Mystical

野獸調鍊師 · Beast Tamer — One who makes ferocious beasts into companions

The beast tamer (野獸調鍊師) is a profession making fierce beasts and magical creatures into companions for combat. More than mere hunters, they're animal psychologists who deeply understand creature nature and psychology to build trust relationships, handling regular animals like lions, tigers, bears, hawks, and wolves to magical beasts like griffins, pegasi, and chimeras. In Western fantasy, D&D's Beast Master Ranger, Diablo's Druid, and Final Fantasy XI's Beastmaster are prominent. Japanese works like Monster Hunter present the hunter-fighting-beasts variant. Eastern tradition frequently depicts Taoist immortals or Three Kingdoms heroes commanding fierce tigers. Often portrayed as solitary figures distanced from human society through their bond with animals.

封印師 · Sealer — A guardian of balance who seals danger and confines power

The sealer specializes in sealing away powerful monsters, gods, curses, and forbidden powers. Their primary role is nullification, sealing, and purification rather than attack, making them indispensable when facing ultimate beings like demon kings or ancient gods. Drawing sealing inscriptions or using talismans and barriers to confine targets' power within a defined space. The Eastern martial arts and fantasy Taoist or onmyoji is the prototype, with Japanese manga and anime onmyoji (modeled on Abe no Seimei) being the most familiar image. They can also unleash sealed powers as their own weapons — a double-edged sword carrying the risk of being devoured by the sealed entity if sealing fails.

魔道工學者 · Magitech Engineer — A creator who fuses magic and machinery

The magitech engineer (魔道工學者) is a profession applying magical principles to machines, devices, and structures to create magical implements (magitech). Unlike mages who wield magic directly, magitech engineers build devices that stabilize, store, amplify, and automate magical energy — converting it into tools usable by non-mages. Magic clocks, magic weapons, magic communicators, and magic airships are typical examples. Traditional mages condemn them as heretics 'corrupting the sanctity of magic,' but magitech's advance is unstoppable, becoming the key driver of world technological revolution. Final Fantasy VI (Magitek Warriors), VII (Midgar's Mako technology), and VIII (Esthar's magic city) best implement magitech, and it's also a popular new class in Japanese light novels.

魔劍士 · Magic Swordsman — A rare dual expert who channels magic through the blade

The magic swordsman (魔劍士) is a rare class mastering both swordsmanship and magic. Channeling magic into swords for elemental attacks (flame sword, ice sword, lightning sword) or fighting with magical barriers, it combines the strengths of mages and warriors as a hybrid class. Requiring considerable skill in both, with extremely high learning difficulty, they often lean toward one side — 'enchanted swordsmen' favoring blade or 'sword-wielding mages' favoring magic. Popular in Japanese fantasy through FF series Red Mage and Magic Knight, and Japanese light novels like Magical Warrior Ride. Also established as standard classes in Western RPGs through D&D 5th Edition's Eldritch Knight and Divinity Original Sin's Battle Mage.

魔法師 · Mage / Wizard — A knowledge specialist who probes the principles of magic

The mage is an intellectual combat class researching magical principles and wielding their power. Casting powerful offensive, defensive, and support magic, mages are physically weak and cannot wear armor — requiring companion protection due to spell casting time. Using spellbooks, staves, and orbs as tools, they specialize in elemental magic (fire, ice, lightning), space-time manipulation, illusion, and various other schools. A core class in every fantasy work — Tolkien's Gandalf, Harry Potter's Hogwarts wizards, D&D's Wizard class — often portrayed at extremes: white-bearded sage or dark-robed sorcerer. The maxim 'time is mana' emphasizes the importance of study and training.

精靈師 · Elementalist — A mage who battles alongside nature's elemental spirits

The elementalist forms contracts with elemental spirits or directly wields elements themselves. Unlike summoners, they form equal partnerships with spirits, borrowing their power for extreme elemental magic (fire, water, wind, earth, lightning, light, dark). Usually specializing in one or a few elements, they maintain intimate relationships with multiple spirits of that element (from lesser to elemental kings). Featured in Final Fantasy, Warcraft, Korean fantasy novels, and other Eastern and Western works, especially popular in Korean fantasy where the 'female elementalist' character archetype is established. Paracelsus's four-element theory provides the scholarly foundation.

