Jawnomicon

O Goncho

Also called White Dragon of Ukisima, O-gon-cho.

O Goncho is the white dragon of a Japanese pond that rises once in fifty years as a golden bird, its cry heard as a warning of famine and disease to come.

At a glance

Tradition
Japanese folklore
Region
Japan (place of origin)
Trait family
The Water-Beckoners
Symbols
Dragon

Near this figure

Symbols

Judged against the description by a model. Meanings are our own paraphrase.

Traits

Read from the figure's description, which a model wrote. Open "why" for the sentence a trait came from.

Form

Behaviour

  • Bound to specific body of water
    why

    O Goncho is a dragon associated with a pond in Japanese tradition, white in its serpent form and dwelling in the water.

Omens

  • Portent of disaster
    why

    Its appearance is understood to precede famine, disease and other general calamity, which places the creature among the many portent beings whose significance lies in timing rather than in any action they take.

Utility powers

  • Shapeshifting
    why

    At intervals given as fifty years it rises transformed into a golden bird, and the sound it makes on those occasions is described as resembling the howl of a wolf — an unusual comparison for a bird, and the detail that most fixes the account. The cry is an omen.

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.