Most of the dragon characters well-known to ordinary people come from literary works. The most famous ones are "Journey to the West" and "The Romance of the Gods". As expected, all the dragon characters in them have the surname Ao. East Sea Dragon King Ao Guang, South Sea Dragon King Ao Qin, North Sea Dragon King Ao Shun , West Sea Dragon King Ao Run.
When did the Dragon King surname "Ao" originate? The name " The Dragon King of Four Seas " first appeared in the Taoist "Taishang Cave Yuan Divine Mantra Sutra" "Dragon King Pian". The time when this book was written should have been before the Liu Song Dynasty in the late Eastern Jin Dynasty. This book lists the "Five Emperors and Dragon Kings" distinguished by direction, the "Four Seas Dragon Kings" distinguished by ocean, and the 54 names of dragon kings and 62 names of dragon kings distinguished by heaven, earth and all things. It also reveals their supernatural powers and reflects the pan-deified characteristics of the Dragon King. But the surname of the Dragon King was not mentioned.
Before the Song Dynasty, the word "dragon god" was more commonly used, while "dragon king" was more used in the Buddhist field. Song Taizu continued to use the system of sacrificing the Five Dragons in the Tang Dynasty. Song Huizong In the second year of Daguan (1108), the five dragons in the world were granted titles. The Qinglong God is named King Guangren, the Red Dragon God is King Jiaze, the Yellow Dragon God is King Fuying, the White Dragon God is King Yiji, and the Black Dragon God is King Lingze.
It was not until the beginning of the Ming Dynasty that they had their own names. "The Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea of Jade Board" is seen in "The Alone Yuan and Ming Zaju". The date of the book is controversial, one says Yuan Dynasty , and the other says it was in the Ming Dynasty. "The little saint is the son of the Dragon King Ao Guang of the East Sea. It is called Moji. Brothers are Dragon Poison." "The little saint is the Dragon King Ao Run of the South Sea. One of these two is the Dragon King Ao Qin of the West Sea. This one is the Dragon King Ao Shun of the North Sea...."
The Dragon King of the Four Seas finally has a name and its popularity in later generations has been accepted by the public. This drama set the stage for the Dragon King's name and was a watershed in the Dragon King's name. Since then, all dragon clans seem to have their surnames started to have their surnames Ao. Later generations all started to compile the name of the Dragon King based on this. The name of the Dragon King may have changed more than a dozen, but the surname has not changed.
As for why the author of this drama wants to give the surname "Ao" for the Dragon King? Some scholars speculate that it may be taken from the ancient surname "Ao". According to legend, the teacher of Zhuanxu, one of the five ancient emperors, was called Da Ao. His descendants were proud of this and took his name as their surname and were called Ao. There was a place name Aoshan in ancient times, and some local residents took the place name Ao as their surname.
In the original genealogical disc of the Yuan Dynasty "Jinguitang Ao Family Genealogy", Ao Guang, Ao Run, Ao Qin and Ao Shun, the four brothers, Capricorn and Longdu. It is the earliest record of the origin of these names.
"Ao's first family was born from the son of Zhuanxu and the descendants of Lu Zhong, and was named Yuxiong. He was granted the title of Chu for his merits. During the reign of King Ling of Zhou, the second son of King Xuan of Chu was named Ao Ling Jun Shicai. The city was established as Ruizhou, and later he was granted the title of the clan. This is the origin of the surname Ao's clan. It was also passed down to the 17th generation grandson of the Western Jin Dynasty, the fifth generation grandson of the sage. The sage gave birth to the fourth son of Guang, Run, Qin, Shun, Guangsheng's two sons were called Huijie, Longqi, and they first moved to Bailiang, Wanzai..."
This original genealogy preface was written in the Zhizheng year of the Yuan Dynasty, and earlier than the mythological novels such as "Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea" and "Journey to the West" of the Ming Dynasty, which should be about the origin of the Dragon King of the Four Seas.
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