Page:Shinto, the Way of the Gods - Aston - 1905.djvu/159

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THE PANTHEON – NATURE DEITIES.
149

mi (middle-sea-body) and Uha-tsu-wata-dzu-mi (upper-sea-body). Their chief shrine is at Sumiyoshi, near Sakai, and they are prayed to for rescue from shipwreck and for fair winds.[1] These three Gods are frequently spoken of as one. Hirata identifies them with Toyotama-hiko, whose legend is related above.[2]

With Toyotama-hiko there is associated a fabulous animal called a wani, usually written with the Chinese character for crocodile. There can be little doubt that the wani is really the Chinese dragon. It is frequently so represented in Japanese pictures. I have before me a print which shows Toyotama-hiko and his daughter with dragons' heads appearing over their human ones. This shows that he was conceived of not only as a Lord of Dragons, but as a dragon himself. His

  1. See Index—'Sumiyoshi.'
  2. See p. 114.