| Jiang Ziya | |
|---|---|
 | |
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Real Name |
Jiang Ziya |
|
Born |
1128 BC |
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Died |
1015 BC |
Origin[]
Jiang Ziya, also known by several other names, was a Chinese military general, monarch, strategist, and writer who helped kings Wen and Wu of Zhou overthrow the Shang in ancient China. Following their victory at Muye, he continued to serve as a Zhou minister. He remained loyal to the regent Duke of Zhou during the Rebellion of the Three Guards; following the Duke's punitive raids against the restive Eastern Barbarians or Dongyi, Jiang was enfeoffed with their territory as the marchland of Qi. He established his seat at Yingqiu (in modern Linzi). He is also celebrated as one of the main heroes in the Fengshen Bang.
In the popular Ming-era novel Investiture of the Gods, Jiang Ziya is represented as a disciple of the Kunlun sect practicing Chan Taoism. Aside from fortune-telling, he is able to perform supernatural feats such as mounting clouds, using his internal energy to breathe out a divine fire from his mouth, releasing thunder and lightning at will, creating illusions to conceal the presence of an entire army, and through the use of ritual and incantation, of summoning wind storms to carry away hundreds of refugees, of bringing about snow in order to freeze the Shang army encamped in a mountain valley, and of conjuring a barrier made of the water of the North Sea in order to protect the Zhou capital.
He is ruthless with his enemies, usually executing captive generals from the Shang side, but is loyal to the Zhou cause. When outmatched by another wielder of supernatural powers, Zhao Gongming, he employs underhanded means on the advice of another thaumaturge named Lu Ya, employing a voodoo-like ritual involving building a straw effigy of his rival which is later shot at with arrows, leading to Zhao's death.
Public Domain Appearances[]
All published appearances of Jiang Ziya from before Janurary 1, 1929 are public domain in the US.
Some notable appearances are listed below:
- Fengshen Bang
Notes[]
- The protagonist of Hoshin Engi, Taikoubou (Tai Gong Wang), is based on Jiang Ziya. However, his personality is quite comical.