Note 52 — Chapter XVII · Culture Mixing in Japan
Reading edition
Although it is customary to regard the coloured guardians of the Japanese world as of Buddhist origin, it may well be that the original Japanese guardians were substituted by the Hindu and Chinese divinities imported by the Buddhists. The dragon-gods of China and Japan were pre-Buddhistic, as De Visser has shown,52 but were given, in addition to their original attributes, those of the naga (serpent or dragon) gods introduced by Buddhist priests.