The eldest of the ten beasts on the roof is a pig, which is much more famous than the bacon, and it has always been considered a mythical beast representing fairness and justice from ancient times to the present, and has even been selected as the mascot of the Chinese procuratorate.
Elephant of a beast
But a closer look at the history of the beast reveals that it has only appeared once in history. It was the era of Emperor Yao, which is considered to be the actual beginning of Chinese history. At that time, an "alien" offered a pig to Emperor Yao, and Emperor Yao had never seen this animal, so he asked the other party how to raise it. The man said, "It eats and lets it stay by the lake in the summer and in the winter in the pine berlin." ”
The so-called "recommended" refers to fine grass. But maybe Emperor Yao was mistaken, he regarded this as a "traitor", you must know that light and darkness follow like shadows, and there are already many evil and bad people in the legendary and incomparably beautiful life of Emperor Yao. So Emperor Yao gave this strange beast to his minister of justice, Gaotao, so that he could use it to punish treachery and eliminate evil.
Interestingly, the pig really lives up to expectations, it can really distinguish between good and evil. Whenever the two sides of the court could not argue, Gaotao would let the pig out, and it would take the initiative to attack the evil side with its horns. Many cases have been solved in this way. Both Gaotao and Gong are famous.
One of the most famous cases is this. One day, a few ordinary people pushed and shoved a young man, accusing this kid of not studying well, not going to hunt and pick fruits, and playing with flowers and plants at home all day. Several elders tried to educate him, but he was hit. It's really a big contrarian. This was a grave sin at the time. So they brought this man and wanted Gaotao to do justice.
Gaotao and Gong Pig
Gaotao is also routine, and there is no need for any investigation and evidence collection, closing the door, and releasing the pig. Sure enough, as soon as this beast came out, it ran towards the young man, it seemed that it wanted to cool him down?
But no one expected that the beast actually weakened his feet and bent his knees. Just when everyone was stunned, it stood up again, rushed over, and screamed at the "elders".
Do you still need to be skeptical? Gaotao made a verdict on the spot, and the young man was acquitted. Later, everyone learned that his name was "Abandon", and he was the first in the world to invent agricultural production, which is really a great deed. So people respectfully called it "Houji". This "hou" means "emperor" in the pre-Qin dynasty. "Millet" is millet, which was also the most important food crop of that era. The so-called "Houji" is the "King of the Valley". He was named an agricultural master by Emperor Yao, mastered the country's agricultural production, and was also the ancestor of the Zhou people. This kneeling of the beast can be said to be not a loss at all.
Houji image
Of course, as far as we modern people are concerned, we always feel that this way of judging cases is not real. But in fact, this is called "animal punishment", which was widely used in many ancient countries. The animals it uses to judge vary from person to person. There is a saying in ancient India that for certain prisoners, the king would prepare two doors, one with a fierce tiger behind the door and the other with a beautiful girl. These prisoners choose one of two gates. If it is a girl after opening, then you can marry her. If it is a tiger, the end can be imagined.
A similar method of trial existed in ancient Thailand, where crocodiles were put in a pool. If a prisoner is herded into the water and swims ashore alive, he is acquitted. If you are unfortunate enough to be bitten by a crocodile, you deserve it. The point is that either outcome is considered God's judgment, absolutely fair and just, not a random stroke of luck.
This judgment has lasted a long time in history. But when it comes to influence, no one has as much influence as Gaotao and Liao, and they have been sealed as gods by posterity. Gaotao became the god of prison, and the beast became a divine beast of justice, which was commemorated and worshipped by successive dynasties. In ancient times, the imperial history responsible for supervising work had to wear a judicial hat called the "crown of the lion". In the Ming Dynasty, the image of the lion was directly used as the clothing decoration pattern of the imperial history, that is, "complement", independent of the literary and military grade. In modern times, there are also proposals to place copper pigs in front of the procuratorate. But what best reflects the reverence for the pig is the creation of the word "law". The traditional "法" is written as "灋". This "廌" is pronounced "zhi", the same as "豸", which means 荬豸. Therefore, the beast is also known as the "Ren Law Beast".
Crown of the beast
Speaking of which, I haven't detailed the appearance of the pig. Actually, there is no way, because there are several theories. Some say like cattle, some say like sheep. Some say black-haired, some say green-haired. Although cattle and sheep are in the same family, they also differ too much in size. This is because it seems that only one pig has appeared in all the ages. Other than that, there is almost no story.
