All those imaged kanji don’t help! So far, all I’ve been able to figure out is that red hair is associated with abnormal strength and yellow eyes with other worldly origins (yokai and such). Also, it appears 馼 once was written with the left and right sides swapped.
All those imaged kanji don’t help! So far, all I’ve been able to figure out is that red hair is associated with abnormal strength and yellow eyes with other worldly origins (yokai and such). Also, it appears 馼 once was written with the left and right sides swapped.
well, abnormal strength and other-worldly origins sounds a lot like mythology to me
Great, now I'll dream of red-maned laser-eyed super-powered Zebras from Outer Space. Name of a garage band if ever there was one. (No, but really, if anyone manages to learn more, please share.)
"馼, also written 𩢌, is a rare historical Chinese character combining 馬 (horse) and 文 (phonetic/pattern). It refers to a famous ceremonial horse from the Zhou dynasty, described as having a red mane, a white-striped body, and eyes like gold, and named 吉皇之乘, “Mount of the Auspicious Emperor.” According to classical sources, it was gifted by the Dog Rong tribe to the Zhou king, though later texts sometimes substitute King Cheng. The horse appears in works like the Shuowen Jiězì, Duan Yucai’s commentary, and the Chunqiu Zhuan, with “文馬” indicating patterned or decorated horses. Much of the historical detail in later sources is added commentary, so the horse is legendary and ceremonial rather than a real creature."
This is machine translated, since I don't speak Chinese XD
Apparently, it's not an actual zebra, but rather a striped horse. Refering to prized, exotic, or ceremonial horses, often with dramatic features like red manes or golden eyes, to emphasise rarity and status.
Fascinating! Well, technically you can say it did exist. (And now my brain will remember the kanji for ever and ever, while constantly forgetting the difference between 壊 and 徳, or how to write 丁寧.)
If you think of "horse" + "red" + "strengh" and china, you think of "Red Hare", the horse of Lu bu from the Three Kindgom. They are probably not directly related but that association "red + strenght" was probably there. Or maybe "red + prestigeous".
The "red" part probably come from a horse with a "chesnut" color (I had to search for that color name... It's a kind of reddish brown). It was probably an exagerated way of describing a beautiful horse. Not literally the color red. Also for the "zebra" part, I found in some definition that the horse were painted sometimes (hence the "patterned" part probably).
So, it was probably just a normal horse which was a bit more exceptionnal than other and described in a exagerated way. Then later, it became a legendary type of horse with the Three Kingdom era.
