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Japanese

Raijin

the thunder-drummer, ringed in beating skins

air

Raijin circles the sky with a ring of drums, and every strike he sounds becomes a bolt of lightning; to dream of him is to feel the loud, sudden power that clears a heavy air and leaves the world washed and startled awake.

Fragments

Wild-haired and grinning, he rides the black clouds with his mallets whirling, and children hide their navels lest the thunder-demon snatch them away.

When the drought cracks the fields, farmers pray for his temper to break, for his anger falls as rain and his laughter feeds the rice.

thunderdrumslightningfuryawakening
Meet it in the dream →