Key Points

- Dragon kings who gave up their evil ways and have dedicated their lives to helping humans reach spiritual enlightenment

- Often appear in human or a hybrid human-serpent form

Brief Bio 

Ryūō are dragon kings from Buddhist cosmology who gave up their evil ways and have dedicated their lives to helping humans reach spiritual enlightenment. Although ryūō are dragons, they are usually depicted in human form or in a hybrid human-serpent form rather than in a traditional dragon form.

The most famous ryūō are the hachidai ryūō—the eight great dragon kings who were present when the Buddha gave the Lotus Sutra and converted to Buddhism.

Japanese dragons are a complex mixture of several cultural traditions. Ryūō are based on the nagaraja—snake kings of Indian mythology—which were adapted into Buddhism. As Buddhism spread from India into East Asia, India’s naga merged with China’s long, and absorbed many aspects of Chinese folklore and religion. In Japan they further mixed with existing Japanese snake and dragon cults. Due to centuries of religious syncretism, dragons with Chinese or Indian origins and those with Japanese origins can be difficult to distinguish. Some came to be viewed as different incarnations of the same being. However, there are also many Shintō and Buddhist dragons which resemble one another yet are considered to be separate individuals.

Source: https://yokai.com/ryuuou/