The Penghou (, pronounced ʰə̌ŋ.xǒʊ literally: "drumbeat marquis") is a

tree spirit A tree deity or tree spirit is a nature deity related to a tree. Such deities are present in many cultures. They are usually represented as a young woman, often connected to ancient fertility and tree worship lore.Heinrich Zimmer, ''Myths and Symb ...

from

Chinese mythology Chinese mythology () is mythology that has been passed down in oral form or recorded in literature in the geographic area now known as Greater China. Chinese mythology includes many varied myths from regional and cultural traditions. Much of t ...

and

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

. Two

Chinese classics Chinese classic texts or canonical texts () or simply dianji (典籍) refers to the Chinese texts which originated before the imperial unification by the Qin dynasty in 221 BC, particularly the "Four Books and Five Classics" of the Neo-Confucian ...

record similar versions of the Penghou myth. The (c. 3rd century) ''Baize tu'' (白澤圖, "Diagrams of the White Marsh"), named after the

Baize Baize is a coarse woollen (or in cheaper variants cotton) cloth, similar in texture to felt, but more durable. History A mid-17th-century English ditty—much quoted in histories of ale and beer brewing in England—refers to 1525: Hops, her ...

"White Marsh" spirit recorded in the '' Baopuzi'', is no longer fully extant, but is identified with a

Dunhuang manuscript Dunhuang manuscripts refer to a wide variety of religious and secular documents (mostly manuscripts, but also including some woodblock-printed texts) in Chinese and other languages that were discovered at the Mogao Caves of Dunhuang, China, durin ...

(P2682). It describes the Penghou:

A creature that has evolved from the essence of wood is called Penghou. It looks like a black dog with no tail and its meat can be prepared as food. The essence of a 1,000-year-old tree may evolve into a spirit called Jiafei. It looks like a pig. Its meat tastes like dog meat. (tr. Luo 2003: 4132)

The (c. 4th century) ''

Soushenji The ''Soushen Ji'', variously translated as ''In Search of the Sacred'', ''In Search of the Supernatural'', and ''Anecdotes about Spirits and Immortals'', is a Chinese compilation of legends, short stories, and hearsay concerning Chinese gods, ...

'' (搜神記, "In Search of the Supernatural") has a story about "The Penghou in the

Camphor Tree ''Camphora officinarum'' is a species of evergreen tree that is commonly known under the names camphor tree, camphorwood or camphor laurel. Description ''Camphora officinarum'' is native to China south of the Yangtze River, Taiwan, southe ...

During the Wu Kingdom (Three Kingdoms Period, 220–280) Jing Shu felled a big camphor tree. Then the wood bled and inside there was an animal that was similar to a dog but with a human face. Jing Shu said this was a Penghou. So he stewed the animal and ate it, which tasted like dog meat. (tr. Luo 2003: 4132, cf. DeWoskin and Crump 1996: 215–216)

Li Shizhen Li Shizhen (July 3, 1518 – 1593), courtesy name Dongbi, was a Chinese acupuncturist, herbalist, naturalist, pharmacologist, physician, and writer of the Ming dynasty. He is the author of a 27-year work, found in the ''Compendium of M ...

's (1578) ''

Bencao Gangmu The ''Bencao gangmu'', known in English as the ''Compendium of Materia Medica'' or ''Great Pharmacopoeia'', is an encyclopedic gathering of medicine, natural history, and Chinese herbology compiled and edited by Li Shizhen and published in the ...

'' ("Compendium of Materia Medica") lists Penghou under Chapter 51, which primarily describes medicinal uses for

monkeys Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incomple ...

. The entry quotes the ''Baize tu'' and ''Soushenji'' and describes Penghou meat as "sweet, sour, warm, and nontoxic" (tr. Luo 2003: 4132). The Japanese pronunciation of ''Penghou'' is Hōkō (彭侯). This tree spirit is included in the ''

Konjaku Hyakki Shūi is the third book of Japanese artist Toriyama Sekien's ''Gazu Hyakki Yagyō'' tetralogy, published c. 1781. These books are supernatural bestiaries, collections of ghosts, spirits, spooks and monsters, many of which Toriyama based on literature ...

'', one of

Toriyama Sekien 200px, A Mikoshi-nyūdō, specifically a Miage-nyūdō, as portrayed by Toriyama">Miage-nyūdō.html" ;"title="Mikoshi-nyūdō, specifically a Miage-nyūdō">Mikoshi-nyūdō, specifically a Miage-nyūdō, as portrayed by Toriyama , real name Sano ...

's collections of monster illustrations. Sekien quoted the ''Soushenji'' and added the ''Baize tu'' 1,000-year-old tree description.

References

*{{cite book , last = Gan , first = Bao , translator=Kenneth J. DeWoskin , translator2=J. I. Crump Jr , title = In Search of the Supernatural: The Written Record , publisher =

Stanford University Press Stanford University Press (SUP) is the publishing house of Stanford University. It is one of the oldest academic presses in the United States and the first university press to be established on the West Coast. It was among the presses officially ...

, date = 1996 , isbn = 0-8047-2506-3 *Luo Xiwen, tr. (2003), ''Bencao Gangmu: Compendium of Materia Medica'', 6 vols., Foreign Languages Press.

External links

Kaii-Yōkai Denshō Database: Hōkō
Tree deities Yaoguai Yōkai