China is one of the ancient civilizations of the world, and the ancient architectural art of the mainland has always been an important object of art appreciation.
Ancient architecture has a history of 6,000 to 7,000 years. Every ancient Chinese building is like a heavy history book, a Chinese imprint and a historical totem.
If there is at least nothing in ancient Chinese architecture, there is no doubt that it must be those small monsters with different shapes on the eaves.
From the Forbidden City to the pavilions of the park, these little monsters are lined up. These small beasts are usually placed on the ridge of the building, the general building is three, and the two sides add up to six, so they are collectively called "five ridges and six beasts".
Five ridges and six beasts
The Ridge Beast is ten, which is the highest rank. In all of China, only the sacred beasts on the roof of the Forbidden City's Taihe Temple can be complete.
The ten small beasts of the Taihe Temple, from front to back, are: dragons, phoenixes, lions, pegasus, seahorses, fox (xiá) fish, foxes (suānní), badgers (xiè zhì), bullfighting, and xíng shí. Above the roof of the Taihe Hall, in front of the 10 small beasts, there is a human figure, which is the riding phoenix immortal.
The number of immortal beasts is related to the level of the Forbidden City buildings.
Literally, the immortal beasts are mainly divided into two parts: the riding phoenix immortals and the beasts, and each beast has its own name and meaning. Each little beast has its own origin and meaning, not an empty story.
Ride the Phoenix Immortals
Immortals are also known as real people or hades. It is said that this immortal was the embodiment of king Qi Min, the king of Qi Min during the Eastern Zhou dynasty, who was defeated by the Yan general Le Yi, and the emperor fled in a hurry, encountering walls everywhere, desperate, and in danger, a phoenix flew in front of him, and king Qi Min rode a phoenix across the river.
Legend has it that he is Jiang Ziya's brother-in-law and wants to use his connections to climb up. But his talent was limited, so Jiang Ziya said to him, "Your official has already risen to the top, and if you climb up any further, you will fall down."
According to this legend, ancient architects placed him at the forefront of the cornice, and if he climbed one step further, he would fall to pieces.
Animals
dragon
I like to look around and often stand on the eaves.
Phoenix
The parable of the man of holiness. According to the Chronicle of the Japanese: "The phoenix does not flock with the birds. "It is a bird of benevolence, a symbol of auspiciousness, and its appearance indicates that the world is at peace and people live happily."
lion
In Buddhism, he is the protector of the Dharma and is a symbol of bravery and majesty.
The "Record of Transmission of Lights" records: "The lion roars in the clouds: heaven and heaven, only I am exalted." The lion roared, and the beasts fell. ”
Pegasus, seahorse
The former chases the wind day by day, soaring into the sky, and the latter enters the sea and enters the abyss, and every time it is fierce, it is a loyal and courageous beast in the ancient mythology of the mainland.
Badger (xiè zhì)
The beasts of prey in the ancient legends of the continent are similar to lions. In the "Chronicle of Foreign Objects", it is said that "there are beasts in the northeast wilderness, and the name is badger".
A corner, sexual loyalty, see people fighting, do not touch the straight, hear people theory is not right. It can distinguish between curves and straights, and it is called a symbol of bravery and justice by the divine sheep.
Suān ní
Shaped like a lion, ancient books record that it is a beast of the same kind as a lion, its head is covered with long mane, so it is also known as "cape", fierce and cruel, eating tigers, and is also said to be one of the nine sons of the dragon.
Fox (xiá) fish
The roe deer is a strange beast in the sea, and the legend is that like the fox, it can make rain in the clouds, extinguish fires and prevent disasters.
bullfight
According to the "Chenyuan Zhiluo", "there are bulls in the West Inner Sea, that is, the ferns, that is, the ferns, which are clouded by rain and fog, and often wind along the road and above the Jin'ao Yudongfang." ”
It is an auspicious rain town that eliminates disasters and destroys disasters.
Xingshi (xíng shí)
Shaped like a monkey, but with wings on its back, holding a vajra pestle has the effect of descending demons, and because its shape is very similar to the legendary Lei Gong or Lei Zhenzi, it is placed on the roof to protect against lightning.
Partridge (chī) kiss
The ornaments located at both ends of the five ridges are very typical in the Taihe Hall of the Forbidden City.
The two ends of the main ridge of the temple are decorated with large long-shaped kisses, swallowing the ridge with the mouth open, the tail rolled up, and the sword with the handle inserted into the back. The Qing Dynasty "Engineering Practices" called the long-shaped "big kiss" as the "positive kiss", also known as the "chī kiss".
Legend has it that the partridge is the son of the dragon, the so-called dragon gives birth to nine sons, and the partridge is one of them. Shaped like a four-legged snake cutting off its tail, this dragon boy is good at looking around at dangerous points and likes to swallow fire.
The installation of a snout on the front ridge is a wish of the ancients to avoid fire.
Steady happiness
The sacred beasts on the roof ridge, which symbolize "stable happiness", are far more than simple as pinning good wishes, in fact, these sacred beasts are very important building components, without them, the building can really be unstable.
In the Song Dynasty, house builders, out of the pursuit of changes in architectural shape, increased the slope of the roof compared with the previous dynasty, and boldly used the column reduction method to form an exaggerated effect of "anti-yu cornice".
The angle of inclination led to the necessity of the use of iron nails on the corner beams of the roof ridge.
Both the positive and vertical ridges have a continuous chain inside, and the two ends are fixed to the large iron nails inside the tail or the weeping beast, and the chain effectively strengthens the roof ridge.
The tail and the weeping beast were originally used to protect iron nails, but they were later turned into beautiful ornaments.
The origin of the immortal walking beasts in front of the weeping beasts is also like this, the reason why they are more densely arranged is because there is no iron chain in this section, and the heavy ridge tiles have to be nailed to the horn beams or large rafters one by one with iron nails.
These nail hats on the iron nails used to fix the roof are the sacred beasts on the roof ridge as we know it.
The Aesthetic trend of the Song people's imagination, poetry and detail, and the maturity of glass technology have made the nail hats used to stabilize and accumulate into vivid and lively immortals and beasts, and gradually form a scale, which is worthy of our careful exploration and appreciation.