治癒師 · Healer — The heart of the party who restores life

The healer specializes in healing companions' wounds and purifying status ailments — a support combat class. Though weak in direct combat, they're the absolute key to party survival, forming one pillar of MMORPG's 'tank-dealer-healer' trinity. The source of their power varies — divine magic, nature magic, herbalism, spiritual abilities, or advanced magitech. Classic fantasy depicts the iconic white-robed female priest with staff, with FF's White Mage, WoW's priests and druids, and D&D's Life Cleric being essential classes in every fantasy work. The moral weight of fighting against one's limits in the face of companions' deaths gives the character depth.

召喚士 · Summoner — A commander-type mage who calls forth beings to battle

The summoner calls beings from other dimensions or realms to fight alongside them — a commander-type mage. Rather than fighting directly, they're strategists who direct spirits, demons, angels, magical beasts, and summoned creatures into battle. Social skills, contract negotiation, and leadership matter more than for regular mages, with some dedicating their entire lives to bonding with powerful summons. Final Fantasy summoners (especially FF10's Yuna) are the most popular archetype, with variants in D&D's Conjurer, Diablo's Necromancer, and WoW's Warlock pet system. Even mythology features such figures, as Indra of Indian myth commands the Marut host.

道士 · Taoist — An Eastern sorcerer who commands the world through the principles of the Tao

The Taoist (道士) is a religious practitioner of Taoism, originating from Laozi's Tao Te Ching and Zhuangzi's Zhuangzi. The ultimate goal is realizing the Tao (Way) and the principle of wu wei (non-action, naturalness) to become an immortal (xian). To achieve this they cultivate meditation, breathing techniques (qigong), inner alchemy (neidan), outer alchemy (waidan — alchemical elixir making), herbalism, feng shui, and divination. Merging with Korean shamanism, it became established in forms of geomancy, yin-yang and five elements theory, and astrology. A staple character in East Asian wuxia novels. Ge Hong's Baopuzi and Tao Hongjing's Zhengao are representative Taoist texts; Wudang, Qingcheng, and Longhu mountains are Taoist holy sites. Not merely religious figures but comprehensive scholars of medicine, pharmacology, astronomy, and alchemy, with Taoist alchemy contributing to the invention of gunpowder and firearms.

自然祭司 · Druid — An ancient priest who has become one with nature

The druid is an ancient priest class becoming one with nature and wielding its power. The historical archetype is the scholarly class responsible for religion, law, and education in Celtic societies (Gaul, Britain, Ireland) from the 1st century BCE, recorded in detail in Caesar's Gallic Wars. They held ceremonies in oak groves, taught disciples orally over 20 years, divined the future, and mediated tribal disputes. In fantasy they become a class with animal shapeshifting, nature magic, healing, and elemental summoning — D&D's Druid class, Warcraft's Druids, and Tolkien's Radagast are prominent examples. Strong association with hermits living in forests and wilderness away from cities and civilization.

鍊金術師 · Alchemist — The boundary between science and magic who transforms matter

The alchemist (鍊金術師) is an ancient and medieval scholarly profession pursuing both material transmutation and spiritual perfection. Originating in Alexandria, Egypt in the 3rd century BCE, refined in the Islamic world (8-13th c.), and spreading to Europe. The surface goals were finding the Philosopher's Stone (Lapis Philosophorum) to transmute base metals into gold and the elixir (immortality potion), but the essence was religious-philosophical practice pursuing the universe's secrets and the soul's purification. Newton and Robert Boyle, masters of early modern science, seriously studied alchemy, making it the direct ancestor of chemistry and pharmacy. Historical alchemists include Paracelsus, Nicolas Flamel, and Edward Kelley, and it's a staple motif in modern fantasy through Fullmetal Alchemist and Harry Potter's Hogwarts alchemy classes.

侍女 · Lady-in-Waiting — A Woman Who Attends Noble Ladies

A female attendant who exclusively serves a highborn woman — a queen, princess, or noblewoman. Unlike ordinary servants, ladies-in-waiting are often drawn from noble houses themselves, giving them a unique dual identity as 'a servant who is also a noble.' The number of attendants and the prestige of their houses served as a measure of the mistress's own status. The First Lady-in-Waiting to a queen wielded formidable influence at court.

遊擊手 · Ranger — A tracker who has become one with the wild

The ranger is a tracker, scout, and hunter class master of wilderness and nature. Wielding bow and daggers, often fighting alongside an animal companion (typically wolf, hawk, or bear). Specialized in reading animal tracks and sensing nature's changes, rangers are perfect for wilderness exploration and enemy reconnaissance. Tolkien's Dúnedain rangers led by Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings established the iconic archetype of secret protectors of villages from the wilderness. Featured in every fantasy work in various forms — D&D's Ranger class, Diablo's Demon Hunter — also possessing herbalism and wilderness survival skills as a versatile profession.

