Huo Shan/Mount Huo was one of the garrison mountains of the Nine Regions (jiuzhou) of China. Since ancient times, mythical stories about the mountain spread widely. One of these stories states that, around the end of the Sui Dynasty, an elderly man in white gave direction to Li Yuan's forces, and as a result, Huoyi was taken successfully. After the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, the aforementioned story which indicates the elder as the God of Huo Shan became a regime-founding myth that was mentioned frequently. Furthermore, followers of the Taoism and Buddhism had also endorsed the story, respectively with their own gods. Nevertheless, it was not until A.D. 751 that Huo Shan was personified as a duke in the imperial aristocracy, together with four earlier garrison mountains. Huo Shan was given attention in the state rituals of Gods of Mountains and Rivers because it was the garrison mountain of Jizhou. While initially it was not listed as one of the five marchmounts (wuyue) and four garrison mountains (sizhen), Hou Shan was often mentioned as an equal. Five marchmounts (wuyue) and four garrison mountains (sizhen) was a transformation of the ancient ordering of mountains and rivers into geographical coordination. After Huo Shan was made a garrison mountain, the structure of five marchmounts (wuyue) and five garrison mountains (wuzhen) as well as the ordering of mountains and rivers were established. In short, the idea of the five garrison mountains emerged at the latest in the reign of Emperor Dezong of Tang dynasty; and the view of Huo Shan as the central garrison mountain took shape in late Tang period.
🎊 唐代霍山的神話與祭祀－兼論霍山中鎮地位的確立
