Artist's Comments
In the classic novel, Journey to the West, Xuánwǔ was a king of the north who had two generals serving under him, a "Tortoise General" and a "Snake General." This king had a temple at Wudang Mountains in Hubei, thus there is a "Tortoise Mountain" and a "Snake Mountain" on the opposite sides of a river in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei.
In Taoist legend it was said that Xuánwǔ was the prince of a Chinese Emperor. However, he was not interested in taking the throne, but decided to study in Tao's way. At age 15, he left his parents to search for enlightenment in Tao's way. It was said that he eventually achieved god status and was worshipped as a god of northern sky. Other Chinese legends also speak of how the "Tortoise General" and a "Snake General" came to be. During Xuánwǔ's study to achieve enlightenment and god status he was told that in order to fully achieve god status, he must purge all humanly flesh from his body. Since he was born he had been eating the food of the world, humanly food, therefore his stomach and intestines were still human. Legend told of an event that a god came and changed out his human stomach and intestines for a godly body so he could fully achieve god status. (It was also said that the stomach and intestines that were tossed out became the "Tortoise Mountain" and "Snake Mountain".) The stomach and intestines taken out by the god who did the surgery on Xuánwǔ were said to have taken on the shape of a tortoise (stomach) and a snake (intestines). As many Chinese legends speak of certain animals becoming demons over time as they gain knowledge, that's what the tortoise and snake became, and terrorized people. As Xuánwǔ, now in his god status, heard of this, he came and slayed the demons from his past. However, he did not kill them, as the snake and tortoise demons showed remorse. He let them train under him and atone for their wrong doings, and they became the "Tortoise General" and "Snake General", and they assisted Xuánwǔ with his quests. According to another source, once Xuánwǔ's had begun study of the way, he discovered that he must purge himself of all his past sins to become a god. He learned to achieve this by washing his stomach and bowels (intestines) in the river. In the washing of his internal organs, his sins melted from them and into the river in a dark, black form. These then formed into a black tortoise and snake who terrorized the people. Once Xuánwǔ learned of this, he returned to conquer the forms of this past sins and subdue them under himself and they became his servants. The place Li Shimin set to kill his brothers Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji is the gate named Xuanwumen. I want to thank my lovely hun   for suggesting this work for a DailyDeviation and I want to thank  for featuring it  Credits ----------------------------------------------------- *Drezdany-stocks  ~Nystagmuz-stock   ~duchesse-stock  ~grace-stock   ~elvishwarriorpirate :thumb76715683: ~patronus-stock :thumb65852024: ~Sylwia-stock :thumb54822424:   Daily DeviationGiven 2009-08-05First Movement by ~Tourash "is a beautiful, fantastical piece. The concept behind it alone is great, so well thought of and masterfully executed. Although it is so far from our reality, this piece looks just real enough to reach out and touch, defying our logic and our senses and pulling us into a whole new world with this scene." (Suggested by =BlackSoliloquy and Featured by ^Destin8x) Comments 1 comments suckers!
 yeah thats what i get to do after watching you make this on livestream >
 Just awesome job, this you already know! It was a true pleasure watching this piece come together
  looks fantastic, wonderful my firend
... Water Boiler
  Ongeveer midden van het scherm, boven het water, zijn schild. Niet echt super geblend, maar das het enige minpuntje. de rest is best sick!
-- TUTRIOOL  Watching this being made was fun xD Good job
-- Some people have really funny, witty and imaginative signitures. This is mine. Freakin' sexy.
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Details
July 30
10.4 MB 1.6 MB 1024×1312 StatisticsShare |
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reports, 16h 12m agoDaily Literature Deviations is a group that is dedicated to bringing literature to the forefront of the deviantArt community. We attempt to accomplish this by daily featuring Literature artists from around the community that deserve the recognition, but are not getting it. Each day we will feature 5 deviations from the Literature categories in a News Article. In order to support the artists that we feature, we ask that you the news article as well as check out the individual pieces. We understand that each day you may not be able to check out each and every one of the pieces, everyone has their own things going on. We just ask that you make an attempt to help support the growing Literature community. |
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