¶ Yanwang Umma-ö
The Ruler of the Under Realm, Protector of Heavenly Palace
The reader is introduced to Yanwang at the beginning of ‘Prince of Blue Flowers.’ This celestial, although distinguished by courage, remarkable strength, and his abilities in magic, is straightforward, angry, and even naive.
All of Yanwang’s courage isn’t enough to confess his love to the goddess of the West. He develops a plan that he considers cunning but falls for his own bait. If only he had given himself up to his own straightforwardness instead of an uncharacteristic trick, he wouldn’t have received a refusal. And the Great Storm would not have begun.
The prototype of Yanwang is King Yangluo, the ruler of the Land of the Dead. Yangluo is much more formidable in appearance than Yanwang. His role in the Chinese pantheon is that of a judge who decides the fate of people who have gone to Hell. Yanwang from ‘The Adventures of Takuan’ is young and attractive, and it would take him more than one thousand years to become the king of Yangluo.
¶ The Role of Yanwang in Takuan’s Story
Yanwang Umma-ö appears before us as a stern ruler of the Under Realm and a hunter of weredemons. Yanwang’s brother, the Jade Emperor himself, instructed the ruler of the Under Realm to catch all the demons who annoyed both mere mortals and celestials.
Yanwang copes well with this task: he manages to catch all the weredemons and imprison them in a special closet located in the back of the Heavenly Palace.
During the Great Storm, Yanwang is defeated by demons who break free. He ends up in the Under Realm, only now he can’t get out of it without help. In the second part of ‘Adventures of Takuan from Koto,’ the goddess Xiwanmu sends her messengers to free Yanwang.
To learn about how the Great Storm began and how Yanwang himself contributed to it, read the first part of ‘Adventures of Takuan from Koto.’
¶ Quotes
Yanwang himself, reassured by the groom, went to his chambers to rest. He sat down on a chair richly embroidered with gold and removed his black leather armour. He combed his long hair and braided it into two plaits. He looked at himself in the mirror and was quite pleased by what he saw.
No one could hear Yanwang in his chambers, so he said out loud: “What a handsome man you are, Yanwang Umma-ö! Why can’t the stupid Xiwanmu understand this?”
Yanwang waved his weapon again, and it increased in size, turning into a staff seven cubits long. The High Guard of the Jade Imperial Palace rushed to sweep the Heavens clear of raging demons.
The Jade Emperor himself watched the fight from his great red dragon. The demons could not reach him, and he felt completely safe. He was waiting to see how the battle in the Heavens would end.
Demons called their brethren from the farthest corners of the world, and soon the Heavens were teeming with demons of all stripes and shades. Yanwang could no longer hold them out, and a wave of demons rushed into the inner chambers where the frightened gods were hiding. One by one, the gods jumped out of the Imperial Palace and raced towards their heavenly ships. Yanwang was the last, covering their retreat.