Zhu Bajie(豬八戒)
Alternative Names (異名):
豬八戒, 猪八戒, Zhū Bājiè (pinyin), Zhu Bajie
Zhu Bajie (traditional Chinese: 豬八戒; simplified Chinese: 猪八戒; pinyin: Zhū Bājiè; Wade-Giles: Chu Pa-chieh; Sino-Vietnamese: Trư Bát Giới; Japanese: Cho Hakkai; Thai: Teu Poi Gai), also named Zhu Wuneng (Han-Vietnamese: Trư Ngộ Năng; Japanese: Cho Gonō; traditional Chinese: 豬悟能; simplified Chinese: 猪悟能; pinyin: Zhū Wùnéng; Wade-Giles: Chu Wu-neng), is one of the three helpers of Xuanzang in the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West. He is called "Pigsy" or "Pig" in many English versions of the story.
Zhu Bajie is a complex and developed character in the novel. He looks like a terrible monster, part human and part pig, who often gets himself and his companions into trouble by his laziness, his gluttony, and his propensity for lusting after pretty women. He is jealous of Wukong and always tries to bring him down. His Buddhist name "Zhu Wuneng", given by bodhisattva Guanyin, means "pig (reincarnate) who is aware of ability, or pig who rises to power", a reference to the fact that he values himself so much as to forget his own grisly appearance. Xuanzang gave him the nickname Bājiè which means "eight restraints, or eight commandments" to remind him of his Buddhist diet. He is often seen as the most outgoing of the group. In the original Chinese novel, he is often called dāizi (獃子), meaning "idiot". Sun Wukong, Xuanzang and even the author refer to him as "idiot" over the course of the story. Bodhisattvas and other heavenly beings usually refer to him as "Heavenly Tumbleweed."
Name(s)
Zhu Bajie's name is composed of three characters: Zhū (豬) which means "pig", and Bājiè, (八戒) which means "Eight Prohibitions". His name was formerly Zhū Lìujiè (豬六戒), lìu (六) meaning "six". When he committed two more sins, however, his name was changed to Bājiè.
Story
Zhu Bajie originally held the title of Tiānpéng Yuánshuǎi (天蓬元帅; lit. "Marshall of the Heavenly Canopy, or the Marshall of the Heavenly Tumbleweed"), commander-in-chief of 7,000 Heavenly Navy Soldiers. When Sun Wu Kong was born, he was a giant demon. Tiānpéng Yuánshuǎi defeated him and he was granted his present title. He was later banished, however, for misbehaviour. At a party organized for all the significant figures in Heaven, Bajie saw the Goddess of the Moon for the first time and was captivated by her beauty. Following a drunken attempt to get close to her, she reported this to the Jade Emperor and thus he was banished to Earth. In some retellings of the story, his banishment is linked to Sun Wukong's downfall. In any case, he was exiled from Heaven and sent to be reincarnated on Earth, where by mishap he fell into a pig farm and was reborn as a man-eating pig-monster known as Zhū Gāngliè ( the "steel-maned pig").
In the earlier portions of Journey to the West, Wukong and Xuanzang come to Gao village and find that a daughter of the village elder had been kidnapped and the abductor left a note demanding marriage. After some investigations, Wukong found out that Bajie was the "villain" behind this. He fought with Wukong, but ended the fight when he learned that Wukong is a servant of Xuanzang, revealing that he had been recruited by Guanyin to join their pilgrimage and make atonements for his sins (those that had got him thrown out of Heaven, and the many he had racked up since).
Like his fellow disciples, Bajie has supernatural powers. He knows 36 transformations. Like his fellow disciple, Sha Wujing, his combat skills underwater are superior to that of Wukong. The novel makes use of constant alchemical imagery and Bajie is most closely linked to the Wood element, as seen by another one of his nicknames, Mùmǔ (木母, "Wood-Mother").
