At http://heritageofjapan.wordpress.com/2013/08/25/origins-of-dragon-blood-… … Cinnabar, a powdered mineral pigment, is also known as 'Dragon's Blood'. Now, if dragons were seen to emit red dust, as in a passing comet, might the origins of the worldwide search for red ochre and cinnabar derive from something seen in the sky, globally. The blog author here has the tendency to trace everything in Japanese history from outside of Japan which is unfortunate, especially when he goes so far as to think in terms of Indo Iranian origins of Japanese traditions. In other words, his search for origins are restricted only to things he has read about – or put two and two together. Red ferrous dust was a distinct feature of Velikovsky's Worlds in Collision and comets over the years have been seen to emit large amounts of red material. It seems thye Japanese have a variant on the same theme.
Cinnabar was highly regarded because of its connection with volcanic or hot springs locations, and cinnabar use in Japan, or that of red oxide ores in general, actually goes back all the way to the Ice Age and the Early Jomon period. Cinnabar became very common in Late Jomon. It is also evident at Catal Hyuk (in Turkey) between 8000-7000BC, in the Balkans (Vinca) between 4000-3500BC, and in Mesoamerica and South America too.