Have you ever heard of the Japanese Night Walk? The most influential youkai in Japan, called Tamamomae, is a nine-tailed fox with a golden hair on her jade face, and after transforming into a human form, she became the most popular concubine next to Emperor Toba. After the Japanese Yin-Yang Division recognized her true face, he sent 100,000 troops to capture her. Tamamo mae was eventually transformed into a "killing stone" by the Japanese Yin-Yang Master's Daoist techniques.
In fact, the fox demon culture in front of the Japanese jade algae originated from China's "Classic of Mountains and Seas", which can be regarded as one of the earliest cultural exports of China to Japan. So what kind of existence did the nine-tailed fox exist in ancient times? Why did the "fox demon belief" that was once popular in folklore suddenly disappear? What are the legends and intrigues behind them?
Nine-tailed fox
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<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="2" > the Chinese fox belief</h1>
Do you know? We Chinese people once enshrined the nine-tailed fox as a totem of faith and prayed for longevity and longevity. In ancient times, the nine-tailed fox was as noble as the jade rabbit and the three-legged golden wu, symbolizing supreme power and status. And now, with the emergence of Ming and Qing novels such as "Liaozhai" and "Fengshen Yanyi", the nine-tailed fox has been stigmatized. So, what kind of celestial machine is hidden behind the nine-tailed fox? Who shattered people's beautiful yearning for the nine-tailed fox?
All this must start with the Classic of Mountains and Seas.
In the "Great Wilderness East Classic, Nanshan Classic", there is a record of the nine-tailed fox.
It says that in ancient times, there was a place called Qingqiu Kingdom, and north of this place there was a strange beast, a kind of fox with a strange appearance, "four legs and nine tails", crying like a baby, but extremely fierce, because the "Classic of Mountains and Seas" records that the nine-tailed fox will feed on people. But what is really amazing is its other characteristic - the eater is not deceived.
What is "the eater does not cheat"? Guo Pu explained that as long as you can eat a bite of the meat of the nine-tailed fox, you can not invade and prolong your life, which can be said to be comparable to the meat of Tang Monk.
Mountains and Seas Sutra
In addition, according to the ancient books, "Taiping is out of the Rui", which means that once the nine-tailed fox is alive, it means that the world is peaceful and auspicious, so in ancient times, the nine-tailed fox was regarded as an "auspicious omen", so the folk also derived a "fox belief", the Eastern Han Dynasty was at its peak, and the people often built ancestral halls for the fox king.
This can be evidenced by cultural relics unearthed in domestic tombs, as depicted stones with nine-tailed foxes have been found in Eastern Han tombs in Shuanghe, Pengshan County, Sichuan, and Weishan, Shandong.
The nine-tailed fox on the portrait is strong in size, and the tail is divided into nine strands, each of which is relatively short and different in thickness.
The "same frame" as the nine-tailed fox are all famous immortal spirit beasts in ancient times, such as the Queen Mother of the West, nuwa Fuxi, as well as the jade rabbit toad and the three-legged golden wu.
The reason why the nine-tailed fox can sit on an equal footing with the golden wu, which symbolizes the sun, and the jade rabbit, which symbolizes the moon, is because in ancient times, the nine-tailed fox represented the "tail residence" in the seven residences of the eastern dragon.
Why "Otoku"? Because the characteristics of the nine tails correspond to the "tails" exactly nine stars, as described in the "History" of "tails for nine sons". The nine sons here are the nine stars.
But there is also a question, there are too many spirit beasts and monsters in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, why did the nine-tailed fox alone once become the common belief of the Chinese nation?
This brings us to a historical fact recorded in the "Spring and Autumn of the Lü Dynasty", which has a deep relationship with the "Dayu" in the Five Emperors.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="4" > dayu's chance to marry his wife</h1>
In the "Lü's Spring and Autumn", it is said that Dayu was thirty years old at that time, and in the year of Lizhi, he was still a bare stick. One day, walk to the bottom of Tu Mountain. I was worried that I would be alone for the rest of my life, but on second thought, if God wanted me to marry my own son, he would definitely give me a hint.
Sure enough, not long after, a white nine-tailed fox visited Dayu late at night, and Dayu was shocked to see the nine-tailed fox. Because white is the color of his clothes, and nine tails have always been a symbol of power and status. Da Yu thought to himself, is this the heavens reminding himself that as long as he marries and starts a family, he can take over the world and achieve great things?
Therefore, he married a tushan woman, this woman was called nujiao, and then Dayu threw himself into the work of controlling water, passing through the house three times without entering.
Some experts speculate that the nine-tailed white fox who visits Dayu at night is a tushan female petite, that is to say, Dayu actually married a "fox essence", of course, the fox essence here has no pejorative component.
