Sanzuwu, Yatagarasu, and Samjok-o - The Three Legged Crow

The Three Legged Birds- Sanzuwu, Yatagarasu, and Samjok-o

 

various Asian Logos, temple votives, and signs with Three Legged Crow

The three-legged bird is found throughout the world in mythology and religions. It is most prevalent in Asian cultures.

Japan National Football Team logo

·        In Chinese mythology and culture, the three-legged crow is called the Sanzuwu and is responsible for the sun’s passage across the sky. The earliest known depiction of a three-legged crow appears in Neolithic pottery of the Yangzhou culture. The Sanzuwu is used in the decoration of formal imperial silk garments of the Western Han Dynasty 202 BC -220 AD depicts a Sanzuwu perched on a tree.

In Japanese mythology, this flying creature is a raven or a Jungle Crow
called Yatagarasu and the appearance of the great bird is interpreted as evidence of the will of Heaven or divine intervention in human affairs. This great crow was sent from heaven as a guide for Emperor Jimmu  (reigned 18 February 660 BC - 9 April 585 BC) on his initial journey from the region that would become Kumano.
In Korean mythology, it is known as Samjok-o. During the period of the Koguryo Kingdom 37 BCE–668 CE, the Samjok-o was a highly regarded emblem of power, thought greater than both the dragon and the Korean phoenix. 

Newgrange triskele

The three legs symbolize Heaven, Earth, and Humanity. It is one of the most commonly ancient images of a raven, appearing in China, Japan, and Korea, Neolithic sites of Newgrange, Celtic art, Scandinavian art, Ancient Italian art, Egyptian art, and cultures throughout Africa. Contrary to popular belief that this image is Asian it may be have originated in the West. Coins from the western Mediterranean showed the sun, as a disk from which radiated three legs united at the thighs.

The triskele, a motif characteristic of the European Celts of the Iron Age, is related to the triple spiral of which there is a fine Neolithic example at Newgrange, Ireland. Further south, the association of three-legged birds with the sun is reported to extend to the mythologies of Egypt and other parts of North Africa.

Three-Legged Birds. Acrylic and gold and Copper Leaf. 2014

“The Three-Legged Birds” is one of my most popular prints. My original version was a 5-inch x 7-inch etching. I have re-made the image as a painting; a relief print and an 8 x 10 print.

Carving the black plate for my four-color relief Three-Legged Bird

When I started researching my Three-Legged Birds I did a thorough internet search. I used different search engines, different names (blackbird, crow, raven, birds) as well as Asian names. I found many ancient as well as contemporary images. I knew that my image needed to be unique.

original etching with paintings I

I made a conscious decision to make my interpretation distinctive and unlike any other version or any other artist's vision. I made every part specific to my drawing. I intentionally made the head smaller than a real crow. I made the wings broader than any crow as well. The wings were also a combination of raven and eagle wings. My bird also had very specific talons on my bird, I tried to make each expressive and unique, so unique that they would only be found on my drawing. My tail feathers are also configured so that they would not be found on any other bird drawing. So, my version is intentionally unexpected, unlike anything found in nature or in any other images of this mythic bird.  I even titled it differently. Instead of the usual Three-Legged “Crow” or “Raven”, mine is “birds”. 

Like my print “Inquisition” I added “Three-legged Birds” un-watermarked to a membership-only Printmakers site, assuming the images would be respected. I added watermarked images but by then my three-legged birds had been set free un-credited into the abyss of the internet. I have been chasing them ever since. I did not know it at the time but my version would become a very popular version, often copied and mimicked. My effort to make my bird unique was a huge help when I found copyright violations of my image. Since my etching appeared in 2011, there has been a cluster of similar images that directly lead back to my print.

It was being used by a French Graffiti artist, minus one leg

It was used by an Israeli micro Brewery without permission. when I discovered it they added my name and a promise of beer that never arrived :(

A New Zealand Designer used my image on a Mock-up product design

this is supposed to be a tattoo design idea. Obviously, my image was traced.

 tattoos

I have found that my Three Legged Bird is most popular with Tattoo artists. I have very mixed feelings about this. On one hand, I feel kind of honored to have people wanting my images tattooed onto their bodies. On the other hand, I wonder if these people know that the artwork was conceived by me and not the tattoo artist. I know that some clients bring my artwork into the tattoo shops but I have to wonder how many times the tattoo artist use my images afterwards. I have found dozens of these tattoos online. I usually ask for credit if it is on a website and a promise that they will not use it again. I find it particularly irksome when the tattoo artist calls this his artwork, it really isn’t, he copied it. A vast majority of the artists understand and happily give credit. Some are not so kind. Either way, I enforce my copyright because, if I don't, I could lose it. Here are a few examples.

reversing them does not change the copyright

Here are my available Three-legged Birds Prints

 

The Three Legged Birds- Sanzuwu, Yatagarasu, and Samjok-o, Aquatint etching 8 inch x 10 inch 2016 $105

The Three Legged Birds- Sanzuwu, Yatagarasu, and Samjok-o, Aquatint etching 5 inch x 7 inch 2011 $70

 

The Three Legged Birds- Sanzuwu, Yatagarasu, and Samjok-o, Linoleum Relief print, 12” x 18” 2016  - $70.

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The Three-Legged Birds- Sanzuwu, Yatagarasu, and Samjok-o, Four plate color Linoleum Relief print, 12” x 18”  -$170.

