page_title: Kui (Chinese mythology)
section_title: Mythic parallels
hierarchical_section_title: Kui (Chinese mythology) / Mythic parallels
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Holzschnitt aus der Schedel'schen Weltchronik, Blatt 12 recto English: Woodcut from the Nuremberg Chronicle
context_page_description: Kui is a polysemous figure in ancient Chinese mythology. Classic texts use this name for the legendary musician Kui who invented music and dancing; for the one-legged mountain demon or rain-god Kui variously said to resemble a Chinese dragon, a drum, or a monkey with a human face; and for the Kuiniu wild yak or buffalo.
context_section_description: In addition to the Kui 夔, Chinese mythology has other uniped creatures. Based on "one-legged" descriptions, Carr (1990:143) compares kui with chi 螭 "hornless dragon; mountain demon" and hui 虺 "snake; python". The Shanhaijing (tr. Birrell 1999:15, 25, 121) mentions three one-footed creatures. The "Bellow-pot" bird "which looks like an owl; it has a human face but only one foot"; the "Endsquare" bird "which looks like a crane; it has one foot, scarlet markings on a green background, and a white beak"; and
  Softsharp Country lies east of the Country of Oneeye. Its people have only one hand and only one foot. Their knees turn backwards so that their foot sticks up in the air. One author states that this is Keepsharp Country, and that the single foot of the people there turns backwards because it is broken. 
  Two other personages named Kui in Chinese folklore are Kui Xing 魁星 "the dwarfish god of examinations" and Zhong Kui 鍾馗 "the vanquisher of ghosts and demons".
  One-footed or one-legged Kui has further parallels in comparative mythology. For instance:
  Empusa "one-footed", a demigoddess in Greek mythology
  Monocoli "one foot" or Sciapod "shadow foot", a fabled race of people with one large foot and one center leg in Greek mythology
  Ippon-datara 一本踏鞴 "one foot-bellows", a one-legged mountain spirit in Japanese mythology (cf. Nūbē Characters)
  Patasola "one foot", a vampire-like humanoid in Colombian folklore
  Saci, a one-legged nature-spirit in Brazilian folklore
caption: Monocoli illustration from the 1493 CE Nuremberg Chronicle
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