幻術師 · Illusionist — A mage who erases the boundary between reality and illusion

The illusionist creates hallucinations and delusions to manipulate enemy perception. Rather than dealing direct damage, they specialize in indirect combat — making enemies attack themselves, hiding allies, or turning space itself into a maze. Magic acting directly on the brain is difficult to resist, with the truly masterful keeping enemies unaware they're under illusion at all. Eastern tradition features them as Taoist or yokai sorcery (the gumiho's illusions are iconic), while Western examples include D&D's Illusionist school and Warcraft's Mage. Contemporary works like Neil Gaiman's Sandman and Naruto's Sasuke and Kakashi feature them as compelling characters.

忍者 · Ninja — A Japanese espionage warrior who fights through darkness and deception

The ninja (忍者) was a specialized warrior group of espionage, assassination, and reconnaissance active during 14-17th century Japan's Sengoku (Warring States) and early Edo period. While samurai were a profession of honor and direct combat, ninja were the opposite — using all unconventional means: disguise, infiltration, poison, traps, gunpowder weapons, and information manipulation. The most famous ninja clans were the two villages of Iga and Kōga, communities isolated in mountains transmitting ninja techniques (ninjutsu) hereditarily. Hattori Hanzō, who helped Tokugawa Ieyasu escape during the Honnō-ji Incident (1582), is the most renowned ninja. During the Tokugawa shogunate they were officially employed as the shogun's intelligence organization 'oniwaban.' Disappearing as a profession with the Meiji Restoration, they have become Japan's most powerful global cultural icon today.

盧恩術師 · Runemaster — A mage who inscribes the laws of the world into ancient script

The runemaster inscribes magical energy onto weapons, armor, or environments using runic letters, creating permanent effects. Slower than traditional spellcasting but uniquely persistent — once carved, runes remain forever even after the caster's death. Norse Odin is the first runemaster, having hung from Yggdrasil (the world tree) for nine days to discover the secret of runes. Rune magic was historically practiced by Vikings and Germanic societies, with many runic inscriptions found on tombstones, swords, and amulets. Warcraft's Death Knight rune system and Diablo 2's Runeword system are prominent gaming implementations.

使用人 — Those Who Serve Noble Households

The servant (下人) was a service class employed in noble, royal, and wealthy households handling all daily chores. Their wide-ranging duties included cleaning, cooking, laundry, errands, childcare, and clothing assistance, living under the same roof as their masters' families yet separated by strict status differences. Victorian-era British great houses had the most elaborate hierarchical system — finely divided into butler, housekeeper, cook, lady's maid, footman, coachman, governess, and nanny, each with distinct responsibilities and rank. Essential personnel in European and Asian noble societies from medieval times through the 19th century, they gradually disappeared through the Industrial Revolution and World Wars. Modern dramas like Downton Abbey and the maid outfit motif have brought this culture back into focus.

巫師 · Shaman — A spirit communicator who traverses between the spirit world and reality

The shaman is a religious intermediary who travels between spirit and physical worlds, communicating with spirits, ancestors, and gods. The name derives from the Tungus 'šamán' of Siberia, but anthropologically the role exists universally across all continents in primitive religions — Siberian, Mongolian, Native American, African tribal, Korean mudang — varying in form but identical in essence. They enter trance states (possession) during rituals to receive spirits for prophecy and healing. In fantasy they become a class using totems, rituals, and spirit summoning — Warcraft's Shaman class and D&D's Shaman are prominent examples. Korean mudang are the same lineage as religious specialists for gut rituals, divination, and healing.

巫女 · Shrine Maiden — The Sacred Woman Who Bridges God and Humanity

The shrine maiden (巫女, miko) is a sacred female position in Japanese Shinto shrines connecting gods and humans. The image of white tops (hakui) and crimson hakama (orange long skirts) is Shinto's most iconic, with miko handling shrine rites, cleaning, prayer, oracle transmission, and traditional dance (kagura). Originally in ancient times, miko were powerful religious intermediaries receiving divine oracles, but their role was reduced to auxiliary functions after the Meiji era. The most famous miko was Queen Himiko of Yamatai (3rd c.), a theocratic ruler holding both religious and political authority. Ame-no-Uzume of Shinto myth (the first heavenly miko) is the miko archetype. In Japanese manga and anime they often appear as black-haired pure beauties — Inuyasha's Kikyō and Demon Slayer's Aoi being examples.