At the end of the novel, most of Bajie's fellow pilgrims achieve enlightenment and become buddhas or arhats, but he does not; although much improved, he is still too much a creature of his base desires. He is instead rewarded for his part in the pilgrimage's success with a job as "Cleanser of the Altars" and all the leftovers he can eat.
As a weapon, he wields a jiǔchǐ-dīngpá, a nine-tooth (jiǔchǐ) iron muck-rake (dīngpá) from Heaven that weighs roughly 5,048 kilos (or roughly 11,129 pounds).
Popular culture
In the manga Dragon Ball/Dragon Ball Z and the anime Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball GT, there is a pig named Oolong which is loosely based on Zhu Bajie; he is greedy, ugly, stupid and has the shape-changing ability.
Saiyuki, an anime and manga loosely based on Journey to the West, features a major character named Cho Hakkai is loosely based on Zhu Bajie; indeed, Cho Hakkai is Japanese for Zhu Bajie, as is his previous name Cho Gonou (Zhu Wuneng). Hakkai, being gentle (at least superficially) and polite, and hardly resembling anything but a human, is nothing like Bajie. However, in a team of impostors who take the party's place in a few episodes, Hakkai's counterpart is in fact a slobbish glutton.
In the anime InuYasha, Zhu Bajie's descendant is a demon named Chokyukai (Cho Kyukai "Pig with Nine Prohibitions"; if in Chinese Zhū Jiǔjiè) that abducts young unmarried women and takes them to his palace.
The Capcom arcade game SonSon, also loosely based on Journey to the West, features a character drawn from Zhu Bajie in the form of the second-player character Tonton.
Links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_mythology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Chinese_mythology
Chinese mythology, Fictional monks, Legendary mammals, Journey to the West, Characters in written fiction
Showing posts with label Legendary mammals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Legendary mammals. Show all posts
Sin you
Sin you
Alternative Names (異名):
Sin_you, Hiai Chai, Chiai Tung, Kai Tsi, Kai-tsi(Japanese)
The Sin-you, (or Kai-tsi in Japanese) is a mythical Chinese chimerical creature known throughout various East Asian cultures, and is often compared to a Qilin.
The appearance of the Sin-you is similar to that of a Qilin, but more feral and imposing. It is a large quadruped with a feline body, a shaggy mane, and is either depicted with hooves or feline paws (the latter often to stress its difference from the Qilin). In has a single, unbranching horn in the center of its head, like a western unicorn. The Sin-you’s eyes are said to be very intense and imposing, figuratively burning into whomever it gazes at in a predatory fashion.
The Sin-you is highly symbolic of justice, and is believed to have the power to know if a person is lying or know if they are guilty with a glance. It sometimes depicted at court beside the the ruler or judge: if a person told a falsehood in its presence, it would leap forward and impale the perjurer though the heart with its horn. In other instances, the judge would put convicted murderers before the Sin-you, who would slay them in the same fashion if they were truly the perpetrator, but leave the innocent unharmed.
There has been some cryptozoological theories about the origins of this creature. It has been suggested that a mutation may have occurred among a rare species of predatory feline (such as the North China Leopard) which caused the growth of a bony protrusion from the skull. Among such a small gene pool, it is possible that such a mutation was propagated for a period of time, making it appear as a new species of horned felines.
See also
Qilin
Links
http://64.207.147.134/monsters/hyrbid/index.php?detail=article&idarticle=113
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sin-you
Chinese mythology | Chinese legendary creatures | Japanese legendary creatures | Legendary mammals
Alternative Names (異名):
Sin_you, Hiai Chai, Chiai Tung, Kai Tsi, Kai-tsi(Japanese)
The Sin-you, (or Kai-tsi in Japanese) is a mythical Chinese chimerical creature known throughout various East Asian cultures, and is often compared to a Qilin.
