Shenshu and Yulü

{{Short description|Deities in Chinese mythology}} {{redirect|Yulü|the 4th-century Dai prince|Tuoba Yulü}} [[File:WUL-bunko19 d0016 立錘門神神荼・欝塁一対.pdf|thumb|300px|right|New Year pictures from the late Qing dynasty depicting Shenshu and Yulü]] '''Shenshu''' or '''Shentu''' ({{lang-zh|t=神荼}}) and '''Yulü''' or '''Yulei''' ({{lang-zh|t=鬱壘|s=郁垒}}) are a pair of deities in Chinese mythology who punished evil spirits by binding them in reed ropes and feeding them to tigers. Their images together with reed rope seasonally adorned the doors or gates to ward off evil, and are considered the earliest examples of ''Menshen'' ({{lang|zh|門神}}, 'gate deities' or 'door gods') venerated under such practice. Later traditions identified other gods or deified people as gate deities.

The description dates to writings from the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, during the Eastern Han dynasty, and the attribution to the ''Classic of Mountains and Seas'' dating much earlier appears to be spurious.

== Early sources == The earliest record of Shenshu and Yulü occurs in a passage quoted from ''Shanhaijing'' ({{lang|zh|山海經}}; ''Classic of Mountains and Seas'') in Wang Chong (d., c. 97 AD)'s ''Lunheng'' ({{lang|zh|論衡}}, "Discourses in the Balance",<ref name = "lunheng-dinggui-wang">王充《論衡-訂鬼》; Siku Quanshu version, vol. 19-22, [https://archive.org/details/06061721.cn/page/n149/mode/2up pp. 149-150], quote: "山海經又曰滄海之中有度朔之山上有大桃木其屈蟠三千里其枝間東北曰鬼門萬鬼所出入也上有二神人一曰'''神荼'''一曰'''鬱壘'''主閱領萬鬼惡害之鬼執以葦索而以食虎於是黄帝乃作禮以時驅之立大桃人門户畫'''神荼鬱壘'''與虎懸葦索以禦"</ref><ref name = "lunheng-dinggui-forke">Wang Ch'ung (author) & Forke, Alfred (translator) (1907). ''Lun-Hêng'', Part I, "All about Ghosts (Ting-Kuei)", pp. [https://archive.org/details/lunheng01wang/page/242/mode/2up 243]-[https://archive.org/details/lunheng01wang/page/244/mode/2up 244]</ref> although the passage is not found in surviving recensions of the ''Shanhajing'',<ref name="yang&an&turner2005"/> and the attribution to the earlier work is disputed.{{Refn|"[The passage is] not given in the current [extant] ''Shanhajing'', and according to Minoru Matsuda who analyzed the expressions and contents in details, it considering it as to be a lost text [from it] would be difficult. 現行『山海経』には記載がなく、表現や内容を詳細に検討した松田稔氏によると、その逸文とも考えにくい".<ref name="hojo"/>}}

The passage records the myth that two gods '''Shenshu'''<ref name="lunheng-yan"/> and '''Yulü'''{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Wade–Giles:Shen-t'u and Yü-lü.<ref name="lunheng-antoni"/>}} stand upon a giant peach tree that "twists and coils as far as 3000 li".{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|"twists and coils" (verb ''qupan'', {{linktext|屈|蟠}}). Hence the peach is identifiable with the famed "coiling peach tree" (''pantao''; {{linktext|蟠桃}}),<ref name="shimada"/><ref name="lockhart-pantao-peach"/> i.e. the tree of the peaches of immortality.}} At the tree's north-east was the ghost gate ({{illm|guimen|zh|鬼門|lt=''guimen''}}; {{lang|zh|鬼門}}; also 'gate of the spirits of the dead [demons]'). At the ghost gate, the two gods inspected the transit of countless dead spirits, and the evil-deeded ones they bound with reed rope and fed to tigers. This gave rise to the custom, allegedly set forth by the Yellow Emperor (Huangdi), that at the change of seasons, giant peachwood dolls shall be erected, the two gate gods and the tiger be painted on doors, and a reed rope be left to hang, in order to ward against evil.{{Refn|''Lunheng'', "''Dinggui'' [Defining ghosts] {{lang|zh|訂鬼篇}}".<ref name="lunheng"/>}}<ref name="lunheng-ma_boying"/><ref name="lunheng-antoni"/>

