The Five Poisons

The "five poisons" (wudu 五毒) actually refer to five poisonous animals.  In contrast to what one might expect, the purpose of the five poisons depicted on a charm or amulet is to counteract pernicious influences.  This is because the Chinese believe in combating poison with poison.

There is legendary evidence to support this belief of combating poison with poison.  Shennong (神农), also known as the Yan Emperor (yandi 炎帝), was a ruler who lived about 5,000 years ago and is credited with teaching the Chinese how to cultivate crops.  He is also considered the Father of Chinese Medicine because he discovered and personally tested upon himself hundreds of medicinal and poisonous herbs.  He was able to test these herbs because he allegedly had a transparent body and could therefore observe their effects.  He never suffered long-term effects, however, because the poisons apparently canceled each other out.

Chinese parents would often use an amulet having images of the five poisons to protect their children.

Some historical sources refer to the five poisons as consisting of the snake, scorpion, centipede, toad and spider.  Other references have the lizard replacing the spider.  Still other sources mention the five poisons as the snake, scorpion, centipede, spider and the "three-legged toad".  To learn more about "the three-legged toad", please refer to Liu Hai and the Three-Legged Toad charms.
 



On the left is shown the reverse side of an amulet with the centipede and spider to the right, the snake at the bottom and a "three-legged toad" to the left of the center hole.  The animal at the top is a tiger.  Tigers are sometimes put on amulets because they are considered to have a general power to set evil spirits to flight because of their ability to see well in the dark.  Images of tigers (see Peach Charms) are considered particularly effective in scaring away malignant spirits and protecting children.












While the reverse side of this coin is to protect, which is the purpose of an amulet, the obverse side is more like a charm in that it is meant to bring good luck.  The obverse side, shown to the left, has the four Chinese characters fu gui chang le (富贵昌乐) written in seal script and read top to bottom and right to left.  The meaning is "riches and honor, prosperity and happiness".

This charm has a diameter of 47.8 mm and weighs 25.9 grams.










This is the reverse side of another old Chinese five poison charm.

The large animal at the right is a tiger or cat.  To the right of the cat's tail is a lizard and to the left is a spider.  A snake is at the left of the center hole and the three legged toad is at the lower left.











The inscription on the obverse side of the charm is read top to bottom as qu xie jiang fu (驱邪降福) which translates as "Expel evil and send down good fortune".

At the very top of the charm is a spider.  In this case, the spider is not one of the five poisons.  When not grouped with other members of the five poisons the spider is actually considered an auspicious symbol on its own. This is because another word for spider in Chinese is xizi (虫喜 子) where the first character has the same pronunciation as the word for "happy" (xi 喜).  A picture of a spider dropping down is therefore a visual pun for "happiness being sent down from the sky".

At the bottom of the charm is the three legged toad. The three-legged toad on charms is regarded as auspicious and conducive to good fortune.  For a more detailed discussion, please see Liu Hai and the Three-Legged Toad.

There is some disagreement as to the figure at the right.  Some say it is Liu Hai and others say it is Zhong Kui.  For a detailed discussion of Liu Hai, please see the above link.  For information on Zhong Kui, please see Daoist (Taoist) Charms and Chinese Pendant Charms.

This charm has a diameter of 46 mm and a weight of 26.3 grams.



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