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Nüwa, also known as Nügua, is a goddess in ancient Chinese mythology best known for creating mankind and repairing the pillar of heaven. ==Description== The ''Huainanzi'' relates Nüwa to the time when Heaven and Earth were in disruption: The catastrophes were supposedly caused by the battle between the deities Gonggong and Zhuanxu (an event that was mentioned earlier in the ''Huainanzi''), the five-colored stones symbolize the essence of the five phases (wood, fire, earth, metal, and water), the black dragon was the essence of water and thus cause of the floods, Ji province represents the central regions (the Sinitic world).〔Major ''et al.'' 2010, chapter 6 footnotes.〕 Following this, the ''Huainanzi'' tells about how the sage-rulers Nüwa and Fuxi set order over the realm by following the way (道) and its potency (德).〔Major ''et al.'' 2010, chapter 6.〕 The ''Shan Hai Jing'', dated between the Warring States period and the Han Dynasty, describes Nüwa's intestines as being scattered into ten spirits. In ''Liezi'' (c. 475 - 221 BC), Chapter 5 "Questions of Tang" (), author Lie Yukou describes Nüwa repairing the original imperfect heaven using five-colored stones, and cutting the legs off a tortoise to use as struts to hold up the sky. In ''Songs of Chu'' (c. 340 - 278 BC), Chapter 3 "Asking Heaven" (), author Qu Yuan writes that Nüwa molded figures from the yellow earth, giving them life and the ability to bear children. After demons fought and broke the pillars of the heavens, Nüwa worked unceasingly to repair the damage, melting down the five-coloured stones to mend the heavens. In ''Shuowen Jiezi'' (c. 58 - 147 AD), China's earliest dictionary, under the entry for Nüwa author Xu Shen describes her as being both the sister and the wife of Fuxi. Nüwa and Fuxi were pictured as having snake-like tails interlocked in an Eastern Han Dynasty mural in the Wuliang Temple in Jiaxiang county, Shandong province. In ''Duyi Zhi'' (; c. 846 - 874 AD), Volume 3, author Li Rong gives this description. In ''Yuchuan Ziji'' ( c. 618 - 907 AD), Chapter 3 (), author Lu Tong describes Nüwa as the wife of Fuxi. In ''Siku Quanshu'', Sima Zhen (679–732) provides commentary on the prologue chapter to Sima Qian's ''Shiji'', "Supplemental to the Historic Record: History of the Three August Ones," wherein it is found that the Three August Ones are Nüwa, Fuxi, and Shennong; Fuxi and Nüwa have the same last name, Feng (). Note: Sima Zhen's commentary is included with the later ''Siku Quanshu'' compiled by Ji Yun and Lu Xixiong. In the collection ''Four Great Books of Song'' (c. 960 - 1279 AD), compiled by Li Fang and others, Volume 78 of the book ''Imperial Readings of the Taiping Era'' contains a chapter "Customs by Yingshao of the Han Dynasty" in which it is stated that there were no men when the sky and the earth were separated. Thus Nüwa used yellow clay to make people. But the clay was not strong enough so she put ropes into the clay to make the bodies erect. It is also said that she prayed to gods to let her be the goddess of marital affairs. Variations of this story exist. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Nüwa」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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