Northeast Asian History Network

Cheon-chu on the ceiling of the antechamber (western wall)

This is a detailed view of Bakui on the ceiling of the antechamber (western wall) in Tokhung-ri Tomb. Eighteen auspicious animals are depicted on the ceiling of the antechamber in Tokhung-ri Tomb. The Heavenly Horse, Jichuk, Cheonjak, Byeokdok, Bakui, Hajo, Yeongyang, Huewon, and an unidentified auspicious animal appear on the northern wall.
Baopuzi (a Daoist text describing the secrets of longevity, written by the scholar Ge Hong of Eastern Jin Dynasty) states that "The birds Cheon-chu (literally “a thousand autumns”) and Man-se (literally “ten thousand years”) have the faces of humans, and their lifespans are as long as their names suggest."
The Cheon-chu in the image is a bird with the head of a human, perfectly matching the descriptions from literary records. The inscription next to Cheon-chu simply reads "Depiction of Cheon-chu." Although the image is faint, Cheon-chu’s head is unmistakably that of an immortal. Just as with immortals that never age or die, Cheon-chu is a mythological entity that symbolizes longevity. Cheon-chu is typically depicted together with Man-se as a pair.