Mythical creature in Chinese and Japanese literature
Fengli (, literally 'wind leopard cat') is a legendary or mythified flying mammal of China, whose descriptions from various sources were collated in the "Taiping Yulan" encyclopedia (10th century ) and the "Bencao gangmu" (16th century) compendium of materia medica.
It is called fūri by Japanese sources dating back to the Edo period.
Overview.
The beast is described as resembling a dark-colored or blue-green (or greenish yellow and black) animal spotted like a leopard but smaller, about the size of a wildcat (leopard cat) or marten. Alternate sources say the beast resembles a vanishingly short-tailed monkey, or a rabbit. It is capable of flying or gliding across trees or jutted rocks, eating fruits. Sources say that its alias fengshengshou favors eating spiders.
The "fengli" bears a number of other aliases, including fengmu (; Japanese: "fūbo", literally "wind mother"), "fengshengshou" (), pinghou (, 'flat monkey'), etc.
A collated account of the "fengli" is given in the "Bencao gangmu" (1596), under its "Four Legged Animals II" section, but it misstates some alias names and work titles, drawing from such sources as the entry for "fengmu" in the encyclopedia "Taiping yulan" (c. 980).
The beast lore could have been based on actual fauna; the "fengli" may in fact have been the "colugo" according to one hypothesis, or a palm civet or a slow loris according to others.
The "fengli" has a number of lore attached to it. It is said to carry a magical wand (or a broken stalk of grass), which when pointed at a prey can cause it to fall off a tree (cf. §hunting wand). It is also said to die easily by striking, but such death is feigned, and it will revive momentarily upon receiving wind upon it. It is supposedly immune to cutting by blade, or burning by fire. But plugging its nose with the sweet flag (root portion) was considered lethal to it. Otherwise, only by rupturing its brain and breaking its bones could it be killed completely.
Its urine purportedly was effective against leprosy, according to the old Chinese pharmacopoeia.
The "jiqu" (), which reputedly ate perfume (Indian frankincense, or mastic) was described as a separate beast in the original source, but has been equated with the "fengli" by the "Bencao gangmu".
Nomenclature.
The beast "fengli" (), literally 'wind leopard cat', is described under that title in the "Bencao Gangmu" (1782)[1596]. The "fengli" article was originally a sub-article within the preceding leopard cat article.
The creature's name is pronounced "fūri" in Japanese, but (erroneously) glossed as or 'wind racoon dog' in the "Wakan sansai zue", due to the fact that "li" (simplified character: ) is commonly read as "tanuki" by the Japanese.
Aliases and sources.
A number of aliases for "fengli" are given in the "Bencao Gangmu", one of them being "fengmu" ( or , literally “mother of wind”), which is the heading used in the "Taiping yulan" encyclopedia.
The "fengli" name has its original source in the ["Guihai"] "Yuheng zhi" (; "Treatises of the Supervisor and Guardian [of the Cinammon Sea]") and referred to as wind cat in an English translation from this source.
The "fengmu" alias can be sourced to the "Nanzhou yiwu zhi" (, "Records of Extraordinary Things from Nanzhou", miscited as the "Guangzhou yiwu zhi" ), and these "Records" also provide the alias "pinghou" (; Japanese:"heikō"; “flat monkey”[?]).
Also "fengshengshou" (, 'wind-life/birthing-beast'[?]) is given in the ["Hainei"] "Shizhou ji" (, "Records of the Ten Islands [Within the Sea]") and the "Baopuzi".
And fengxing ( is the name quoted from the "Lingnan yiwu zhi" (, "Records of Extraordinary Things from Lingnan") in the encyclopedia.
While the beast jiqu (, ) is treated as another alias of "fengli" by the "Bencao gangmu", the "jiqu" is treated in a separate chapter (Ch. 16) in the original source, and presumably distinct from "fengli" as far as the source ("Youyang zazu") is concerned, placing these in Books/Chapters 16 and 15, respectively. The reputation of eating a type of perfume (mastic) is attributed to the "jiqu". Its characteristics are rather different and shall be segregated and discussed under §Jiqu below.
