Kiyo
Also called Kiyohime.
Kiyo is a woman of Japanese Buddhist legend whose love for a priest curdled into vengeance, transforming her into a fire-breathing dragon who destroyed the temple bell he hid beneath.
At a glance
- Tradition
- Japanese folkloreBuddhist mythology
- Region
- Japan (place of origin)
- Trait family
- The Monstrous Broods
- Symbols
- Dragon
Near this figure
Symbols
Judged against the description by a model. Meanings are our own paraphrase.
- Dragon is image-domain The dragon denotes chaotic instinctual power, guardian of hoarded treasure and fertility, destructive in the West and, in China, the beneficent waterlike way of things.
why
Kiyo is a woman of Japanese Buddhist legend whose love for a priest curdled into vengeance, transforming her into a fire-breathing dragon who destroyed the temple bell he hid beneath.
Traits
Read from the figure's description, which a model wrote. Open "why" for the sentence a trait came from.
Form
- Serpentine elongated body
why
she coils around the bell
- Shapeshifts human animal
why
Transformed into a dragon capable of breathing fire, Kiyo pursues the priest to his monastery, where he attempts to hide from her beneath the temple's great bell, a massive object described as inches thick and weighing several tons.
Behaviour
- Transformation driven by womans rage and vengeance
why
Kiyo's reaction to this abandonment is the story's turning point: her love curdles into fury, and she is said to have sought out forbidden magical knowledge, in some tellings specifically at the temple of Kompira, in order to gain the power to pursue him.
Offensive powers
- Fire-breathing
why
The concealment fails; Kiyo is not fooled, and she coils around the bell and unleashes a blast of dragon-fire that melts the metal and kills the priest hidden within.
- Vengeful pursuit
why
Transformed into a dragon capable of breathing fire, Kiyo pursues the priest to his monastery, where he attempts to hide from her beneath the temple's great bell, a massive object described as inches thick and weighing several tons.
Utility powers
- Shapeshifting
why
Transformed into a dragon capable of breathing fire, Kiyo pursues the priest to his monastery, where he attempts to hide from her beneath the temple's great bell, a massive object described as inches thick and weighing several tons.
Roles
Judged from the works' own entries, not from the description. Carries: the figure holds the role. Meets: the role is in its stories, held by something it meets.
- Anima carries both readings
3 citations
- Carol Rose, Giants, Monsters, and Dragons, s.v. "Kiyo."
- F. Hadland Davis, Myths and Legends of Japan, p. 144.
- Theresa Bane, Encyclopedia of Beasts and Monsters in Myth, Legend and Folklore, s.v. "Kiyo."
- Shadow carries both readings
3 citations
- Carol Rose, Giants, Monsters, and Dragons, s.v. "Kiyo."
- F. Hadland Davis, Myths and Legends of Japan, p. 144.
- Theresa Bane, Encyclopedia of Beasts and Monsters in Myth, Legend and Folklore, s.v. "Kiyo."