China: Detail of a Han-dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE) pottery tile emblematically representing the Black Turtle...

A pottery tile of the Han Dynasty, depicting hunting and battle scenes containing emblematic figures of the 'five cardinal directions' (the four cardinal directions plus the centre). The Four Symbols are four mythological creatures in the Chinese constellations. They are the Azure Dragon, of the East, the Vermilion Bird of the South, the White Tiger of the West, and the Black Turtle of the North. Each one of them represents a direction and a season, and each has its own individual characteristics and origins. Symbolically and as part of spiritual and religious belief, they have been culturally important in China, Korea, Vietnam, and Japan