賢者 · Sage — One who stands at the end of all knowledge

The sage is the highest intellectual class master of magic, combat, history, science, and all fields. Not a specialist but the ultimate generalist — the realm reached in old age after a lifetime dedicated to pursuing knowledge. A single piece of sage advice can change a kingdom's fate, and having one sage in a demon king-defeating party completely changes strategy. FF's Sage, Dragon Quest's sage class, and D&D's human sage are prominent examples, popularized through the white-bearded elder image of Tolkien's Gandalf and Harry Potter's Dumbledore. Not just scholars but versatile classes with combat ability, often appearing as powerful late-game companions in RPGs.

占術師 · Oracle — The heavy eyes of one who sees the future

The oracle is a religious intermediary interpreting the will of gods, spirits, and fate through divination to convey to people. Originally 'oracle' meant a priest or priestess delivering divine messages (神託) at Greek temples — the most famous being the Pythia, priestess of Apollo at Delphi, who guided all major decisions of the Greek world for 1,000 years through Apollo's oracles. Eastern traditions feature Korean mudang, Japanese miko, and Chinese taoists in the same role, using diverse divination tools like oracle bones, I Ching, four pillars, and tarot. Not mere future prediction but interpreters between gods and humans, distinctively delivering oracles in ambiguous metaphors, poems, or dreams so listeners discover meaning themselves. Even Alexander the Great consulted oracles for conquest decisions.

聖女 · Saint / Holy Maiden — The Highest Religious Woman, Blessed by the Divine

The saint (聖女, female holy figure) is a religious woman recognized as holy through divine grace. Over 1,000 women have been formally canonized in Catholicism through the canonization process — not mere nuns but exalted as the church's spiritual exemplars through miracles, martyrdom, devoted love, and religious insight. The most famous examples include Joan of Arc (15th c. France, who heard divine voices to become a Hundred Years' War hero), Teresa of Ávila (16th c. Spain, essence of mystical theology), and Mother Teresa (20th c. India, slum service). Eastern traditions feature mudang and Buddhist nuns in similar status, with Japan's Shinto saiō being imperial princess-saints who served Ise Grand Shrine. In fantasy they appear as sacred female characters with light magic and healing abilities.

時間術師 · Chronomancer — The forbidden extreme of one who wields time itself as a weapon

The chronomancer manipulates the flow of time — an extremely rare magical class. Wielding slowdown, acceleration, rewind, and stop magic, theoretically the most powerful class, but time magic's side effects — paradoxes, parallel world fractures, self-erasure — are severe enough that most magic schools forbid or seal it. The name combines Greek 'chronos' (time) and 'manteia' (divination), originally meaning time divination. Late D&D editions' Chronomancer, FF's Time Mages, and Dissidia's Ulrien are prominent examples, with modern SF films like Looper and Tenet featuring time manipulators. A single chronomancer can change the outcome of war, making them objects of fear.

祭司長 · High Priest — The highest religious authority who bridges gods and humanity

The high priest (祭司長) is the supreme religious leader of a religion, overseeing all rites and theology of temples and churches. Not merely a priest but a comprehensive leader controlling the religious community's politics, education, and finance, with power rivaling kings in ancient societies where religion and politics were inseparable. The most famous historical example is the High Priest of ancient Israel (Cohen Gadol of the Jerusalem Temple), the only person who could enter the Holy of Holies once a year before Yahweh. They existed in all ancient civilizations — High Priests of Amun in Egypt, Delphi in Greece, and Inca and Mayan priest-kings — and the prototype continues today through the Pope of Catholicism, Dalai Lama of Tibetan Buddhism, and Grand Shrine Priests of Shinto.

