Black Tortoise

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This article is about Chinese constellations. For the actual turtles, see Indian black turtle.
Black Tortoise
The Black Tortoise depicted on a Chinese tile
Chinese name
Chinese玄武
Literal meaningMysterious ~ Dark ~ Black Warrior
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese alphabetHuyền Vũ
Chữ Hán玄武
Korean name
Hangul현무
Hanja玄武
Japanese name
Kanji玄武
Hiraganaげんぶ
Black Warrior of the North
Hanyu Pinyin
Běifāng Xuánwǔ

The Black Tortoise is one of the

snake.[1] The pictogram '武' can mean 'martial' or 'warrior.' The two characters 玄 and 武 do not have any literal meaning of tortoise and snake. But both tortoise and snake are known to hibernate during winter. The image of intertwined tortoise and snake likely symbolizes a state of inner struggle[citation needed] or a state of hibernation, and thus implies the season of winter. So the English translation Black ~ Dark ~ Mysterious Warrior[a] is a more faithful translation.[4][5]

It represents the north and the winter season, thus it is sometimes called Black Warrior of the North (Chinese: 北方玄武; pinyin: Běifāng Xuánwǔ).

In Japan, the characters 玄武 are pronounced as Genbu. It is said to protect Kyoto on the north side, being one of the four guardian spirits that protect the city. It is represented by the Kenkun Shrine, which is located on top of Mt Funaoka in Kyoto.

An important

Taoist priest also has 玄武 Xuanwu as his clergy name. He is sometimes (as in Journey to the West
) portrayed in the company of a turtle and a snake.

History

During the Han dynasty, people often wore jade pendants that were in the shape of turtles. Originally, there was a legend that said that turtles could not mate with other turtles, only snakes. This is why the Black Tortoise is depicted with a snake on its back.

The northern gates of

Taiji Palace, in the north of Chang'an
.

Legends

Black Tortoise with Snake. Southern Dynasties Brick Relief 11.

In ancient

Min people custom of building turtle-shaped tombs may have had to do with the desire to place the grave under the influence of the Black Tortoise.[6][7]

Xuanwu

Xuanwu subduing the tortoise. Wudang Palace, Yangzhou.
Main article: Xuanwu (god)
See also: Chinese alchemy

In the

Taoist legend
has it that Xuanwu was the prince of a Chinese ruler but was not interested in taking the throne, opting instead to leave his parents at age 16 and study Taoism. According to the legend, he eventually achieved divine status and was worshiped as a deity of the northern sky.

Other Chinese legends[

which?] then came and changed his organs with divine ones. Once removed, the original stomach and intestines were said to have become a tortoise and a snake, respectively. The tortoise and snake became demons[citation needed
] and terrorized people. Now divine, Xuanwu heard of this and returned to slay the monsters he had unleashed on the countryside. However, as the snake and tortoise showed remorse, he did not kill them but instead let them train under him to atone for their wrongdoings. They then became the Tortoise and Snake generals and assisted Xuanwu with his quests (another legend held that the mortal organs were tossed out to become Wuhan's Tortoise and Snake mountains).

According to another source,[citation needed] once Xuanwu had begun his study of the Way, he discovered that he must purge himself of all of his past sins to become a god. He learned to achieve this by washing his stomach and intestines in the river. Washing his internal organs, his sins dissolved into the water in a dark, black form. These then formed into a black tortoise and a snake who terrorized the country. Once Xuanwu learned of this, he returned to subdue them as in the other story.

Seven Mansions of the Black Tortoise

As with the other three Symbols, there are seven astrological "Mansions" (positions of the Moon) within the Black Tortoise. The names and determinative stars are:[8][9]

Mansion no. Name Pinyin Translation Determinative star
8 斗 Dǒu (Southern) Dipper φ Sgr
9 牛 Niú Ox β Cap
10 女 Nǚ Girl ε Aqr
11 虛 Xū Emptiness β Aqr
12 危 Wēi
Rooftop
 α Aqr
13 室 Shì Encampment α Peg
14 壁 Bì Wall γ Peg
A characteristic "turtle-back tomb" in Quanzhou, Fujian

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Eastern Han philologist Xu Shen stated that 武; wǔ "warrior" was a Jianghuai dialectal word for 士; shì "knight" when annotating this passage 「夫死生同域，不可脅陵，勇武一人，為三軍雄。」 "One for whom death and life are the same territory, who cannot be threatened, such a single brave warrior is the hero of the Three Armies."[2][3]

References

  1. S2CID 164550058
    – via JSTOR.
  2. ^ Liu An (compiler), Xu Shen (annotator). Huainanzi, "Survey Obscurities". Main text: 「夫死生同域，不可脅陵，勇武一人，為三軍雄。」; Annotation: 「武士也；江淮間謂士曰武。」; Siku Quanshu version. vols. 4-7, p. 96 of 160
  3. ^ Liu An (2010) The Huainanzi: A Guide to the Theory and Practice of Government in Early Han China. Translated and edited by John S. Major, Sarah A. Queen, Aandrew Seth Meyer, and Harold D. Roth. New York: Columbia University Press, 2010. p. 215
  4. ^ Zhang, Qian (2017). "China's guardians of the galaxy". Shanghai Daily. The four beasts are Qing Long (Azure Dragon), the guardian of the East; Bai Hu (White Tiger), the guardian of the West; Zhu Que (Vermilion Bird), the guardian of the South; and Xuan Wu (Black Warrior), the guardian of the North. This quartet originated from the 28 xingxiu ("mansions") in the Chinese constellation system.
  5. ^ Pregadio, Fabrizio (editor) (2008). The Encyclopedia of Taoism A-Z: Volume 1 & 2. p. 119, 194, 223, 478, 909, 1266
  6. ^ de Groot, Jan Jakob Maria (1892), The Religious System of China, vol. III, Brill Archive, pp. 1082–1083
  7. ^ 李永球 (Li Yongqiu) (2010-03-07), 各籍貫墳墓造型 [In every land, its own kind of graves], Sin Chew Daily, archived from the original on 2010-05-31, retrieved 2012-03-21
  8. ^ "The Chinese Sky". International Dunhuang Project. Archived from the original on 2015-11-04. Retrieved 2011-06-25.
  9. ISBN 0-7923-4066-3
    . Retrieved 2011-06-25.
  10. ^ National Museum of Korea, 2007, Black Tortoise and Serpent, the Guardian Deity of the North
  11. University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

External links

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