Kitora Tombきとらこふん

Genbu is the numinous beast of the north, Water, and winter, bearing the most singular form among the Four Symbols—the entwined form of tortoise and snake. This edition traces the meaning of that iconography and the notion of "land matching the Four Symbols" in Japan. Its origin is in the stars of heaven. The chain of the seven northern mansions (Dipper, Ox, Girl, Emptiness, Rooftop, Encampment, Wall) likened to a tortoise wrapped by a snake is Genbu. The Huainanzi's "Treatise on the Patterns of Heaven" makes the emperor of the north Zhuanxu and its beast Genbu, assigning it to Water, winter, and the dark (black). The dark is the color of the Water phase, figuring the northern winter sky into which all things withdraw. Two meanings overlay the tortoise-and-snake form. The first is the original sense—the figure of the stars of the seven northern mansions. The second is the symbol expounded by the Later Han Cantong qi, which sees the entwined form of tortoise (longevity) and snake (procreation) as the harmony of yin and yang, female and male. The latter is an interpretation overlaid on the original sense, and the two must not be confused. Genbu, too, was anthropomorphized in Daoism into "Xuantian Shangdi (Zhenwu Dadi)," but this is a development of a separate lineage from the directional-guardian Four Symbols of Japan. In Japan, Genbu was spoken of most concretely within the geomantic reading of "land matching the Four Symbols"—terrain backed by a mountain to the rear is held to be the auspicious position of Genbu. Yet the identification that "Heian-kyō is land matching the Four Symbols (the north, Genbu = Mount Funaoka, etc.)" is not a certainty from the time of the capital's founding, but a later interpretation organized and settled into doctrine around the 1970s, with even the identified sites differing among researchers. What is certain reaches only as far as the existence of the geomantic notion of "land matching the Four Symbols" in the Heian period. The Four Symbols' banners of the Shoku Nihongi are the literary first appearance, and the iconography keeps the tortoise-and-snake-intertwined form in the Genbu on the northern wall of the Kitora Tomb.

The key to reading Suzaku lies in its directional symbolism as "the fire bird of the south" and in its subtle distinction from the phoenix. Its origin is in the stars of heaven. Chinese astronomy likened the chain of the seven southern mansions (Well, Ghost, Willow, Star, Extended Net, Wings, Chariot) to a bird form, and made this the Vermilion Bird. The Huainanzi's "Treatise on the Patterns of Heaven" makes the emperor of the south the Flame Emperor and its beast the Vermilion Bird, assigning it to Fire, summer, and the color vermilion. The "Vermilion Bird in front, Black Tortoise behind" of the Book of Rites' "Qu Li" and the southern-palace Vermilion Bird of the Records of the Grand Historian' "Treatise on the Celestial Offices" stand in the same system. The vermilion of Suzaku is the color of the Fire phase, figuring the blazing southern sky of summer. The relationship between Suzaku and the phoenix requires care. Because their images and auspicious connotations closely resemble each other the two tend to be identified, but Suzaku belongs to the Four Symbols (of astronomical, directional origin) and the phoenix to the Four Auspicious Beasts (the numinous beasts alongside the qilin, the numinous tortoise, and the responding dragon)—they are numinous birds of originally different categories. Rather than declaring "Suzaku = phoenix," it is more accurate to grasp that they have been spoken of as overlapping because of their close resemblance. In Japan, the notion of south = Suzaku was carved into the capital. The Suzaku Avenue and Suzaku Gate of Heian-kyō are its traces. As for surviving iconography, there were the Four Symbols murals of the Takamatsuzuka Tomb, but the Suzaku of the southern wall was lost to grave-robbing, and four-direction completeness is limited to the Kitora Tomb. The fire bird of the south, so easily lost, still spreads its wings in the stone chamber of Asuka.

Seiryū is not a dragon standing alone, but a numinous beast that takes on meaning only within the directional system of the Four Symbols. This edition traces its astronomical origin and its reception in Japan. The origin lies in the heavens. Chinese astronomy distributed the twenty-eight lunar mansions across the four quarters, seven to each, and likened the chain of stars of the seven eastern mansions (Horn, Neck, Root, Room, Heart, Tail, Winnowing Basket) to a single dragon. This is Seiryū. The Huainanzi's "Treatise on the Patterns of Heaven" makes the emperor of the east Taihao and its beast the Azure Dragon, assigning it to the Wood phase and spring, weaving the five directions, five colors, five seasons, and Five Phases into a single cosmology. The "Treatise on the Celestial Offices" of the Records of the Grand Historian likewise makes the eastern palace of heaven the Azure Dragon, binding constellation to numinous beast. The azure of Seiryū is the color of the Wood phase, figuring the rising life-force of spring in the east. Its deep layer is engraved in relics. The lacquer garment chest from the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng (c. 433 BCE), the oldest astronomical relic to bear the names of the twenty-eight mansions, depicts the Azure Dragon and White Tiger as a pair. In the Han period, the patterns of the Four Symbols adorned roof tiles, bronze mirrors, and pictorial stones, becoming emblems that warded off evil and summoned fortune. In Japan, the Four Symbols were received as a theory of astronomy, tomb-building, and capital planning. The Four Symbols' banners of the first year of Taihō (701) in the Shoku Nihongi are the certain literary first appearance, and in iconography the Azure Dragon on the eastern wall of the Kitora Tomb in Asuka survives as one wing of a four-direction-complete mural of the Four Symbols. Thus Seiryū was placed between star and terrain, as the guardian beast that governs the east and brings the spring.

Byakko is the divine beast of the west, Metal, and autumn, spoken of as forming a pair with the Azure Dragon of the east. This edition traces its astronomical origin and the paired structure with Seiryū. Its origin is in the stars of heaven. The chain of the seven western mansions (Legs, Bond, Stomach, Hairy Head, Net, Turtle Beak, Three Stars) likened to the form of a tiger is Byakko. The Huainanzi's "Treatise on the Patterns of Heaven" makes the emperor of the west Shaohao and its beast the White Tiger, assigning it to Metal, autumn, and white. The western palace of heaven in the Records of the Grand Historian' "Treatise on the Celestial Offices" stands in the same system. The form of a fierce white-furred tiger figures the white of the Metal phase, corresponding to the western sky of autumn, which bears the air of ripening and harvest, and of withering severity. The pairing of Byakko and Seiryū is old. That the early Warring States lacquer garment chest from the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng (c. 433 BCE) draws the azure dragon and the white tiger to left and right alongside the names of the twenty-eight mansions shows that the composition of the Four Symbols, setting east (Seiryū) and west (Byakko) face to face, was already established twenty-four centuries ago. In Japan, Byakko was received as a marker of directional protection and of wards. In the Four Symbols' banners of the first year of Taihō (701) in the Shoku Nihongi, Byakko was set to the west (right). Though native tales are scarce, within the geomantic reading of land matching the Four Symbols it was made the guard of the west, and in iconography the White Tiger facing the Azure Dragon still remains on the western wall of the Kitora Tomb. The dragon of the east and the tiger of the west—this symmetry is the very skeleton of the system of the Four Symbols.