#女媧

[steamedlotusroot]

literally mother

[yebreed]

Veneration to the Children of the Dragon

Fuxi and Nüwa couple from Wu 武 family funerary shrine (Wu Liang Ci 武梁祠), in present-day Jiaxiang 嘉祥, Eastern Han (151 AD). The archetypal symbolism of winged serpents, characteristic of Asian mythology, is still present in the oldest examples like this one.

The combination of bird and snake features refers to the Earth and Heavens realms’ cohesion. This is also the conjunction of Fire and Water, since birds are of a fiery nature, and serpentine beings – of water one. In later depictions, the primary symbolism was modified.

[x751206]

[kexiu-0415]

女媧

[lesserknownwaifus]

Jakou Kenshin Jyoka (蛇皇剣神じゃこうけんしん・女じょ媧か) from the now-discontinued Japan-only mobile sequel, Yo-kai Sangokushi: Kunitori Wars and Yo-kai Watch: Wibble Wobble (aka Puni-Puni in Japan).

[luminouslumity]

Another year, another season, another post going into Chinese mythology (mostly in how it pertains to Journey to the West).

LI JING (李靖) is someone I've actually already discussed a bit here in terms of his and Nezha's backstories, but for JttW specifically, he's sent by the Jade Emperor to subdue Sun Wukong, and of course things don't go well in his favor. Later, he attempts to help Sun Wukong in apprehending the One-Horned Rhinoceros King and later shows up to arrest the Bull Demon King, and again after Tang Sanzang is kidnapped by the GOLDEN-NOSED WHITE-HAIRED RODENT-SPIRIT (金鼻白毛老鼠精), otherwise known as LADY EARTH FLOW (地涌夫人).

The SIXIANG (四象), or Four Signs, include ZHUQUE (朱雀), XUANWU (玄武), BAIHU (白虎), and QINGLONG (青龍) are the guardians of the four cardinal directions (South for the Vermillion Bird/Zhuque, North for the Black Tortoise/Xuanwu, West for the White Tiger/Baihu, and East for the Azure Dragon/Qinglong). In JttW, they are referenced towards the end in a poem:

One Real Body dropped to the dusty plain

Fuses with Four Signs to tend the self again.

In Five Phases terms forms are dead and void;

The fiends' vain names one should all avoid.

Great Bodhi's the right Candana fruition;

Appointments crown this rise from perdition.

Gracious light of scriptures now worldwide dilates,

As five sages live within Advaya's gates.

Much like the dragon family he'd married into, the NINE-HEADED BEAST (九頭蟲) is a thief, having collaborated with his father-in-law, the Wansheng Dragon King (萬聖龍王), into stealing a Buddhist relic—known as a Śarīra—from Jisai's Golden Ray Monastery. Erlang Shen's dog bites one of his heads off, but he manages to escape otherwise.

Like in many other religions, NÜWA (女媧) is said to have molded humans from clay, having initially creating what would become the nobility by hand before resorting to mass production for the rest. One day, when the heavens began to crumble—its cause depending on the source—she gathered five colored stones to patch up the sky, while a tortoise's legs would be used as pillars for support.

The Underworld in Chinese mythology is said to be divided into several hells and overseen by YANWANG (閻王) alongside nine other kings: QINGUANGWANG (秦广王), CHUJIANGWANG (楚江王), SONGDIWANG (宋帝王), WUGUANWANG (五官王), BIANCHENGWANG (卞城王), TAISHANWANG (泰山王), PINGDENGWANG (平等王), DUSHIWANG (都市王), and ZHUANLUNWANG (转轮王). Most infamously, Sun Wukong erased his name and that of every monkey he knew from the Ledger of Life and Death and to prevent them from dying.

[kyrieren]

Doumeki's irezumi

Irezumi (入れ���, lit. 'inserting ink') is the Japanese word for tattoo, and is used in English to refer to a distinctive style of Japanese tattooing.

