The legend of the nine-tailed fox

The nine-tailed fox is a miraculous animal in ancient myths and legends of China, which is often used to symbolize good luck. Want to know the legendary story about the nine-tailed fox? Here are some legends about the nine-tailed fox for your reference.

First, the nine-tailed fox legend story

Pre-Qin era

The Book of Mountains and Seas records the clear autumn and the nine-tailed fox, whose province is called "Kyubi no Youko", also known as "Kyubi no Youko Bird". First seen in the pre-Qin period, it spread to the Han Dynasty as an auspicious beast, symbolizing the prosperity of kings, and was repeatedly mentioned in many ancient books. According to Shan Hai Jing, Qingqiu is located in the north of Chaoyang Valley and the south of Blackpool. According to Wild East Book, Qingqiu is located between Blackpool and Star Mountain, adjacent to the Republic of China and Bentu. In the book "The Revelation of Returning to Tibet", it is recorded that the Yellow Emperor killed Chiyou, the leader of the Jiuli nationality in the East. "So, Qingqiu is located in the eastern part of the Central Plains, and Qingqiu, as its name implies, is a place with hills as landforms. According to "Taiping Universe" and "Yuanhe County Records", "The county was originally located in the south of Pushui in the old legend, and was often stabbed by the god fox, so it moved to the north of Pushui, so it was called the fox." [5] However, some scholars believe that the images of "Qingqiu Country" and "Nine-tailed Fox" in The Classic of Mountains and Seas are derived from the "tail lodge" in "Oriental Dragon" because there are nine planets at the tail. Yu met the legends of "Tu Shan barren woman" and "nine-tailed white fox" when he was in charge of water control, which is a tortuous inheritance of Yu's water control thought to Ji Wei. [6] The ancient nine-tailed fox symbolizes good luck, sounds like a baby and can eat people. In fact, the image of the nine-tailed fox was slightly witchcraft in the pre-Qin period, and it was not until the Han Dynasty that it became auspicious, symbolizing the omen of many children and emperors. During the Six Dynasties, the atmosphere gradually changed, gradually declined after the Tang Dynasty, and turned back to the negative image again.

Hantang

The nine-tailed fox, which was originally one of the totem gods in the Han Dynasty, was also symbolized as an auspicious symbol under the influence of the concept of destiny. For example, the Book of Filial Piety says: "Virtue is to birds and beasts, then Kyubi no Youko is a fox." These statements generally mean that as long as the monarch manages the world well and the people live well, the nine-tailed fox will appear and report good luck. The White Tiger Yi Tong written by Ban Gu in Han Dynasty is marked by the fox, which shows the virtue of "generations to come". According to the lost article of Lv Chunqiu quoted in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Dayu came to Tushan (according to the examination in Songxian County, Henan Province), met a white fox with nine tails, listened to the singing of Tushan people, and said, "Old white fox, Pang Pang", and said, "If you get married here, it can be inferred that Tushan stone is actually a tribe with nine tails as its totem. Bai Juyi compared the concubines and concubines of da ji and Zhou Youwang to foxes in The Ancient Buried Fox in the Tang Dynasty. When the nine-tailed fox turned into a demon, it was really natural that Princess da ji, who confused Zhou Wang with a beautiful woman, was said to be the essence of the nine-tailed fox.

Confucian scholars in the Northern Song Dynasty argued that the nine-tailed fox had been demonized in the early Northern Song Dynasty. Tian Kuang's The Scholars said that Song Zhenzong was a cunning man and Chen Pengnian was good at "flattering" the emperor, so "people looked at him like a nine-tailed fox at that time", which shows that the nine-tailed fox has become a bad thing in people's minds. It was also during this period that a famous woman in China's ancient history, said to be a nine-tailed fox, spread to Japan. This is Shang Zhouwang's concubine da ji. Song Zhaoling's Backstreet Record Volume 8: "Qiantang official prostitute, with good charm, is called Kyubi no Youko Wild Fox." There is an article "Be sycophantic" written by Dr. Jiang, saying that "Yin da ji is a nine-tailed fox". Be sycophantic records three years in He Kang (11kloc-0/year), which is equivalent to the period of Song Huizong. Visible China has said before.

Yuanming

Kyubi no Youko's fox possessed da ji, and the description in the novel began with the storytelling "Wu Wang Ji" in the Yuan Dynasty, and the novels in the Ming Dynasty were further developed. In the book "King Wu Cut Zhou", it was a "Kyubi no Youko Golden Fox" who absorbed the essence of da ji's soul and turned it into da ji through its empty skin. Da ji was finally forced to reveal his true colors by Jiang Taigong after Wu Wang Yin Ke, and then put into a cloth bag and killed with a raft. The reason why it took so much effort was because the executioner of the execution made the "charming eyes" of the nine-tailed fox impossible. [8] The Romance of the Gods, based on the book of the King of Wu, greatly developed the seductive nature of da ji, a fox possessed by Kyubi no Youko for thousands of years, and wrote many bad things she did. On the contrary, Shang Zhouwang's "both civil and military" is not too bad. Besides, there are loyal ministers and good generals outside, and there are virtuous ladies and queens inside. The mountains and rivers were stable. It was this Millennium Kyubi no Youko fox with nine-headed pheasant essence and jade pipa essence that puzzled him and made him lose his "authenticity". Interestingly, when the nine-tailed fox was beheaded, there was also a fascinating description, which was more vivid and detailed than the biography of Wu Wang. The novel tries to play up how she charmed the execution sergeant "in a pile", and finally Jiang Ziya took her head with a precious gourd. [9] The Kyubi no Youko fox in The Romance of the Gods incarnates as the image of da ji, pushing the concept of seduction of the ancient prostitute fox to the extreme, pushing the concept of the most popular fox, the nine-tailed fox, to the extreme, and also pushing the taboo concept of womanhood and the female concept of "women can never lose their country" to the extreme.