The account is repeated with slightly differing wording elsewhere{{Refn|''Lunheng'', "''Luanlong'' [Discussing on dragons] {{lang|zh|亂龍篇}}".<ref name="lunheng2"/>}} and instead of invoking the legendary Hunagdi, it is stated that the "district office" (i.e., the Han dynasty administration) practices the use of peachwood figures and gate paintings for apotropaic use.<ref name="lunheng-yan"/>

Cai Yong ({{lang|zh|蔡邕}} d. 192)'s ''Duduan'', ({{lang|zh|獨斷}}; 'Soitary decisions[?]' on ceremonial matters) is another source {{Refn|Hojo, citing Cai Yong's ''Duduan'' (獨斷/独断上巻疫神)<ref name="hojo"/>}} which contains a mostly identical passage,<ref>''Duduan'' (獨斷): "海中有度朔山.." {{harvp|Mizuno|2008}}, p. 115, n28; compare with the ''Lunheng''/''Shanhaijing'' text on p. 114–115, n27.</ref><ref>{{harvp|Saso|1965|p=41}} (English paraphrase), p. 51 (text).</ref> and another corroborative source of this period, Ying Shao's ''Fengsu Tongyi'' ({{circa}} 195)<ref name="yang&an&turner2005"/><ref name="hojo"/> also provides a similar description.{{efn|The ''Fengsu Tongyi'' claims to quote from the ''Huangdi shu'' "Book of the Yellow Emperor", aka ''Huangdi Sijing''.}}<ref>{{harvp|Mizuno|2008|p=105}}, citing ''Fengsu Tongyi'', "''Sidian'' 祀典 [Chapter] 8".</ref><ref name="fengsu_tongyi"/><ref name="fengsu-ptak"/>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|"Shen Tu" "Yu Lei" are the readings of the names of gods by Ptak.<ref name="fengsu-ptak"/>}} These sources add that the decorations are put up on New Year's Eve,{{sfnp|Akita|1944|p=293}} or to quote more literally "the night before the La rites"<ref name="jingchu-suishiji"/><ref name="fengsu_tongyi"/> (La 臘; held at the end of the year;{{sfnp|Chapman|2014|p=469}} precursor of Laba Festival). The peach figures, also called ''taogeng'' ({{lang|zh|桃梗}})<ref name="fengsu_tongyi"/> are wood carvings.{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|''Zhan Guo Ce'' ({{lang|zh|戰國策}}; 'Strategies of the Warring States'), quoted in the ''Fengsu Tongyi'' entry.<ref name="fengsu_tongyi"/> The quote represents a fictitious dialogue between a clay figure ({{lang-zh|土偶}}) and a peachwood figure (''taogeng''), used as parable by Su Qin discourage Lord Mengchang from invading Qin. The ''taogeng'' is peach wood carved into human form ({{langx|ja|"桃の木を刻削して人の形"}}), as this source states.<ref name="nakamura"/><ref name="zhanguoce-crump"/> }}<ref name="nakamura"/><ref name="jingchu-suishiji"/>

This legend has been commented on as the traceable origin myth for the cult of the posting of the ''Menshen'' gate deities,<ref name="thornton"/> and in later times, different deities have superseded them as gate gods to a large measure,<ref name="fengsu-ptak"/> but regionally, Shenshu and Yulü still continue to be employed as the New Year's guardian gate gods.<ref name="yang&an&turner2005"/><ref name="shimada"/>

== Later history == The carven peachwood figures (''taogeng'', etc.) were later simplified using peachwood boards, known as peach[wood] charms (''taofu''; {{lang-zh|桃符}}), and portraits of Shenshu and Yulü were drawn on the boards, or their names written on them.<ref name="chinese_ausp"/>

Later in the 8th century, it has been held the Taizong of the Tang dynasty (second emperor and co-founder of dynasty) appointed his generals Qin Qiong and Yuchi Gong to serve as personal bodyguards to protect him from evil spirits, which later led to the popular custom of using the generals as the gate deities.<ref name="yang&an&turner2005"/><ref name="liao"/> However, by the 9th century, they were replaced by Zhong Kui ({{lang|zh|鐘馗}}), the famed ghost catcher (demon-queller).<ref name="liao"/>

couplets (''lian''; {{lang-zh|聯}}) began to be written on the ''taofu'' boards around the 10th century.{{sfnp|Shimada|2003|p=35, n28}}