In chapter 53, Doumeki's back tattoo is revealed to be a "celestial maiden". Typically, irezumi incorporates motifs such as dragons, Buddhas, samurai, koi fish, and more, each carrying specific cultural and symbolic meanings referred to as wabori (和彫り). Intrigued by Doumeki's tattoo, I went asking if Doumeki’s tattoo is identified as any wabori and received responses suggesting it could represent either Nuwa (女媧) or Benzaiten (弁才天), given the details of snake and the stone in the goddess’ hands. After some research, Nuwa (女媧) seems to be more aligned with the story than Benzaiten (弁才天). However, I still present both of them and their possible interpretations in the story.

I. Nuwa (女媧)

Nüwa, is a mother goddess, cultural heroine in Chinese folk religion, Chinese Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism. She is credited with creating humanity from clay by the river bank and repairing the Pillar of Heaven. Let’s focus on the myth of “repairing the Pillar of Heaven”.

The world of the first beings was very different from ours now. The earth was just in its infancy and was only separated from the sky by four very large pillars. One day, Gonggong (龔工), the god of water, and the god of fire, Zhurong (祝融) became locked in a massive battle that would determine the ruler of heaven. Gonggong, who was motivated by evil, ultimately lost the fight and crashed his head against Buzhou mountain—one of the four pillars holding up the heavens. The earth began to tremble and the pillar collapsed and ripped a hole in the sky. At this point, the earth was completely in tatters from Zhurong and Gonggong’s epic battle. Fires had scorched the earth, water was pouring incessantly from the hole in the sky. The ancient Chinese historian Sima Qian (司馬遷), recorded the following account of Nüwa’s heroic deed: “Hereupon Nüwa melted stones of the five colours to repair the heavens, and cut off the feet of the tortoise to set upright the four extremities of the earth. Gathering the ashes of reeds she stopped the flooding waters, and thus rescued the land.” From that moment on, the water in the heavenly palace no longer cascades on earth to cause harm to the people.

In mythology, Nuwa played a crucial role in repairing the sky hole and preventing heavenly water from pouring onto the earth. As rain – the water from the sky, the befallen suffering, is one of the main themes of Saezuru, the parallel is pretty evident. Given Doumeki’s persistence to stay in the yakuza world and his decision to have a wabori that big on his back, he is doing everything he can to manifest his devotion to stay on Yashiro’s side, end his suffering and protect him from any potential harms, even though up to the newest developments of the story, it doesn’t seem likely at all. They’re both confused and hurting each other.

II. Benzaiten (弁才天)

Benzaiten ( 弁才天 ) is the “goddess of eloquence" who originated mainly from the Hindu Indian Saraswati, goddess of speech, the arts, and learning. While Benzaiten retains many of the Indic attributes of Saraswati (as patron of music, the arts, eloquence, knowledge), she also has many unique aspects, roles and functions which never applied to the Indian goddess. As such, Benzaiten is now also associated with dragons, snakes, local Japanese deities, wealth, fortune, protection from disease and danger, and the protection of the state. Benzaiten is depicted in a number of ways in Japanese art, one of which is her portrait wielding a sword and a wish-granting jewel (cintāmaṇi). Eloquence and wish-granting? I haven’t been able to draw the parallel to Saezuru yet.

So I’d stick to the interpretation that Doumeki’s tattoo is Nuwa.

[elinekeit-artstuff]

A meditation on 女媧 (Nüwa) and the act of creation.

She presses the clay between her fingers carefully mixing twisting cutting folding breaking constantly searching for the shape of herself

Her warm hands are as coarse as hessian The fire in her brown almond eyes is electrifying bright with the vibrancy of power, strength and happiness.

"whenever you're ready, come alive."

Then Everything happened,

skin, hair, head, chest, eyes, arms emerge from the earth.

combine into a body, and breathes

[foxgonyoom]

HEY!

This is an unfinished post. There's still a lot of stuff in it of course, I just wanted to show it to my friend and the share link wouldn't cooperate when I posted it privately. So ye.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(I already posted a theory that the thing on the other side of the sky is the lady who made MK, this is just an elaboration and for funsies)

So you know how in the S4 special, it's implied that there's something on the other side of the sky?

