Vermilion Bird

The **Vermilion Bird** is one of the Four Symbols of the Chinese constellations. It represents the fire-element, the south direction, and the season summer correspondingly. Sometimes it is called the **Vermilion Bird of the South** (, Nán Fāng Zhū Què). It is known as **Zhū Què** in post Manchu dynasty Standard Modern Mandarin Chinese, **Suzaku** in Modern Japanese, and **Jujak** in Modern Korean.

The color _vermilion_ is often called _chinese red_.

It is described as a red bird that resembles a pheasant with a five-colored plumage (bird's feathers) and is covered in flames. It is often mistaken for the Fenghuang (Named Chinese Phoenix) due to similarities in appearance, but the two are different creatures.

## Seven Mansions of the Vermilion Bird

As with the other three Symbols, there are seven astrological "Mansions" (positions of the Moon) within the Vermilion Bird. The names and determinative stars are:
|Mansion no.|Name (pinyin)|Translation|Determinative star|
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|22|(Jǐng)|Well (Good)|μ Gem|
|23|(Guǐ)|Ghost|θ Cnc|
|24|(Liǔ)|Willow|δ Hya|
|25|(Xīng)|Star|α Hya|
|26|(Zhāng)|Extended Net|υ¹ Hya|
|27|(Yì)|Wings|α Crt|
|28|(Zhěn)|Chariot|γ Crv|

## Nature of the symbol

The Vermilion Bird is elegant and noble in both appearance and behavior, with feathers in many different colors of vermilion. It is very selective about what it eats and where it perches.

## Stars

<div class="noprint">
|**Four Symbols**|**Mansion (Chinese name)**|**Romanization**|**Translation**|**Asterisms (Chinese name)**|**Romanization**|**Translation**|**Western star name**|**Chinese star name**|**Romanization**|**Translation**||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|rowspan="54" bgcolor="#FFD700"|**Vermilion Bird of the South (南方朱雀)**|rowspan="4" style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"||rowspan="4"|_Guǐ_|rowspan="4"|Ghost|rowspan="4" style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"||rowspan="4"|_Wàichú_|rowspan="4"|Outer Kitchen|
|2 Hya|style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"|Wàichúyī|1st star|||||||||||
|3 Hya / HD 74395|style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"|Wàichúèr|2nd star|||||||||||
|14 Hya|style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"|Wàichúsān|3rd star|||||||||||
|rowspan="15" style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"||rowspan="15"|_Liǔ_|rowspan="15"|Willow|rowspan="15" style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"||rowspan="15"|_Liǔ_|rowspan="15"|Willow|||
|rowspan="7"|δ Hya|||||||||||||
|style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"|Liǔxiùyī|1st star||||||||||||
|style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"|Liǔxiùjùxīng|Separated star||||||||||||
|style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"|Liǔxiùxītoudìsānxīng|3rd star in the upper west||||||||||||
|style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"|Yùjǐngxīběixīng|Star in northwest of Jade Well constellation||||||||||||
|style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"|Wǔ|The thong||||||||||||
|style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"|Chúnhuǒxīng|The phoenix||||||||||||
|σ Hya|style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"|Liǔxiùèr|2nd star|||||||||||
|η Hya|style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"|Liǔxiùsān|3rd star|||||||||||
|ρ Hya|style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"|Liǔxiùsì|4th star|||||||||||
|ε Hya|style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"|Liǔxiùwǔ|5th star|||||||||||
|ζ Hya|style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"|Liǔxiùliù|6th star|||||||||||
|ω Hya|style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"|Liǔxiùqī|7th star|||||||||||
|θ Hya|style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"|Liǔxiùbā|8th star|||||||||||
|rowspan="11" style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"||rowspan="11"|_Xīng_|rowspan="11"|Star|rowspan="11" style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"||rowspan="11"|_Xīng_|rowspan="11"|Star|||
|rowspan="4"|α Hya|||||||||||||
|style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"|Xīngxiùyī|1st star||||||||||||
|style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"|Xīngxiùjùxīng|Separated star||||||||||||
|style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"|Xīngxiùzhōngyāngdàxīng|Big star in the center||||||||||||
|τ<sup>1</sup> Hya|style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"|Xīngxiùèr|2nd star|||||||||||
|τ<sup>2</sup> Hya|style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"|Xīngxiùsān|3rd star|||||||||||
|ι Hya|style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"|Xīngxiùsì|4th star|||||||||||
|26 Hya|style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"|Xīngxiùwǔ|5th star|||||||||||
|27 Hya|style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"|Xīngxiùliù|6th star|||||||||||
|HD 82477 & HD 82428|style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"|Xīngxiùqī|7th star|||||||||||
|rowspan="7" style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"||rowspan="7"|_Zhāng_|rowspan="7"|Extended Net|rowspan="7" style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"||rowspan="7"|_Zhāng_|rowspan="7"|Extended Net|||
|υ<sup>1</sup> Hya|style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"|Zhāngxiùyī|1st star|||||||||||
|λ Hya|style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"|Zhāngxiùèr|2nd star|||||||||||
|μ Hya|style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"|Zhāngxiùsān|3rd star|||||||||||
|HD 87344|style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"|Zhāngxiùsì|4th star|||||||||||
|κ Hya|style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"|Zhāngxiùwǔ|5th star|||||||||||
|φ Hya|style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"|Zhāngxiùliù|6th star|||||||||||
|rowspan="7" style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"||rowspan="7"|_Yì_|rowspan="7"|Wings|rowspan="7" style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"||rowspan="7"|_Yì_|rowspan="7"|Wings|||
|ν Hya|style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"|Yìxiùwǔ|5th star|||||||||||
|HD 100307|style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"|Yìxiùshíbā|18th star|||||||||||
|HD 96819|style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"|Yìxiùshíjiǔ|19th star|||||||||||
|χ<sup>1</sup> Hya|style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"|Yìxiùèrshí|20th star|||||||||||
|HD 102620|style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"|Yìxiùèrshíyī|21st star|||||||||||
|HD 103462|style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"|Yìxiùèrshíèr|22nd star|||||||||||
|rowspan="10" style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"||rowspan="10"|_Zhěn_|rowspan="10"|Chariot|rowspan="9" style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"||rowspan="9"|_Qīngqiū_|rowspan="9"|Green Hill|||
|rowspan="3"|β Hya|||||||||||||
|style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"|Qīngqiūyī|1st star||||||||||||
|style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"|Tǔgōngxīxīng|Star in the west of Official for Earthworks and Buildings constellation||||||||||||
|HD 103596|style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"|Qīngqiūèr|2nd star|||||||||||
|17 Crt|style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"|Qīngqiūsān|3rd star|||||||||||
|HD 100393|style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"|Qīngqiūsì|4th star|||||||||||
|ξ Hya|style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"|Qīngqiūwu|5th star|||||||||||
|ο Hya|style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"|Qīngqiūqī|7th star|||||||||||
|軍門|_Jūnmén_|Military Gate|HD 104309|style="background: #E34234; color: #FFD700"|Jūnményī|1st star||||||||
</div>

