Xuanwu

Black Tortoise of the North

Four Symbols guardian of the north, tortoise and serpent entwined, lord of winter and water.

Xuanwu, the Black Tortoise of the north, is shown as tortoise and serpent entwined, ruling winter and water among the Four Symbols. In later Daoism the animal god merged with the martial deity Zhenwu, whose sacred mountain became Wudang; what began as a northern constellation grew into one of China’s most powerful cults of protection.