April 2\, 1887] 



NA TURE 



591 



THE MYTHICAL /.OOLOGY OF THE FAR 

 EAST 



\ SHORT time ago the British Museum acquired a 

 comprehensive collection of Japanese and Chinese 

 pictures, made by Mr. WiUiani Anderson, for some years 

 medical officer to the British Legation in Tokio. This 

 gentleman's magnificent work on the " Pictorial Arts of 

 Japan " has already been noticed in these columns ; and 

 he has just placed students of the arts of the Far East 

 under an additional debt of gratitude to him by the pre- 

 paration of a catalogue of his collection in the British 

 Museum, which has Just been published by the Trustees of 

 that institution. With this volume, except for a special 

 purpose, we have nothing to do ; but it is impossible to 

 glance through it without being struck by the amount of 

 labour which the author has devoted to his dissertations 

 on the various schools of painting, to his descriptions of 

 characteristic examples of these schools, and to his ex- 

 planation of the motives which inspired the artists. 

 The word "catalogue" is a modest one to employ in 

 describing the work, for though it contains the numbers 

 and names of the pictures, this is the least part of its 

 contents. 



Amongst the motives of the artists of China and Japan, 

 mythical zoology held a very important place ; it evidences, 

 says Mr. .Anderson, " a courage of invention almost un- 

 paralleled in the pseudo-science of Oriental races.' Ithoids, 

 too, a disproportionate place in the folk-lore and supersti- 

 tions of the people of both countries. Yet it has scarcely 

 received any attention in Europe. In Prof. Angelo de 

 Gubernatis's great work on " Zoological Mythology" there 

 is but a single reference to China, and none at all to Japan, 

 while the myths of .Aryan nations occupy the greater part 

 of his volumes. Here and there in books relating to the 

 countries of Eastern .Asia scanty references to popular myths 

 respecting animals are found, Ijut, so far as we are aware, 

 iVIr. Anderson's is the first work which gives any adequate 

 conception of the marvellous extent of this species of lore 

 amongst the Chinese and Japanese. As the latter owe 

 their art, literature, and religion to China, so they owe 

 also their scientific myths. 'The Chinese have developed 

 mythical zoology to a greater extent than any other nation. 

 " Their literature teems with strange conceits, some of 

 which appear to be transcripts of local folk-lore, others 

 appertain to Buddhism or Taoistic legends, and others 

 are accepted as sober facts of natural history." These 

 have almost all been adopted and improved in treatment 

 by the Japanese. 



Mr. Anderson divides the anthropological myths into 

 three classes : — 



(i) Persons born of woman with orwithoutdivine agency, 

 who develop magical powers, work miracles, and attain 

 a fabulous longe\'ity. 



(2) Those distinguished by physical peculiarities of a 

 fabulous nature. Amongst these are giants ; dwarfs ; per- 

 forated men, who are conveyed about by coolies by means 

 of poles put through holes which conveniently exist in 

 their bodies for this purpose ; stomachless men, who, 

 according to popular belief, " dare not laugh for they have 

 no sides to hold " ; men with enormously long legs, and 

 those with similarly long arms ; men with tails, who 

 carefully dig holes where they sit in order to provide a 

 receptacle for the appendage ; and many other extra- 

 ordinar>' beings, all of which are truthfully described, 

 from Chinese works of authority and repute, in the great 

 Japanese encyclopaxlia Wa-Kan-San-Sai lizu-yc. 



(3) Transitional beings, who combine with human ele- 

 ments parts naturally appertaining to the lower animals : 

 such are feathered men ; those with human faces, but the 

 wings and beak of a bird ; mermen, who have human 

 heads and arms attached to the body of a fish, and learn 

 the secrets of the deep from the murmuring hollow of the 

 Conchifer. To this section also belongs the vampire 



bride who lures men to her deadly embraces till she has 

 drained away their Ufe-blood. 



Mythical animals are similarly classified : — 



(1) Those without any remarkable pecidiarities of con- 

 formation, but gifted with supernatural attributes. Thus 

 the tiger is classed in Chinese mythology as one of the 

 supernatural animals, the king of beasts, and the repre- 

 sentative of th; masculine or active principle of Nature. 

 It attains the age of a thousand years, and after passing 

 the half of this term its hair becomes white. It is some- 

 times seen in association with the dragon, apparently as 

 the emblem of the power of faith ; it is also regarded as 

 the type of wisdom, and in illustration of this attribute 

 Mr. .Anderson gives a story (p. 51) which has a famihar 

 analogy in European folk-lore. The fox, again, is the 

 demon of mischief, with the power of changing his shape 

 at will, but ever with some evil design on the comfort of 

 mankind. When he reaches the age of fifty, Mr. Anderson 

 tells us, he is able to accomplish at will his most favourite 

 and baneful metamorphosis into the resemblance of 

 womankind ; at a hundred he can take the shape either 

 of a young and beautiful girl, or of a wizard strong in all 

 the powers of magic ; and when he reaches the term of a 

 thousand years he becomes a Celestial Fox, characterised 

 by a golden colour and nine tails, and may be admitted 

 to heaven. But it appears he does not always avail him- 

 self of this privilege, for the possession of the extra tails 

 only gives him an augmented cunning and capacity for 

 w-ickedness. The tortoise also attains a marvellous 

 longevity, and is variously represented as the embodiment 

 of a star in Ursa Major, and as a descendant of the first 

 dragon. In Hindoo mythology the tortoise supports the 

 elephant which supports the world ; in Japanese art it is 

 represented as bearing on its back the mountain abode of 

 the immortals. The horse is also associated with longevity, 

 and it is still a popular belief that the female is delivered 

 of its progeny through the mouth. The crane is one of the 

 commonest figures in Japanese art ; in Chinese mythical 

 zoology there are four varieties, distinguished by their 

 colours ; they all live to a fabulous age, and after com- 

 pleting six hundred years are superior to the necessity 

 of other sustenance than water. Many other notices of 

 animals belonging to this class are scattered throughout 

 Mr. Anderson's book in connection with pictirres in which 

 they are represented. 



(2) Animals differing from their fellows only in size, or 

 in alterations of the due number of parts. Such are 

 serpents eight hundred feet long, which devour elephants ; 

 nine-tailed foxes ; the four- eared monkey which heralds 

 the deluge ; the fish with ten bodies and one head, whose 

 tiesh is a sure preventive of boils ; and many others. 



(3) Creatures made up by the amalgamation of parts of 

 various animals. Amongst these composite monsters the 

 principal is the dragon, which, according to the Japanese 

 encyclopedia already mentioned, has the head of a camel, 

 the horns of a deer, the eyes of a demon, the ears of an 

 ox, the body of a serpent, the scales of a carp, and the 

 claws of an eagle. It is not necessary to say more by 

 way of description, for it is the most familiar object in the 

 art of China and Japan. It is treated by writers of the 

 last century as really existing. It becomes at will, accord- 

 ing to a Chinese author of the seventh century B.C., re- 

 duced to the size of a silkworm, or sw'ollen till it fills the 

 space of heaven and earth. " In Chinese Buddhism it 

 plays an important part, either as a force auxiliary to the 

 law, or as a malevolent creature to be converted or quelled." 

 It is a guardian of the faith, an attribute of saintly or 

 divine personages, an enemy of mankind, an emblem of 

 majesty, the presiding genius of rainfall, and a symbol of 

 time and place, giving its name to certain days and years, 

 and to a point of the compass. Many more details about 

 this extraordinary creature will be found scattered through 

 Mr. Anderson's book, especially on pp. 48 et scq. The 

 kilin or kiriri, " the noblest form of the animal creation. 



