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Motif · motif_dragon

Dragon

A mythological serpentine creature, not a real animal; categorised under animal because that is how the fetched trade sources group it. Its two edges come from completely unrelated domains - a Japanese symbol list and a British naval service record - which is the cleanest illustration in this batch that a motif's meaning is a property of a context, not of the shape.
Attested
Medium confidenceresearched

2 attested · 4 promoted2 sources · T1

What the research says

motifs_seed
Category
animal
Variants
Japanese dragon; coiled dragon; dragon head
Common themes
mythology and folklore; maritime
Cultural flags
Japanese living tradition; routed to T11.10. The motif node is registered, the tradition is not.
Composition behaviors
wrap around a limb; long S-curve across a back panel

Provenance

2 resolved

  • Japanese tattoo: a brief history and symbol meanings (opens in a new tab)

    Tier 2

    iNKPPL Tattoo Magazine

    Tattoo magazine style guide whose symbol list is the densest single-page motif-meaning evidence found for this batch. Verbatim: "Dragons, as symbols of wisdom and self-assurance, carp symbolizing courage, tigers as symbols of fearlessness, snakes as symbols of protection from misfortune and illness, peonies as symbols of wealth and prosperity, cherry blossoms as symbols of a warrior's short life and fleeting youth". Its bullet list adds "Koi carp swimming upstream - represents resilience and invincibility", "Tiger - symbolizes fearlessness", "Peony - represents life success", "Sakura (cherry blossom) - symbolizes sacrifice and obedience" and "Rat - represents fertility". IMPORTANT LIMIT: every claim here is JAPANESE-CONTEXT and describes a living tradition; each edge drawn from it is scoped to that context and flagged, and the tradition itself is T11.10's, not a motif node's.

    industry source · retrieved 2026-08-29

  • Facts about tattoos (opens in a new tab)

    Tier 1

    Royal Museums Greenwich

    National Maritime Museum page. Verbatim: the word 'tattoo' is "derived from the Tahitian word 'tatau', meaning to mark"; a pig and a rooster tattooed on the feet were "said to protect a seaman from drowning"; a full-rigged ship, an anchor, a dragon and a shellback turtle each record a specific voyage or crossing. Establishes protective (apotropaic) intent inside the tattoo domain.

    museum · retrieved 2026-08-28

Related concepts

6 links

Associated with · 2

  • → outgoingMythology and FolkloreThemeThin
    strength 0.50promoted · not an independent attestationresearched

    Promoted from motifs_seed.common_themes of motif_dragon ('mythology and folklore'). Provenance inherited from the parent row(s): source_inkppl_japanese_style; source_rmg_tattoo_facts; the first is carried in source_id. No new fact: this edge restates a value already present in the corpus. STRENGTH 0.5 set by the T11.11c rule: this pairing is asserted by ONE parent row's association column and by no second row; the pack's scale reads 0.5 as 'context-dependent'. Inputs are corpus counts only - no source count, tier or confidence is used.

  • → outgoingMaritimeThemeThin
    strength 0.50promoted · not an independent attestationresearched

    Promoted from motifs_seed.common_themes of motif_dragon ('maritime'). Provenance inherited from the parent row(s): source_inkppl_japanese_style; source_rmg_tattoo_facts; the first is carried in source_id. No new fact: this edge restates a value already present in the corpus. STRENGTH 0.5 set by the T11.11c rule: this pairing is asserted by ONE parent row's association column and by no second row; the pack's scale reads 0.5 as 'context-dependent'. Inputs are corpus counts only - no source count, tier or confidence is used.

Can symbolize · 2

  • → outgoingWisdomSymbolThin
    strength 0.50needs cultural review

    JAPANESE CONTEXT ONLY: "Dragons, as symbols of wisdom and self-assurance". Flagged; the tradition is T11.10's.

  • → outgoingService on a China StationSymbolThin
    strength 0.75researched

    BRITISH NAVAL CONTEXT, entirely unrelated to the Japanese edge above. National Maritime Museum, verbatim: "A dragon denotes that the bearer has served on a China station". The same drawn shape, two meanings that share nothing.

Supports composition · 2

  • → outgoingWrapCompositionThin
    strength unstatedpromoted · not an independent attestationresearched

    Promoted from motifs_seed.composition_behaviors of motif_dragon ('wrap around a limb') [class EC]. Source is the supporting concept, target the composition, mirroring placement_supports. Provenance inherited from the parent row(s): source_inkppl_japanese_style; source_rmg_tattoo_facts; the first is carried in source_id. No new fact: this edge restates a value already present in the corpus.

  • → outgoingBody FlowCompositionThin
    strength unstatedpromoted · not an independent attestationresearched

    Promoted from motifs_seed.composition_behaviors of motif_dragon ('long S-curve across a back panel') [class EC]. Source is the supporting concept, target the composition, mirroring placement_supports. Provenance inherited from the parent row(s): source_inkppl_japanese_style; source_rmg_tattoo_facts; the first is carried in source_id. No new fact: this edge restates a value already present in the corpus.