Black Tortoise

The Black Tortoise or Black Turtle is one of the Four Symbols of the Chinese
constellations. Despite its English name, it is usually depicted as a turtle entwined Black Tortoise
together with a snake. Further, in East Asia, it is not called after either animal but is Black Turtle
instead known as the "Black Warrior" under various local pronunciations. It is
known as Xunw in Chinese, Hyeonmu in Korean, Genbu in Japanese and
Huyn V in Vietnamese. It represents the north and the winter season.

In Japan, it is one of the four guardian spirits that protect Kyoto and it is said that it
protects the city on the north. Represented by the Genbu Shrine,[1] which is located
to the north of Kyoto Imperial Palace.

The creature's name is identical to that of the important Taoist god Xuanwu, who is
The Black Tortoise depicted on a
sometimes (as in Journey to the West) portrayed in the company of a turtle and
Chinese tile
snake.
Chinese name
Chinese
Literal meaning Dark Warrior
Contents Mysterious
1 History Warrior
2 Legends Transcriptions
2.1 Xuanwu Standard Mandarin
3 Astronomy
Hanyu Pinyin Xunw
4 See also
Yue: Cantonese
5 References
Yale Romanization yun4 mou5
6 External links
Jyutping jyun4 mou5
Southern Min
History Hokkien POJ gan-b

During the Han dynasty, people often wore jade pendants that were in the shape of Vietnamese name
turtles. Because of ancient Chinese influence on Japan, honorific titles and badges Vietnamese Huyn V
in Japan also often referred to the turtle or tortoise. alphabet
Korean name
The northern gates of Chinese palaces were often named after the Xuanwu. Most
famously, the Incident at Xuanwu Gate, where Li Shimin killed his brothers Hangul
Jiancheng and Yuanji and seized power in a coup, took place at the north gate of the Hanja
Taiji Palace, in the north of Chang'an. Transcriptions
Revised Romanization Hyeon-mu
Legends Japanese name
In ancient China, the tortoise and the serpent were thought to be spiritual creatures Kanji
symbolizing longevity. The Fujianese custom of building turtle-shaped tombs may
Hiragana
have had to do with the desire to place the grave under the influence of the Black
Transcriptions
Tortoise.[2][3]
Revised Hepburn Genbu
Xuanwu Kunrei-shiki Genbu

In the classic novel Journey to the

West, Xuanwu was a king of the Black Warrior of the North
north who had two generals
serving under him, a "Tortoise
General" and a "Snake General".
This god had a temple in the
Wudang Mountains of Hubei and
there are now a "Tortoise
Mountain" and a "Snake
Xuanwu subduing the tortoise.
Mountain" on opposite sides of a
Wudang Palace, Yangzhou.
river near Wuhan, Hubei's capital.
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
. A copper Black Tortoise from the
Yongle era of the Ming dynasty
Other Chinese legends also speak of how the "Tortoise General" and a "Snake
(early 15th century)
General" came to be. During Xuanwu's study to achieve enlightenment and divine
status, he was told that, in order to fully achieve divinity, he must purge all human
Chinese
flesh from his body. Since he had always eaten the food of the world, despite all his Transcriptions
efforts, his stomach and intestines were still human. A god then came and changed Standard Mandarin
his organs with divine ones. Once removed, the original stomach and intestines
Hanyu Pinyin Bifng Xunw
were said to have become a tortoise and a snake, respectively. The tortoise and
snake became demons 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, 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
.

Astronomy
As with the other Three Symbols, there are seven "mansions" (positions of the moon) within Black Tortoise. The names and
determinative stars are:[4][5]

Mansion no. Name Pinyin Translation Determinative star

8 Du (Southern) Dipper Sgr

9 Ni Ox Cap

10 N Girl Aqr

11 X Emptiness Aqr

12 Wi Rooftop Aqr

13 Sh Encampment Peg

14 B Wall Peg
See also
Ao, the great turtle of early Chinese mythology
Bixi, the son of the Dragon King who supports Chinesestel
Four Benevolent Animalsof China
Four Holy Beasts of Vietnam
Fushigi Yuugi Genbu Kaiden
Fushigi Ygi

References A characteristic "turtle-back tomb" in

Quanzhou, Fujian
1. "Archived copy" (http://ojisanjake.blogspot.com/2011/07/genbu-shrine.ht
ml#.VCmSCL5_elI). Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/2016110619
1732/http://ojisanjake.blogspot.com/2011/07/genbu-shrine.html)from
the original on 2016-11-06. Retrieved 2014-09-29.
2. de Groot, Jan Jakob Maria (1892),The Religious System of China(http
s://archive.org/details/religioussystemo03groo)
, III, Brill Archive,
pp. 10821083
3. (Li Yongqiu) (2010-03-07), " (In every land, its
own kind of graves)" (http://www.sinchew.com.my/node/152069), Sin
Chew Daily
4. "The Chinese Sky" (http://idp.bl.uk/education/astronomy/sky
.html).
International Dunhuang Project. Retrieved 2011-06-25.
5. Sun, Xiaochun (1997).Helaine Selin, ed. Encyclopaedia of the History
of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures (https://
books.google.com/books?id=raKRY3KQspsC&pg=PA517). Kluwer
Academic Publishers. p. 517. ISBN 0-7923-4066-3. Retrieved
2011-06-25.

External links
"Star Charts and Moon Stations"
The Black Tortoise of the North

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ortoise&oldid=814423868"

This page was last edited on 8 December 2017, at 19:15.

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