER VI Bird and Serpent Myths
CHAPTER VI Bird and Serpent Myths
That the Polynesian reptile deities were imported there can be no doubt. As early as 1825 Mr. Bloxam, the English naval chaplain, drew this necessary conclusion. In his The Voyage of the Blonde he says: “At the bottom of the Parre (pali) there are two large stones, on which even now offerings of fruit and flowers are laid to propitiate the Aku-wahines, or goddesses, who are supposed to have the power of granting a safe passage”. Referring to the female mo-o, or reptile deities, Mr. Bloxam says i
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CHAPTER VII Dragon Folk-stories
CHAPTER VII Dragon Folk-stories
Jensen has suggested that Ku-pu signifies “trunk, body”. It is more probable that the Ku-pu was the seat of the soul, mind, and magical power; the power that enabled the slain reptile to come to life again in another form. 7 It may be that a clue is afforded in this connection by the Polynesian idea of Kupua. Mr. Westervelt, who has carefully recorded what he has found, writes regarding the Mo-o (dragons) of the Hawaiians: “Mighty eels, immense sea turtles, large fish of the ocean, fierce sharks
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CHAPTER VIII The Kingdom under the Sea
CHAPTER VIII The Kingdom under the Sea
RESONANT STONE OF JADE SHOWING DRAGON WITH CLOUD ORNAMENTS, SUSPENDED FROM CARVED BLACKWOOD FRAME A fine specimen of the glyptic art of the Kʼien-lung period. The symbols include the peach of longevity, the swashtika, the luck bat, the fungus of immortality, &c. These combined signify, “May numberless years and luck come to an end only at old age.” By courtesy of B. Laufer, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago [ 97 ] Once upon a time the daughter of the dragon king, who was named “Ab
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CHAPTER IX The Islands of the Blest
CHAPTER IX The Islands of the Blest
The evidence afforded by the ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts is of special interest and importance in connection with the problem of origin. As far back as c. 2500 B.C. “the departed Pharaoh hoped to draw his sustenance in the realm of Re (Paradise)” from “the tree of life in the mysterious isle in the midst of the Field of Offerings”. The soul of the Pharaoh, according to the Pyramid Texts, set out, soon after death, in search of this island “in company with the Morning Star. The Morning Star is
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CHAPTER X The Mother-goddess of China and Japan
CHAPTER X The Mother-goddess of China and Japan
As has been said, it was the provision of food in the celestial Paradise, far removed from the earth and its produce, that chiefly concerned the Egyptians. In the Underworld Kingdom, presided over by Osiris, the souls grew corn and gathered fruit. But the Paradise of the solar cult was above or beyond the sky. Some of the sun-worshippers are found in the Pyramid Texts to have placed their faith in the food-supplying Great Mother, the goddess Hathor, who gave them corn and milk during their earth
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CHAPTER XI Tree-, Herb-, and Stone-lore
CHAPTER XI Tree-, Herb-, and Stone-lore
The “fire of life” might be locked up in vegetation, in stone, or in red earth, and be made manifest by its colour alone. SQUARE BRICK OF THE HAN DYNASTY, WITH MYTHOLOGICAL FIGURES AND INSCRIPTIONS The figures enclosed in the rectangular panel surrounded by a geometrical border represent the four quadrants of the Chinese uranoscope, being: 1. The Blue Dragon of the East. 2. The Black Warriors, Tortoise and Serpent of the North. 3. The Red Bird of the South. 4. The White Tiger of the West. The ei
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CHAPTER XII How Copper-culture reached China
CHAPTER XII How Copper-culture reached China
No doubt the early searchers for gold in Africa and Asia met with many peoples who were as much amused and interested, and as helpful, as were the natives of the New World, who welcomed the Spaniards as visitors from the sky. Gold was the earliest metal worked by man. It was first used in Egypt to fashion imitation sea-shells, and the magical and religious value attached to the shells was transferred to the gold which, in consequence, became “precious” or “holy”. Copper was the next metal to be
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CHAPTER XIII The Symbolism of Jade
CHAPTER XIII The Symbolism of Jade
Are Animistic Beliefs Primitive?—Evidence of a Mummy-imported Culture in Primitive Communities—Chinese Creation Myth—Chaos Transformed into Kosmos—Pʼan Ku as the World-artisan—Chinese World-giant Myth—Tibetan Version—Pʼan Ku and the Egyptian Ptah—Hammer Gods—Pʼan Ku and the Scandinavian Ymir—Osiris as a World-giant—Fusion of Egyptian and Babylonian Myths—The Chinese Ishtars—The Goddess of the Deluge—The Chinese Virgin Mother—Dragon Boat Ceremonies—The Mountain Goddess in China—Kiang Yuan as the
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CHAPTER XIV Creation Myths and the God and Goddess Cults
