Bunshosei Kaisei Stars

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Bunshoosei 文昌星 Bunshosei
and 魁星 Kaisei - the Star Demon

Bunshosei is a manifestation of one of the seven polar stars.

- quote
In the good catalogue of the recent Hokusai show in Berlin there was an interesting dubious attribution. The entry #357 (p. 412) of Hokusai catalogue, which Nagata Seiji identified as Bunshosei (Sterngott der Literatur, as he put it), bears typical iconographic features of Kaisei (the star-demon).
Yes, Wenzhangxing/Bunshosei 文昌星, sometimes mixed in texts (or their interpretations) with Kuixing/Kaisei 魁星, but he is usually quite distinctive from the latter iconographically.


- Chinese depiction of Kuixing

I don’t have a scanned image of that catalogue entry to upload, but it has a typical Kaisei features:
a demon-like appearance (to answer the oni 鬼 part of 魁), a measure box masu 斗 in the left hand, a brush in the right, a half-naked muscular body with a lifted left leg, and the upward turn of the head (looking on stars).

The Chinese Wiki says, as I thought before, that Kuixing represents the first star of the Big Dipper (http://baike.baidu.com/view/72714.htm). Actually, he was originally a personification of the first star of the West White Tiger quadrant and was only later connected with the Ursa Magna. His gesture is “Kuixing pointing the Dipper" (魁星踢斗). Interesting that Kuixing is related to Zhongkui/Shoki, the demon queller, – the story of ugly appearance, the Emperor’s rejection – but instead of the bumping his head against the wall here we have throwing himself into the water and being rescued by ao/shachi monster 鯱 and sent to heaven.

In China he was normally worshipped at the altar with Wenzhang and depicted next to him. And Wenzhang looks like a typical official – and possibly more a protector of bureaucratic paperwork than of literature. This is what E.Werner wrote about these two: “In front of Wên Ch’ang, on his left, stands K’uei Hsing. He is represented as of diminutive stature, with the visage of a demon, holding a writing-brush in his right hand and a tou in his left, one of his legs kicking up behind—the figure being obviously intended as an impersonation of the character k’uei (魁). He is regarded as the distributor of literary degrees, and was invoked above all in order to obtain success at the competitive examinations. His images and temples are found in all towns. In the temples dedicated to Wên Ch’ang there are always two secondary altars, one of which is consecrated to his worship.”
P. 111. Werner, ETC “Myths and Legends of CHINA” Gearge G. Harrap & Co. LTD. 1922.
- - - more illustrations are here :
- source : evenbach.livejournal.com...



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. Hokuto 北斗 the Big Dipper, the Pole Star .


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- Reference - 文昌星 -
- Reference - bunshosei star -


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