"The water of the Ho sent forth a dragon horse on its back there was curly hair, like a map of starry dots", says the Yijing commentary, "The water of the Lo sent forth a divine tortoise on its back there were riven veins, like writing of character pictures." Hetu 河圖 is alternately named longtu 龍圖 and matu 馬圖, with "dragon" and "horse". The Yellow River brought forth a map and the Lo River brought forth a writing the holy men took these as models. In the heavens hang images that reveal good fortune and misfortune the holy sage reproduces these. Heaven and earth change and transform the holy sage imitates them. Heaven creates divine things the holy sage takes them as models. "The Great Treatise" commentary to the Yijing explains. They are traditionally linked with prehistoric Chinese rulers, a longma revealed the Hetu to Fu Xi or Shun, and the shell of a gui 龜 "tortoise" revealed the Luoshu to Yu. The most famous longma occurrences are connected with the mythical Hetu 河圖 " Yellow River chart", which along with the Luoshu 洛書 " Luo River writing Lo Shu Square" are ancient magic square arrangements of the Bagua "8 Trigrams" and Wuxing "5 Phases". Many Chinese classic texts refer to the longma "dragon horse". See Visser for details about the dragon-horse in Japan. Ryōma is commonly used as a Japanese name, for instance Sakamoto Ryōma. Ryūma refers to the legendary Chinese "dragon horse" and the name of a chess piece in shogi (translated "promoted bishop", also pronounced ryūme). The Japanese loanword ryūma or ryōma 龍馬 (simplified 竜馬) has several meanings. This "steed" refers to Tang Sanzang's famous bailongma 白龍馬 "white dragon horse". Indeed, all wonderful horses, such as the steed of the pious Hsüan-tsang which, in later legend, carried the sacred scriptures from India, were avatars of dragons, and in antiquity the tallest horse owned by the Chinese were called simply "dragons". A revered myth proclaimed him a relative of the dragon, akin to the mysterious powers of water. He was invested with sanctity by ancient tradition, endowed with prodigious qualities, and visibly stamped with the marks of his divine origin. Still, this patrician animal owed his unique status to more than his usefulness to the lords of the land. Schafer describes the horse's "tremendous importance" to Tang Dynasty rulers for military tactics, diplomatic policy, and aristocratic privilege. The Han Dynasty scholar Wang Fu says, "The people paint the dragon's shape with a horse's head and a snake's tail(世俗畫龍之象,馬頭蛇尾。)." Įdward H. Horses up to 8 feet tall are called long 龍 "dragon", those up to 7 feet are called lai 騋, and those up to 6 feet are called ma 馬 "horse". An early example comes from the Zhouli " Rites of Zhou" ( 夏官司馬), which differentiates names for horses of different heights, measured in the chi 尺 "Chinese foot" (historically around 23–33 centimeters, see Chinese units of measurement). Longma interconnects traditional Chinese beliefs about dragons and horses. In addition to naming the mythic creature, longma 龍馬 "dragon horse" can refer to an eminent person, such as in the four-character idiom longma jingshen 龍馬精神 ("vigorous spirit in old age"). "river horse") " hippopotamus" and haima 海馬 ( lit. The Chinese word longma combines long 龍 " dragon" and ma 馬 " horse".
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