The fangxiangshi () or just Fangxiang was a Chinese ritual exorcist. His primary duties were orchestrating the seasonal Nuo ritual to chase out disease-causing demons from houses and buildings, and leading a funeral procession to exorcize corpse-eating wangliang spirits away from a burial chamber. Ancient Chinese texts record that he wore a bearskin with four golden eyes, and carried a lance and shield to expel malevolent spirits. From the Han dynasty through the Tang dynasty (3rd century BCE to 10th century CE), fangxiangshi were official wu-shaman specialists in the imperially sanctioned Chinese state religion; after the Tang, they were adapted into popular folk religion and symbolized by wearing a four-eyed mask.
In the present day, the fangxiangshi is a masked character in Chinese Nuo opera, and continues as the Japanese equivalent exorcist in Shinto ceremonies.
Etymology The obscure etymology of is a subject of disagreement but has been translated as "one who sees in all (four) directions", "he who scrutinizes for evil in many directions", and "one who orients unwanted spirits in the direction to which they belong". The name combines three characters, with the following Old Chinese pronunciations and meanings: "square, a regular thing, side, region, country; two boats lashed side by side, raft; just now, to begin; method, law, norm, standard" "look at, inspect; assist, help; assistant, minister" (also pronounced < 相 "each other, mutually") "an honorific which is suffixed to place names ("the lord of X"), kinship terms ("uncle X"), feudal and official titles ("lord/lady" X); clan" Scholars agree that < is the common Chinese honorific or clan name Shi, but construe < in various ways. Fang 方 is also a common Chinese surname.
The earliest interpretation was Zheng Xuan's (2nd century CE) commentary (see below). Zheng explains as , substituting for and for . This ambiguous gloss is translated as "expellers of formidable things", "to give release to one's thinking . . . so as to have an awesome and terrifying appearance", and "to cause visions to be forthcoming; to conjure up visions". Boltz says Bodde misunderstood this term because Zheng was reaffirming that means not just "observe; scrutinize", but "vision; image; phantasy", cognate with , as well as with . Therefore, Boltz concludes it was not the appearance of the that is important, but "the visions which he brings forth (and which presumably only he can see) that are crucial. In this sense he should be called the Master of Visions, or Imaginator, or Phantasmagoricist."
Zheng Xuan's commentary to the description of a striking the four corners of the burial chamber with his lance and expelling the (see below) identifies this demon with the demon, also known as . Ying Shao's (c. 195 CE) quotes this passage with for in explaining the origins of Chinese customs of placing thuja (arborvitae) trees and stone tigers in graveyards. On the tomb a thuja is planted and at the head of the path a stone tiger. In the Chou li, "On the day of burial the chief enters the pit to drive out the ." The likes to eat the liver and brain of the deceased. People cannot constantly have the stand by the side of the tomb to bar it. But the fears the tiger and the thuja. Thus the tiger and thuja are placed before the tomb.
The common interpretation of the in is that it denotes the , as ritually symbolized by the four golden eyes on the bearskin signifying the ability of a to see in all directions. According to Dallas McCurley, the early Chinese believed that "the forces of rain, wind, flood, and drought often came to the climatically vulnerable Yellow River Valley from the ."
Boltz's review of Bodde's book agrees that taking the fundamental sense of as "seer" is generally accurate, but believes that the binomial term < Old Chinese originated as a dimidiation of the word < Proto-Chinese "seer". Thus meaning "not so much "one who sees in all directions" (though it may well have already been semanticized as that very early) as "one who conjures up visions, or images, phantasies."
Many writers have noted the remarkable phonetic similarities among the names for the ritual and the , , and demons he exorcised; and some scholars such as Chen Mengjia, Kobayashi Taichirō, and William Boltz have theorized that the exorcist was a personification of these demons, and was "in effect exorcising himself". In this understanding, the devouring exorcist and devoured creatures were ultimately identical. Boltz suggests the possibility that the matching names , , , and are all derived from the same Proto-Chinese "see" etymon, with him as a "Master of Visions" or "Imaginator" and them as "visions" or "specters" from the Latin spectrum "appearance; apparition", and to use the same root, the "was in fact exorcising images, or visions, of himself."
Translations While it is comparatively easier to transliterate Chinese alphabetically than to elucidate it, some scholars have made translations. The first in a Western language may have been French sinologist Édouard Biot's "inspecteurs de region" or "preservateur universel".