The beast on Shinto
However, there are some uncontroversial legends related to the pig. Let's say it has only one horn. This suggests that the pig may be a variant of cattle and sheep, but this trait is not passed on to offspring. In the twenty-eight juku, the lion is matched with the "doujuku" in the seven juku of the Northern Heavenly Xuanwu and is called "doumu liao". The "Dou" here is not the supreme Big Dipper, but the South Dipper Six Stars, but it is also in charge of the life of the immortals, with a high position and great influence. Letting the discerning treacherous pig come here to guard the town is not insulting to it.
Doumu badger
Throughout the dynasties in China, there have been statues of the beast. Carefully evaluated, roughly in the early stage, such as Han Wei, it is more like a sheep and more realistic. The Tang and Song dynasties were a little more like cattle, highlighting the might of the beast.
By the time of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, most of the divine beasts were "dragonized". Foreigners even called all Chinese mythical beasts in this period "dragon dogs", without distinguishing between lions and foxes, which shows the seriousness of homogenization. This wave is no exception. At this point it becomes very much like a unicorn. At this time, you can only tell it by the location of its appearance and some details. The horn on the elephant's head, if it is a double horn, is a unicorn, and the unicorn is a pig. And because it is said that the dragon is produced in the north, it has also become a sacred beast under the seat of the Northern Zhenwu Emperor. As the dojo of the Zhenwu Emperor, a pair of copper pigs were placed in front of the main gate "Tianmen", which symbolized driving away evil spirits and defending the imperial palace.
The Dragon of the Forbidden City
The myth of the beast also has an impact abroad, especially in Japan. There are also stone statues of it in Tokyo, Japan, but oddly enough, something may have gone wrong with the translation. In Japan, the pig is called "Kui Chi", and it is believed that its divine power comes from its single horn, and when the horn is broken, Kui Chi will die. If Kui Zhi does not die, all the damage it has received will be returned to the guy who injured it.
Kui knows
But on closer examination, Kui Zhi may not be a beast, because there are too many divine beasts similar to the beast. Just the unicorn mentioned earlier. In fact, before the Song Dynasty, its shape was also dominated by a unicorn. It is no wonder that the "Qing Ministry of Works Practice" describes the dragon as a qilin.
But there is a question about this, why does it have to be a lion pig, is it a unicorn? Although the beast represents fairness and justice, the unicorn symbolizes the benevolence of the head of the five permanents, isn't this also an important quality?
Even if you don't mention the unicorn, there are many other famous unicorn beasts, in fact, hidden behind them is a huge population of unicorn beasts. Whether it is a unicorn, a lion or a Kuizhi, they are all members of this group. In the Forbidden City, there is a kind of divine beast that is often confused with the beast because it is also unicorned. Its name is "LV end".
Luduan This kind of divine beast is also very ancient, at least it appeared in the Han Dynasty. It is said that Qin Shi Huang has seen it. And in Sima Xiangru's "Zi Qifu", Lu Duan's divine beast ranking is only below Qilin. It is also said that its horns can be used as bows, and it seems that it is also an animal of the bovine family, which was still very common at that time, and the pig is really not exactly the same, but can only say that there is almost no difference. Guo Pu of the Eastern Jin Dynasty said that Lu Duan resembles a pig, with horns on the nose, and it is possible that the original character for "Duan" is "貒", that is, wild boar.
Lu Duan
But later generations of Lu Duan became more and more rare, and the rumors became more and more mysterious. The Tang Dynasty's "Kaiyuan Zhanjing" said that it could travel 18,000 li a day, and it could be said that it could kill thousands of horses in seconds. He also said that Lu Duan can speak human language and is fluent in four languages. When the Ming Emperor was in power, Lu Duan would speak the Book of Heaven and come to the world. As a result, Lu Duan has also become a rare beast. Of course, it can't exist in reality.
But in the Yuan Dynasty, when Genghis Khan went west to make the flower thorn mold, a chance encounter actually made the Luduan myth come alive.
It was recorded in the "History of Yuan", and in the year of Jiashen, the Yuan army kept killing to the west. It was about to cross the Indus River and enter the East Indies. But just as they were temporarily stationed here at Iron Gate Pass, the sergeants suddenly noticed a beast by the river that they had never seen before. It is green, has only one horn, and looks like a deer with a horse-like tail. Seeing the Mongol soldiers, this monster raised his head and shouted a few times, sounding like he was talking: "Lord Ru should return early." ”
These sergeants were the close guards of the Great Khan, and they did not know what it was, so they exchanged their heads and ears, and the words reached the ears of Genghis Khan. But when he came out of the tent, the monster had mysteriously disappeared.