English Folk Marsh Spirit

The Will-o'-the-Wisp (English Will-o'-the-Wisp) is the most decisive canonical iconographic spirit of the will-o'-the-wisp (ignis fatuus) of English folklore. The etymology is the English Will of the Wisp ('Will holding a wisp torch'), first attested in English in 1607 — the decisive canonical vocabulary. It appears in marshes, wetlands, and moors at night as a small flickering blue or yellow flame — receding when approached and approaching when receded — luring lost travellers into the marsh to their death — the decisive canonical iconography. The decisive etymological canon is the decisive legend that the evil blacksmith Will (Smith Will) of 16th-century England, rejected from both heaven and hell after death, carries a wisp torch with coal given by the devil and wanders the marshes forever, and the decisive literary canon is line 104 of the twin poem L'Allegro (L'Allegro) of the British poet John Milton (John Milton, 1608-1674) of 1631 — 'led by the Friar's Lantern' — and the fairy tale The Will-o'-the-Wisps Are in Town, Said the Marsh Woman (Lygtemaendene ere i Byen, sagde Mosekonen) of the Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen (Hans Christian Andersen, 1805-1875) published in Copenhagen, Denmark on 7 April 1845 — the decisive Andersen fairy-tale canon. The decisive 21st-century film canon is the Pixar (Pixar) animated film Brave (Brave) released in the USA on 22 June 2012 — in which blue Will-o'-the-Wisps lead the Scottish princess Merida to her fate — the decisive global film canon.

Wife of a Baron or Female Baron

Baroness is a European noble title referring either to the wife of a Baron or to a woman holding the baronial rank in her own right. Formed by adding the feminine '-ess' suffix to Baron, the title became established in England after the 11th-century Norman Conquest. There are two distinct types: Baroness consort (by marriage) and Baroness in her own right (by inheritance or grant). Victorian-era reforms allowed women to hold titles independently, and modern UK life peerages have created many female barons. Margaret Thatcher (Baroness Thatcher) is a notable example.

令愛 · Young Lady — The Unmarried Daughter of a Noble House

An honorific for the unmarried daughter of a noble household. 'Young Lady' (令愛) originally means 'your precious daughter' — a respectful term used when referring to another's daughter. It is the most frequently appearing female status in romance fantasy, used alongside the family's title as in 'the Young Lady of Baron House' or 'the Young Lady of Duke House.' A young lady's social standing depends entirely on her father's rank, and it is also a provisional status that lasts only until marriage.

子爵 · Viscount — The Middle Noble Between Count and Baron

The viscount is a middle noble title in the European feudal system positioned between count and baron. The etymology comes from Latin 'vicecomes' (vice-count), originally meaning 'count's deputy' — the vassal who handled administration on the count's behalf when the count governed distant estates. First appearing in 9th-century Carolingian France and introduced to England through the 11th-century Norman Conquest, it gradually became an independent title. England's first formal viscount was John Beaumont, Viscount Beaumont in 1440, and approximately 270 viscount families currently exist. Their flexible position between count and baron allowed marriages and alliances with both classes. Titles vary: English 'Viscount,' French 'Vicomte,' Italian 'Visconte,' German 'Burggraf.' A staple character class in Victorian English literature, including Bingley and Darcy types in Pride and Prejudice.

Phoenix · Firebird — Legendary bird reborn from flames

The Phoenix (Greek Phoinix, Latin Phoenix) is the immortal bird of ancient Egyptian and Greco-Roman myth. At the end of a 500-year life (or, in alternative reckonings, the 1461-year Egyptian Great Year), it builds a nest of frankincense, cinnamon, and myrrh, sets itself alight upon it, and is reborn from its own ashes as a new young phoenix. The earliest Greek literary reference is in Herodotus, Histories II.73 (fifth century BCE), where the bird is associated with Heliopolis in Egypt; the bird's true root is the Egyptian Bennu, sacred to the sun god Ra at Heliopolis, a grey heron figured as the soul of Ra and the embodiment of the first light of creation. From Greco-Roman tradition the figure was taken up in 1 Clement 25, c. 96 CE, where the early Christian author cites the phoenix as a natural proof of the resurrection of Christ, and from there it became a standard image of Christian iconography. The Chinese fenghuang, Slavic Zhar-Ptitsa, and Persian Simurgh are distinct in origin but were later compared and conflated with the phoenix in nineteenth-century comparative mythology.

Naga · Serpent People — Mythical half-human, half-serpent beings

The Naga (Sanskrit nāga, 'serpent') is a semi-divine serpent-being of Indian and Southeast Asian mythology, depicted as a human-cobra hybrid: human torso above, vast coiled serpent body below, often crowned with multiple hoods. Nagas guard rivers, lakes, wells, and the subterranean realm of Patala, summon monsoon rains, and hoard treasure in jewel-encrusted underground palaces. In Hinduism, Vishnu sleeps on the cosmic serpent Shesha amid the milk-ocean; Shiva wears Vasuki coiled around his neck. In Buddhism, the naga-king Mucalinda sheltered the freshly enlightened Buddha for seven days beneath his seven hoods. In Jainism, the twenty-third Tirthankara Parshvanatha is always depicted with a seven-headed naga halo. Across Cambodia, Thailand, and Laos, multi-headed naga balustrades flank every temple stairway, and Angkor Wat's seven- and nine-headed naga causeways link the human and divine realms.