## In popular culture

- In the mobile game _Puzzle & Dragons_, the Vermilion Bird is depicted as a beautiful, phoenix-like, winged woman who wields the power of flames, known as the "Incarnation of Suzaku, Leilan".
- In the _Beyblade_ series, the Vermilion Bird is called Dranzer.
- In _B-Daman Fireblast_, the main protagonist Kamon Godai's B-daman is named Drive Garuburn, whose B-Animal is the Vermilion Bird of the South.
- In the _Digimon_ series, Zhuqiaomon is designed after it.
- In the _Fushigi Yugi_ series, Miaka Yūki's journey in the Universe of the Four Gods involves her becoming the Priestess of Suzaku. The god is shown as a bird for most of the series, with only the final few episodes showing him in a humanoid, winged form.
- In the video game _Final Fantasy Type-0_ the Vermilion Bird is the name of one of the four Crystals of Orience, representing the Dominion of Rubrum.
- In the video game _Final Fantasy XIV_ Suzaku is one of the auspices introduced in the second expansion of the game, Stormblood.
- In the film _Gamera 3: The Revenge of Iris_, the monster Iris is at one point suggested to be the Vermilion Bird.
- In the _Yu Yu Hakusho_ series, Suzaku is portrayed in a humanoid form as leader of the Underworld group The Four Beasts.
- In the Sunrise anime series _Code Geass_, a character is named Suzaku Kururugi.
- In the PlayStation 4 exclusive game titles _Nioh_, there is a spirit guardian phoenix named Suzaku that will resurrect players upon death by activating their living weapon. Once the living weapon runs out, the player is brought back with one hit point.
- In _Tokyo Majin_, the Vermilion Bird has a vessel who is a character known as Marie Claire.
- In _Kemono Friends_, the Vermilion Bird is anthropomorphised (Designed differently) along with the other Chinese Four Symbols.
- In _Yami no Matsuei_, the Vermillion Bird, known only as Suzaku, appears as a shikigami (conjured spirit) that is summoned by Asato Tsuzuki
- In _Overwatch_'s 2018 Chinese New Year (Year of the Dog) event, Mercy, one of the game's support heroes, has a cosmetic skin (alternative design for the character) based on this legendary bird.
- In _World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria_, the Vermillion bird has been used as the major inspiration to create Chi-Ji, the Red Crane.
- In _Sekiro_, the upgrade to the Loaded Umbrella prosthetic tool, Suzaku’s Lotus Umbrella is a red shield that protects the player from fire damage.

## Related pages

- Fenghuang
- Phoenix (mythology)

## Infobox (chinese)

- **pic**: Wadang-zhuque.jpg
- **piccap**: Zhū Què sculpture on the eaves tile
- **l**: Vermilion Peafowl
- **c**: 朱雀
- **w**: Chu<sup>1</sup> Ch'üeh<sup>4</sup>
- **p**: Zhū Què
- **j**: zyu1 zoek3
- **y**: jyu1 jeuk3
- **poj**: chu-chhiok
- **kanji**: 朱雀
- **hiragana**: すざく or しゅじゃく
- **revhep**: Suzaku or Shujaku
- **kunrei**: Suzaku or Syuzyaku
- **hangul**: 주작
- **hanja**: 朱雀
- **rr**: Ju-jak