Kuan U (กวนอู)
Thai-Chinese name for
Guan Yu
(关羽)
(AD 160–219), the Tiger General
of Shu (fig.)
and blood brother of
Liu Bei (fig.),
the warlord under whom he served during the late Eastern Han
Dynasty, as well as of General
Zhang Fei (fig.),
with whom he accompanied Liu Bei on most of his early
exploits. He was a fearsome fighter, yet famous for his virtuousness
and loyalty, a brave and faithful warrior in the
Romance of the
Three Kingdoms.
Kuan U is
posthumously worshipped as
the deity who teaches righteousness and is traditionally portrayed
as a warrior with a long lush beard and a dark red face, or shades
thereof.
In
ngiw, Chinese opera,
the colour red represents loyalty and righteousness. He is often
depicted
holding the Green Dragon Crescent Blade, a type of traditional
Chinese weapon, called
kuandao and
which consists of a heavy blade on a long ̶ usually wooden ̶
pole. He is also frequently portrayed with this long weapon
in combat atop
his horse known in Thai as Sek Tao (เซ็กเธาว์),
a name that derives
from the pronunciation of its Chinese name Chi Tu (赤兔) in the
Chinese Southern Min dialect and which means ‘Red Hare’
(fig.). Kuan U has a black-faced, fierce looking aide-de-camp, who
often bears his kuandao battle blade and is known as warlord
Chou Tsang
(fig.),
as well as an adapted son, who is named
Kuan Ping
(fig.).
In 219 AD Kuan U was captured along with his son west of Mai Cheng,
by forces of the Kingdom of Wu and both were promptly executed.
Since the deification of Kuan U
in the Sui Dynasty, statues of his son and aide-de-camp often appear
alongside that of his own. In
iconography,
Kuan Ping's face is traditionally painted whitish or pink, that of Chou Tsang
black. Kuan U is
also known as
a
Cai Shen,
that is
the Chinese warrior god of wealth, and in
Buddhism he is identified with the
bodhisattva
Sangharama (fig.),
the guardian of the
dharma. Besides this, he is also
called Kuan Ti, Kwan Tai, Kwan Dai, Kuan Kung, Wu Ti, Mo Dai, Guan
Di, Guan Gong, Kuan Yu, Kwan Yu, or Quan Yu. If
portrayed
stroking his beard with one hand and holding a book in the other,
the General is known as
Mei Ran Gong
(美髯公)
,
which freely translates as ‘Lord with the Beautiful Beard’ (fig.).
See also
lian pu.
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