CHAPTER XIV Creation Myths and the God and Goddess Cults
The meaning of this Chinese parable seems to be that the Universe had, in the space of seven days, been “set in order”, Chaos having been transformed into Kosmos. Although Taoism has been referred to by some writers of the “Evolution School” as “an elaboration of animistic lore”, this myth is really a product of the years that bring the philosophic mind. The three “Rulers” may have originally been giants, and the story may owe something to the Babylonian myth of Ea-Oannes, the sea-god, who came
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CHAPTER XV Mythical and Legendary Kings
CHAPTER XV Mythical and Legendary Kings
“It is remarkable”, says Legge, “that at the commencement of Chinese history, Chinese tradition placed a period of innocence, a season when order and virtue ruled in men’s affairs.” This comment is made in connection with the following passage in the Shu King (Book XXVII, “The Marquis of Lu on Punishments”): “The King said, ‘According to the teachings of ancient times, Khih Yu was the first to produce disorder, which spread among the quiet, orderly people, till all became robbers and murderers,
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CHAPTER XVI Myths and Doctrines of Taoism
CHAPTER XVI Myths and Doctrines of Taoism
Lao Tze 1 means “Old Boy”, as Osiris, in his Libyan form, is said to mean the “Old Man”. 2 He was given this name by his followers, because “his mother carried him in her womb for seventy-two years, so that when he was at length cut out of it his hair was already white”. Julius Cæsar was reputed to have been born in like [ 300 ] manner; so was the Gaelic hero, Goll MacMorna, who, as we gather from Dunbar, was known in the Lowlands as well as the Highlands; the poet makes one of his characters ex
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CHAPTER XVII Culture Mixing in Japan
CHAPTER XVII Culture Mixing in Japan
Culture B deposits are devoid of pottery. The Ainu have never been potters; their bowls and spoons were in ancient times made of wood. They claim to have exterminated the Koro-pok-guru, who appear to have had affinities with the present inhabitants of the northern Kuriles, a people of short stature, with roundish heads, the men having short, thick beards, and being quite different in general appearance from the “hairy Ainu” with long, flowing beards. Some communities of Ainu present physical cha
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CHAPTER XVIII Japanese Gods and Dragons
CHAPTER XVIII Japanese Gods and Dragons
Although the myths, formerly handed down orally by generations of priests, were not collected and systematized until about 200 years after Buddhism was introduced into Japan, they were not greatly influenced by Indian ideas. Dragon-lore, however, became so complex that it is difficult to sift the local from the imported elements. In the preface to the Ko-ji-ki , Yasumaro, the compiler, in his summary, writes: “Now when chaos had begun to condense, but force and form were not yet manifest, and th
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CHAPTER XIX Rival Deities of Life and Death, Sunshine and Storm
CHAPTER XIX Rival Deities of Life and Death, Sunshine and Storm
Enraged against Izanagi, because he had put her to shame, Izanami commanded the Ugly Females of Yomi to pursue and slay him. At this point in the mythical narrative begins a version of the widespread folk-story about the young man who makes escape from his enemy or enemies, and in the course of his flight throws down articles that are transformed into obstacles, or into things which tempt the pursuers to tarry and eat. 5 The first article that Izanagi cast down behind him was his wreath or head-
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CHAPTER XX The Dragon-Slayer and His Rival
CHAPTER XX The Dragon-Slayer and His Rival
“I am the dear brother of the sun-goddess, and have just descended from heaven.” “Most obediently do I offer my daughter to you,” the old man said with reverence. Susa-no-wo then transformed the girl into a comb, which he placed in his hair. Having done this, he bade the old couple to brew rice-beer ( sake ). They obeyed him, and he asked them to construct a fence with eight gates and eight benches, and to place on each bench a vat filled with the beer. In time the eight-forked serpent came nigh
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CHAPTER XXI Ancient Mikados and Heroes
CHAPTER XXI Ancient Mikados and Heroes
“Tajima-mori at last reached that country, plucked the fruit of the tree, and brought of club-moss eight and of spears eight; but meanwhile the Heavenly Sovereign had died. Then Tajima-mori set apart of club-moss four and of spears four, which he presented to the Great Empress, and set up of club-moss four and of spears four as an offering at the door of the Heavenly Sovereign’s august mausoleum, and, raising on high the fruit of the tree, wailed and wept, saying: ‘Bringing the fruit of the Ever
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