The Bottle-Gourd Page

The bottle-gourd (or calabash) is a complex, multi-faceted symbol in China, Japan, and many other parts of Asia. The origins of gourd-related lore seem to have come into China from South-East Asia, and spread from China to Korea and Japan. The most common term for bottle-gourds in Chinese is hulu 葫蘆. Pao 瓟 is another term for gourd or bottle-gourd, and there are dozens of other possible terms to indicate gourds, melons, and/or other container-like fruits. In Japanese, the most common term for bottle-gourd is hyōtan 瓢箪, and there is also hisago 瓢 and other terms.

One could write an entire book on gourd lore in East Asia, but for the purposes of this brief introduction, I will list some of the major themes and symbolism, often followed by illustrations (click on each thumbnail to see the full-sized image).

1. The bottle-gourd symbolizes heaven and earth, hence the universe. Within it is a magical zone in the form of an alternate universe or the entrance to another world. Daoist immortals and magicians can travel between these two worlds. In the more mundane world, doorways and/or windows in elite Chinese houses were often shaped like bottle-gourds, again suggesting a passage into a different realm.

This image illustrates the protagonist of a Chinese tale from the late Han era. He is able to transport himself to other universes--and at great speed--through gourds and gourd-like spaces:

2. Similar to the previous point, Chinese maps often depicted the origins of the Yellow River 黃河, the Sichuan 四川 basin, and the origins of major "dragon veins" 龍脈 (a technical term in geomancy--fengshui 風水) as bottle-gourds.

The Yellow River origin as bottle-gourd from a Ming-era geomancy guide. The gourd is labeled 黄河星宿海, which means roughly "Yellow River Star Constellation Sea," possibly reflecting an older notion that the origin of the river was actually a particular constellation of stars, the energy of which, via the gourd-space, became the river (circled in red in large version):

3. Bottle-gourds are magical objects that can be used to overcome the malevolent forces of nature such as demons, monsters, even giant catfish (in Japan). They appear as such in various genres of art and in rites and rituals connected with folk festivals and religious festivals. It used to be common for small children and elderly people to wear small bottle-gourds as protective amulets.

Primitive manliness & gourd magic, Kumamoto, Japan: ; Religious ritual in Japan: ; Donkey emerging from a gourd: ;  Popular deity Ebisu suppresses a giant catfish (symbolizing earthquakes) with a gourd: ; A seller of tea whisks in 17th-century Japan is dressed as a wandering Buddhist monk performing "hachi-tataki," rhythmic beating of a gourd or other resonant object while chanting Buddhist songs or prayers. According to a description of medieval Kyōto by Barbara Ruch, "Inevitably you will also run into a variety of holy men and women . . . and prayer chanters intoning rhythmically while beating time on bowls or gourds or even their bare chests." (The Cambridge History of Japan, Vol. 4, p. 514) : .

4. Bottle-gourds contain medicine, magic elixir, or at least strong liquor.

Medicine-selling catfish (note gourd design on his box): ; Cat and mouse in drunken harmony: .

5. Bottle-gourds symbolize Daoist practitioners in general, and the immortal Li Tieguai 李鐵拐 in particular.

Three images of Li Tieguai: ;  ;  .

6. Bottle-gourds can symbolize the womb, both in a narrow meaning of female reproductive organs and in a broader sense of locus of creative, generative power. It was common for Chinese erotic images to include gourds or gourd-shaped spaces.

The Chinese image (at right) of a gourd-shaped doorway two aspects of gourd-symbolism: 1) the associating with sex and generative powers; and 2) the idea of a gourd-space as a passage to a different world (see #1 above).

7. Gourds can be made into all sorts of tools and implements. Here is a partial list, starting with food items: large ones can be cooked by themselves or with meat to make soup or broth, or fried with sugar or honey or sliced and dried to make candied fruit. Small gourds can serve as containers, and very small ones can become buttons for capes or good-luck charms. Long-stalked gourds can be made into sprinklers, and gourds with slender waists make excellent medicine containers. Bitter-tasting gourds can be made into medicine. Small gourds can be cut and used as ladles, and big ones can become bowls. Their outer skin and pulp can be used as food for pigs, and gourd seeds are rich in fat, which can be used to make candles. Other uses include making gourds into musical instruments and instrument sound boxes, swimming aids and life vests, snuff bottles, bird calls, vases, brushes, plates, bottles, cups, spoons, candle stands, and incense burners. (For more details, see Wang Shixing 王世襄, The Charms of the Gourd 說葫蘆 [Hong Kong: Next Publications, 1993].)

The sound box of this instrument was made from a gourd: 

8. Bottle-gourds are objects of aesthetic enjoyment, either in their natural state or modified to various degrees:

A natural bottle-gourd:;  A bottle-gourd constrained by strings to grow into the shape of a duck: ;  A matched pair of long-neck gourds: . (These Qing-era examples are from Wang, The Charms of the Gourd.)

9. And more . . .

Here are some links to interesting images of bottle gourds:

http://www.nhk-chubu-brains.co.jp/DDT-E/gifu/yoro/hyoutan.html

http://www.albany.edu/faculty/hartman/eac280/pics/e45.gif

http://www.rbgkew.org.uk/collections/ecbot/Gourds.htm