Four Symbols

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Four Symbols
In clockwise order: Black Tortoise of the North, Azure Dragon of the East, Vermilion Bird of the South and White Tiger of the West.
Chinese name
Chinese	四象
Literal meaning	Four Images
showTranscriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Sì Xiàng
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese alphabet	Tứ tượng
Chữ Hán	四象
Korean name
Hangul	사상
Hanja	四象
Japanese name
Kanji	四象
Hiragana	ししょう
showTranscriptions Revised Hepburn Shishō Kunrei-shiki Shishō

The Four Symbols (Chinese: 四象; pinyin: Sì Xiàng, literally meaning "four images"), are four mythological creatures appearing among the Chinese constellations along the ecliptic, and viewed as the guardians of the four cardinal directions. These four creatures are also referred to by a variety of other names, including "Four Guardians", "Four Gods", and "Four Auspicious Beasts". They are the Azure Dragon of the East, the Vermilion Bird of the South, the White Tiger of the West, and the Black Tortoise (also called "Black Warrior") of the North. Each of the creatures is most closely associated with a cardinal direction and a color, but also additionally represents other aspects, including a season of the year, an emotion, virtue, and one of the Chinese "five elements" (wood, fire, earth, metal, and water). Each has been given its own individual traits, origin story and a reason for being. Symbolically, and as part of spiritual and religious belief and meaning, these creatures have been culturally important across countries in the East Asian cultural sphere.

History[]

Depictions of mythological creatures clearly ancestral to the modern set of four creatures have been found throughout China. Currently, the oldest known depiction was found in 1987 in a tomb in Xishuipo (西水坡) in Puyang, Henan, which has been dated to approximately 5300 BC. In the tomb, labeled M45, immediately adjacent to the remains of the main occupant to the east and west were found mosaics made of clam shells and bones forming images closely resembling the Azure Dragon and White Tiger, respectively.^[1]

The modern standard configuration was settled much later, with variations appearing throughout Chinese history. For example, the Rongcheng Shi manuscript recovered in 1994, which dates to the Warring States Period (ca. 453–221 BCE), gives five directions rather than four and places the animals differently. According to that document, Yu the Great gave directional banners to his people, marked with the following insignia: the north with a bird, the south with a snake, the east with the sun, the west with the moon, and the center with a bear.^[2]

In Taoism, the Four Symbols have been assigned human identities and names. The Azure Dragon is named Meng Zhang (孟章), the Vermilion Bird is called Ling Guang (陵光), the White Tiger Jian Bing (監兵), and the Black Tortoise Zhi Ming (執明).

The colours associated with the four creatures can be said to match the colours of soil in the corresponding areas of China: the bluish-grey water-logged soils of the east, the reddish iron-rich soils of the south, the whitish saline soils of the western deserts, the black organic-rich soils of the north, and the yellow soils from the central loess plateau.^[3]

In I Ching[]

The Four Symbols are closely connected with the yin-yang philosophy.^{[citation needed]} Fuxi explained the Four Symbols as one of the stages of the creation of the world, in the following way:^{[citation needed]}

Four images as Taijitu and digrams-yao

Correspondence with the Five Phases[]

A Han-dynasty pottery tile emblematically representing the five cardinal directions

Bronze mirror with cosmological decoration from the Belitung shipwreck, including Bagua and the Four Auspicious Beasts

These mythological creatures have also been syncretized into the Five Phases system (Wuxing). The Azure Dragon of the East represents Wood, the Vermilion Bird of the South represents Fire, the White Tiger of the West represents Metal, and the Black Tortoise (or Black Warrior) of the North represents Water. In this system, the fifth principle Earth is represented by the Yellow Dragon of the Center.^[4]

Correspondence with seasons and times[]

The four beasts each represent a season and time of day. The Azure Dragon of the East represents spring with its time of day being Dawn, the Vermilion Bird of the South represents summer and midday, the White Tiger of the West represents autumn therefore dusk, and lastly the Black Tortoise of the North represents winter with its respective time of day being midnight.^[5]

See also[]

• Chinese astrology
• Four Dwarves (Norse Mythology)
• Four Heavenly Kings
• Four Holy Beasts, the Vietnamese version
• Four Living Creatures
• Four Mountains
• Four Seas
• Four sons of Horus
• Four Stags (Norse Mythology)
• Four temperaments
• Purple Forbidden enclosure
• Royal stars
• Tetramorph

References[]

External links[]

• 28 Chinese Asterisms