Hou Yi

Hou Yi

Hou Yi (the year of birth and death is unknown), originally known as Yi, is a mythical figure in the period of the five emperors in ancient China, the archer of Emperor Yao, and the hero of shooting the sun in myths and legends. There is an allusion that Hou Yi shot at the sun among the people.

In the pre Qin literature, Yi shot monsters many times in Shanhaijing, and the allusion of Yi shooting the sun has been included in Tianwen, the songs of Chu. In Han Dynasty documents, Kuo Tu says that Yi was abandoned by his parents when he was only five years old and grew up in the mountains. He was good at archery. He was called the archer of DIHE. According to Huainanzi benjingxun, when Emperor Yao was in power, all the grass withered and the people had nothing to eat. There were monsters, gales, giant pigs and snakes endangering the people. Yao sent Yi to shoot for nine days to eradicate all kinds of monsters. According to kuodizhi, Yi may have been granted Shangqiu by Emperor Yao (now Shangqiu City, Henan Province). The allusion of "Chang'e rushes to the moon" is also related to him.

At the latest in the Tang Dynasty, Yi has been referred to as "Hou Yi" in some literary works. In the pre Qin literature, there was Houyi with the surname of Qiong in Xia Dynasty, and he was also good at shooting, so it was easy for later generations to confuse their deeds and titles.

Life story

Early experience

According to Kuo Tu, a strange document of the Han Dynasty (lost, according to Beitang Shu Chao, Taiping Yu Lan, etc.), when Yi was only five years old, his parents took him into the mountain. Yi's mother put him under a big tree. When she wanted to take him away from the tree, the cicadas were all singing, so she abandoned Yi. Yi was raised in the mountains.

When Yi was 20 years old, he could shoot arrows skillfully. He sighed and said, "I will shoot in the distance, and the arrow will come to my door." The arrow rubbed the ground to cut off the grass and went directly to Yi's door.

Shoot the sun to get rid of evil

In the era of Emperor Yao, Yi became a shooter. According to kuodizhi, it is said that he was granted Shangqiu (now Henan) by Emperor Yao. In addition, based on Shanhaijing, Huainanzi benjingxun sums up the story of Yi shooting at the sun: during the period of Tang Yao, ten suns appeared in the sky, crops were scorched, plants were gone, and people had no food. They are all harmful to the people. So Yao asked Yi Zhu to chisel his teeth in the field of chouhua, kill nine babies on the fierce water, turn in the strong wind on the green hills, shoot down nine of the ten suns in the sky, break off the snake in the cave, capture and seal it in the mulberry forest. The people were very happy and grateful to Yi and Yao, so they took Yao as the emperor. Yi here is not a poor Hou Yi. On the other hand, it also shows that the story of Yi shooting the sun in the classic of mountains and seas is lost later.

At the time of Emperor Yao, ten suns appeared in the sky at the same time, scorched the land and dried up the crops. People were too hot to breathe and fell unconscious on the ground. Because of the extremely hot weather, some strange birds and beasts also ran out of the dry rivers and lakes and the flaming forest, killing people everywhere. Emperor Yao invited Yi, who immediately started the battle of shooting the sun. He took off the red bow from his shoulder, took out the white arrows and shot them one by one at the arrogant sun. In an instant, nine of the ten suns were shot away. From then on, the climate on the earth was suitable and everything grew.

A little bit

Yi (Y à, y à), who was rampant in the Central Plains, was a God with a snake in his face. In the era of the Yellow Emperor, he was killed by the God who was also a snake. When the Yellow Emperor knew about it, he punished the two men and put their right feet on flail. Tie their hands and hair together and tie them to a big tree on the top of the mountain.

At the same time, the Yellow Emperor ordered people to carry the killed Yi to Kunlun, and brought in several Witches: Wu Peng, Wu Di, Wu Yang, Wu LV, Wu fan and Wu Xiang to cast the magic together, and saved him with the medicine of immortality. After her resurrection, she lost her nature. She jumped wildly and fell into the weak water under Kunlun Mountains. She became a very terrible monster with the shape of a cow, the face, the hooves and the red hair. She howled like a baby crying.

On the 10th, the weak water was scalded by the sun, and he could not endure it. He fled to the shore and ate when he saw people and animals. He even swallowed the belt bones. Countless people and animals were swallowed by him. Yi came to the Central Plains. When she was found, she was lying on the ground eating several corpses. There were heads and broken bones all over the hill.

Seal the dolphin

Fengfu was a big wild boar, who lived in Sanglin (now sanggu Township, Xiayi County, Shangqiu) and was killed by Yi.

Jiuying

Yi went to the north to kill jiuying in order to get realgar. Born at the beginning of the division of heaven and earth, jiuying was able to spit water and fire. When you are happy, you will spit water and wash away roads and fields. When they are angry, they blow fire and burn crops and houses. Seeing Yi, jiuying was not as afraid as the first two evil beasts, but directly fought against them. Yi dodged around to avoid the dangerous network of water and fire. Then, he saw the opportunity and fired nine arrows in succession, ending the nine babies.

Repair snake

After taking realgar, Yi went to Dongting to kill xiushe, also known as "Ba snake". The place where Ba snake died was called baling.

