M thus: "The Sun with the Three-legged Crow that inhabits it, the Moon with its Hare[2] and Cassia-tree, the…
- Date of account
- Traditional material presented in a work published 1913
- Source
- Myths & Legends of Japan
- Reference
- Myths & Legends of Japan · selected passage 86
- Rights
- public_domain
- Language
- English retelling of Japanese traditions
- Translation
- F. Hadland Davis
- Record updated
- 2026-08-24
Record summary
m thus: "The Sun with the Three-legged Crow that inhabits it, the Moon with its Hare[2] and Cassia-tree, the Red Bird representing the seven constellations of the southern quarter of the zodiac, the Dark Warrior (a Tortoise) embracing the seven northern constellations, the Azure Dragon embracing the seven eastern, the …
Published source text
Read the available text below. Archive transcriptions may contain OCR errors; later context is labelled separately. A recorded claim is not a finding that it happened.
Source passage
Source text · mention onlym thus: "The Sun with the Three-legged Crow that inhabits it, the Moon with its Hare[2] and Cassia-tree, the Red Bird representing the seven constellations of the southern quarter of the zodiac, the Dark Warrior (a Tortoise) embracing the seven northern constellations, the Azure Dragon embracing the seven eastern, the White Tiger embracing the seven western, and a seventh banner representing the Northern Bushel (Great Bear)." The Chinese banners depicting the sun and moon were particularly noteworthy, because the sun represented the Emperor's elder brother and the moon his sister. In the seventh century the Japanese adopted these banners; but as time went on they dropped many of the quaint astrological designs so dear to the heart of the Chinese. When in 1859 a national flag became necessary the sun banner pure and simple was adopted; but a plain orb without rays was not sufficient, and a more elaborate design was executed--the sixteen-petalled chrysanthemum. We can only conjecture the connection between the sun and the chrysanthemum.
Historical context
Contextual commentary · mention onlyThis is a passage from a historical religious or interpretive text. Its genre, manuscript history, translation and place within its own tradition are part of the evidence and must remain visible.
Modern context
Contextual commentary · mention onlyLattice can compare the passage's descriptive features with later reports, but resemblance does not turn a vision, angel, mythic creature or sacred narrative into a modern incident report.
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