He is a formidable deity indeed — a giant bull-like figure with six arms, a bronze head and reptilian claws. Not to mention the arsenal of spears, axes, knives and arrows clutched in those claws.

The son of Yan Di, he’s a Rain and War God specializing in weaponry. In fact he invented them. Chiyou is a master metal-worker of deadly weapons. According to legend he invented most of the really nasty sharp pointy things you can think of. Shields and shackles too.

His passion for dangerous metal objects does not end there. Apparently he also manufactured his own head — it is made from gleaming bronze decorated with an iron forehead and iron eyebrow motifs. (That’s four iron eyebrows as he has four eyes.) As a

He is not just a warmongering ironmonger. Chiyou commands an army of highly-trained forces and his henchmen include the Storm Gods Yu Shi and Feng Bo.

He sounds a lot like some evil half-robot super-villain from some superhero movie blockbuster. We would not wish to get on the wrong side of him under any circumstances. Luckily he was eventually defeated by the Yellow Emperor Huangdi after much Heavenly combat. Although defeated, he now invents weapons for humans. So if something goes off half-cocked you know who to blame.

Conflicting reports also claim he is related to Herb God Shennong. Perhaps someone’s been taking too many herbs.

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Article last revised on April 19, 2019 by Rowan Allen.
Editors: Peter J. Allen, Chas Saunders

References: Coming soon.

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