What if that star we see on the other side is Nuwa?

TL;DR:

In this post, I will point out many connections between Nuwa, stuff we see in the show, and other connections I make in this post. I will use these connections to construct a semblance of a backstory for MK, as well as theorize what MK is, and what may be in store for us in Season 5 (among other things).

This shall be done by utilizing various sources, such as:

The show

Wikipedia

Theories other fans have thought up (Though these are less "sources" and more inspirations for some of my thoughts)

My imagination

All brought together by my apophenia! (Look it up)

WARNING: This post is longer than the noodles at Pigsy's Noodles, and draws from sources that have no reason to lie to me, but could be misinterpreted because nothing anyone ever says is ever safe from misinterpretation, and I can be VERY creative. You have been warned.

So first off:

Nuwa.

Nuwa, Nuwa, Nuwa.

I looked you up online, and guess what I found in your Wikipedia article?

Nüwa is often depicted holding a compass or multiple compasses, which were a traditional Chinese symbol of a dome-like sky.[1] She was also thought to be an embodiment of the stars and the sky[1] or a star god. - Wikipedia

RETURN TO IMAGE AT START OF POST:

My my, doesn't that look like such a bright star?

But wait, THERE'S MORE!

Because why don't we take a look at your name?

In Chinese, the word for 'whirlpool' is wo (Chinese: 渦), which shares the same pronunciation with the word for 'snail' (Chinese: 蝸). These characters all have their right side constructed by the word wa (Chinese: 咼), which can be translated as 'spiral' or 'helix' as noun, and as 'spin' or 'rotate' when as verb, to describe the 'helical movement'.  - Wikipedia

That's funny, because THIS:

Is the scene where that star I showed earlier shows up.

And oh, would you look at that? The sky appears to be cracking in a swirl-like fashion! Perhaps in a way that one might describe as a 'spiral'? Or maybe a 'helix'? Or like the sky is 'spinning'?

But why don't we hit the brakes on this, and mosey our way to another one of your myths?

Perhaps the one that caused people to connect you to MK in the first place?

Perhaps... the myth of how you created humanity?

As creator of mankind, she molded humans individually by hand with yellow clay.[4] In other stories where she fulfills this role, she only created nobles[5] and/or the rich[6] out of yellow soil. The stories vary on the other details about humanity's creation, but it was a tradition commonly believed in ancient China that she created commoners from brown mud.[5] - Wikipedia

Hm? Why did I highlight that little bit about her creating commoners from mud? Well, I'm glad you asked! Because guess what appears SEVERAL times throughout the show?

MUD.

And guess what MK is covered in when he first arrives at Pigsy's?

MUD.

And in the show, it's very heavily implied that the little monkey figure in Nuwa's hands in the below scene is connected to MK somehow!

You'll see why I'm pointing that out in a moment, but for now, let's take a little frog break!

...

Huh? What's this? It appears new information is coming in! Let's see what we got!

The character nü (Chinese: 女; lit. 'female') is a common prefix on the names of goddesses. The proper name is wa, also read as gua (Chinese: 媧). The Chinese character is unique to this name. Birrell translates it as 'lovely', but notes that it "could be construed as 'frog', which is consistent with her aquatic myth.[7] - Wikipedia

OH SO YOU'RE A FROG NOW HUH?!

But yes, I believe I've pointed out enough possible connections! So why don't we see how things relate to MK?

Let's start small! With when Mk first showed up at Pigsy's!

Here, we see he's covered in mud and dirt.

But what if he's also covered in clay?

And where did all that dirt and mud come from?

I have two possible answers:

Nuwa had to get the mud and clay to create humans (and also probably MK) from SOMEWHERE. So perhaps where MK was born had a lot of mud?

That mud is actually some of the clay and dirt that Nuwa used to make MK. He's just covered in excess amounts of it.

Now, here's another question:

How is he covered in so much, when he's in the middle of the city? Surely much would have fallen off on his trek through the streets if he'd come from a forest outside? This isn't even mentioning how there doesn't even seem to BE a forest outside the city, just desert!