The ''taofu'', according to a 13th-century description, was a thin planks 4–5 ''cun'' (≈inches) wide and 2–3 ''chi'' (≈feet) long, inscribed with the name of Yulü on the left and Shenshu on the right, garnished with pictures of deities and mythical beasts, the lion-like {{illm|suanni|zh|狻猊}} ({{linktext|狻猊}}) and the ox-like baize ({{linktext|白|澤}}). Spring (New Year) greetings and {{linktext|propitiatory}} words were also added to it. The boards were replaced every new year.{{Refn|Chen Yuanjing (13c.), ''Suishiguangji'' ({{lang|zh|歲時廣記}}, "Extensive records of the [Four] Seasons"), Book Five, article on "''xietaopan'' {{lang|zh|寫桃版}}".<ref name="chen-suishiguangji"/> Cited by {{harvp|Shimada|2003|p=105}}}}

The peach boards were eventually replaced by paper, and became the precursor of the modern day ''chunlian'' ({{linktext|春聯}}; {{linktext|春联}}, "spring couplets").<ref name="chinese_ausp"/><ref>{{harvp|Akita|1944|p=293}}; {{harvp|Nakamura|1976|p=14–15}}; {{harvp|Shimada|2003|p=35}}, n28</ref>

The Qing dynasty period scholar Yu Zhengxie (''Guisi cungao'' 癸巳存稿, Book 13) conjectured that originally there were not two door gods, but perhaps one, though this was evidently based on a misinterpretation of the quote from a classic work.{{efn|Sima Biao's {{illm|Continuation of the Book of Han|ja|続漢書|lt=''Continuation of the Book of Han''}} or ''Xu han shu'', "History of Etiquettes" {{lang|zh|礼仪志}}.}}<ref name="hu"/> But the question of 1 god or 2 as a moot argument for Yu, whose main thesis was that the gate gods Shenshu and Yulü originated from the concept of the "peachwood mallet/hammer" (''taozhui'' or ''taochui''; {{linktext|挑|椎}}).<ref name="mori"/>

==Explanatory notes== {{notelist}}

==References== ;Citations {{Reflist|30em|refs= <ref name="chen-suishiguangji">{{citation|author=Chen Yuanjing |author-link=:zh:陈元靓 |chapter=''xietaopan'', Book Five |script-chapter=zh:寫桃版. 巻第五 |title=Suishiguangji |script-title=zh:歲時廣記 |publisher=歸安陸氏 |date=1879 |orig-date=c.1250 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mYYqAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA204 |pages= |language=zh}}</ref>

<ref name="chinese_ausp">{{citation|author=Beijing Foreign Languages Press |author-link=Foreign Languages Press |others=Shirley Tan (tr.) |title=Chinese Auspicious Culture |publisher=Asiapac Books |year=2012 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oen_AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA23 |pages=23–24|isbn=9789812296429}}</ref>

<ref name="fengsu_tongyi">{{citation|author=Ying Shao 應劭 |author-link=Ying Shao |chapter=8 |title=Fengsu tongyi |script-title=zh:風俗通義 |trans-title=Comprehensive Meaning of Customs |date=c. 195 |url=https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki風俗通義/8#桃梗、葦茭、畫虎 |language=zh |via=Wikisource }}</ref>

<ref name="fengsu-ptak">{{citation|last=Ptak |first=Roderich |author-link= |chapter=Qianliyan und Shunfeng'er in ''Xiaoshuo'' und anderen Texten der Yuan- und Ming-zeit |editor1-last=Hoster|editor1-first=Barbara |editor1-link= |editor2-last=Kuhlmann |editor2-first=Dirk |editor2-link= |editor3-last=Wesolowski |editor3-first=Zbigniew |editor3-link= |title=Rooted in Hope: China – Religion – Christianity Vol 2: Festschrift in Honor of Roman Malek S.V.D. on the Occasion of His 65th Birthday |publisher=Taylor & Francis |date=2017 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TjAlDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA587 |page=587 |isbn=9781351672603 |series=Monumenta Serica Monograph Series 68 |language=de}}</ref>

