All this while I have never given a thought on this question - Dragon has how many toes/claws? I always take it for granted that dragon has five toes - typical human centric thinking :)
I found out today that dragon actually has different number of toes!!!! In general, Chinese dragon has five toes, Korean dragon has four toes and Japanese dragon has three toes. Well, the Chinese dragon has also got four toes and three toes. The 5-toe dragon is an imperial dragon, the 4-toe dragon is for high ranking officials, and the 3-toe dragon is for low ranking officials and public....
There were explanations why dragon never reached Western:
"The Chinese tradition states that dragons originated in China with five toes. As they travelled abroad they lost more toes the further they went from home. This is why Oriental dragons never reached the West - they would have run out of toes."
"The Japanese tradition has a similar story that differs in one important respect: dragons originated in Japan. In this version of the legend, dragons grew more toes as they travelled further from home. Once they reached five toes they found it difficult to walk which is why they never reached the West."
Anyway, happy dragon year..............