The appearance of the Sin-you is similar to that of a Qilin, but more feral and imposing. It is a large quadruped with a feline body, a shaggy mane, and is either depicted with hooves or feline paws (the latter often to stress its difference from the Qilin). In has a single, unbranching horn in the center of its head, like a western unicorn. The Sin-you’s eyes are said to be very intense and imposing, figuratively burning into whomever it gazes at in a predatory fashion.
The Sin-you is highly symbolic of justice, and is believed to have the power to know if a person is lying or know if they are guilty with a glance. It sometimes depicted at court beside the the ruler or judge: if a person told a falsehood in its presence, it would leap forward and impale the perjurer though the heart with its horn. In other instances, the judge would put convicted murderers before the Sin-you, who would slay them in the same fashion if they were truly the perpetrator, but leave the innocent unharmed.
There has been some cryptozoological theories about the origins of this creature. It has been suggested that a mutation may have occurred among a rare species of predatory feline (such as the North China Leopard) which caused the growth of a bony protrusion from the skull. Among such a small gene pool, it is possible that such a mutation was propagated for a period of time, making it appear as a new species of horned felines.
See also
Qilin
Links
http://64.207.147.134/monsters/hyrbid/index.php?detail=article&idarticle=113
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sin-you
Chinese mythology | Chinese legendary creatures | Japanese legendary creatures | Legendary mammals
Qilin (麒麟)
Qilin (麒麟)
Alternative Names (異名):
Qilin, 麒麟, 기린, qílín(pinyin), ch'ilin(Wade-Giles)
The Qilin (Chinese: 麒麟; pinyin: qílín; Wade-Giles: ch'ilin), also spelled Kirin or Kirin (Korean and Japanese ) is a mythical hooved Chinese chimerical creature known throughout various East Asian cultures, and is said to appear in conjunction with the arrival of a sage. It is a good omen that brings rui (Chinese: 瑞; pinyin: ruì; roughly translated as "serenity" or "prosperity"). It is often depicted with what looks like fire all over its body.
Name in other languages
The Qilin is known in other languages as: Girin (in Korean), Sabitun Sabintu (in Manchu), Hariharipo Hariharimo (in Tibetan), Билигтэй Бэлэгтэй Гөрөөс (in Mongolian), Kỳ lân (in Vietnamese), Ki len (in Thai), and Keilun (Cantonese).
Origins
The earliest references to the Qilin are in the 5th century BC book Zuo Zhuan.[1][2] The Qilin made appearances in a variety of subsequent Chinese works of history and fiction. At one point, however, it became identified with the giraffe.
The Qilin became a stylised representation of the giraffe in Ming dynasty. It is known that on Zheng He's voyage to East Africa (landing, among other places, in modern-day Kenya), the fleet brought back two giraffes to Beijing. It is also known that these two giraffes were referred to as "Qilins". The Emperor proclaimed the giraffes magical creatures, whose capture signalled the greatness of his power.
The identification between the Qilin and the giraffe is supported by some attributes of the Qilin, including its vegetarian and quiet nature. Its reputed ability to "walk on grass without disturbing it" may be related to the giraffe's long legs.
It is unlikely that giraffes and qilins were regarded as the same creature in pre-modern times however. For example, typical depictions of the qilin have much shorter necks than giraffes. However, the Chinese word 麒 and 麟 both carry Chinese radical 鹿, suggesting that it was originally a type of deer, or perhaps even antelope.
The nature of the beast
Although it looks fearsome, the Qilin only punishes the wicked. It can walk on grass yet not trample the blades and it can also walk on water. Being a peaceful creature, its diet does not include flesh. It takes great care when it walks never to tread on any living thing, and it is said to appear only in areas ruled by a wise and benevolent leader (some say even if this area is only a house). It is normally gentle but can become fierce if a pure person is threatened by a sinner, spouting flames from its mouth and exercising other fearsome powers that vary from story to story.
