#yu the great | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

journeytothewestresearch · 4 months

Text

Yu the Great and Sun Wukong's Staff

This is my answer to the following reddit question:

Did the Ruyi Jingu Bang, as a tool used by Da Yu, exist before the novel?

Monkey's golden-hoop iron staff can be traced to the khakkhara and iron rod respectively used by his precursor in the 13th-century JTTW. The story doesn't mention anything about Yu the Great. The demi-god's connection to the staff is, as far as I know, unique to the standard 1592 edition of JTTW.

This association probably came about in a couple of ways. For example, there is a Chinese graphic similarity (and possible totemic connection) between Yu and a specific kind of monkey:

The generic Chinese primate names have identical pronunciations or spellings to those of the earliest Chinese emperors. For instance, the character 猱 (Nao) is considered as the ancestral name of the royal family of Shang dynasty (商朝 ca. 1600–1050 BCE) (Cao, 1997; Wang, 2001). This word is used to denote a primate species that is good at climbing. Similarly, the character 禺 (Yu) represents a long-tailed monkey. This word is the same as the character 禹 (Yu), a legendary emperor well known for his brilliance in regulating floodwater (Huang, 2011). This association between primates and the earliest emperors indicates a possible totemic status for primates (Niu, Ang, Xiao, et al., 2002, p. 91).

(The aforementioned Yu (禺) monkey was apparently well-known, for it is referenced several times in the Classic of Mountains and Seas (Shanhai jing, 山海經, c. 4th-century to 1st-century BCE), a popular Chinese bestiary, in order to indicate the shape and size of certain primate-like animals (Strassberg, 2002, pp. 83, 84, 91, 99, 104, 122, 123).)

Also, Yu is known for imprisoning Wuzhiqi (無支奇 / 巫支祇), a monkey flood demon, beneath a mountain in Tang and Song-era folklore. This likely influenced Sun Wukong's punishment under Five Elements Mountain.

Therefore, all of this probably led to the author-compiler of the 1592 JTTW associating Monkey's staff with Yu the Great and his efforts to end the world flood.

Sources:

Niu, K., Ang, A., Xiao, Z. et al. (2002). Is Yuan in China’s Three Gorges a Gibbon or a Langur? International Journal of Primatology, 43, 822–866. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10764-022-00302-1

Strassberg, R. (2002). A Chinese Bestiary: Strange Creatures from the Guideways Through Mountains and Seas. University of California Press.

#Da Yu #Yu the Great #Sun Wukong #Monkey King #Journey to the West #JTTW #Wuzhiqi #flood demon #monkey #Shanhaijing #Classic of Mountains and Seas #Magic Staff #Ruyi jingu bang #Gold-banded staff #Lego Monkie Kid #LMK

53 notes · View notes

briefbestiary · 1 year

Text

A monkey-like aquatic demon, Wuzhiqi was both powerful and disastrous, making the flooding in his area even worse by kicking up waves.

#BriefBestiary #bestiary #digital art #fantasy #folklore #legend #myth #mythology #monster #wuzhiqi #monkey demon #demon #chinese mythology #chinese folklore #chinese demon #yu the great #great flood of gun-yu #huai river #guishan mountain

17 notes · View notes

dorothygale123 · 3 months

Text

LAST TIME ON CHINESE MYTHOLOGY KAI!

The water god Gonggong was a sore loser and decided to make everyone suffer because of it, destroying Mount Buzhou with his thick head and causing the heavens to fall. Luckily, the great goddess Nuwa was able to repair the sky with a combination of molten rock and severed limbs, but the mortal world is still in great peril.....

Ah, the flood myth. A staple in most Indo-European myths from Noah to Utnapishtim. The widespread prevalence of such a specific myth structure implies there was an actual flood of massive proportions in that part of the world, and here we see evidence that it may have gone as far as East Asia. Most flood myths are focused on the idea of a cleansing apocalypse, with the gods becoming angry at how sinful humanity is and wanting to start over. While there are versions of the Chinese flood myth with this same inciting incident, many also blame Gonggong knocking down the heavens as the cause. For our purposes today it doesn't really matter how or why it happened, just that there's water everywhere.

According to one of my sources, the flood actually takes place directly after the debacle with the 10 Suns, which had gotta be a real kick in the teeth. Like, we just got rid of the unbearable heat and yeah, we did want water, but not THIS MUCH! As a side note, perhaps this can give a bit of context as to why Gonggong and Zhurong were fighting. It may have had something to do with the devastation caused by the suns and how to fix it, with Gonggong losing and then trying to do things his way anyway in the most needlessly destructive way possible.

Anyway, no matter the reason there's water water everywhere and not a drop to breathe, so humans are unsurprisingly drowning. Seeing this, the human emperor decided to try and find someone who could help. Nuwa was apparently taking a nap or something after fixing the sky, so he had to find someone else. He ends up going to this guy named Gun, apparently the grandson of the Yellow Emperor. Gun get the idea to go to the heavens and steal some divine dirt, much like Prometheus. However, also like Prometheus, he's caught and punished for his theft. Even worse, he doesn't even get to use his magic dirt and full on dies. Yikes. Supposedly his executioner was Zhurong, who started this whole mess in the first place by fighting with Gonggong. Great work bud, super helpful.

Luckily, Gun's death wasn't the end as he was apparently.... pregnant, I guess? Because after his corpse had been sitting there a while a healthy baby boy popped out, ready to take on the world! This boy was Yu the Great, a significant Chinese culture hero and mythical Emperor. Due to his achievements later in this myth, he is also called Yu the Engineer.

