Rare Monsters

  Tianlu Pixiu The pixiu is a mythical beast from China. It first appeared in the Han dynasty (206 BC to 220 AD) and are still popular today, although both their appearance and role have changed greatly over the centuries. Today the pixiu are bringers of wealth and associated with the practice of feng shui. Bixie Pixiu There are two types of pixiu. The bixie, or female pixiu, has two horns or antlers. It was responsible for guarding its masters and protecting them from harm. The tianlu was the male and only had one horn or antler. The male was responsible for guarding and attracting wealth. Today the bixie pixiu has largely been forgotten about and pixius are almost always depicted with one horn. Likewise the pixiu has become more associated with wealth than protection. The pixiu comes in several colors. It is often gold, to represent its association with wealth. It can also be black to represent its protective aspects. The pixiu is often depicted as white or red as well. O...

  Bai Ze is a monster from Chinese mythology. It’s also found in Japan, where it’s known as hakutaku. It is a good and pure creature responsible for warding off evil spirits. The bai ze was a wise and intelligent creature. It was one of the nine spiritual beasts which resided in heaven. Bai ze descended to Earth where it taught the Yellow Emperor about the various harmful ghosts in the world and how to expel them. These lessons resulted in the Bai Ze Diagram, a scroll depicting various harmful spirits and how to ward them off. The Bai Ze is mentioned many times throughout Chinese literature. Over time the bai ze became a protective charm. Images of the beast were hung in homes or carried with people to ward off ghosts and disease. The bai ze has many varying appearances in Chinese mythology. In the History of Yuan, written in 1370, the bai ze was described as having the head of a tiger, the body of a dragon, a single horn and a red mane. In the Sancai Tuhui, written in 1609, the ba...

  Tao Tie is a monster from Chinese mythology It is one of the four perils, four evil beings who represent the worst qualities and greatest threats to civilization. Tao Tie specifically represents greed and overconsumption. Even as the representation of greed and gluttony Tao Tie is sometimes listed among more beneficial beings, such as the Nine Sons of the Dragon. There his ravenous hunger is shown in a more benevolent light, as something that will consume anything, even the bad luck and aspects of life that are holding you back, so that better aspects have room to be fulfilled. Although 90% of the time Tao Tie is seen as a malevolent force. Tao Tie has several different origins. According to the classic Chunqui Tao Tie started out as the son of Jinyun, an officer of the Yellow Emperor. This son of Jinyun was so overcome by greed and hunger that he had no limitations. He would steal from orphans, the elderly, and respected officials. He had no decency or morals of any kind. No one...

  Xiangliu was a serpent with nine human heads. Sometimes the head each have different necks, and other times the head form a cone or a grid, all beside each other. In spite of this monstrous appearance, Xiangliu was intelligent and a minister to the equally monstrous water god Gonggong. Xiangliu was responsible for enacting Gonggong's orders to bring floods and devastation to the land. Xiangliu's mere presence was able to cause devastation everywhere he went. Everywhere he breathed became a bog with poisoned water. He was also immoral and took glee in destruction he caused and the suffering he created for others. When Gonggong rebelled against the heavens Xiangliu fought by his side. However once the goddess Nuwe killed Gonggong Xiangliu fled. Yu the Great, the last of the three sage kings, tracked Xiangliu to the swamps of Sichuan Province. He killed Xiangliu after a pitched battle. However Xiangliu's blood threatened to poison the whole region. If Xiangliu was left t...

  Denglong, also known as Wangtianhou, Chaotianhou and Hou, is a chimeric beast from Chinese mythology. It's sometimes considered a dragon and other times its own type of creature. Denglong has the qualities of several other animals: antlers of a deer, a camel's head, cat ears, shrimp eyes, a donkey's mouth, lion's mane, snake neck, sea serpent's belly, carp scales, eagle's talons and tiger's back legs. Incidentally, this list of features is very similar for Chinese dragons, who are often similarly described as having the features of many common animal. Denglong said to be one of the sons of the dragon emperor, although I didn't see it listed when researching the nine sons before. Yet Denglong looks very similar to Chaofeng's beast form and there may be some confusion between them, similar to how cockatrice and basilisk are used interchangeably in European mythology. Denglong is said to be the most powerful of beasts. And is capable of fighting and ...

  Tiangou is a celestial canine from Chinese mythology. He is usually associated with eating the sun or moon during eclipses but has many more roles than this. Tiangou's name means celestial dog. In his best known interpretations Tiangou is a giant black dog surrounded by flame. The most famous story about Tiangou is when he ate the moon in pursuit of Change'E. HouYi the legendary archer hero was given an elixir of immortal for his many great deeds. However his wife Chang'E drank the elixir before he could. For this the gods imprisoned Chang'E on the moon. They did this by making Chang'E so light that she floated up to the moon and couldn't step on the Earth. As Chang'E was floating away HouYi's dog licked up some of the immortal elixir that had been spilled on the ground. The dog grew in size to be larger than the heavenly bodies. It pursued Chang'E, trying to get the rest of the immortality elixir through her. The dog eventually ate the whole moon ...