To best answer this question, I would like to refer to these two scenes:

In both of them, MK is falling out of the sky.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's right.

I don't think MK was dropped off at Pigsy's.

I think he dropped OUT OF THE SKY right onto Pigsy's lawn.

As in he CAME FROM THE SKY.

Hence his name in the Chinese version of the show, Xiaotian, which apparently means "Little Sky".

Let's also take a look at the mountain where it's implied he was born.

It appears to be VERY high up. It's also surrounded by floating islands. Perhaps... it itself is a floating island? But where? Surely not above Megapolis. Perhaps... on the other side of the sky? Far across those stars nestled in between the cracks of reality?

Surely, time will tell.

So, here's the basic gist of what I think went down:

Nuwa made MK out of clay.

She sealed him inside of Wukong's stone, which she reconstructed around him with the pieces of it.

Eventually, he was born from it.

Somehow, he ended up falling off the mountain, and ended up falling through the sky.

He dropped right on to Pigsy's front lawn.

Additionally, the sky cracking open is apparently not a new event in Chinese mythology.

In fact, the first time it happened, you were there. And you fixed it.

With ROCKS.

In the Huainanzi, there is described a great battle between deities that broke the pillars supporting Heaven and caused great devastation. There was great flooding, and Heaven had collapsed. Nüwa was the one who patched the holes in Heaven with five colored stones, and she used the legs of a tortoise to mend the pillars.[4] - Wikipedia

So, perhaps in Season 5 the crew will go looking for you for help with making sure the sky doesn't tear open?

But then, where would they find you?

Perhaps.... ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE SKY?

[falseandrealultravival]

Will (Chihiro Yonekura): Animation "Houshin Engi" theme song (city pop)

There are three great novels in China. Journey to the West, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and Hoshin Engi. The hermits wield weapons called Paopae, and they combine their powers to defeat Joka, a goddess of great power. Seal God. The person in charge is Taikobo. He receives an excellent paopae from Lao Tzu and struggles. The animation was a hit in Japan. I'm a Lao Tzu freak, so I watched the original manga more often. ”Sealing god story”.＝封神演義

♪You're searching for the land of dreams

Until everyone engraves it in their hearts

With a smile that overcomes sadness

Can I believe in you?

・・・・

Will（米倉千尋）：アニメ「封神演義」テーマソング（音楽）

中国には、３大伝奇小説がある。西遊記、三��志、そして封神演義だ。仙人たちは、パオペエ（宝貝）という武器を持つが、その力を結集して、巨大な力を持つ女神：女媧を倒すという壮大なドラマで、統括するのが太公望という人物。彼は老子から優れたパオペエを貰い受け、奮闘する。日本でそこそこヒットしたアニメーションである。私は老子フリークなので、原作のマンガのほうをよく観た。

(2023.03.18)

[kib30735]

驪山老母怎麼不承認自己是女媧

高坂海美：「惡整你的不是只有九天玄女，還有驪山老母，誰是驪山老母？」我：「我就覺得很奇怪怎麼九天玄女和驪山老母都自稱女媧，現在怎麼不承認了？是不是真女媧出現了就趕快改口？我的事情真的少管，我擔心到時候會越搞越亂。我看佛陀會攻擊我也是被她們慫恿，毛澤東做這麼多錯誤政策怎麼去敲毛澤東的頭三下，習近平要打台灣怎麼不去敲習近平的頭三下？敲我的頭是要做什麼？佛陀就是欠人罵？」

[emenyeh]

女媧補天

這麼辛苦

托著巨石上青天

補結界！

如今

人補天

祇要持全素

不吃動物的肉

便可達成！

但少人持

多人不願為！

哀哉！

惜乎！

(Fftn)

[manbolo88]

