Lit. "dragon's gate cascade." One type of cascade *baku 瀑 found in Japanese gardens. Adopted in Japan in the late Kamakura period, this highly symbolic arrangement of stones and water originated in China. According to legend, in the Yellow River (Jp: Kōga 黄河) there was a power waterfall that dropped in three steps making upstream passage impossible for all fish except the mighty carp. If a carp should swim to the top of the waterfall, it would turn into a dragon and ascend to heaven. In keeping with this legend, ryūmonbaku usually feature three levels and at the base of the broadest and lowest cascade is the carp stone *rigyoseki 鯉魚石. In some gardens the carp stone is placed in one of the upper livels to show the carp's upward progress. The earliest examples of the ryūmonbaku are found in the gardens at Tenryūji 天龍寺 and Rokuonji 鹿苑寺, Kyoto.