Sphinx · Guardian of Riddles — Hybrid of Human and Lion

The Sphinx (Greek Sphinx, Egyptian shesep-ankh) is a mythic composite of human head and lion body, developed in two parallel traditions. The Egyptian Sphinx, usually a wingless male with the head of a pharaoh, served as guardian of temples and tombs, exemplified by the Great Sphinx of Giza (73 m long, 20 m high), carved from a single limestone outcrop in the reign of Khafre around 2530 BCE. The Greek Sphinx, by contrast, is a winged female with a savage temper who took her station outside Thebes in Boeotia and devoured travellers who could not answer her riddle. When Oedipus solved her riddle, 'What walks on four legs at dawn, two at noon, and three at evening?', answering 'Man', the Sphinx hurled herself from her cliff. From this Egyptian-Greek synthesis the Sphinx became the archetype of the guardian-tester: wisdom and threat, protection and danger, fused in a single hybrid body.

Lightning Lord of the Desert

The Blue Dragon is one of the five chromatic (evil) dragons in Dungeons & Dragons, introduced in the 1974 original boxed set by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson and locked to Lawful Evil alignment from the 1977 AD&D Monster Manual onward. It is recognised by its azure scales and the single massive horn rising from its snout, and it exhales a 60-foot line of lightning rated at 12d10 damage in the 2014 fifth-edition Monster Manual. Among the chromatic dragons it is the most territorial and methodical, ruling desert tribes and nomadic peoples through hallucinations, mirages and divine impersonation in canon supplements from AD&D through fifth edition. The same creature appears in Mike Carr's 'In Search of the Unknown' (1979), the Dragonlance Chronicles by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis, and the desert encounters of Baldur's Gate 3 (2023) with consistent silhouette and lore.

The Divine Dragon of Korean Myth

The Korean yong is the indigenous Korean dragon, a benevolent water-deity occupying a distinct position within the East-Asian dragon tradition. It is depicted with a long serpentine body, the branched antlers of a deer, the scales of a carp, the talons of a hawk, the soles of a tiger and — most decisively — four toes on each foot, which mark Korea's rank between the five-toed Chinese imperial long and the three-toed Japanese ryu. The earliest extant records are the dragon-deity passages of Iryeon's 'Samguk Yusa' (1281), book I 'Strange Affairs', particularly the entries on Dongmyeong, King Suro and King Munmu, and the dragon iconography on the Baekje and Silla roof-tile-ends of the fifth and sixth centuries. In Korean myth, the yong is the form an imugi attains after a millennium of practice when it finally wins the wish-fulfilling pearl (yeouiju). The image runs through the royal dragon robe (gollyongpo) of King Jeongjo (reigned 1776-1800, National Palace Museum of Korea) and the twin golden dragons on the throne ceiling of the Geunjeongjeon hall of Gyeongbokgung Palace (founded 1395, rebuilt 1865) and is the antithesis of the malevolent Western dragon — fundamentally good, generous and bound to bring rain to the fields.

The Sea Dragon of Japanese Myth

The Ryū is the Japanese dragon, descended from the Chinese long imported via Buddhism in the sixth century and fused with native serpent and water cults. The most visible mark of its lower rank in the East-Asian dragon hierarchy is the three-toed foot, contrasted with the five-toed Chinese imperial dragon and the four-toed Korean dragon. The most celebrated ryū in the corpus is Yamata-no-Orochi, the eight-headed, eight-tailed serpent recorded in the Kojiki (712, compiled by Ō no Yasumaro) and the Nihon Shoki (720), defeated by the storm god Susanoo-no-Mikoto after being made drunk on rice wine; from its tail emerged the sword Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, one of the three imperial regalia. The dragon king Ryūjin commands sea and storm and reigns over Ryūgū-jō, the undersea palace to which the fisherman Urashima Tarō is led. The ryū is a fixture of temple and shrine ceiling paintings — most famously Kanō Tan'yū's 'Naki-Ryū' (1640s) at Nikkō Tōshō-gū — and of ukiyo-e prints such as Hokusai's 'Hundred Views of Mount Fuji' (1834).