The image of Kirin appeared in ancient times. Its original image is like a deer, with a yellow body, a unicorn on its head and meat at the end of its horn. The later time goes by, the richer Kirin's imagination becomes. It is said that Kirin has a deer body, oxtail, horseshoe, yellow, and a horn with meat on it. It sounds like a bell road, and its behavior must obey the rules. Every time you travel to lobby, you must choose carefully after the inspection and dare to travel. It does not tread on insects, walk on grass, live alone, live in groups, take a wrong path, or fall into traps or traps.
During the Warring States period, the unicorn pattern appeared earlier in the hunting pattern of copper beans.
According to the ancient theory of the connection between man and nature, if there is a benevolent master who loves the people and is virtuous, he will naturally feel lucky, such as the appearance of Wild Golden Harvest, the appearance of James Li Huanglong in Diyong and the appearance of Kirin. It can be seen that Kirin has been endowed with many beautiful imaginations by Confucian scholars. It not only has the virtue of independence and observing etiquette, but also symbolizes the great governance of the world. In the Spring and Autumn Period, Lu Aigong captured a deer with long horns. Confucius cried when he heard this, thinking that Kirin was arrested, indicating that Ren Jun could never be born again. In grief, Chunqiu is the last book.
Stone statue of Kirin in Shinto of the Ming Tombs
According to archaeological relics, Kirin has always been described as a deer with horns, which is consistent with the literature. So historians believe that Kirin should be a fictional creature based on deer, while Confucius may have always heard that Kirin is just a deformed horned deer. According to historical records, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty once hunted a unicorn, but it was also a horned beast.
After the Song Dynasty, the image of Kirin has undergone new changes. At this time, some people called the freak of awesome people Lin. According to historical records, the cows calved in this period, with hairless appearance and bluish yellow body color, just like the legendary unicorn, which shows that the focus at this time has become the Lins. During the Wanli period of Jiajing in Ming Dynasty, there were many related records in local chronicles, which still appeared from time to time until the early Qing Dynasty.
Kirin paintings in Ming dynasty
In addition, since the Ming Dynasty, there is a saying that the giraffe imported from Africa is called Kirin. In the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty, foreign trade was developed, and some people contacted Arab and Persian businessmen. According to what they heard, giraffes are recorded, but they are not called Kirin. During the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, Zheng He, the eunuch of Sambo, led the fleet to the Western Ocean for three times and imported live giraffes, called Kirin, naturally to exaggerate the achievements of going to sea.
After the giraffe was introduced to China, it was treated as a unicorn. The Yongle Emperor Judy personally ordered people to raise and color it. Since then, giraffes have been kept as unicorns. In court ceremonies, giraffes were placed next to pens to symbolize the kindness of the emperor and attract the appearance of unicorns. What they saw was recorded in many literati's notes and novels? Kirin? It is a giraffe. Although the giraffe is rare and looks like a deer, it is a dumb animal and lives in groups, which is far from the legendary unicorn.