So Yu is born out of his dad's corpse, and apparently even though Gun was executed for stealing the magic dirt it wasn't actually confiscated, so Yungets his hands on is pretty quick. Either that or the current ruler of the heavens just... likes Yu more, I guess? And gives him some magic dirt. I think it would be cool if Nuwa snuck him some of the stuff becuase she thought the ruler of the heavens was being stupid and she didn't want the humans she'd created to all die becuase of the stick up his butt. Either way, Yu has some and starts spreading it around. Wherever the dirt touches the flood waters, it creates new land for people to stand on. He uses the new land to make dams, likes, and canals to guide the waters to the ocean.

In some tellings, Yu uses a large staff to measure the waters as he controls the flood. This is yet another possible origin story for the Ruyi Jingu Bang that Sun Wukong stole borrowed from Ao Guang. This is why some scholars speculate that the Monkey King is the reincarnation of Yu the Great. Personally I'm not that into it and prefer Wukong to just be his own special kind of wierdo, but it's a legitimate theory. You decide whether you like it or not.

Anyway, the flood waters recede and humanity can finally get back to their normal life.

For real this time.

Probably.

Sh*tpost Masterlist

#mythology sh*tposting #lmk #lego monkie kid #chinese mythology #sun wukong #journey to the west #mythology #jttw #chinese myth character inspo #gonggong #zhurong #nuwa #yu the great #ruyi jingu bang #chinese flood myth

3 notes · View notes

wisdom-and-such · 11 months

Text

It is said of Yu the Great (controller of the flood in Chinese legend) that he so cared for others that if but one person drowned in the flood it would be to him as if he himself drowned.

#mencius #kindness #compassion #goodness #philosophy #eastern #chinese #legend #myth #flood #yu the great #history #literature

4 notes · View notes

a-modern-major-general · 2 months

Text

The Xia Dynasty (c. 2070-1600 BCE) was the first government to emerge in ancient China and the first to adopt the policy of dynastic succession. Consequently, the Xia was the first dynasty of China. Long regarded as a mythical construct of later Chinese historians, 20th-century excavations uncovered sites which corresponded to descriptions in earlier historians' accounts.

The Xia Dynasty was overthrown by the Shang Dynasty (c.1600-1046 BCE), a more historically certain governmental entity, which was in turn overthrown by the Zhou Dynasty (1046-256 BCE).

The argument claiming the Xia Dynasty is a mythological construct claims that the Zhou (and later dynasties) wanted to make clear that the previous ones lost their right to rule through immoral conduct and so created a proto-dynasty - the Xia - as a pre historic model for this. Many scholars today still maintain that the Xia Dynasty is a myth but seem to be at a loss to explain why the physical evidence uncovered argues against their claim. Those who believe the Xia Dynasty was a reality are at an equal disadvantage in that none of the sites uncovered so far positively identify themselves as belonging to the Xia Dynasty and could as easily be interpreted as early Shang Dynasty buildings.

#studyblr #history #archaeology #politics #chinese politics #xia dynasty #shang dynasty #china #yellow emperor #zhuanxu #emperor yao #emperor shun #yu the great

0 notes

dolphinsarenotreal · 1 year

Text

Here’s a drawing of Yu the Great he was a king in China known for stopping floods

#Yu the great #chinese mythology #mythology #drawing #art #I still don’t know what the thing he’s holding is can someone tell me

1 note · View note

landofanimes · 4 months

Text

Yu Yu Hakusho Behind the scenes

Going training with Genkai!

#yu yu hakusho #yusuke urameshi #kazuma kuwabara #yu yu hakusho live action #botan #genkai #yyh cast #yyh bts #Takumi Kitamura #Shuhei Uesugi #Kotone Furukawa #Meiko Kaji #what a great picture!!!#I loved genkai's place it's so green and nice!#look at this path!!! gorgeous #the series needed more genkai/training

934 notes · View notes

nixieie · 16 days

Text

some p4 drawings tonight ^_^

#persona 4 #persona 4 golden #persona 4 fanart #souyo #yosuke hanamura #yu narukami #rise kujikawa #nanako dojima #everyday's great at your junes fr

266 notes · View notes

journeytothewestresearch · 4 months

Note

I had two questions. What is your theory or thoughts of what people can lift Sun Wukong's staff?

Why Yu and then Wukong could lift it and why others couldn't?

I have basic knowledge of Yu. Could you tell us more about him please?

I know that it is said that he was guided to his future wife by a fox spirit or that his wife was a fox spirit.

This is not like Mjölnir (from Marvel Comics' Thor), which no one can pick up unless proven worthy. The staff is just heavy. Wukong can pick it up because he is strong. Yu the Great was likely strong, too. There's nothing else to it.

I'm not an expert on Yu, so I can't explain much. I recommend reading his Wikipedia article. But beyond that, some sources say that he and his son, Qi, were born from stone. These same sources also call his wife the "Girl of Tushan" (i.e. the "Girl of Earth Mountain"). She is thought to have been the primordial goddess Nuwa. I discuss this in the following article.

#Ruyi jingu bang #Gold-Banded Staff #monkey staff #Sun Wukong #Monkey King #Da Yu #Yu the Great #Journey to the West #JTTW #Chinese mythology #Nuwa #Lego Monkie Kid #LMK #Thor #Mjolnir

42 notes · View notes

chiricat · 8 months

Text