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Xuanwu (god)
Xuanwu (玄武) or Xuandi (Chinese: 玄帝; pinyin: Xuándì), also known as Zhenwu (真武, lit. 'True Warrior' or 'Truly Valiant') or Zhenwu Dadi (真武大帝, lit. 'True Martial Great Emperor' or 'Truly Valiant Great Emperor'), is a deity in Chinese religion and one of the higher-ranking deities in Taoism. He is identified as the god of the north, associated with water, winter, and the Black Tortoise — one of the Four Symbols of the Chinese constellations. He is particularly revered by practitioners of martial arts and as a protective deity against evil and disease.
Xuanwu is widely worshipped throughout China, particularly in the northern provinces of Hebei and Henan from which his cult originated, and from the Tang–Song period onward also in southern provinces including Guangdong, Guangxi, and Fujian, as well as among the overseas Chinese diaspora.
The Yongle Emperor of the Ming dynasty claimed to have received the divine assistance of Xuanwu during his successful Jingnan Campaign (1399–1402) against his nephew, and as emperor sponsored the construction of an extensive complex of Taoist monasteries in the Wudang Mountains of Hubei, establishing Xuanwu as a tutelary deity of the Ming imperial house.
The name Xuanwu (玄武) is a compound of xuan (玄), meaning "dark", "mysterious", or "black", and wu (武), meaning "martial" or "warrior". The literal translation is "Dark Warrior" or "Mysterious Warrior", reflecting the deity's association with the dark, watery, yin qualities of the north.
The name was changed to Zhenwu (真武, "True Warrior") during the Northern Song dynasty under the Zhenzong Emperor (r. 997–1022) to avoid a taboo on the character xuan (玄), which appeared in the personal name of a Song imperial ancestor. Both Xuanwu and Zhenwu remain in common use, with regional preferences.
The honorific title Xuantian Shangdi (玄天上帝, "Dark Heavenly Highest Deity") emerged with the deity's elevation to imperial divinity in later periods.
Xuanwu is one of the Four Symbols of the Chinese constellations, representing the north and the winter season. He is usually depicted in cosmological contexts as a turtle entwined together with a snake.
The earliest references to Xuanwu appear in Han dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE) texts in the context of correlative cosmology, in which the Four Symbols were assigned to the four cardinal directions of the sky. At this stage, Xuanwu was a cosmological symbol rather than a personified deity, representing one of the four sets of seven mansions among the twenty-eight lunar mansions of Chinese astronomy.
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Xuanwu (god)
Xuanwu (玄武) or Xuandi (Chinese: 玄帝; pinyin: Xuándì), also known as Zhenwu (真武, lit. 'True Warrior' or 'Truly Valiant') or Zhenwu Dadi (真武大帝, lit. 'True Martial Great Emperor' or 'Truly Valiant Great Emperor'), is a deity in Chinese religion and one of the higher-ranking deities in Taoism. He is identified as the god of the north, associated with water, winter, and the Black Tortoise — one of the Four Symbols of the Chinese constellations. He is particularly revered by practitioners of martial arts and as a protective deity against evil and disease.
Xuanwu is widely worshipped throughout China, particularly in the northern provinces of Hebei and Henan from which his cult originated, and from the Tang–Song period onward also in southern provinces including Guangdong, Guangxi, and Fujian, as well as among the overseas Chinese diaspora.
The Yongle Emperor of the Ming dynasty claimed to have received the divine assistance of Xuanwu during his successful Jingnan Campaign (1399–1402) against his nephew, and as emperor sponsored the construction of an extensive complex of Taoist monasteries in the Wudang Mountains of Hubei, establishing Xuanwu as a tutelary deity of the Ming imperial house.
The name Xuanwu (玄武) is a compound of xuan (玄), meaning "dark", "mysterious", or "black", and wu (武), meaning "martial" or "warrior". The literal translation is "Dark Warrior" or "Mysterious Warrior", reflecting the deity's association with the dark, watery, yin qualities of the north.
The name was changed to Zhenwu (真武, "True Warrior") during the Northern Song dynasty under the Zhenzong Emperor (r. 997–1022) to avoid a taboo on the character xuan (玄), which appeared in the personal name of a Song imperial ancestor. Both Xuanwu and Zhenwu remain in common use, with regional preferences.
The honorific title Xuantian Shangdi (玄天上帝, "Dark Heavenly Highest Deity") emerged with the deity's elevation to imperial divinity in later periods.
Xuanwu is one of the Four Symbols of the Chinese constellations, representing the north and the winter season. He is usually depicted in cosmological contexts as a turtle entwined together with a snake.
The earliest references to Xuanwu appear in Han dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE) texts in the context of correlative cosmology, in which the Four Symbols were assigned to the four cardinal directions of the sky. At this stage, Xuanwu was a cosmological symbol rather than a personified deity, representing one of the four sets of seven mansions among the twenty-eight lunar mansions of Chinese astronomy.