Some stories state that the Qilin is a sacred pet (or familiar) of the deities. Therefore, in the hierarchy of dances performed by the Chinese (Lion Dance, Dragon Dance, Phoenix Dance, etc), the Qilin ranks highly; second only to the Dragon and Phoenix whom are the highest.
In the Qilin Dance, movements are characterised by fast, powerful strokes of the head. Qilin Dance is often regarded as the hardest dance to perform due to the weight of the head, stances and the emphasis on "fǎ jìn" (Traditional Chinese - 法勁) - outbursts of strength/power/energy
Variations
There are variations in the appearance of the qilin, even as seen in a single country such as China, owing to cultural differences between dynasties and regions
Ming dynasty example
In the Ming dynasty of China (1368–1644) the Qilin is represented as an oxen-hooved animal with a dragon-like head surmounted by a pair of horns and flame-like head ornaments.
A Qing dynasty example
The Qilin of China's subsequent Manchurian dominated Qing dynasty (1644–1911) is a much more fanciful animal. Manchurian depictions of the Qilin depict a creature with the head of a dragon, the antlers of a deer, the skin and scales of a fish, the hooves of an ox and tail of a lion
In Japan
In Japanese, the Qilin is called Kirin. Japanese art tends to depict the Qilin as more deer-like than in Chinese art. Kirin Brewery Company, Ltd. is named after the animal, and the word Kirin has also come to be used in modern Japanese for a giraffe. It's depicted as a dragon shaped like a European-style unicorn, only with a horse's tail instead of a lion's.
In the Post-Qin Chinese hierarchy of mythological animals, the Qilin is ranked as the third most powerful creature (after the dragon and phoenix), but in Japan, the Kirin occupies the top spot. This is following the style of the ancient Chinese, as QiLin, before the Qin Dynasty, was ranked higher then the Dragon or Phoenix, in fact, during the Zhou Dynasty, the Dragon is the third, the Phoenix rank second
Turko-Mongol Iran
In Ilkhanid and Timurid Mongol-Persian mythological miniatures, the buraq was portrayed in a style reminiscent of the Chinese qilin, reflecting the Chinese background of painters who introduced watercolor techniques to Iran and initiated several medieval schools of Persian miniature painting.
See also
Chimera
Shaanxi Kylins of the Chinese Basketball Association
Unicorn
Chinese dragon
Sin-you, a more feline, feral cousin of the Qilin
Yali, a Hindu mythological beast.
Links
http://www.chinaknowledge.de/Literature/Classics/chunqiuzuozhuan.html
Chinese mythology | Chinese legendary creatures | Japanese legendary creatures | Legendary mammals | Fictional giraffes
Alternative Names (異名):
Qilin, 麒麟, 기린, qílín(pinyin), ch'ilin(Wade-Giles)
The Qilin (Chinese: 麒麟; pinyin: qílín; Wade-Giles: ch'ilin), also spelled Kirin or Kirin (Korean and Japanese ) is a mythical hooved Chinese chimerical creature known throughout various East Asian cultures, and is said to appear in conjunction with the arrival of a sage. It is a good omen that brings rui (Chinese: 瑞; pinyin: ruì; roughly translated as "serenity" or "prosperity"). It is often depicted with what looks like fire all over its body.
Name in other languages
The Qilin is known in other languages as: Girin (in Korean), Sabitun Sabintu (in Manchu), Hariharipo Hariharimo (in Tibetan), Билигтэй Бэлэгтэй Гөрөөс (in Mongolian), Kỳ lân (in Vietnamese), Ki len (in Thai), and Keilun (Cantonese).
Origins
The earliest references to the Qilin are in the 5th century BC book Zuo Zhuan.[1][2] The Qilin made appearances in a variety of subsequent Chinese works of history and fiction. At one point, however, it became identified with the giraffe.
