Ch: Xiwangmu Dongwangfu. Ancient Chinese female and male deities associated with immortality and popular Daoism. Originally both gods seem to have been merged in a single life-giving deity called the Monarch of the Western Direction (Jp: Saiiki-no-kokuō 西域の国王) possessing both female and male characteristics. Later, two distinct deities were recognized, Xiwangmu (Jp: Seiōbo 西王母) or the Queen Mother of the West and Dongwangfu (Jp: Tōōfu 東王父) or the King Father of the East, although Xiwangmu is likely closer to the conception of the original god, with Dongwangfu added later (probably in the Han period) as her consort. As a complement to Xiwangmu, who supposedly lived at Mt. Kunlun (Jp: Konronsan 崑崙山) in the west of China, Dongwangfu was associated with the eastern direction.
According to the Shanhaijing (Jp: Sangaikyō 山海経), Xiwangmu had a human face, tiger's teeth, a leopard's tail, and wore her hair tied up with a large hair-pin *kanzashi 簪. The Han dynasty saw many accretions to the Xiwangmu legend as her worship spread among the populace. One story tells how the goddess Chang'e (Jp: Jōga 嫦娥) stole Xiwangmu's elixir (or sometimes peaches) of immortality and fled to the moon where she turned into a toad. Another story tells of her trip to visit the court of Han emperor Wudi (Jp: *Kan Butei 漢武帝) when several of her magical peaches were stolen by Dongfang Shuo (Jp: *Tōbō Saku 東方朔).
The earliest pictorial representations of Xiwangmu and Dongwangfu are found on a pair of later Han clay tiles and on several bronze mirrors from the Wei-Jin dynasties. She appears infrequently in Yuan and Ming Daoist figure painting. Typically Xiwangmu is shown enthroned as a queen and accompanied by serving maidens, one of whom holds the peaches of immortality on a platter. She may also be accompanied by phoenixes, a stag and a dragon, and rides in a chariot. She is shown alone, or paired with Hanwudi, Dongfang Shuo, or Dongwangfu. A pair of screens by Kaihō Yūshō 海北友松 (1533-1615) show Xiwangmu paired with Dongwangfu, while a set of hanging scrolls by Kano Tan'yū 狩野探幽 (1602-74) show her meeting Hanwudi.