After the Qing dynasty, I wrote some novels about the nine-tailed fox. For example, the Jade-faced Fairy in the popular novel "Fox Life" in the Qing Dynasty was the mysterious Jade-faced Fox Fairy written by Kyubi no Youko, and was finally appeased by Lv Dongbin, and eight tails were cut off. The novel "Nine-tailed Fox" in the late Qing Dynasty is not about foxes, but about prostitutes-prostitute Hu Baoyu is nicknamed "Nine-tailed Fox". First of all, the nine-tailed fox is the most lewd and charming, "especially worse than ordinary foxes", so compared with Hu Baoyu, it is "a very lewd prostitute". In the Qing Dynasty, the concept of integration of fox and prostitute became popular. Prostitutes are foxes, and the worst prostitutes are of course nine-tailed foxes.

Second, the historical origin of the nine-tailed fox

The nine-tailed fox is recorded in Nanshan Jing, Overseas Jing and Shanhaijing: "In the country of Qingshan, there are foxes on its mountains, and Kyubi no Youko is also." Another cloud said, "It has four legs and cries like a baby. Sometimes it can eat people and eat the meat of a nine-tailed fox to ward off evil spirits. " Guo Pu, a famous writer and exegetist in the Western Jin Dynasty, said in his notes: "It is auspicious to go out peacefully." White Tiger Yi Tong written by Ban Gu, a famous historian and writer in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Ruiying Picture written by Han and Wei Dynasties in Dunhuang, Shu Wei written by Wei Shou in the Northern Qi Dynasty, etc. It is often mentioned that "if Wang doesn't slant the color, the nine-tailed fox will arrive", "Wang Faming shows, three talents get it, the nine-tailed fox will arrive" and "if Wang unifies Liuhe, see it". "Wu Yue Chun Qiu" links it with Dayu's marriage to Tu Shan Nv Jiao, which shows that it is not only auspicious, but also noble. The nine-tailed fox, rabbit, toad and three-legged dog in the Han Dynasty stone reliefs are juxtaposed with the Queen Mother of the West to show the auspicious father and son. Yi Yin, the monarch of Xia Dynasty, acquired the nine-tailed fox after the Eastern Expedition, but even the nine-tailed fox, which symbolizes many auspicious signs, has its negative meanings. Li Yu-Ian: "Castle Peak is the habitat of Kyubi no Youko foxes. He will be a demon, begging for a skull and wearing it. Diary of the Reform Movement of 1898: Shan Hai Jing: a man-eating beast like the nine-tailed fox in Qingqiu, and Mirror of the Past Dynasties: the nine-tailed fox committed adultery. The nine-tailed fox is an animal image that often appears in China's ancient literary works. It has complex cultural connotations and is always associated with mysterious culture. Among many animal images, the nine-tailed fox has distinctive features and wide social coverage, which is well known to women and children. Like other literary images, the image of the nine-tailed fox has gone through a long process of development. It has its own prototype of life and evolved on the basis of the prototype.

Third, the meaning of the nine-tailed fox

front

In the pre-Qin period, the nine-tailed fox was regarded as an auspicious beast. "Shan Hai Jing Overseas East longitude" contains: "The country of Qingqiu has four feet in Kyubi no Youko." Guo Pu's Note: "Peace in the world is a good thing." Auspicious has two meanings. First, being king is a sign of a country's prosperity. "Wu Yue Chun Qiu" contains: Dayu did not marry at thirty. Because he saw a white fox with nine tails in Tushan and thought it was a good omen for the king, but he married a woman in Tushan. Therefore, Tu Shan sang, "White foxes grow only in Kyubi no Youko. My family Jiayi, guests are king. There is a home and a house, and I make it prosperous. On the occasion of heaven and man, just do it here. " "Selected Works of Four Gentlemen's Morality" says: "In the past, King Wen was a nine-tailed fox and returned to Zhou in the east." The second is the omen of marriage and love. The nine-tailed white fox in the case of Dayu meeting Tu Shanshi's daughter obviously has the meaning of auspicious marriage. The Book of Songs with a Fox is a lonely, depressed and wandering fox. As a human being whose marriage and love are out of date, it is sung. Therefore, the White Tiger Yi Tong written by Ban Gu in Han Dynasty is marked by the fox, which shows the virtue and animality of "future generations". Therefore, the performance of the fox has laid the groundwork for future generations to compare the charm of human nature.

negative side

According to Shan Hai Jing, "There are wild animals on Qingqiu Mountain, which are like foxes and Kyubi no Youko. They sound like babies and can eat people, but those who eat them are not strange." "The Complete Biography of Lv Zu" even said, "The nine-tailed fox eats people, how cruel it is, and it can't escape the annihilation of the bear in Weishui." "Dongshan Jing" says: "The beauty of the mountain ... has a beast that looks like a fox, while Kyubi no Youko, Jiushou and Tiger Claw are famous nephews who sound like babies and can eat people." (Guo Pu Note: Nine-tailed Fox). A large number of cannibalism records show that the nine-tailed fox, as an auspicious thing, also has a fierce side. In addition, after thousands of years of changes, the nine-tailed fox not only became more and more prominent in the image of eating people, but also became synonymous with treachery in the Yuan Dynasty.

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