Reposted by Azulia
Azulia
@azulia888.bsky.social
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#1 Benzaiten fan Yet another Touhou fan Also currently obsessed by LobCorp and SIGNALIS I have a celeste🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️ 202, and I spend my time reading, writing and researching stuff
![Yuuma Toutetsu is the chairwoman of one of the three37 big yakuza families of the Animal Realm, the Gouyoku Alliance. She and the other leaders38 are based on mythological creatures, and Yuuma’s is called the taotie. With roots found in Chinese mythology and known for its insatiable appetite, the taotie is a malevolent, chimeric, horned creature with piercing eyes.
While the first written mention of the word “taotie” can be traced back to the 4th century BC, in the Zuo Zhuan, the monster’s origin is much more ancient.
The taotie first referred to motifs carved on ding, which are Chinese ritual bronzes dating from the Shang dynasty. Some even think a more archaic version of the motif can be traced back to the Liangzhu culture39. Although what we associate with the taotie changed a lot through time, two things always remained: eyes, and horns.
Despite the age of the motif, it’s accepted that the myth of the taotie didn’t exist at the time and instead gradually developed. The form thus gained a name and attributes, the main ones being death and gluttony.
As time passed, water also started to be associated with it, and the depictions evolved to include a mouth which lacked a lower jaw to evoke its endless appetite. Its last major evolution took place in the Lushi, where author Luo Bi associates the taotie with Chiyou [蚩尤], a warlord known for his cruelty and greed. According to the author, the Yellow Emperor (a central figure in Chinese mythology) cut his head off and ordered his people to etch it on bronzes to warn against cupidity.
Yuuma manages to perfectly incarnate this mythological heritage. Not only her appearance—with her horns, her vertical pupils, and her dress's motifs (which greatly resemble those found on ding)—but even her personality is reminiscent of the taotie legends.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:724ltcnim3i4k77auugh6btd/bafkreickr2ga25kverqsgebcv4tisiqjephycqeqp47elg4djoaa7zntla)