Geographical range.
The "fengli" dwelled in such places as Yong zhou (in present-day Guangxi), one of the old provinces ("zhou") in the Lingnan(areas south of the "Five Ridges"/Wuling Mountains), and elsewhere further south in Lingan.
The "fengli" was also found in certain western parts of Shu (, archaic for Sichuan), in areas called the "outside of Xijao" ().
Non-native to Japan.
The "fengli" ("fūri") was not a creature known to be found in Japan so far as Terajima Ryōan knew, according to his "Wakan sansai zue". However Negishi Yasumori, the author of "Mimibukuro", thought it was just a "type of tanuki (racoon dog)", and felt that human encounters with it in Japan were documented.
External appearance.
Size.
The "fengli" is said to measure about the size of a "li" (leopard cat) or an otter according to the "Bencao gangmu".
The "fengshengshou" () is rather described as blue/green leopard-like, but about the size of a "xingxing" which is tentatively identified as orangutan, suggesting perhaps a large beast. However, scribal errors seems to be in play, because while size comparison to "xingxing" (orangutan-sized) is traceable to a second-hand quotation of "Baopuzi" via encyclopedia, the original text of the "Baopuzi" itself compares the size to the "li" (, "badge").
And there is the alias "fengxing" (), presumably meaning 'wind orangutan', but the beast there is described as being monkey- or ape-like yet small.
Coat and color.
The creature, described by its different aliases, is likened to several different animals depending on the source.
The amalgamated profile of the "fengli" according to the "Bencao gangmu" is that its fur has markings similar to a leopard, and is multicolored, either "blue-green, yellow, and black", or "greenish-yellow and black", depending on the translator. The "BCGM" also says it is a short-tailed (almost tailess) beast resembling a small ape or monkey, with red eyes.
Breakdown by source.
The creature "fengshengshou" () is described as blue (or rather green) and leopard-like in two sources quoted by the encyclopedia.
However, one of the two sources quoted secondhand, the "Baopuzi", provides quite a different reading when the standalone edited text is consulte. The BPZ actually describes the "fengshengshou" as a beast that "resembles a "diao"() [marten or sable].. [which] is dark in color and as big as a "li" () or badger".
As for the simian resemblances, the "fengli" is said to resemble a "hwangyuan" () or "yellow gibbon" according to the aforementioned ["Guihai"] "Yuheng zhi" ("Treatises.. [of the Cinammon Sea]"), while "fengli" resembled a "ju"- monkey ()), had long eyebrows and tended to shy away, according to the "Youyang zazu" ("; "a Miscellany from Youyang"). The "fengmu" beast () which bore the alias "pinghou" () or “flat monkey” was monkey-like, hairless, and red-eyed according to the "Nanzhou yiwu zhi". The "fengli" resembles a rabbit according to one source.
Behavioral traits.
The "fengli" resembles a rabbit and is small according to Chen Cangqi, and it captures the wind, travels tree to tree, eating fruits.
But the preferred food is also said to be the spider for the "fengmu" beast or the "fengli".
It is said to curl up like a hedgehog () by day, and by night it turns active and agile, or flies in air when the wind rises, or "jump[s] very high with the wind, crossing cliffs and pasing above trees―like birds flying in the air", as the "BCGM" sums it up.
Capture, feigned death, killing method.
The "BCGM" writes that when the creature encounters a human, they present a shy demeanor, "bend their head and seem to beg for mercy", though an original source words it somewhat differently.
The "fengli" ("fengxing", "fengshengshou") will seem to die easily when struck, but resuscitates momentarily upon turning its mouth toward the wind. The "fengshengshou" is reputedly immune to penetration by blade, and also incombustible when attempted to burn with fire, and can only be completely killed by pulverizing its bones and breaching its brain.
Another piece of lore is that it can also be killed instantly by plugging its nose with the rhizome (root) of the sweet flag ("Acorus" sp.) particularly the "Acorus gramineus" species (, "grassleaf sweet flag").
Hunting wand.
