Mount Huaguo

This article is about the fictional location in Journey to the West. For the mountain in Lianyungang, Jiangsu, see Mount Huaguo (Jiangsu).

Mount Huaguo (traditional Chinese: 花果山; pinyin: Huāguǒ Shān; Wade–Giles: Hua1kuo3 Shan1; Japanese: Kakazan; Vietnamese: Hoa Quả Sơn) or Flowers and Fruit Mountain, is a major area featured in the novel Journey to the West (16th century). A number of real-world locations have been connected with the Mount Huaguo, although the eponymous mountain in Lianyungang, Jiangsu is most commonly identified as its source of inspiration.[1][2][3]

According to folklore, when Guanyin Bodhisattva passed through Flower Fruit Mountain, she meditated on a large rock. Imbued with divine essence, the stone miraculously gave birth to Sun Wukong.[4] In a folktale, the mother goddess Nüwa sacrificed herself, transforming into thousands of colorful crystals to repair the sky. One of these crystals fell onto Flower and Fruit Mountain, where it absorbed the essence of the sun and moon, eventually giving birth to a stone monkey.[5]

  1. ^ "花果山之恋 期刊界 [Love in Huaguo Mountain]". Art.alljournals.cn.
  2. ^ "花果山의 장소성 연구". 중국학 (in Korean) (73): 23–43. January 2020. ISSN 1229-9618.
  3. ^ "明山为花果山最佳原型 孙悟空原来与宁波有缘". 中国宁波网 (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2019-06-03.
  4. ^ 一座花果山的诞生 (in Chinese). 辽宁人民出版社. 1958. p. 2.
  5. ^ 中国志 (in Chinese). 华龄出版社. 1995. ISBN 978-7-80082-561-3.