The Dragon God

One autumn afternoon, over the deep blue sea at Hyakuna Garan.

A single trail of white cloud stretched across the sky, and in time it traced the graceful form of a dragon.

It brought back something from before this hotel was built. A local shamaness had told us:

“This is the path of the dragon god. Before the ground-breaking rite, you must offer prayers in praise of the dragon god.”

We took her words to heart and held the ceremony. The shamaness nodded deeply and said,

“The dragon god will protect this house and make it prosper.”

I listened half believing, half as if in a dream.

A year later she came again, and smiled. “The dragon god is pleased,” she said. “It is dancing for joy.”

Now, more than ten years on, this dragon of cloud had suddenly appeared before my eyes and brought back the shamaness’s words, long forgotten.

Could it really be that same dragon god?

As I lingered in that strange elation, the white dragon slowly came apart and was carried away on the autumn wind.