Ch: Dongfang Shuo (ca. 154-93 BCE). A Chinese Daoist immortal of the Western Jin associated with the peaches of immortality. His biography is documented in the Shenxian tonglu (Jp: Shinsen tsūroku 神仙通録). From Pingyuan 平原 in Shandong 山東, his family name was Zhang (Jp: Chō 張), his given name Shaoping (Jp: Shōhei 少平), and he used the pseudonym azana 字 Manqian (Jp: Mansen 曼倩). He served Han emperor Wudi (Jp: *Kan Butei 漢武帝), amusing him with his intelligence and wit. One anecdote tells of Dongfang drinking the emperor's wine of immortality, whereupon the emperor ordered his death. Dongfang responded that if the wine was genuine then he could not be killed, but if it was not genuine then there was no harm in drinking it. Eventually he ascended to heaven on the back of a dragon. Dongfang Shuo was said to be the incarnation of the star Venus (Ch: Jinxing; Jp: Kinsei 金星) and the patron deity of gold and silver smiths.
In painting, Dongfang is often illustrated holding peaches, iconography based on the story of his stealing the peaches of immortality from the Queen Mother of the West (Ch: Xiwangmu, Jp: Seiōbo 西王母). See *Seiōbo Tōōfu 西王母・東王父.