Fuku-Riu

Origins:

    No one knows where these guys officially originated from or when they started to pop up.  They were first spotted in various temples in rural China before rapidly spreading to neighboring countries such as Korea, India, Thailand, and Japan.  They were thought to bring good fortune, prosperity, and health and became welcome companions to the monks and inhabitants of various temples.  They were quite rare and a bit shy, making them hard to tame and many thought of them just as little spirits or myths.  It wasn't until much later that a small population was successfully tamed in Japan and they were given an official name, Fuku-Riu, after the Dragon Deity of good fortune.  

    While Fuku-Riu may still pop up in the wild, they are extremely flighty and prefer to hide in temples with rare human interaction.  Most modern Fukus are descendants of the original group that were tamed in Japan.