Gozuryu is a dragon that is said to have lived in a lake in Fukasawa, Kamakura City, Kanagawa Prefecture at that time. After changing his mind, he is also called Five-headed Dragon Great God.
Appearance:
Its appearance is that of a giant dragon with five heads.
Personality:
Initially, it was a cruel, ferocious dragon that harassed the villagers around where it lived. Then it was tamed and turned into a hill.
Intelligence:
It has high intelligence, can communicate with humans and animals.
Interactions:
The dragon is probably a metaphor for the water of a violent local river that is still notorious for its floods. Its five heads were probably four of the river’s tributaries plus the mouth of the river. The descent of the goddess may have been inspired by aerial phenomena such as the passage of a large meteor.
Legend:
The villagers were plagued for a period of a thousand-some years by a destructive, five-headed dragon (Gozuryu:五頭竜) that had its lair in a nearby lake. Aware of their suffering, on May 31, 552 AD, the Goddess Benzaiten caused the island of Enoshima to arise from the bottom of the bay to serve as her abode. She then descended onto the island amidst a series of spectacular terrestrial and aerial phenomena. The dragon fell in love with the beautiful goddess and asked her to be his consort. Benzaiten, who was widely known for her persuasive eloquence, rejected the dragon’s proposal and made it understand that it had been doing wrong by plaguing the villagers. Ashamed, the dragon promised to cease its wrongdoing. It then faced south (devotedly facing the island where Benzaiten lived) and changed into a hill. To this day, the hill is known as Dragon’s-Mouth Hill (Japanese: tatsu-no-kuchi yama 龍の口山).
📚 Explore more of the Mystical Creatures series here: Dive into the Enchanted Realms of Mythology
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