  Yayu is a vicious man eating monster from Chinese mythology. He has the face of a human and a body that is a mix of lion and dragon, like an eastern version of the manticore. Yayu started out as the son of Zhulong, and was a beautiful and well loved god. He was kind hearted before his death and transformation. However he was killed by Wei, one of the constellation gods. Zhulong was distraught over the death of his son and begged the heavens to bring Yayu back to life. The heavenly emperor warned that such things are dangerous, but seeing how much Zhulong grieved, he allowed it. Yayu was brought back from the dead. However doing so violated the natural order of things, which transformed him into a monster. Not only was he transformed into a beast like form, but he violently attacked everything around him, killing and eating humans. Because of this the legendary archer, Hou Yi was sent to kill Yayu again.  

 The nine sons of the dragon are a group of hybrids and dragons that were the sons of the dragon emperor, usually either Longwang or Huanglong. Each of these character were used as motifs or decorations on objects, believed to impart their power or skill into the object. While there's always said to be nine sons in total, the list of sons varies greatly. There are some core members that end up on all lists, while others appear only occasionally as one of the sons. Dragons are often associated with the number nine, being a combination of nine different animals, having nine forms they pass through as they age, and having scales in multiples of the number nine. The order of the sons also changes with every list. But Bixi is consistently the eldest son. Consistent members: Bixi Bixi The eldest son. A turtle dragon hybrid who is associated with foundations, strength and dependability. He is depicted at the bottom of pillars, seemingly holding them on his back or shell.   Bi'...

  One of the most notable differences of Asian dragons from European dragons is the lack of wings, with Asian dragons having the magical ability to levitate effortlessly into the sky. This is true for most, but Yinglong is consistently depicted with wings, giving him a visually striking difference from other Asian dragons. Yinglong means responding dragon, a fitting name as his role was to respond to the emperor when he had requests to send to the heavens. Yinglong was also a weather deity, responsible for bringing rainfall. A role he shared with many other dragons. Yinglong appears several times in classic Chinese literature. In the Song of Chu , Emperor Yu was tasked with ending the floods destroying China when the previous emperors could not. He called on Yinglong to show him where to dig drainage canals. These canals then became the borders of the nine classical provinces of China. In The Classic of Mountains and Seas Yinglong and the Yellow Emperor's daughter Ba battled aga...

  The xiezhi was said to be a single horned ram, with black fur and burning eyes. Although in artistic depictions it more often looks like a cross between a qilin and a lion, always with a single horn or antler. The xiezhi is an ideally just beast and can intrinsically distinguish between the just and unjust people in the world. It is a highly intelligent beast and can understand all human languages. The xiezhi will hunt down evil doers and stab them with its single horn and devour them. It was believed that the legendary emperor Shun had a captive xiezhi, who would preside over court hearings and ram the guilty party. The censorate of the Ming and Qing periods wore xiezhi badges as a sign of their office. Among common people the image of the xiezhi was believed to ward off evil and protect them from crime. Similar creatures could be found in other parts of Asia. In Japan it was known as the sinyou and in Korea it was known as the haetae.  

  In traditional Chinese folklore there are five dragon kings associated with each direction. There's Qinglong, the azure dragon of the east and of spring. Chilong, the red dragon of the south and of summer Bailong, the white dragon of the west and of autumn Heilong, the black dragon of the north and of winter And Huanglong, the yellow imperial dragon of the center and of late summer These directional associations exist in addition to the four beasts of the directions, the vermilion bird of the south, the white tiger of the west, the black turtle of the north and the azure dragon of the east, where Qinglong makes it into both groups. Already in early history there existed folk religion incantations to five seasonal dragons for rainmaking rituals. Although there were many different dragon king associated with smaller regional areas rather than one codified group of dragon kings. Later, Confucius texts associated each season with directions and colors, further codifying ...

  Everyone has heard about qilins. Although fewer people realize that the qilin is not as unicorn like as it is typically depicted. The qilin was originally depicted with two horns before comparisons between it and western unicorns were made. However there are other one horned beasts in Chinese mythology, several in fact. One being the luduan, which shares many aspects with both qilin and unicorns, and had a single horn before western influence. Written descriptions of luduan depict it as deer like, green in color and having a single antler or horn. Sculptural depictions instead show the luduan as a cat like creature with paws. Legends about the luduan say it could run 18 000 li in a day (7000 km), speak every known language and detect the truthfulness of a speaker. The luduan was a peaceful creature who hated violence in any form. Accounts by Buddhist monk, Yelu Chucai say the luduan appeared before Genghis Khan and convinced him to abandon his conquest in India. Although it's ...

  There's not much information on this creature. The zheng is mentioned in The Classic Of Mountains And Seas, which is a compilation of mythic geography and beasts, similar to the medieval bestiaries from Europe. The zheng was described as a red leopard with a single horn and five tails. It was ferocious and brutal, as you would expect from a large cat. And it sounded like striking stones. It lived high up on Mount Zhang'e, above the tree and grass line, where there was only stone. In spite of it's fanciful appearance, the zheng was considered a natural animal.