<ref name="hojo">{{citation|last=Hojo |first=Katsutaka |author-link= |title=Yasei no ronri/chibyō no ronri: okori chiryō no ichi jufu kara |script-title=ja:野生の論理／治病の論理―〈瘧〉治療の一呪符から― |journal=Nihon Bungaku |volume=62 |issue=5: Special issue, Nature and ''fūdo''[climate] as environment |publisher=大阪府立大学人文学会 |date=May 2013 |url=https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/nihonbungaku/62/5/62_39/_article/-char/ja/ |pages=46–47|language=ja}}</ref>

<ref name="hu">{{citation|last=Hu |first=Xinsheng |author-link= |title=Zhongguo gu dai wu shu |script-title=zh:中国古代巫术 |publisher=山东人民出版社 |date=1998 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jU1eAAAAIAAJ&q=%E4%BF%9E%E6%AD%A3%E7%87%AE |page=3 |isbn=9787209023252|quote=《续汉书·礼仪志》..清人俞正燮因为该书只提郁垒未提神茶,便认为汉代门神只有一位,这是误解。}}</ref>

<ref name="jingchu-suishiji">{{citation|editor-last=Chapman |editor-first=Ian |editor-link= |others=Wendy Swartz; Robert Ford Campany; Yang Lu: Jessey Choo (gen. edd.) |chapter=28 Festival and Ritual Calendar: Selections from ''Record of the Year and Seasons of Jing-Chu'' |title=Early Medieval China: A Sourcebook |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=2014 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AeiIl2y6vJQC&pg=PA475 |pages=475  |isbn=9780231531009}}</ref>

<ref name="liao">{{citation|last=Liao |first=Kaiming |author-link= |title=Chinese Modern Folk Paintings |volume=1 |publisher=Science Press |date=1994 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0Nk3AQAAIAAJ&q=Qiong |page=3 |isbn=9787030042101}}</ref>

<ref name="lockhart-pantao-peach">For a literal translation of ''pantao'' as "coiling peach tree" (and allusion the famous theft of the peach by Dongfang Shuo from the garden of Xiwangmu, Queen Mother of the West) see {{citation|last=Lockhart |first=J. H. Stewart |author-link=James Haldane Stewart Lockhart |title=The Currency of the Farther East from the Earliest Times Up to the Present Day |volume=1 |location=Hong Kong |publisher=Noronha & Company |date=1907 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VTYrAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA185 |page=185}}</ref>

<ref name="lunheng">{{citation|author=Wang Chong 王充 |author-link=Wang Chong |chapter=''Dinngui'', chapter 65 |script-chapter=zh:訂鬼篇第六十五 |title=Lunheng |script-title=zh:論衡 |trans-title=Discourses in the Balance |date=nd |orig-date=c. 85 |url=https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/論衡/65 |language=zh |via=Wikisource |quote=《山海經》又曰：滄海之中，有度朔之山。上有大桃木，其屈蟠三千里，其枝間東北曰鬼門，萬鬼所出入也。上有二神人，一曰神荼，一曰郁壘��主閱領萬鬼。惡害之鬼，執以葦索而以食虎。於是黃帝乃作禮以時驅之，立大桃人，門戶畫神荼、郁壘與虎，懸葦索以御凶魅。}} "郁壘" recté "{{linktext|欝壘}}"</ref> <ref name="lunheng2">{{citation|author=Wang Chong 王充 |author-link=Wang Chong |chapter=''Luanlong'', chapter 47 |script-chapter=zh:亂龍篇第四十七 |title=Lunheng |script-title=zh:論衡 |trans-title=Discourses in the Balance |date=nd |orig-date=c. 85 |url=https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/論衡/47|language=zh |via=Wikisource |quote=上古之人，有神荼、郁壘者，昆弟二人，性能執鬼，居東海度朔山上，立桃樹下，簡閱百鬼。鬼無道理，妄為人禍，荼與郁壘縛以盧索，執以食虎。故今縣官斬桃為人，立之戶側；畫虎之形，著之門闌。夫桃人非荼、郁壘也，畫虎非食鬼之虎也，刻畫效象，冀以御凶。今土龍亦非致雨之龍，獨信桃人畫虎，不知土龍。九也。}}</ref>