獻給哈勃的退休禮物（第二季——續航至宇宙邊緣）（六十）用一個全新嘅角度去睇宇宙史——中國歴史嘅傳疑時期同信史時期

用一個全新嘅角度去睇宇宙史——中國歴史分為傳疑時期同信史時期，宇宙史亦應該有類似分野。

中國歴史嘅傳疑時期係近乎冇實質文字史料記載嘅，所以伏羲、女媧飛天遁地練石補天都得、三皇五帝堯舜禹你話佢哋點就點囉🤭

宇宙史亦都有類似情況，始創大爆炸係點嘅呢！？！光子退耦又係點嘅呢！？！甚至跟住出現嘅宇宙全黑時期同第一代超級恒星嘅誕生都係冇實質觀察證據嘅。有聊得很當然唔敢話呢 D 嘢係假嘅，但係佢哋點樣發生同實質嘅意義係乜就好可能係你想像唔到嘅（包括大部分嘅科學家）！例如有聊得很認為宇宙始創大爆炸就係一個到今日為止冇人想像得到嘅大爆炸過程（至於係點，有聊得很後續會詳細比��最合理推演過你睇，coming soon 啦🤭）。

而且呢 D 過程就算係科學家講嘅都要用個腦過濾一下不能盡信！唔係咩⋯地心說、暗能量同十萬光年大嘅 Dark Matter Donut 包住個銀河系呢 D 都係宇宙級嘅笑話同將會成為宇宙級嘅笑話🤭（當然，有聊得很基本上係九十幾個 % 信科學家嘅，但係 100% 信嘅就肯定係個儍瓜囉🤭）

所以傳疑時期嘅宇宙史你只可以信個理論框架，而實際情況可能唔係一般人諗咁嘅⋯

而有實質觀察證據嘅就可以算係宇宙史嘅信史時代啦，應該由宇宙微波背景幅射開始⋯暗星、HD1、GN-z11⋯呢 D 都係實實在在睇到嘅。（不過咁播，雖然佢哋係實在嘅，但唔代表全部科學家都理解佢哋喎，例如有好多科學家認為 42 點標準燭光嘅紅移係嚟自 Doppler Effect 嘅，而有聊得很認為佢哋係嚟自廣義相對論紅移嘅（宇宙微波背景幅射、HD1 同 GN-z11 嘅非哈勃常數超級紅移間接證明咗呢點）。

而宇宙史傳疑時期同信史時代嘅交接期就係可見光波段同紅外線都不能清晰探測只係可以比 radio wave 探測到嘅宇宙全黑期（更準確嚟講非常可能係第一代超級恒星之誕生嗰剎那，點解睇唔到呢？有聊得很遲些少亦會比個最合理推演過你睇🤭）。

未完待續⋯

[healingcrystalscc]

前言 女媧石，一種古代火山變質岩所形成的天然藥用玉石，其蘊含的癒合能量備受推崇。為了保持這種能量的純淨與效力，了解女媧石如何淨化至關重要。陽光淨化法便是最為天然有效的方法，能為女媧石注入了強大的活力與淨化力量。 這篇文章的實用建議如下(更多細節請繼續往下閱讀)

[sangokushi7]

三国時代の皇帝たち！乱立した［玉座］の実態とは？

三国時代の皇帝たち！乱立した［玉座］の実態とは？ #三国志 #はじめての三国志

  『礼記』には「天に二日無し、土に二王無し」という言葉があります。天に2つの太陽がないように、地上にも2人の君主があってはならないという意味のこの言葉。そんな経典の言葉を無視して、三国時代には3人もの皇帝が乱立しています。それほど、三国時代というのは世が乱れていたのです。   ところで、皇帝ってそもそも何なのか…？   これをおさえていないと、中国史もちんぷんかんぷん。今回は、皇帝とは何なのかをさらってみたいと思います。       神話時代の皇帝     中国の神話時代には三皇が存在していたとされます。それは、天皇・��皇・人皇とされていたり、伏羲(ふっき)・神農(しんのう)・女媧(じょか)とされていたり、書物によってまちまちです。その後、五帝が現れたとされ、『史記』には五帝本紀が立てられています。この五帝についても諸説ありますが、『史記』は黄帝(こうてい)・顓頊(せんぎょく)・嚳…