The Three Legged Birds- Sanzuwu, Yatagarasu, and Samjok-o, Aquatint etching 3 inch x 4 inch 2016-  $45

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“The Wall of Crows” (Heit el-Ghurab)

WHY THE CROW IS BIGGER THAN THE PYRAMIDS

Today, "The Wall of the Crow” or “The Wall of Crows” (Heit el-Ghurab) stands forgotten, unnoticed by the impressive monuments on the Giza Plateau. “Wall of Crows" is rarely mentioned in literature and tourists rarely get a glimpse of it. The site on which it sits was active as far back as Neolithic times.  Long before the Great Pyramids or the Sphinx, this area was built as a gateway to the afterlife. The Wall of Crows is 656 feet long, 32.8 feet high, and 39 feet thick at the base. In the center is the gate, with a massive lintel stone believed to weigh 300 tons. It is the largest single stone in the Giza complex. Under the massive stone was a tunnel large enough to drive an SUV through.

the Wall of the Crow has the largest stone block on the entire Giza Plateau 

The gateway was clearly important to the ancients, but its original meaning has been lost. Ancient Egyptians usually didn't make such massive walls and colossal gates without there being a reason for it. Recent archeology has suggested the may have been a barrier between the living and the dead. It is believed to have been the original entrance to the Giza Plateau and the dividing line between the sacred precincts of Giza and the surrounding area, the workmen's community at Giza. It has been estimated that about 18,000 people actually lived on the site.   In more recent times it has served as a Muslim cemetery.

Wall of Crows outlined in red  

The Wall of the Crow itself is an intriguing structure, somewhat enigmatic, and more than two football fields in length. If it were anywhere else it would be a very important site. Unfortunately for the Wall of Crows, its neighbors are even more impressive.  However, Crows have very good memories!!

In ancient times all ravens, crows and blackbirds were called "crows".

In Egypt vultures and crows were important to transport spirits to the afterlife. Crows represented faithful love, as people of the ancient world observed, they are monogamous. Horapollo wrote that when the Egyptians wished to show the union between Aries, god of war, and Aphrodite, goddess of love, they drew images of crows. One of the oldest monumental structures on the Giza Plateau is the Wall of the Crow.

My Narrative:

Crow still chuckles when he looks at the Pyramids.

4500 years ago the Pyramids and the Great Sphinx were built
and Crow began gloating. 
He loved to remind the New Sphinx that  the Wall of Crows was older
He loved to belittle the New Pyramids by  flaunting his wall’s massive stone.

In my print, I had to tweak the position of the Great Pyramid and the Sphinx. I also gave the Sphinx a facelift so that he looked young again. I love ancient art and history, so this was a fun print to work on.  

THE WALL OF THE CROW - etching, 5-inch x 7-inch 2011

 

CROW BELITTLES THE SPHINX AND THE PYRAMIDS, Etching 5-inch x 7-inch 2023.

Raven's Arrival with Genghis Khan

Raven and The Black Death 1347

I am a history nerd. I love history from the Middle Ages. The tragic history of the Black Plague is too colossal to comprehend. 

Genghis Khan

The year is 1346, and the place is Caffa on the Black Sea. The Mongolian Empire now covered 12 million square miles.   Years before Genghis Khan had unified the nomadic bands of Mongolian herders into the most fearsome fighting force in history. During his reign, Genghis was responsible for 40 million deaths. Over the next 130 years, hundreds of millions would die in Mongolian conquests, making it the bloodiest period in Human history. 

Mongols catapulted plague victims off city walls.

But the Mongolians were not finished, they were about to unleash the first biological weapon in history against Europeans. The Black Plague had most likely originated in the Far East and traveled with the Mongolian army, but it had recently mutated into a more horrifically vicious pestilence. The Mongols had to retreat but before they did they catapulted hundreds of plague-ridden corpses over the city wall, unleashing the worst natural disaster in history. By 1347 1/3 to nearly 1/2 of Europe was wiped out. The Mongols never returned, and Europe would never be the same.

Plague Doctor,

 I knew that I would have to do this image. Raven is associated with some of man’s highest achievements. Raven is also wrongfully connected to mankind's greatest disasters. The suit of the Plague Doctor was the first Bio-Hazard suit. The "Doctor" wore a long cloak, gloves, and a mask that resembled a bird beak because some believed the plague was brought by birds.

In medieval Europe Ravens and Crow were linked to death.  Perhaps they thought looking like a bird may protect the wearer. This strange mask was stuffed with medicinal herbs and acted like a germ filter.   

Raven’s Arrival 1347 AD., Raven is Disguised as a Plague Doctor with his pet. 

My Narration:
Raven has traveled with his pet rat from the Far East to Europe. He wears the protective clothing of a Plague Doctor to hide his identity. Raven heard that the Dark Ages were just about to end, he wanted them to linger a little bit longer...

A bird-like form stepped out of the murk and walked down the dark passage. Wearing a beak-like mask filled with pungent aromatic plants to cloak the malodorous smells of death that hung heavy in the air, the doctor looked like a hideous raven. As he shone the muted light of his lantern into the darkness, he saw entryways smeared with blood-red crosses, the sign that the street had been visited by a plague. 

Raven’s Arrival 1347 AD.  Intaglio 5 x 7inch 2010