Shenshu
Shenshu is a deity in Chinese mythology who punished evil spirits by binding them in reed ropes and feeding them to tigers. Their images together with reed rope seasonally adorned the doors or gates to ward off evil. Shenshu and Yulü are considered the earliest examples of Menshen (門神, 'gate deities' or 'door gods') venerated under such practice.
↻ synthesized from 2 sources
When
- First attested
- 200 BCE
- Attested period
- -200 – 2020
- Historical notes
- Description dates to writings from the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, during the Eastern Han dynasty.
Relationships
- co occurs with
- Qin Qiong, Yuchi Gong, Yulü, Qin Shubao, Wei Zheng, Shentu, Zhong Kui, Qianliyan, Shunfeng'er
- allied with
- Yulü
- aspect of
- Menshen
- manifested by
- Menshen
Mentioned by
Sources
Source passages
“peach[wood] charms (taofu; Chinese: 桃符), and portraits of Shenshu and Yulü were drawn on the boards, or their names written on them. Later in the 8th century, it has been held the Taizong of the Tang dynasty (second emperor and co-founder of dynasty) appointed his generals Qin Qiong and Yuchi Gong”
#21646 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001
“By the Han, this spirit had become the two gods Shenshu and Yulü, whose names or images were painted into peachwood and attached to doors.”
#34850 · extracted by anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5