The Research Of Dragon Pattern In Sui And Tang Dynasties

The dragon being treated as the symbol of spirit of China, normally, it supposed thatit originate in Neolithic Age, till Warring States Period, the image of dragon becamestability, in history, the meaning became enrichment and systematic. After the turbulentand integration situation of Wei-Jin and the Northern and Southern Dynasties in threecenturies, Sui and Tang Dynasties situated in this period of the country re-unity, with thedevelopment of the times, the prosperity of Buddhism and the influence of many foreignculture, although the image of dragon inherit the tradition from Han Dynasties, peoplefind new factor in concept of dragon.This article aimed at the analyze of Sui and Tang dragon pattern in both decorativematerial and literature, in order to find the formal source and meaning in that period. Thearticle make a periodization research in Sui and Tang dragon pattern, and give a summaryof development rule. In the article, the writer analyze the situation of dragon pattern, italso means analyze the meaning of dragon pattern in using dispositional relation ofdragon pattern. Finding the dragon and tiger configuration inherit the Four Saints of HanDynasty, this concept penetrate the whole Tang Dynasty and influence offspring. Theorientation of dragon and tiger has three types, clockwise direction, counterclockwisedirection and symmetry-step forward, the coffin chamber of Tang Dynasty show thecontradiction between clockwise direction of Four Saints in epitaph andcounterclockwise direction of Four Saint in mural frescos, this contradiction alsoappeared in the four directions underground and four directions in the sky. Theconfiguration of double invert dragon is start from the late Eastern Han Dynasty to theWestern Jin Dynasty, it flourished from Northern Wei Dynasty to the Northern Qi Dynasty, and disappear after the prosperous Tang Dynasty, the double invert dragon oftenused in Buddhism statues. This image in the situation of decline and disappearance ofTang Dynasty, but in the image of double dragon from the Han Dynasty to the TangDynasty, its meaning didn’t make a clear in dragon-tiger and double-dragon, inBuddhism, the decoration of image of invert dragon is out of the dragon-tiger of HanDynasty. The direction of image is invert, because the running double dragon and uprightmain statue must in identical plane, as this reason, the front of double dragon must faceto the up or down of main statue, the image often make the legendary phoenix bird indown, this means this kind of image is very popular in period. Otherwise, the spirit ofdragon and the importance for people show the relationship in dragon and water, becauseof this the dragon appear with different kinds in metaphor the culture phenomenon. Inliterary sketches of the Tang Dynasty, the novel always use dragon image, and the imagewas influenced by foreign culture.