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Temples to the Perfected Warrior (Zhenwu 真武) and the Dragon Kings (longwang 龍王) at Gao Family Hollow (Gaojiawa 高家窊)

From the Ground Up: Buddhism & East Asian Religions (FROGBEAR Project)

Gao Family Hollow (Gaojiawa 高家窊) is a walled hamlet in the north-eastern part of Yu County 蔚縣. The village once had gates at the northern and southern ends of the main central road. Of these, only the northern one remains. Locals remember that there was once a temple to Avalokiteśvara-Guanyin 觀音 outside of the southern gate, facing toward the village; this no longer exists. On a small knoll outside of the northern gate, facing south, is a temple to the Perfected Warrior (Zhenwu 真武). In 2014, this was still relatively intact; in 2018, the western wall had been partially stripped by looters. The murals on the wall are in the nineteenth century style. The central wall, now heavily damaged, shows the Perfected Warrior flanked by the Peach-Blossom Girl (Taohuanü 桃花女) and the Duke of Zhou (Zhou gong 周公), as well as his primordial generals (yuanshuai 元帥). The two side-wall murals show scenes from the Perfected Warrior’s hagiography. The captions read: East wall, bottom row, left to right: ☐☐☐☐, ☐☐☐☐, 皇☐見☐ , ☐☐☐☐, ☐☐☐☐, ☐☐☐☐; second row from bottom, right to left: 二神送路, 元君授道, 天官辭劍 見主?帬臣, 白猿獻果, 二虎相?☐; third row, left to right: ☐☐☐☐, 折梅奇[木+邓], 金剛引路, 蓬萊仙侶, 五龍捀聖, 三天詔命; top row, right to left: 白日上昇, 玉陛朝參, 真慶仙都, 玉清演法, 天宮嘉慶, 凱還請覩. West wall, bottom row: [all illegible]; second row from bottom, left to right: 蘆芽穿膝, 烏鴉灌頂, ☐天無☐, 孫隱遣煌?, 七從借名, 奏錦延壽?; third row, right to left: 番鈔四千, 守鄉禳蟲, 王氏懷鬼, 聖劍乘?彩, 清廖?火☐, 天四正帶; top row, left to right: 河魁擎鞘, 供聖時重, 洞天雲蓋, 寶運重辛, 酒樂王宅, 五聖顯像. Many of these captions are drawn from the hagiographic collection “Record of the Apotheosis of the Emperor of the Dark Heavens” (Xuantian shangdi qisheng lu 玄天上帝啟聖錄), albeit they show interesting errors: jian zhu qun chen 見主帬臣 appears to be a phonetic error for the episode in the Apotheosis titled jian zu qun chen 澗阻群臣, while 天四正帶 is a visual/character error for the episode titled 天罡帶箭. Outside the walls at the north-west corner of the old walled village, facing south, there is a Dragon King Temple (Long wang miao 龍王廟). This temple was inaccessible in 2014, although it was possible to take low-quality photographs through a crack in the planks of the door. The murals show a standard Dragon King procession image, with the Mother of Waters (shuimu 水母) on the central wall, and the Dragon Kings riding back and forth on the east and west wall. Upon return in 2018, the door had been smashed in and the murals comprehensively looted. Panels over the door survive, which show crude “many-treasure cabinet” (duobaoge 多寶閣) scenes; one of these has a painted almanac marked “the tenth year of the Tongzhi reign” 同治十年 (1871).

Hebei sheng (China); Yu xian (China); 39.986952; 114.584374

chi

North China Mural Survey

Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library

10.14288/1.0438800

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