Daji

For the village in Comoros, see Daji, Comoros.

dedicated to Daji, became outlawed, although their supDaji or Da Ji (Chinese: ; pinyin: Dj ; Wade pression proved unsuccessful.* [4] In 1111, an imperial
edict was issued for the destruction of many spirit shrines
within Kaifeng, including those of Daji.* [5]

1 Biography

Daji A favorite concubine of King Zhou of Shang

King Zhou of Shang and his consort Daji as depicted in Faits mmorables des empereurs de la Chine, tirs des annales chinoises
(1788)

Giles: Ta2 -chi3 ), was the favorite consort of King Zhou

of Shang, the last king of the Shang dynasty in ancient
China. She is portrayed as a malevolent fox spirit in legends as well as novels.* [1] Her identication as a fox
spirit seems to have originated from at least the Tang
dynasty.* [2] These accounts have been popularized in
works such as the Wu Wang Fa Zhou Pinghua (
), the Fengshen Yanyi, and the Chronicles of the
Eastern Zhou Kingdoms.* [3] She is considered a classic
example of how a beauty causes the downfall of a dynasty
in Chinese culture.

Daji was from a noble family called Su () from the state

of Yousu (). Hence, she is also known as Su Daji.
In 1047 BC, King Zhou of Shang invaded Yousu and took
Daji as his prize. In Feng Shen Yan Yi, she was a daughter of Su Hu ();* [6] in the early chapters, she was
killed by a thousand-year-old vixen spirit who possessed
her body before becoming a concubine of King Zhou.* [7]

King Zhou became extremely infatuated with Daji and

started to neglect state aairs in order to keep her comIn the Song dynasty, fox spirit cults, including those pany. He used any means necessary to ingratiate himself
1

with her and to please her. Daji liked animals so he built

her a zoological Xanadu with several rare species of birds
and animals. He also ordered artists to compose lewd music and choreograph bawdy dances to satisfy her musical
taste. He gathered 3000 guests at one party to indulge in
his pond of wineand forest of meat. He allowed
the guests to play a cat and mouse game nude in the forest to amuse Daji. When one of King Zhou's concubines,
the daughter of Lord Jiu, protested, King Zhou had her
executed. Her father was ground in pieces and his esh
fed to King Zhou's vassals.
Daji's greatest joy was to hear people cry in physical torment. Once, she saw a farmer walking barefoot on ice
and ordered his feet cut o so she could study them and
gure out why they were so resistant to low temperatures.
On another occasion, she had a pregnant woman's belly
cut open so it satised her curiosity to nd out what happened inside. To verify an ancient saying that a good
man's heart has seven apertures, she even had the heart
of the minister Bi Gan (King Zhou's uncle) dug out and
subjected to her scrutiny.
Daji was best known for her invention of a method of
torture known as Paolao (). A bronze cylinder covered with oil was heated like a furnace with charcoal beneath until its sides became extremely hot. The victim
was made to walk on top of the slowly heating cylinder
and he was forced to shift his feet to avoid the burning.
The oily surface made it dicult for the victim to maintain his position and balance. If the victim fell into the
charcoal below, he would be burnt to death. The victim
was forced to dance and scream in agony before dying
while the observing King Zhou and Daji would laugh in
delight.

POPULAR CULTURE

See also: Creations of Daji

Daji is featured in the Chinese novel Fengshen Yanyi as
a major antagonist. She was the rst featured corrupter
of the declining Shang dynasty in the novel. Her father
Su Hu gave her in to King Zhou of Shang as an appeasement oer after armed conict broke out between Su's
and Shang military forces.
One night before Daji was sent to the capital city of
Zhaoge, she was possessed by an evil nine-tailed fox spirit
(aka Thousand-Year-Old Vixen). When Daji arrived in
Zhaoge, she became the centre of attention of King Zhou
and caused the king to be extremely obsessed with her.
King Zhou neglected state aairs to keep her company
and ignored the advice of his subjects. Yunzhongzi was
the rst man to act against Daji by giving the king a magical peach-wood sword which would make Daji ill and
kill her eventually. She rose above the ranks from a minor concubine to become the queen based on the king's
favoritism towards her.
Daji was blamed for the fall of the Shang dynasty by corrupting King Zhou and causing him to neglect state affairs and rule with tyranny and despotism. This ultimately
led to the dynasty's decline and widespread chaos. King
Zhou's tyranny incurred the anger and resentment of the
common people, who eventually rose up in revolt against
him under King Wu of Zhou's leadership. After the fall
of the Shang dynasty, Daji was exorcised by Jiang Ziya
(aka Jiang Taigong) and died eventually.

3 Popular culture

Daji was executed on the orders of King Wu of Zhou after

the fall of the Shang dynasty on the advice of Jiang Ziya.

Literature

Da Ji as she appears in Koei's Warriors Orochi.