Chisel teeth

In the field of chouhua, there lived a monster named Gouchi. Chisel teeth have the head of wild animals, and their teeth are shaped like chisels. They can penetrate gold and stone. Seeing that Yi came to the door with his bow and arrow, he chiseled his teeth in a hurry, picked up his shield to cover himself, and stretched out his teeth to fight. Hou Yi wielded his sword to cut it off, and his shield broke into two. Gouchi turned to run away in fright. Hou Yi drew his bow and hit the heart of Gouchi with an arrow.

gale

Yi Zai

Wu Chengzi

With the help of Yu Qingqiu, he killed Fengfeng.

Yi and Mi Fei

One day, while everyone was working, Mi Fei picked up the lyre and played beautiful music. Unfortunately, he Bo in the Yellow River hears the melodious sound of Qin. He sneaks into Luo river and sees Mi Fei. He is immediately attracted by her beauty. So he Bo turned into a white dragon and caused a great disturbance in Luo river, engulfing Mi Fei.

Mi Fei was escorted to the deep palace of Shuifu by he Bo. She was depressed all day long, so she had to use the seven stringed instrument to relieve her sorrow. At this time, Hou Yi came to Mi Fei's side. When Hou Yi heard about what happened to Mi Fei, he was very angry. He rescued Mi Fei from Shengong, returned to Youluo, and fell in love with her. He Bo had been very angry. When he heard about the love affair between Hou Yi and Mi Fei, he became even more angry. He turned into a white dragon and dived into the Luohe River, devouring many fields, villages and livestock. Hou Yi was filled with anger and shot him in the left eye. He fled in a hurry.

Knowing that he was not Hou Yi's opponent, he had to go to the emperor of heaven to complain. The emperor of heaven had known what had happened for a long time, and he didn't speak to him. Now he could only go back to Shuifu, and he didn't dare to care about Hou Yi and Mi Fei any more.

From then on, Hou Yi and Mi Fei lived in Luoyang and had a happy life. Later, in recognition of them, the emperor appointed Hou Yi as Zongbu God and Mi Fei as Luo God.

(recorded in the mythical novel the romance of the characters in the 72 dynasties in the late Ming Dynasty)

Related disputes

On the title

At the latest in the Tang Dynasty, Yi who shot at the sun in myths and legends has been referred to as "Hou Yi" in some literature. For example, in Yuan Jiao's poems, "Chang'e steals medicine from the world and hides it in the toad palace. Hou Yi searched everywhere, but there was no place in heaven for traitors. " In the popular literature of later generations, the title of "Hou Yi" is often used in the description of related myths and legends. For example, "Zhang Tianshi cut off the wind, flowers, snow and moon" says: "when King Yao had ten days, he was shot down by Hou Yi on the top of the Kunlun Mountain and stopped you." In this way, "Hou Yi" is regarded as the name of Yi, so there are some allusions such as "Hou Yi shoots at the sun". However, there is another "Hou Yi" in the pre Qin literature, that is, you Qiong Hou Yi, also known as "Yi Yi". It is said that he was the leader of you Qiong family in the eastern nationality of Xia Dynasty, who was good at archery. Because of their appellation, they are often confused in deeds. As for the relationship between the two, the ancients also made an analysis. Guo Pu, a native of Jin Dynasty, thinks that the poor Houyi in Xia Dynasty was named "Yi" because he envied Yi who was good at shooting in ancient times. He said: "there are poor Hou Yi Mu Yi shot, so the name also." In Shangshu Zhengyi of Tang Dynasty, "Yi" in the time of DIHE and Diyao was a general name for those who were good at shooting, not a person's name; as for the poor Houyi in Xia Dynasty, it was named after Yi.

There is another contemporary saying that Yi who shot at the sun was originally called "Da Yi". But this so-called "Dayi" is not supported by the original text of ancient books.

Chang'e pure Fox

There are two Yi in history. Most people think that Yi's wife is Luo Fei and Chang'e's husband is the king. In fact, this is a great mistake. According to the records of Tianwen in the songs of Chu, the emperor came down to Yiyi, changed Xia people, Hu Wei shot at Hebo, and his wife was Yibin. Tianwen mentions that the emperor came down to Yiyi. In fact, Yiyi said Houyi, so there is no saying that Luobin and xuanwife have different husbands.

Yi is a legendary figure, but his wife is more legendary. As we all know, she is Chang'e. Yi had been given a package of elixir by Xiwang's mother. The wife of the sixth king of the Xia Dynasty was called Chunhu instead of Chang'e. whether there was any relationship between the two Houyi or not is clearly stated in Huainanzi.

According to the records in Huainanzi, "Yi asked the immortal medicine to the queen mother of the west, and Yi's wife, Chang'e, stole it and ran to the moon. She entrusted herself to the moon for the sake of toad and the essence of the moon." in fact, Chang'e's husband must be the hero Yi. "Huainan Zi Wai Ba Pian" said: "in the past, Yi was hunting in the mountains, and met yi'e under the osmanthus tree. Taking the Laurus as a proof, he became a match made in heaven." "Huainanzi · lanmingxun" says: "Yi asked the immortal medicine to the queen mother of the west, and she stole it to run to the moon. She felt sad and lost, and could not continue it."

It can be proved that Chang'e is the wife of Yi, not the wife of King Hou Yi.

However, the prototype of Chang'e is also from Chang Xi, the moon mother recorded in the book of mountains and seas. It can only be said that the pure fox, also known as Xuan's wife, is one of the archetypes of Chang'e in history. It is impossible to draw an equal sign with Chang'e. therefore, there is no myth to say that Chang'e and Yi are not husband and wife

Chinese PinYin : Hou Yi