Most people are probably not unfamiliar with the concept of "yokai transformation", many myths and legends have yokai changing their appearance to confuse humans, transfiguration is like a skill that most yokai have. This is a kind of illusion, although it can change the shape of the yokai, but it cannot change the inner nature of the yokai. However, there are some yokai that can even change their essence, and I call this yokai a "mutant youkai." The "species" here refers to the type of organism, and as the name suggests, the "mutant youkai" is the ability to cross the restrictions of species and change from one species to another.
The most well-known mutant youkai is the Kunpeng mentioned in Zhuangzi Getaway. The book records: "There is a fish in the north of the earth, and its name is Kun. The size of the carp is unknown to thousands of miles. Transformed into a bird, its name is Peng. Peng's back, I don't know how many thousands of miles. It flies with rage, and its wings are like clouds hanging from the sky. It is the birds, and the sea will migrate to the South. The Southern Meditator, Tenchi also. ”
【Roc Bird】
The carp is a fish, the peng is a bird, and the change from fish to bird is undoubtedly a change that crosses the species boundary. This change is a bit similar to the evolution in Digimon or Pokemon that we watched as children, but not exactly. Digimon evolution does change to some extent in form and variety, but they remain consistent to a higher degree. For example: after the evolution of the sub-ancient beast, it is a tyrannosaur beast, the tyrannosaurus beast is a mechanical tyrannosaurus beast after the evolution, and the ultimate evolution is a combat tyrannosaurus beast, no matter how it evolves, it is always a dragon creature, and it is impossible to evolve into other creatures. In reality, scientists divide organisms from high to bottom into seven levels: boundaries, phylums, classes, orders, families, genera, and species, and the appearances of subazoans and tyrannosaurs are based on dinosaurs, so they should be classified into the dinosaur order. The evolution of subazoa may have changed at the level of families, genera, and species, but not at the level of purpose. The kunpeng change is a change at the level of the program.
【Evolution map of subagu beasts】
The mutant youkai derives from the concept of "animal variants". Ancient Chinese divided animals into five major categories, called "five worms", and "worms" were used to refer to all animals. Long-feathered animals are called "feather worms", the five elements belong to fire; those with long animal hair are called "caterpillars", which belong to gold; those with long scales are called "scale worms", which belong to wood; those with long carapaces are called "mesembles" or "beetles", which belong to water; those that do not grow hair are called "worms" or "worms". On the other hand Chinese argues that the species to which animals belong is not static. According to the Book of Rites and Moon Orders, in mid-spring, the eagle turned into a dove; in the spring of the season, the voles turned into a quail (quail); in the autumn of the season, the lord (little bird) entered the big water and turned into a clam; Meng Dong, the pheasant entered the big water and turned into a mirage. Here, apart from the fact that the transformation of eagles into doves is the transformation within feather insects, the other three sets of changes span large categories: voles turning into wagtails are changed from caterpillars to feathers; knighthood into clams, and pheasants into mirages are all changed from feathers to mesembranous insects.
Mirage is a kind of monster, the ancients did not understand the phenomenon of mirage, so fantasize about the mirage of this kind of monster, in the gas it spits out will appear in the illusion of the city, pavilions, streets. The shape of the mirage is said to be a large clam, and the other is said to be a dragon, which is the former version. Pheasants are commonly known as "pheasants". In this way, pheasant transformation not only crosses the boundaries of species, but also crosses the boundaries of real and imaginary creatures. But we have to understand that in the minds of the ancients, the line between real creatures and yokai was very blurred, and most of the ancients believed that yokai were real, so they were also regarded as real creatures. In addition, some yokai are actually imaginary creatures in reality.
【Mirage in Toriyama's Stone Swallow】
As for why ancient Chinese why did the idea of "biological variants" arise? Li Yuan of the Qing Dynasty explained in the "Worm Fan Physics": "The yang is scattered and the yin is condensed. Spring and summer yang also, so the introduction is scattered into scales, and the scales are scattered as feathers. Autumn and winter are also cloudy, so the feathers are condensed into hair, and the hair is condensed into the middle. "People who have studied a little physics know that when an object is heated, its molecules will be more active, from solid to liquid, from liquid to gaseous; when the object is cold, the molecules will be less active, from gaseous to liquid, from liquid to solid. The ancients observed this phenomenon from life and believed that a similar phenomenon would occur in animals. Spring and summer is the season of vigorous yang and relatively high temperature, the shell of the insect will spread out into scales, and the scales will spread out into feathers; therefore, the insect will become a scale insect, and the scale worm will become a feather insect; autumn and winter is a season of vigorous yin, and the temperature is relatively low, the feathers of the feathers will condense into animal hair, the animal hair will condense into carapace, the feathers will become caterpillars, and the caterpillars will become mesozoites. There is no mention of worms, because worms usually refer to humans.
The kunpeng change involves the change of yin and yang. Carp is a fish, belongs to the animals with more yin qi, Peng is a bird, belongs to the animals with more yang qi, after the kuni becomes a peng, it is natural to migrate from the colder north to the warmer south.
[Birds migrate seasonally, so it's easy to mistake them into a different kind of creature]
Li Yuan's explanation has some truth, but it has not yet touched on the essence of the problem. I think the most fundamental reason is that many animal activities are seasonal, and when the season is appropriate, they come out and hide in the unsuitable season. The ancients had limited ability to observe nature, and they found that in a certain season, some animals suddenly disappeared, and they did not know where they went, so they thought that these animals had become other animals. In particular, if the activity space of two animals overlaps, and the time of occurrence alternates with each other, it is easier to give people this illusion. The changes mentioned in the Book of Rites and Moons are all changes in birds and other animals, which is a proof of this, because many birds have migratory habits.
In addition, sometimes species changes are also seen as a growth change, and when a creature grows to a certain age, it will become a monster. "Youyang Miscellaneous Tricks and One of the Broad Moving Plants" says: "When a fish is three hundred and sixty years old, it is a dragon and flies away from the water." Volume 900 of the Taiping Imperial Records quotes the Song Gao Ji as saying: "The mountain has a large pine, or Chitose, and its essence is a green cow." This belongs to the concept of "old things become essences".
【Fish will become dragons after 360 years of life】
In Japanese mythology, there is also a mutant youkai, the Kappa. Kappa are yokai that inhabit the water, but in the autumn, they leave the water and migrate to the mountains to become mountain children. This may have been influenced by Chinese culture. In general, mutant youkai are very rare, and as far as I know, there are only a few cases in China and Japan. There is also a youkai in Chinese mythology called the Guyu Bird, which can freely change forms between birds and women, but she and other yokai form a special species, which I have described in the article "Cowherd Weaver Girl: Wife from the Otherworld and Stolen Fur".