Depiction of Daji in the Hokusai Manga

The primary antagonist of Ryu Fujisaki's Manga series Hoshin Engi (based on Fengshen Yanyi), Dakki,
is based on Daji. She is a yokai senninsaid to
have strategist and right-hand woman. Her design
incorporates pointed, fuzzy ears and vulpine feet,
alluding to the legend that she is a fox spirit. In

3
Warriors Orochi 2 she is a strong rival of Taigong
Wang, who is the one who can easily see through
her strategies. She is also the one who had originally
released Orochi the Serpent King from connement
(she is implied to have once been one of the mystics, the game world's organization of Chinese and
Japanese semi-mythical gures) because she sympathised with him.
Daji appears as a general that players can control in
the strategy game War of Legends.
Daji is also seen as one of the antagonists of the light
gun shooting game SEGA Golden Gun in the nal
part of the Shilitan stage. In this game, Daji transforms into a moe anthropomorphism of Byakko.
She only attacks using her tiger tail, which she
thrusts toward the players. One of her lines include
Please accept my love....which she says to the
players upon unleashing hearts to blind them. She
can also summon red-armored bodyguards (which
is only seen in the rst half of the boss ght), but
these bodyguards do not add either player's points.
She can also create 4 copies of herself in the second
half of the boss ght to confuse the players. In the
end, Daji is defeated and screams out King Zhou's
name upon dissolving into the abyss.
Daji appears in the mobile game Tower of Saviors
as a Chinese God.
Daji/Dakki is featured in the anime Hoozuki no reitetsu (episode 9) where she is the most expensive
courtesan in Human Hell.
Hong Kong/South Korean lmDa Jibetter known
in English as The Last Woman of Shang(1964)
directed by Choi In-hyeon and Yueh Feng proposes
unusual view of the title character (played by Linda
Lin Dai) contrasting to the all above-listed - as a
heroine who did not have actual taste for killing and
torture but was encouraging King Zhou for such activities in order to destroy his kingdom/push the nation to overthrow him to restore the rightful dynasty.
Daji appears in the 2001 Hong Kong television
adaption of the novel Fengshen Bang, Gods of Honour. She was rst shown as a young lady who was
forbidden to study and later becomes the antagonist.
She harmed many people because of what they had
done to her. However, throughout all of this, the
only person she never truly harmed as her own sister,
who actually disapproves of Daji's horric behavior.
This series ran for 40 episodes.
In the 2016 Hong Kong lm League of Gods, Daji
is depicted as having monstrous tails that can tear
a victim to pieces and devour the victim's remains.
She also has the ability to use magic that reverses a
victim's age with each magical spell.

4 See also
Boyi Kao
Jade Pipa
Jiutou Zhiji Jing
Nu Wa
Femme fatale

5 References
[1] Chen, Ya-chen (2012). Women in Chinese martial arts
lms of the new millennium narrative analyses and gender politics. Lanham: Lexington Books. p. 11. ISBN
9780739139103.
[2] Huntington, Rania (2003). Alien kind : foxes and late imperial Chinese narrative. Cambridge: Harvard University
Press. p. 195. ISBN 9780674010949.
[3] Epstein, Maram (2001). Competing discourses: Orthodoxy, authenticity, and endangered meanings in late Imperial Chinese ction. Cambridge: Harvard University Asia
Center. p. 136. ISBN 9780674005129.
[4] Kang, Xiaofei (2006). The cult of the fox: Power, gender,
and popular religion in late imperial and modern China.
New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 3739. ISBN
9780231133388.
[5] Lin, Fu-shih. ""Old Customs and New Fashions": An Examination of Features of Shamanism in Song China.
Modern Chinese Religion I. Leiden: Brill. pp. 262263.
ISBN 9789004271647.
[6] Xu, Zhong Lin (1600s). Fengshen Yanyi.Chapter 3 wrote:
"[After Su Hu's eldest son were captured...] Su Hu looks
anxious, carrying his [Su Hu's] sword into the back hall,
seeing the young miss Daji, who is wearing a graceful
smile with her slightly spit lips, asking 'Father, why are
you carrying your sword [in your own home]?' Su Hu saw
Daji, his sweet daughter, [knowing that she is] not an enemy, [wonders] how he can do anything [like slaying her]".
Translated from original text:

[7] Xu, Zhong Lin (1600s). Fengshen Yanyi. Chapter 4

wrote: "Without knowing that an answer not from
Daji but the Thousand-year-old Vixen. When the lamps
are o, so are the lights in the front hall and the back, it's
time the Vixen sucks all of Daji's soul out of her body, then
she [Daji] is dead; She [the vixen] possesses her [Daji's]
body, ready to seduce King Zhou and ruin his beautiful
country. Translated from original text:

6 SOURCES

Sources
Chen, Ya-chen - Women in Chinese martial arts lms
of the new millennium narrative analyses and gender
politics (2012) - ISBN 9780739139103
Epstein, Maram - Competing discourses: Orthodoxy,
authenticity, and endangered meanings in late Imperial Chinese ction (2001) - ISBN 9780674005129
Huntington, Rania - Alien kind : foxes and
late imperial Chinese narrative (2003) - ISBN
9780674010949
Kang, Xiaofei - The cult of the fox: Power, gender, and popular religion in late imperial and modern
China (2006) - ISBN 9780231133388.
Lin, Fu-shih - Modern Chinese Religion I - ISBN
9789004271647.
Xu, Zhonglin - Fengshen Yanyi (16th century)

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