Most of the ancients were superstitious about ghosts and gods, and the Mongols were victorious. Genghis Khan felt that something was wrong, so he found a wise man who accompanied the army, that is, Yelu Chucai. From the name, we know that this is a descendant of the imperial family of the Liao State, but he is an official in Mongolia. This is because he was well versed in various texts and was a profound scholar. Even Jin Yong, a later master of fiction, admired his talent, and even made his most famous protagonist, Guo Jing, his in-laws.
Famous courtier Jeruch Chu Material
Yelu Chucai told Genghis Khan that this was a beast called "Lu Duan", who could speak all the languages of the world, liked to protect life, and hated killing. It appears here, it is a symbol sent down by God, which can prove that Genghis Khan is the real Son of Heaven. As the children of heaven, the people of the world are the children of Genghis Khan and need to be loved. Therefore, I hope that Genghis Khan can understand the will of heaven and save the lives of the people.
Genghis Khan understood what Yelu Chucai meant, so he ended the expedition that day, returned to the dynasty, and never set foot on Indian soil again in his life. An imminent war disappeared.
This seems to have really happened in history. But modern people do not believe in the existence of Lu Duan, then, here's the problem. What did the Mongols see at that time? Some say that it is the hogartia, an animal related to the giraffe, because it looks like a deer but has a tail like a horse. Is that a Hoga?
Hogata
Most likely not, because the most important thing about Luduan is its unicorn, which is a supernatural sign. From east to west. The Hoga Fox, on the other hand, is double-horned.
The Chinese unicorn beast also has the famous "rhinoceros". It is not a rhinoceros in modern biology. From ancient times to the Qing Dynasty, rhinos in traditional Chinese paintings were in the shape of oxen, but a single horn grew on the top of their heads. In fact, the "rhinoceros" in traditional stories refers to it. It is said that its skin can automatically separate the body of water. Cao Guoun among the eight immortals is because of such a rhino belt, and the river crosses the sea like a flat ground. It is also said that the horn of the rhinoceros can detoxify all poisons, so it is also called "Tongtian Rhino", and the so-called "heaven" actually refers to the top of the head.
And the modern rhinoceros also appears on the "Qing Palace Beast Tree", but it is called "horn-nosed beast". Horn also has traditional Chinese medicinal effects, but it is far from the ancient legend of rhinoceros. In particular, it should be noted that the horns of the "unicorn" in foreign mythology can also be cowardly and disinfected. Is it related to the traditional Chinese rhinoceros?
Ming dynasty rhinoceros ornaments
The only thing that is certain is that neither the unicorn, Lu Duan, nor the rhinoceros, can replace the dragon in the ancient building, why is this? You have to start with the characteristics of the pig. That can only be "fair". This characteristic cannot be replaced by the kindness of the unicorn, the peace of the luduan, and the cowardice of the rhinoceros.
Roof beast
As I learned more about ancient Chinese architecture, I discovered one thing, and that was that the ten-ridged beast was interrelated with the parts of ancient buildings. As mentioned earlier, the dragon corresponds to the pillar, the phoenix corresponds to the wing horn, the seahorse corresponds to the girder, and the bacon corresponds to the fleur-de-lis kiss. And where is the "fairness" corresponding to the pig?
In fact, in pure wood buildings, in order to make the building as a whole stable, most structures, such as columns, need a certain inclination. This is called "side corner" in the term, and the columns are not the same height, which gives the ridge of Tang and Song architecture a certain arc. But there is one place that needs to be horizontal, and that is the angular back of the supporting child column on the taiping beam. If the place is inclined, the upper purlins will be unstable and the house will be dangerous. The ancients prayed that this place would have the same qualities as a pig, be upright and fair, be impartial, and be stable and reliable.
Angular back
Of course, today, not to mention the pig, the rhino is also a thick-skinned and fat appearance in most people's impression. Unicorns have long been considered non-existent creatures. Unicorn horns were once sold in Western markets, but they were all proven to be the teeth of a narwhal. The unicorn is believed to exist only in legends and has never been born into the world. It seems that all unicorns are nothing more than people's imagination. Some even say that unicorns completely violate biological structures.
However, in paleontological archaeology, people have accidentally found the trace of real unicorns. It was on the Asian continent 10 million years ago, and there was a giant beast with a height of 1.2 meters at the shoulder and a length of 2.5 meters. Because it is one of the pigs, it is called "Kuban pig". But it is the biggest difference from ordinary pigs, in addition to its physique, it also has a unicorn in the center of its forehead. The location is exactly the same as the mythical unicorn.
Since there were once one-horned pigs, did there ever have been one-horned cows, sheep, and even horses? Is it possible that these ancient monsters lived to the post-human era and had contact with our ancestors? All of this is an unsolved mystery that we may never answer, but remember that life has infinite possibilities.
Kuban pigs