精せい神しん

竜虎精神

Ryūkoseishin

The 龍「竜」 Dragon and the 虎 Tiger are opposing, yet complementary, forces within 日本神話 Japanese mythology. Together they represent the 陰陽 of the universe. They are often shown flanking paintings of a Buddhist deity. Such opposites were popular within 禪宗 「禅仏教」 Zen Buddhism.

歌川国芳、竜虎

龍 虎 図 屏 風 Ryūko-zu Byōbu [dragon and tiger paintings] are a type of painting whose subject is a dragon and a tiger standing against each other. This concept was originally based on the ancient Chinese legends in which the Blue Dragon (東の神 god of East) and the White Tiger (西の神 god of West) were mentioned as two of the four guardian gods of the cardinal points.

This very year, the Tigre enters and passes through dark blue waters — the realm of the Eastern Sea Dragon — confronted hence to the combined energies of the sky and the ocean that can drown or purify its own energy — more a true challenge, as the Tigre is a good swimmer that enjoys all type of water, than a real confrontation — a transforming cycle.

柔術龍虎之卷

柔術龍虎之卷 (Jujutsu Ryuko no Maki, Scroll of the Dragon and Tiger)

Surpris ! ou Tigre dans une tempête tropicale

Surprised! Tiger in a Tropical Storm, 1891 by Henri Rousseau

A tiger crouches low in thick jungle foliage, its back arched and teeth bared. It is not entirely clear what is happening: is the tiger cowering from the flash of lightning, or is it stalking prey? 

Surprised! was the first of around 20 ‘jungle’ paintings that Henri Rousseau produced, which are among his most popular works. These jungles are entirely imaginary: le Douanier Rousseau never left France, despite his claim that he had served with the French army in Mexico. The foliage is a mix of domestic house plants and tropical varieties, which he had seen at the Botanical Gardens in Paris.

Henri Rousseau was a self-taught amateur artist who took up painting as a hobby. He viewed his painting very seriously, despite facing ridicule from some quarters. But a number of artists and writers, particularly from the avant-garde, hailed him as an important figure. He is now seen as a pioneer of ‘naïve art’.

龍虎山 located in 江西 Jiāngxī, China, is famous for being one of the birthplaces of Dàoism, with many Dàoist temples built upon the mountainside. It is particularly important to 正一道 the Zhèng yīdào as the 上清寺 Shàng qīng Temple and 道師府 the Mansion of the Dàoist Master are located here. It is known as one of the Four Sacred Mountains of Dàoism.

In the middle of 東漢 the Eastern Han Dynasty, 張陵曾Zhāng Líng, the founder of 正一道創始人 Zhèng yīdào, once concocted alchemy here. It is said that 「丹成而龍虎現，山因得名」 "when the alchemy is formed, the dragon and tiger appear, and the mountain is named after it." 張盛 Zhāngshèng, the fourth-generation grandson of 張陵 Zhāng Líng, settled here during 三國 the Three Kingdoms or 西晉 the Western Jin Dynasty.

Two of the notable temples on 龍虎山 Mount Lónghǔ are the temples of 仙巖寺 Immortal City (仙岩) and Zhèng Yī (正一), both founded by 張道陵 Zhāng Dàolíng, 漢朝 the Han Dynasty founder of the religion. There are more Dàoist temples in nearby Shàng qīng (上清), one of which is mentioned at the beginning of the famous Chinese novel Outlaws of the Marsh (水滸傳).

龍虎山 Mount Lónghǔ also has cultural significance as a historical burial site of 古越人 the Guyue people, who placed their dead in hanging coffins on the mountains cliff faces.

Dragons symbolize the energy in its many forms, telluric, atmospheric, electromagnetic, etc.

龍是四種祥獸之一 Dragon is one of the four auspicious beasts

至於《廣雅·釋螭》中則提到龍分為四種：

有鱗者稱蛟龍，

有翼者稱為應龍，

有角者稱虬龍，

無角者稱螭龍。

還有一種說法是有兩角為龍，獨角為蛟，無角為螭，無腳為蠋。

化龍過程

其中流傳較廣的有兩則：一種說法是龍原本是地上的蛇，經過很長很長的時間來吸收天地靈氣與日月精華，蛇變為蛟，蛟又經過蛻變最終才成為龍，才具有掌管風雨和飛天的能力，即古代《述異記》中所謂「虺五百年化為蛟，蛟千年化為龍，龍五百年為角龍，又千年為應龍」。

另一種說法是，古時大海里有一座門，叫做龍門。這個龍門很大，大到看不到全貌。有一天，一條鯉魚游到了龍門下被擋住了，鯉魚就想跳過龍門游到其他地方。經過無數次跳躍，鯉魚終於跳過了龍門，但此時鯉魚卻變成了另一種形象，長長的身體布滿鱗片，頭上有兩個像鹿角的角，又長出了4條腿，還有著鷹爪，上能通天，下能潛海，又有呼風喚雨的能力。這個傳說後來變成的「魚躍龍門」的故事。

Legend has it that 伏羲、Fuxi and 女媧， Nuwa, the ancestors of human beings in China, all had a Dragon body and a human head (or the body of a snake). The ancestors of the Chinese nation, 炎帝、黃帝， are said to have a close relationship with the 龘 ㄉㄚˋ. According to legend, 炎帝 Emperor Yán was born by sensing the "sacred dragon head" for his mother and turned into a red dragon after death.

ようかい • (yōkai) 妖怪

蒼龍星宿。

Canglong Constellation.