Chimei wangliang, or Chimimōryō (), is a term that refers to monsters of the mountains and monsters of the rivers. The term originated in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

roughly 2,500 years ago in ancient chronicles such as the ''

Zuo Zhuan The ''Zuo Zhuan'' ( zh, t=左傳, w=Tso Chuan; ), often translated as ''The Zuo Tradition'' or as ''The Commentary of Zuo'', is an ancient Chinese narrative history traditionally regarded as a commentary on the ancient Chinese chronicle the '' ...

''. It originates from ancient Chinese legends about the spirits that harm people in the mountains and swamps, and its original meaning is "all kinds of

Yaoguai Yaoguai ( zh, 妖怪, p=yāoguài, s=妖怪, t=妖怪) represent a broad and diverse class of ambiguous creatures in Chinese folklore and Chinese mythology, mythology defined by the possession of supernatural powers and by having attributes tha ...

(demons and ghosts)".

Explanation

Chimei

Chimei ()(Chimi in Japanese) is also called Kui. Born from the strange atmosphere of the mountains and forests, they are spirits transformed from wood and stone. Characterized by a human face and an animal body with four legs, it is very charming.

Wangliang

Wangliang()(Mōryō in Japanese) are considered to be spirits from mountains and rivers, and trees and rocks. They emerge from the life energy of mountains, water, trees, rocks, and all natural things, and fool humans. They are also said to eat the dead, have the appearance of a child, stand on two feet, have dark red skin, have red eyes, long ears, beautiful hair, and a voice that resembles that of a human. With this kind of appearance, in Japan they are thought to be

oni An ( ) is a kind of ''yōkai'', demon, orc, ogre, or troll in Japanese folklore. They are believed to live in caves or deep in the mountains or in hell. Oni are known for their superhuman strength and have been associated with powers like th ...

. In the ''Wakan Sansai Zue'', they are considered water gods (

Suijin is a general name for the god of water in Japanese mythology. The term refers to the heavenly and earthly manifestations of the benevolent Shinto divinity of water (mainly freshwater), as well as to a wide variety of mythical and magical creature ...

), and in the ancient Chinese book

, they are considered to be gods of swamps and marshes. In

Japanese folklore Japanese folklore encompasses the informally learned folk traditions of Japan and the Japanese people as expressed in its oral traditions, Tradition, customs, and material culture. In Japanese, the term is used to describe folklore. The Folklor ...

In the Japanese dictionary ''

Wamyō Ruijushō The is a 938 CE Japanese dictionary of Chinese characters. Heian period scholar Minamoto no Shitagō (源順, 911–983 CE) began compilation in 934, at the request of Emperor Daigo's daughter. The title is abbreviated as , and is also spelle ...

'' from the

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kammu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means in Japanese. It is a ...

, they were considered to be a type of

under the Japanese name "sudama", and in the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

encyclopedia, the ''

Wakan Sansai Zue The is an illustrated Japanese ''leishu'' encyclopedia published in 1712 in the Edo period. It consists of 105 volumes in 81 books. Its compiler was Terashima or Terajima Ryōan, Terajima (), a doctor from Osaka. It describes and illustrates va ...

'', they were seen to be mountain gods (

Yama-no-Kami Mountain Gods () are Asian tutelary deities associated with mountains. They are related to Landlord deity, landlord deities and tudigongs and City God (China), City Gods. They are well-known in Korea and some prominent Chinese mountains have shri ...

Etymology

There are many theories about its etymology. According to the Chinese ''

Records of the Grand Historian The ''Shiji'', also known as ''Records of the Grand Historian'' or ''The Grand Scribe's Records'', is a Chinese historical text that is the first of the Twenty-Four Histories of imperial China. It was written during the late 2nd and early 1st ce ...

'' (during the period of the Five Emperors), a is a mountain god that took on the shape of a tiger, and a is a swamp or marsh god taking on a shape with the head of a beast. It is surmised that from this that the word was seen to mean expanded to encompass beasts of various attributes.

Explanation

Chimei

Wangliang

Etymology

References

See also