The Four Perils () are four malevolent beings that existed in Chinese mythology and the antagonistic counterparts of the

Four Benevolent Animals 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smalles ...

''Book of Documents''

In the ''

Book of Documents The ''Book of Documents'' (''Shūjīng'', earlier ''Shu King'') or ''Classic of History'', also known as the ''Shangshu'' (“Venerated Documents”), is one of the Five Classics of ancient Chinese literature. It is a collection of rhetoric ...

'', they are defined as the "Four Criminals" (): * Gonggong (, the disastrous god; * Huandou (, a.k.a. , ), a chimeric minister and/or nation from the south who conspired with Gonggong against Emperor Yao * Gun (), father of

Yu the Great Yu the Great (大禹) was a legendary king in ancient China who was famed for his introduction of flood control, his establishment of the Xia dynasty which inaugurated dynastic rule in China, and his upright moral character. He figures promine ...

whose poorly-built dam released a destructive flood; * Sanmiao (), the tribes that attacked Emperor Yao's tribe.

''Zuo Zhuan'', ''Shanhaijing'', and ''Shenyijing''

In Zuo Zhuan, '' Shanhaijing'', and '' Shenyijing'', the Four Perils (

Hanzi Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji ...

: 四凶;

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese fo ...

: Sì Xiōng) are defined as: * the Hundun (, ), a yellow winged creature of chaos with six legs and no face; * the Qiongqi (), a monstrous creature that eats people, considered the same in Japan as Kamaitachi; * the Taowu (), a reckless, stubborn creature; * the Taotie (), a gluttonous beast.

Identification

Zhang Shoujie's ''Correct Meanings of the Record of the Grand Historian'' () identifies ''Huandou'' (讙兠) with ''Hundun'' (渾沌), ''Gonggong'' (共工) with ''Qiongqi'' (窮竒), ''Gun'' (鯀) with ''Taowu'' (檮杌), and the ''Sanmiao'' "Three Miao" (三苗) with ''Taotie'' (饕餮).''Shiji Zhengyi'' "Volume 1" Siku Quanshu version, Zhejiang university's cop
p. 133
pf 156

In popular culture

*The four perils are featured in the popular Japanese

anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

'' A Certain Scientific Accelerator''. *In '' Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon'', the Four Perils are the demon group crossed over the mainland during Spring and Autumn period. The members are Konton, Tōtetsu, Kyūki, and Tōkotsu which led by the Beast King of the Eastern Lands Kirinmaru. *In '' Pokémon Scarlet and Violet'', the four legendary Pokémon Ting-Lu, Chien-Pao, Wo-Chien, and Chi-Yu are primarily inspired by the four perils.

Notes

References