Longwang (the Dragon Kings) vs Ryujin

The dragon kings who rule the waters and send the rain, most famously the Dragon Kings of the Four Seas led by Ao Guang of the Eastern Sea. They govern as officials of the heavenly bureaucracy under the Jade Emperor, and their temples stood in villages across China wherever farmers prayed for rain.

The Dragon Kings grew from the ancient Chinese association of dragons with water and rain, combined after the arrival of Buddhism with the naga kings of Indian scripture. Popular religion made them officials appointed by the Jade Emperor over each body of water.

The belief that dragons control water and rain is ancient in China. With the arrival of Buddhism, the Indian naga kings of the sutras, serpent rulers of underwater palaces, merged with native dragon lore to produce the Dragon King (Longwang). By late imperial times every sea, river, lake, and well could have its dragon king, and the most prominent were the four kings of the Eastern, Southern, Western, and Northern Seas.

Dragon god of the sea who dwells in an underwater palace made of red and white coral. Ruler of all sea creatures and controller of the tides through his magical tide jewels.

Ryujin emerged as a kami of the ocean depths in early Shinto belief. According to the **Kojiki**, he is the father of **Toyotama-hime**, who married the hunter Hoori and became grandmother to Japan's first emperor Jimmu. His coral palace **Ryugu-jo** lies beneath the waves, where time flows differently than on land.

**Ryujin** (also called Watatsumi) is the dragon deity who rules the ocean from his magnificent coral palace **Ryugu-jo** beneath the waves. He commands all sea creatures—fish, turtles, jellyfish, and other marine life serve as his messengers and attendants. His kingdom exists in a realm where time moves differently; what seems like days underwater may be centuries on the surface.