Later Ming and Qing novels can also corroborate this, such as in the "Qingfeng" section of "Liaozhai Zhiyi", the fox demon once reported to his home, saying that he was "a Miao descendant of the Tushan clan".
The fox demon in "Shadow Tan Luoshen" is more straightforward, saying that "I Tushan great-grandfather, married Shenyu".
As a result, some scholars are more determined that the nine-tailed fox must be Tu Shan's female jiao, that is, Dayu's wife. Later, Nujiao gave birth to a son for Dayu, named Qi, and this "Qi" was the founding emperor of the Xia Dynasty and the integrator of Chinese civilization.
In fact, the Three Emperors and Five Emperors took the elves and divine beasts as their wives, and they did not make a fuss, even Nuwa was also a human-headed snake body.
However, if the nine-tailed fox is really a Tushan female petite, this means that as children of China, we also have the blood of the nine-tailed fox tribe flowing in our bodies, so it is not surprising that the fox belief in the Han Dynasty was prevalent.
So shouldn't the nine-tailed fox be worshipped by future generations like a dragon and phoenix? Why did the nine-tailed fox, who was once in the immortal class and symbolize auspicious rui, become a goblin that was hated by everyone? Or even confuse it with Su Daji, who is black and adulterous, and Su Daji, who kills Zhongliang?
Don't worry, listen to the captain to give you a detailed explanation.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="6" > the darkest hour of the nine-tailed fox</h1>
This will bring us to the most chaotic period in Chinese history, the Southern and Northern Dynasties. In just 170 years, after nine regime changes, the entire society continued to be turbulent and divided, and the flames of war were never extinguished.
So at that time, people pinned their hopes on the nine-tailed fox, many temples were built for the nine-tailed fox throughout the country, and all kinds of bizarre legends of the "fox king appeared" were flying everywhere, and people were looking forward to the arrival of peace and tranquility.
However, they did not wait for a suspicion and hatred to begin to spread: Will the nine-tailed fox really shelter us? We are all suffering by the nine-tailed fox.
By the time of Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, this dislike of the nine-tailed fox had reached its peak. According to the "History of the North", one day, a local official in Zhengzhou presented a nine-tailed fox corpse to the imperial court to curry favor with Emperor Wu and show that under his rule, the government was harmonious and the world was peaceful.
Emperor Wu was very angry when he saw this, and ordered the bones of the nine-tailed fox to be burned so that its "skin and flesh were destroyed". Why did Emperor Wu do this?
There are two reasons, one is that Emperor Wu believes that the living nine-tailed fox is Taiping Xianrui, and I am happy; you give me a dead nine-tailed fox first, what do the people think? The nine-tailed fox symbolizing auspicious rui was killed by me? Or is it an insinuation in this, alluding to my ignorance of the government and my ignorance?
Second, Emperor Wu was a rare materialist in feudal society, and he did not believe in such strange and chaotic gods.
Therefore, since the Northern Zhou Dynasty, the nine-tailed fox has changed its taste in the hearts of the people, and the nine-tailed fox itself has "eaten people and souls", and the people have begun to regard it as a "demagogic" demon.
Here the captain would like to emphasize that in fact, before the "List of Sealed Gods", there was basically no such thing as "Su Da's own change by the fox demon". In the Ming and Qing dynasties, with the advent of the "List of Fengshen Gods", people associated Su Daji with the nine-tailed fox, believing that the nine-tailed fox was adulterous and evil in his heart, which would only cause chaos.
Even the Qing Dynasty novel "Nine-tailed Fox" is to tie the Nine-tailed Fox together by the Qinglou J woman, when people mention the "Nine-tailed Fox", they will only think of "inferior" and "goblin", people will not believe at all, once it also symbolized taiping xiangrui, but also a god sitting next to the Queen Mother of the West, worshipped by the king.
At this point, the fox faith in China was completely lost, ushering in the darkest moment. I don't know if the nine-tailed fox is still alive, will it remember Li Qingzhao's "Slow Sound", it is really "miserable and miserable", what a "sad" word!
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="8" > conclusion</h1>
In fact, until now, when we mention the "nine-tailed fox", the first reaction is "fox spirit", "demon girl", "red face disaster water", etc., it can be said that this prejudice has been deeply rooted. History is written by the victors, and a small change in the previous dynasty will overturn the views of future generations on something. Think about this divine beast that once guarded Huaxia for ten thousand years, but it ended up like this. From being held up on the altar and praised by thousands of people at the beginning, to smearing and framing, wanfu pointed out and thousands of people spit on him. Therefore, people need to be warned: can we maintain an objective and fair view of ancient cultural beliefs? That's what we really need to think about.
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