Chiwen

Chiwen (蚩吻 or 鸱吻) are large ornaments placed at each end of the main ridge of traditional Chinese buildings. They usually take the form of a dragon- or fish-like creature whose open mouth appears to swallow the ridge. In mythology the chiwen is one of the nine sons of the dragon. The ornaments are sometimes compared to Western gargoyles, but they do not carry water and are unrelated in origin.

From chiwei to chiwen

The ornament began as the chiwei (鸱尾, "owl's tail" or "kite's tail"), a wing- or tail-shaped ridge end associated with the vermilion bird. The earliest images appear in the Han dynasty, on ceramic architectural models, gate towers and tomb murals. Chiwei spread to palaces, temples and official buildings in the following centuries and to aristocratic houses under the Tang.

Glazed roof tiles appeared in the Tang dynasty, and chiwei were often glazed green or blue, as seen in murals at the Mogao Grottoes. In the mid-Tang a fish-like chiwen became popular alongside the chiwei, and in the Song dynasty it replaced the older form completely, becoming more dragon-like while keeping some bird features such as wings. The Song building manual Yingzao Fashi (1103) standardised the terms, parts and sizes of the ornament. Under the Ming and Qing chiwen became more ornate, with bodies and tails curling inward and many regional variations in style and colour.

Meaning

Chiwen were believed to guard buildings against fire. A Tang-period text states that they were placed on Han roofs for this purpose, and later geomantic beliefs extended this protection to floods and typhoons. A Ming text describes them as swallowing evil influences at the ridge ends. In practice, the heavy ornaments also help weigh down and seal the junction of ridge and roof slope.

Surviving examples

Examples range from the Liao-period chiwen of Shanhua Temple and Huayan Temple in Datong to green-glazed Song examples at Longxing Temple in Zhengding, and Ming and Qing ornaments on temples and palaces across China, including the Forbidden City.

Related ornaments elsewhere

In Japan the ridge-end tile is called shibi (鴟尾), and the mythical fish shachihoko, famously gilded on Nagoya Castle, was likewise believed to protect against fire. In Korea the equivalent owl-tail ridge-end tile is called chimi.