Tianwu, anonymous1667 Shanhaijing illustration
Printed天吳 caption identifies tiger body, human faces, eight heads/feet/tails and Chaoyang Valley. This combines the tiger-bodied illustration with eight-tail count; received Great Wilderness version has ten tails. Monochrome does not independently attest textual colors. Smithsonian volume1 edition1667; Guo Pu commentator, Wu Zhongheng editor; anonymous illustrator.
Overview
Tianwu is the water lord of Chaoyang Valley in the Shanhaijing’s Overseas Eastern Regions. The text places it between two waters and describes its animal form with eight human-faced heads, eight feet and eight tails. Its back is blue-green and yellow. These repeated numbers provide a particularly distinctive anatomy for a spirit whose office is stated as explicitly as its appearance.
The Great Wilderness Eastern Regions contains another Tianwu description: eight human-faced heads on a tiger body, but ten tails. That count should be preserved as a variant rather than silently corrected to the other passage’s eight. Neither record supplies an individual encounter with a traveler. Together they establish the named spirit and its multiform body while demonstrating that the collection does not give a single uniform anatomical formula.
Origins & earliest records
China; Shanhaijing Overseas Eastern Regions
Records & interpretation
Specific named received-primary passage directly read; exact historical image status recorded separately.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Shanhaijing, Overseas Eastern Regions
Chaoyang Valley; between two waters
Family & connections
A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.
Primary records and illustrations
Shanhaijing
Overseas Eastern Regions. Chaoyang Valley; between two waters
Named received-primary passage directly read: 天吳. Direct text verification; historical image not assigned unless an explicit image URL is present.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Primary text transcriptionShanhaijing Overseas Eastern Regions received primary textResearch access: 2026-10-05
- Primary text transcriptionShanhaijing Great Wilderness Eastern RegionsResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
Historical illustrationTianwu, anonymous1667 Shanhaijing illustration
Printed天吳 caption identifies tiger body, human faces, eight heads/feet/tails and Chaoyang Valley. This combines the tiger-bodied illustration with eight-tail count; received Great Wilderness version has ten tails. Monochrome does not independently attest textual colors. Smithsonian volume1 edition1667; Guo Pu commentator, Wu Zhongheng editor; anonymous illustrator.