<ref name="lunheng-antoni">{{citation|last=Antoni |first=Klaus |author-link= |title=Death and Transformation: The Presentation of Death in East and Southeast Asia |journal=Asian Folklore Studies |volume=41 |issue=2 |publisher=Nanzan University |date=1982 |url=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/view/download/digidepo_10208691_po_1172.pdf?contentNo=1&alternativeNo= |page=148 |doi=10.2307/1178120 |jstor=1178120}} Translation curtailed at "tiger", in Wade-Giles phonetics.</ref>

<ref name="lunheng-ma_boying">{{citation|last=Ma |first=Boying |author-link= |title=A History Of Medicine In Chinese Culture (In 2 Volumes) |publisher=World Scientific |date=2020 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CBjWDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA97 |page=97 |isbn=9789813238008}}</ref>

<ref name="lunheng-yan">{{citation|last=Yan |first=Changgui |author-link= |chapter=5 Daybooks and the Spirit World |editor1-last=Harper |editor1-first=Donald |editor1-link= |editor2-last=Kalinowski |editor2-first=Marc |editor2-link= |title=Books of Fate and Popular Culture in Early China: The Daybook Manuscripts of the Warring States, Qin, and Han |publisher=BRILL |date=2017 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eoJ1DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA230 |page=230 |isbn=9789004349315 |others= |series=Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 4 China, volume 33}}</ref>

<ref name="mori">{{citation|last=Mori |first=Mikisaburo |author-link=:ja:森三樹三郎 |title=Shina kodai shinwa 0|script-title=ja:支那古代神話|publisher=Taigado |date=1944 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w-IZAAAAMAAJ&q="桃椎"+神荼 |page=281}}</ref>

<ref name="nakamura">{{citation|last=Nakamura |first=Takashi |author-link=:ja:中村喬 |title=Shunren to monshin: Chūgoku no nenjū gyōji ni kansuru oboegaki |script-title=ja:春聯と門神─中國の年中行事に關する憶え書き |journal=The Journal of Cultural Sciences: Ritsumeikan Bungaku  |number=367·368 |date=February 1976 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IVwvAQAAIAAJ&q=桃符 |page=3 |jstor=1178120}}</ref> <ref name="shimada">{{citation|last=Shimada |first=Hidemasa |author-link= |title=Chūgoku bunka no naka ni okeru tōri to Atomi Kakei |script-title=ja:中国文化の中に於ける桃李と、跡見花蹊 |trans-title=Symbolic Meaning of 'Peach-and-Plum' in Chinese Culture and the Attitude as Educationalist of Kakei Atomi (1840-1926) |journal=Journal of Atomi University Faculty of Literature |number=36 |publisher= |date=March 2003 |url=https://atomi.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_uri&item_id=461&file_id=21&file_no=1 |page=27|language=ja}}</ref>

<ref name="thornton">{{citation|last=Thornton |first= Patricia M. |author-link= |title=Insinuation, Insult, and Invective: The Threshold of Power and Protest in Modern China |journal=Comparative Studies in Society and History |volume=44 |number=3 |date=July 2002|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1cxNAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA180 |page=601 |doi= 10.1017/S0010417502000270 |jstor=3879381 |s2cid= 145256755 |quote=The posting of so-called gate-gods (''menshen'') is traced to a legend recorded in the Han ''Duduan''.. |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

<ref name="yang&an&turner2005">{{cite book|last1=Yang |first1=Lihui |author-link= |last2=An |first2=Deming |author2-link=|last3=Turner |first3=Jessica Anderson |author3-link= |chapter=Shentu |title=Handbook of Chinese Mythology |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wf40ofEMGzIC&pg=PA200 |year=2005 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-1-57-607806-8|pages=200–203}}</ref>

<ref name="zhanguoce-crump">{{citation|last=Crump |first=J. I. Jr.|author-link= |title=Intrigues: Studies of the Chan-kuo Tsʻe |publisher=University of Michigan Press |date=1964 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ai1kAAAAMAAJ |page=13 |isbn=9780608306742 |quote=But you are only a knot of peachwood from the eastern kingdoms which someone has cut and shaved in the image of man.}}</ref> }}

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