According to the lore of southerners, the "fengli" always carries a small stick or wand () which when pointed at renders (the birds or beasts) incapable of flying or running (or immobilizes them). When a human obtains this wand, mere pointing at the prey will ensure its capture. But even if the "fengli" is netted, the wand will not be found (it has discarded the tool). But by caning the "fengli" a hundred times (or by severely hitting it） the animal will be persuaded to point to the whereabouts of the wand.
Other sources report somewhat differently on the wand. The wand owned by is more difficult to obtain than the "yixingcao" (, tr. as 'grass that covers up [your] body' (a sort of grass of invisibility)) according to the experts of the art of treating wind diseases. This "wand" is actually a piece of grass stalk that the "fengli" breaks off, measuring a little over 1 chi or Chinese foot (thus not something it carries always), and in order to catch it in action, humans span a length of rope between trees, then conceal themselves in the hollow of a nearby tree. After about three days' wait, the creature will come, and finding a flock of birds gathered in the trees, points at them with the grass-stalk causing them to fall, and starts eating. Humans emerge to capture it, but the "fengli" typically swallows the grass or flings it away. Thus it is struck several hundred times until it is willing to retrieve the correct grass.
The magic grass of the "fūri" is also mentioned in the Edo Period essay "Mimibukuro", and includes an anecdote that someone who stole the grass a "fūri", tried to catch the bird by climbing a tree, and when he held it out the bird, the bird and that person both fell from the tree.
Medicinal claims.
The blend of this brain with chrysanthemum flowers extends one's life (by 500 years) after administering 10 "jin" (catties, Chinese pound) of the medicine. The longevity claim was made proably due to the reasoning that the long-lived immortals ("xianren") were also considered to be capable of flight (like the "fengli"), according to the commentary by Minakata Kumagusu.
The urine is also said to treat "massive wind" (, i.e., leprosy). Certain ailments were believed caused by wind, hence, the wind creature's urine was believed effective.
Its urine is milk-like, and hard to obtain, but can be procured if the beast is raised in a farm.
Jiqu.
The jiqu (, Japanese: "kikkutsu" or "kekkutsu") is a beast whose name is tentatively translated as "the one that bows to good fortune"[?].
According to the "Youyang zazu" () it likes to eat a type of aromatic substance called "xunlu xiang" (), namely "Indian frankincense",
The "fengli" considered synonymous to "jiqu" in the "BCGM", it is described as feeding on this frankincense/olibanum, or mastic. It was probably only local rumour that the beast ate this perfumewood resin, according to a scholar in the field perfume ingredients.
A large "jiqu" weighed 10 catties [≈pounds], and bore resemblance to an otter. It was almost hairless, with no hair on the head, body, or limbs, but a blue (green) stripe of fur ran from its nose, along the spine, down to its tail, about 1 "cun" [≈inch] wide, with individual hairs about 3 or 4 fen (0.3–0.4 "cun").
Identification with actual fauna.
Colugo.
The "fengli" in writings was hypothesizes to be a colugo, a bat-like mammal, by Minakata Kumagusu (1920). The colugo's wing is furry on the upper side, unlike the smooth-winged bat.
While the "fengli" ("fūri") is identifiable with the "colugo", a flying yōkai called "nobusuma" may be identifiable with the "musasabi" or the Japanese giant flying squirrel ("Petaurista leucogenys"), according to some Japanese opinion. Cf. next section on §Giant flying squirrel
Giant flying squirrel.
A tentative identification with the red giant flying squirrel ("Petaurista petaurista": ) has been suggested by Yang Wuquan.
Palm civets.
Suzuki's 1931 Japanese translation of the "Bencao gangmu" ("Honzō kōmoku") under this entry indicates its scientific name to be uncertain, but in the marginal notes mentions ichthyologist Shigeru Kimura's opinion it may be the "musang" or the
common Asian palm civet.
A Chinese scholar has also explored the possibility that the masked palm civet ("Paguma larvata", Chinese name: "guozili") might be attested as "fuli" in classical Chinese writings.
Slow lorises.
Ignatius Sichelbart () who served as court