- Koguryo and Balhae
- Great Tomb of Gangseo
Koguryo and Balhae
| Title | The Third Stone Prop of the Southeastern Wall (Side – Detailed view of the Fenghuang - Right) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
The Third Stone Prop of the Southeastern Wall (Side – Detailed view of the Fenghuang - Right)
This is the detailed view of the Fenghuang on the left side of the third stone prop of the southeastern wall. Much like the dragon, extremely diverse descriptions of Fenghuang exist in historical texts. Shanhaijing or The Classics of Mountains and Seas states, "A bird exists that resembles a rooster and features the five cardinal colors. Its name is Fenghuang." Shuowen Jiezi (literally “Explaining and Analyzing Characters”, A Chinese dictionary from the Han Dynasty) states, "Fenghuang is an ethereal bird featuring the five cardinal colors. Its front resembles the Qilin (a.k.a. Kirin: chimerical creature of Chinese mythology), and the rear resembles a deer. It has the neck of a snake, tail of a fish, scales of a dragon, shell of a tortoise, chin of a swallow, and the beak of a rooster." Therefore, the Fenghuang sometimes resembles a rooster or is a composite of several auspicious animals.