The Qilin became a stylised representation of the giraffe in Ming dynasty. It is known that on Zheng He's voyage to East Africa (landing, among other places, in modern-day Kenya), the fleet brought back two giraffes to Beijing. It is also known that these two giraffes were referred to as "Qilins". The Emperor proclaimed the giraffes magical creatures, whose capture signalled the greatness of his power.
The identification between the Qilin and the giraffe is supported by some attributes of the Qilin, including its vegetarian and quiet nature. Its reputed ability to "walk on grass without disturbing it" may be related to the giraffe's long legs.
It is unlikely that giraffes and qilins were regarded as the same creature in pre-modern times however. For example, typical depictions of the qilin have much shorter necks than giraffes. However, the Chinese word 麒 and 麟 both carry Chinese radical 鹿, suggesting that it was originally a type of deer, or perhaps even antelope.
The nature of the beast
Although it looks fearsome, the Qilin only punishes the wicked. It can walk on grass yet not trample the blades and it can also walk on water. Being a peaceful creature, its diet does not include flesh. It takes great care when it walks never to tread on any living thing, and it is said to appear only in areas ruled by a wise and benevolent leader (some say even if this area is only a house). It is normally gentle but can become fierce if a pure person is threatened by a sinner, spouting flames from its mouth and exercising other fearsome powers that vary from story to story.
Some stories state that the Qilin is a sacred pet (or familiar) of the deities. Therefore, in the hierarchy of dances performed by the Chinese (Lion Dance, Dragon Dance, Phoenix Dance, etc), the Qilin ranks highly; second only to the Dragon and Phoenix whom are the highest.
In the Qilin Dance, movements are characterised by fast, powerful strokes of the head. Qilin Dance is often regarded as the hardest dance to perform due to the weight of the head, stances and the emphasis on "fǎ jìn" (Traditional Chinese - 法勁) - outbursts of strength/power/energy
Variations
There are variations in the appearance of the qilin, even as seen in a single country such as China, owing to cultural differences between dynasties and regions
Ming dynasty example
In the Ming dynasty of China (1368–1644) the Qilin is represented as an oxen-hooved animal with a dragon-like head surmounted by a pair of horns and flame-like head ornaments.
A Qing dynasty example
The Qilin of China's subsequent Manchurian dominated Qing dynasty (1644–1911) is a much more fanciful animal. Manchurian depictions of the Qilin depict a creature with the head of a dragon, the antlers of a deer, the skin and scales of a fish, the hooves of an ox and tail of a lion
In Japan
In Japanese, the Qilin is called Kirin. Japanese art tends to depict the Qilin as more deer-like than in Chinese art. Kirin Brewery Company, Ltd. is named after the animal, and the word Kirin has also come to be used in modern Japanese for a giraffe. It's depicted as a dragon shaped like a European-style unicorn, only with a horse's tail instead of a lion's.
In the Post-Qin Chinese hierarchy of mythological animals, the Qilin is ranked as the third most powerful creature (after the dragon and phoenix), but in Japan, the Kirin occupies the top spot. This is following the style of the ancient Chinese, as QiLin, before the Qin Dynasty, was ranked higher then the Dragon or Phoenix, in fact, during the Zhou Dynasty, the Dragon is the third, the Phoenix rank second
Turko-Mongol Iran
In Ilkhanid and Timurid Mongol-Persian mythological miniatures, the buraq was portrayed in a style reminiscent of the Chinese qilin, reflecting the Chinese background of painters who introduced watercolor techniques to Iran and initiated several medieval schools of Persian miniature painting.
See also
Chimera
Shaanxi Kylins of the Chinese Basketball Association
Unicorn
Chinese dragon
Sin-you, a more feline, feral cousin of the Qilin
Yali, a Hindu mythological beast.
Links
http://www.chinaknowledge.de/Literature/Classics/chunqiuzuozhuan.html
Chinese mythology | Chinese legendary creatures | Japanese legendary creatures | Legendary mammals | Fictional giraffes
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