English translations include "Rescuer of the Country; inspectors or rescuers of the country to the four quarters" "a 'doctor' who has two functions, he prescribes medicines, and practises the art of physiognomy" "he who scrutinizes for evil in many directions" "one who conjures up visions ... Master of Visions, or Imaginator, or Phantasmagoricist" "one who sees in all (four) directions" "square-faced exorcist" "direction ()-orienting master; one who orients unwanted spirits in the direction to which they belong" Laufer's interpretation takes to mean and to mean . Bodde's translation "he who scrutinizes for evil spirits in many directions" is based upon taking fang as meaning "four/all directions" and taking in its verbal sense of "observe, scrutinize" comparable with "physiognomize".
Early references According to the Chinese classics, originated in the late Eastern Zhou dynasty (771-256 BCE), were officially employed by emperors from the Han dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE) through the Tang dynasty (618-907), and subsequently continued as a private practice up to the present day.
Han dynasty The earliest detailed description of is found in the (c. 3rd century BCE) "Rites of Zhou" section.
The first context details the types and numbers of assistants for each official rank, including over 40 to support the : 4 , 8 diviners with 6 subordinates, 2 accountants, 2 scribes, 2 menials, and 20 runners.
The second context includes the under the section describing official duties of the : At the annual Great Exorcism ( ), when the play a central role: after either presenting offerings or shooting arrows (which of the two remains unclear) at the evil spirits in the four directions, they (according to Zheng Xuan) accompany them outside, away from human habitations"Tr. . The received text has but Zheng Xuan mentions an old variant of .
The subsequent context says, In his official function, he wears a bearskin having four eyes of gold, and is clad in a black upper garment and a red lower garment. Grasping his lance and brandishing his shield, he leads the many officials to perform the seasonal exorcism (), searching through houses and driving out pestilences. ... When there is a great funeral, he goes in advance of the coffin, and upon its arrival at the tomb, when it is being inserted into the burial chamber, he strikes the four corners with his lance and expels the . (48)Tr. . Zheng Xuan's commentary glosses as meaning , that is "to wear over one's head"; and explains "the bear skin worn over one's head to expel the demon of pestilences is today as ." As mentioned above (see Etymology), Zheng's commentary identifies the demon with the or demon.
scholars concur in interpreting the four golden eyes on the bearskin to symbolize the ability of a to see simultaneously in all , as well as striking all of the tomb with a lance to scare away the corpse-eating .
However, interpreters differ whether the was covered by a bearskin cloak or mask, owing to the ambiguous Classical Chinese phrase (literally "bear skin yellow gold four eyes"), and Zheng Xuan's comparison with a "demon mask". Translations are frequently a bearskin ("don the hide of a young bear ornamented with four eyes of gold"), sometimes a bearskin mask ("four-eyed bear mask", McCurley, or even both ("covered with a bear's skin and donning a face mask with four golden eyes").
The Han polymath Zhang Heng's (2nd century CE) "Dongjing fu" poem about the capital Luoyang contemporaneously describes at the ritual. At the end of the year the great no takes place for the purpose of driving off all spectres. The carry their spears, and hold their bundles of reed. Ten thousand lads with red heads and black clothes, with bows of peach wood and arrows of thorny jujube shoot at random all around. Showers of potsherds and pebbles come down like rain, infallibly killing strong spectres as well as the weak. Flaming torches run after these beings, so that a sparkling and streaming glare chases the red plague to all sides; thereupon they destroy them in the imperial moats and break down the suspension bridges (to prevent their return). In this way they attack and , strike at wild and ferocious beings, cleave sinuous snakes, beat out the brains of , imprison in the clear and chilly waters, and drown in the waters animated by gods. They cut asunder the and the , as also the ; they mutilate the , and exterminate the . The eight spirits (cardinal points of the Universe) thereby quiver; how much more must this be the case with the , the and the . The land of , affords protection by peach branches, the effects of which are enhanced by and , who on the other side, with ropes of rush in their hands, by means of their sharp eyesight spy out the darkest corners, in order to catch the spectres which still remain after the chase. The houses in the capital thus being purged to their most secluded parts, and delivered from everything undesirable, the Yin and the Yang may unite harmoniously, and all beings and things thus be produced in due time.Tr. .
The (5th century) Book of the Later Han also describes in the exorcism.