Black Tortoise | Religion | 台北市立動物園資訊網

TheBlackTortoiseisoneoftheFourSymbolsoftheChineseconstellations.ItissometimescalledtheBlackWarrioroftheNorth(北方玄武,BěiFāngXuánWǔ), ...

The Black tortoise on on a Chinese eave tile.

The Black Tortoise is one of the Four Symbols[1] of the Chinese constellations[2]. It is sometimes called the Black Warrior of the North (北方玄武, Běi Fāng Xuán Wǔ), and is known as Xuanwu in Chinese, Genbu in Japanese, Hyeonmu in Korean and Huyền Vũ in Vietnamese. It represents the north and the winter season. Although its name in Chinese, Xuánwǔ, is often translated as Black Tortoise in English[3], it is usually depicted as both a tortoise and a snake[4], specifically with the snake coiling around the tortoise.

As with the other three Symbols, there are seven "mansions," or positions, of the moon within the Black Tortoise. The names and determinative stars are:[1][2] ...